In alt.support.diabetes on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 09:05:16 GMT  in Msg.#

Typically posts aren't deleted. That was the reason for my question. Usually
it's something other than that posts have been deleted, something in
someone's settings that is preventing them from seeing their own posts at
times, some access methods that involve marking read where threads are
getting marked read where the user isn't realizing it, ... there are a
million ways including posts that get stuck in the ether for a time on
*some* servers, but not all.

The way Usenet works it's next to impossible to get rid of posts. Once they
are propagated, they are out there.

There have been numerous posts all over recently that are crossposted
inappropriately & OT everywhere & might fall into TOS about flooding for
servers that even use flooding restrictions, specifically many of them were
from or about someone or something MI5*, but they had nothing to do with the
British spy show, MI-5. I initiated a kill filter or two for it as soon as
they began to show up. Everyone should!! <G>

I don't think this would be the explanation except in moderated newsgroups.
Most of the NGs I read are unmoderated, yet I have been seeing similar
remarks about messages disappearing (or never appearing at all, as I
described).

MaryL

In alt.support.diabetes on Mon, 4 Dec 2006 16:20:48 -0600  in Msg.#
<3b1dh.22$SV1.15@bignews1.bellsouth.net>, "Robert Miles"
<robertmiles@bellsouthNOSPAM.net> wrote:

Oh, yeah, some ISPs who still provide their own servers have retention
that's as little as 3 days!!

But, that's not really messages being *deleted* per se. That's a natural
function, that all servers have some retention factor. 10 days or more is
excellent, but unfortunately some servers can't handle that.

In alt.support.diabetes on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:11:04 +1100  in Msg.#
<4t07n2lbje8l13g7of5k7u0b1fjf403gng@4ax.com>, Alan S
<loralgtweightandcarbs@gmail.com> wrote:

In the US, at least, many Usenet servers do not allow one to cancel a
posting.

But, if you can cancel one, you post a cancel message. With Agent how to do
so is right there on the Agent menu.

However, even if a message is cancelled by the poster, if that is allowed,
typically it's already been propagated out into the world & it's impossible
to get back every copy of it.

In Thunderbird, sometimes I forget to hit "reply" before trying to reply.

So, I select text to snip out, so as not to waste other people's
bandwidth and screen space, and I hit "delete."

Thunderbird replies, "You may not cancel a message you did not write."

However, if it is my message, Thunderbird will compose and send a Cancel
message.  It is SO easy to get around the safety check (by pretending to
be the person who posted the message) that many servers refused to honor
the Cancel messages.

How depends on whether your newsreader permits you to post "cancel"
messages, and if so by what method. How well it works depends on
whether your local newsreader honours them, and past that what
proportion of others do. Despite the warnings often given, I suspect
most do. With respect to its archives Google does, and Google also
separately allows you to request the deletion of a post from its old
archives. In the latter case Google doesn't actually delete it, it
just hides it.

In alt.support.diabetes on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 02:16:40 GMT  in Msg.#
<cyLch.6617$ql2.675@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net>, "Jeff"
<jeff@hotmail.com> wrote:

Right you are.

They choose to be considerate & honor 'no archive' headers. They also have a
method for people to go through on their site to remove their own posts -
after they have been posted.

In alt.support.diabetes on Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:22:19 -0600  in Msg.#
<IDLch.5455$8H6.3088@newsfe22.lga>, "MaryL"
<stancole1@yahoo.comTAKE-OUT-THE-LITTER> wrote:

Even if your reader and/or server caused a post to be improperly threaded,
it would still have a unique Message-ID number & should exist. If it didn't
post, it might be stuck in the ether somewhere, like your own outbox, or
stuck in your server's equivalent. Every once in awhile you'll have a huge
flush of sorts when some major server has been holding posts in its cheeks
like a chipmunk & finally a tech kicks it in the right spot for it to give
them up, all dates, etc. akimbo.