Newsgroups Trial Resumes - Page 4

Shaun · 20-01-2004, 08:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by RHP

Let me please be clear - The only E-Mails prior to this were automated mails telling me there were PMs to read on this site.

Just to point out that those e-mails would have been generated thanks to this site (which has no official connection to Ntl), so not even those were sent from the trial team!

greencreeper · 20-01-2004, 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by bumpy

Hello All,

This is for anyone involved in the ntl Newsgroups Trial. If you have not received an email from Trials@ntl.com by the end of today with the details, please mail the same address and advise.

thanks

Bumpy (ntl trials team)

Ah well - just found this thread and the post is 5 days old. Bit late now. Never got an email - strange considering that I've always got emails in the past regarding the trials.

DVS · 20-01-2004, 18:41

My view of the trial so far is qute poor. Server is quick. Retention is quite good. Completion is **** poor (which negates the good retention as theres little point retaining half posts).

Also I've found a couple of newsgroups that on the trial server seem to have little activity yet I'm seeing GB's a day on the same groups via ClaraNews.

alt.binaries.multimedia.babylon5 seems particularly poor on the trial server suffering from both extremely poor completion and terrible 'up to dateness'. EG a recent Babylon 5 Season 1 DVD 5 posting is showing as fully complete on Claranews (400 + files) yet there's at best 3 dozen files on the trials server and all bar one are incomplete. Claranews also has a complete posting of Babylon 5 Season 1 DVD 6 (a few incompletes but not many) yet the trials server has no files, only a couple of Par2's.

I'm also disappointed that NTL haven't returned to a full news service with these trials but I understand this isn't a choice made by the trials team.

Looks like I'll be keeping my ClaraNews account for the forseeable future

Foo Fighter · 20-01-2004, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by DVS

My view of the trial so far is qute poor. Server is quick. Retention is quite good. Completion is **** poor (which negates the good retention as theres little point retaining half posts).

Also I've found a couple of newsgroups that on the trial server seem to have little activity yet I'm seeing GB's a day on the same groups via ClaraNews.

alt.binaries.multimedia.babylon5 seems particularly poor on the trial server suffering from both extremely poor completion and terrible 'up to dateness'. EG a recent Babylon 5 Season 1 DVD 5 posting is showing as fully complete on Claranews (400 + files) yet there's at best 3 dozen files on the trials server and all bar one are incomplete. Claranews also has a complete posting of Babylon 5 Season 1 DVD 6 (a few incompletes but not many) yet the trials server has no files, only a couple of Par2's.

I'm also disappointed that NTL haven't returned to a full news service with these trials but I understand this isn't a choice made by the trials team.

Looks like I'll be keeping my ClaraNews account for the forseeable future

Fully agree with you, its a disapointment and again only half a service like most things with ntl. I'll have to keep my claranews account because my isp is not upto the job. We'll be paying for email servers soon i bet.

DVS · 20-01-2004, 19:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foo Fighter

Fully agree with you, its a disapointment and again only half a service like most things with ntl. I'll have to keep my claranews account because my isp is not upto the job. We'll be paying for email servers soon i bet.

Well I already run my own mail services due to the poor NTL service and I take a DNS feed from work due to the DNS problems that have been apparant on NTL. About all NTL provide me with these days is bandwidth and that hasn't been without issue (although my problems did get resolved).

andygrif · 22-01-2004, 13:22

I thought it was generally accepted earlier that people participating in the trial wouldn't be commenting on it until after it was over - or am I mistaken?

I'm in the trial, I'm using the test servers - and I have an opinion - which I will be more than happy to share with everyone, after the trial is finished.

I don't think it is fair to ntl to critisice them for any problems you're experiencing as a beta tester of a product.

DVS · 22-01-2004, 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by andygrif

I thought it was generally accepted earlier that people participating in the trial wouldn't be commenting on it until after it was over - or am I mistaken?

I'm in the trial, I'm using the test servers - and I have an opinion - which I will be more than happy to share with everyone, after the trial is finished.

I don't think it is fair to ntl to critisice them for any problems you're experiencing as a beta tester of a product.

I've read nothing about not commenting and in fact this thread includes comments from quite a few trialists.

