Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Flips Back to Groups Beta (Again)

Posted by Hemos on from the flip-flopping-away dept.

afabbro writes "Google backed off its beta of Google Groups within 24 hours of making it mandatory for all users. You may recall that its lack of features (date searches), unwanted features (e-mail masking), and clunky user interface met with a very chilly reception here. Unfortunately, as of December 5th, Google Groups Beta is back and you can't get to the original (wonderful) Google Groups anymore. Be sure to share your opinion with Google."

12 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. Email masking... by JPriest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What would be so bad about Email masking?

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
    1. Re:Email masking... by Progman2000 · · Score: 5, Informative

      For one thing, it breaks PGP signatures. May be minor, but it *can* be irritating.

    2. Re:Email masking... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The bad thing about e-mail masking is that it makes it hard to send mail to an author who has put an unmunged email address on their messages. These authors have put their mail addresses on a public forum (or decided to mung their addresses themselves, or put an invalid address) so why should Google go out of their way to "protect" people that don't want to be protected?

      I've received mail before from people who have found a post of mine on Google groups and wanted to ask me a quick question and I've always been happy to respond.... Why should google stop those people from mailing me in the future?

    3. Re:Email masking... by ikea5 · · Score: 5, Informative
      I can't belive no one mentioned this:

      You can see the email address in Google Groups if you click on the 'Reply to Author' link.

    4. Re:Email masking... by _randy_64 · · Score: 5, Funny
      For example, in Objective-C, there are several keywords that start with @, such as @interface. Some archives of Objective-C mailing lists have e-mail blockers, and so you see weird stuff like:


      But surely you and the other guy using Objective-C know each other and your email addresses by now?! ;-)

      --
      I mod down all the "free iPod"-sig losers.
  2. boo by Quasar1999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't believe that you removed a FREE service that I liked and used and replaced it with another FREE service with lesser features... I'm sure you will release the old service as a pay service... how DARE you try and make money...

    signed... disgruntled freeloader.

    --

    ---
    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
  3. On the plus side by gowen · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... date limited searches are back on the "Advanced Search" page! Woohoo! That was the show stopper for me. Other than that, its nearly all cosmetic changes, and I don't care about those.

    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
  4. Sucky. by Threni · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The new interface is horrible. Is there any technical reason why Google can't provide a 'Classic' view? Is the underlying data going to be that different? It's going to have to show the old, archived data still, which it obviously can with both the old and new systems. So why not continue to offer it?

    Failing that, is there another way to look search/view the old Usenet archive?

  5. Not bad enough by wallyghost · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks to some drunken post-hockey game USENET posting a couple years back, I was really hoping they'd come up with something a lot worse. Hate to retire the email address, but I guess it's either that or live with those posts forever. (Oh, and of course the worst of what I wrote was replied back to me by someone else so I can't unpost it)

  6. Huh? by Otter · · Score: 5, Informative
    As of 9:10 am (EST) on December 6:
    • groups.google.com goes to the original interface, not to the beta.
    • Following a link to the beta shows that you can now easily search a date range.
    Not that Hemos could have, you know, looked before posting this...
    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  7. original Google Groups by davron05 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Unfortunately, as of December 5th, Google Groups Beta is back and you can't get to the original (wonderful) Google Groups anymore. just visit any regional Google Groups, like groups.google.ch and you can still use the old interface.

  8. Re:Great... by TheGreatGraySkwid · · Score: 5, Informative

    Frankly, that's 'cause you weren't thinking when you copied that URL. The best way to link to a particular Usenet post on Google has always been to link directly to the message ID, like so. It's almost always shorter than whatever it was you had above, and it takes you right to the correct article, without fail, even now...

    --
    The Humblest Mollusk on the Net