As far as criticizing a Beta product - how the hell are they mean't to know of problems if we don't notify them (and yes I did email the details I posted to trials@ntl.com). Feedback is a major part of trialing anything (or at least it is in the IT department I manage).

What I was attempting to provide was constructive criticism with a pointer to a newsgroup particularly affected by problems as per a post from Bumpy earlier in the thread:-

Quote:

Originally Posted by bumpy

On a slightly separate note, some of you have mailed us to advise you are finding incomplete binaries. We are currently investigating this, but it would be really useful to establish details of dates with incomplete binaries and specific groups. If anyone can let me have this information direct to Trials@ntl.com it would be greatly appreciated.

bioboy · 23-01-2004, 08:32

Yes, I sent an e-mail to the trials team to tell them about the appalling completion rates on many of the binary groups, giving specifics as requested,
but can't say I've noticed any difference at all in the few days since.

Sure some files appear to be on the server about 30 days after posting, but quite often when I've tried to download them some or all of them aren't really there! Then at the same time articles 12 hours old have already disappeared, not to mention the endless posts that exist on easynews but never make it to NTL servers.

Stability is about the only area which has noticeably improved, but then again with only 1,000 trialists maybe that's no real surprise.

I also commented about the groups I'd like to see back and pointed out that the removal of repost groups made it impossible for NTL customers to comply with usenet etiquette, but received no comment back.

I can understand why some say we shouldn't comment on here, but when our feedback seems to go unanswered I see no reason why we can't discuss whether others are experiencing the same problems.

andygrif · 23-01-2004, 09:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by DVS

As far as criticizing a Beta product - how the hell are they mean't to know of problems if we don't notify them (and yes I did email the details I posted to trials@ntl.com). Feedback is a major part of trialing anything (or at least it is in the IT department I manage).

What I was attempting to provide was constructive criticism with a pointer to a newsgroup particularly affected by problems as per a post from Bumpy earlier in the thread:-

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that your feedback, or anyone else's for that matter, was not constructive. It's just that I did see it mentioned by the trials people that all feedback should be directed straight to them rather than posting in public. Either PM'ing them or emailing the address you mentioned above should suffice.

To be fair, they did not specify this when signing people up to the trial, so maybe it's their own fault.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bioboy

I can understand why some say we shouldn't comment on here, but when our feedback seems to go unanswered I see no reason why we can't discuss whether others are experiencing the same problems.

I think that is an important point - if the trials email address is not responding to your feedback, then this is poor and should be addressed here - after all it's the new Usenet servers that are on trial not their ability to use email!!

bioboy · 23-01-2004, 10:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by andygrif

I think that is an important point - if the trials email address is not responding to your feedback, then this is poor and should be addressed here - after all it's the new Usenet servers that are on trial not their ability to use email!!

They did respond to my e-mail, but all they said was something along the lines of "thankyou for your e-mail" and didn't answer any of my questions. Then they appear to have done nothing about the incomplete and missing posts I mentioned. Didn't seem much point in my e-mail in that case. May send another e-mail if no improvement in next couple of days, but not holding my breath for them do do anything about it.

ynwa · 23-01-2004, 10:38

I have not received any e-mail about the trial restarting. I have e-mailed the trials team.

On the trial i am unable to get speeds above 30 Kbps, on my dial up connection in work (zoom internet) i am getting double this speed?? Is it something i have done wrong or is the server still not working right?

martin oldgoth · 23-01-2004, 20:43

Been keeping an eye on things during the trial using two different news servers, the trial one and the free one I normally use.

I'm getting a lot of junk/spam on the groups read through the NTL newserver and some posts on the groups I subscribe to are appearing late or reappearing once read as unread days later, I've mailed them about it but no response so far.

Apart from that not bad.....

martin oldgoth
www.insanitorium.co.uk

ynwa · 24-01-2004, 13:01

What kind of speeds is everyone getting on the server?

24-01-2004, 13:14

I got an e-mail yesterday announcing that the trial has been suspended for a couple of weeks while they sort out some of the problems highlighted in the feedback they got.

ynwa · 24-01-2004, 13:21

never got that email either. Anyone else get it?