I posted something quite silly on the alt.romance newsgroup back in the 
nineties!

Unfortunately I was foolish enough to use my own full Christian name 
(which was my email address).

It is a unique name (nobody else has this name) and as a result this 
embarrassing usenet posting can come up if somebody "googles" me!

I am desperate to get this posting off the internet somehow (off that 
news server!) but I don't know what I can do about it?

Please can you advice on what to do?
Jo

Johanna <NOSPAM@nospam.com> wrote:
> I posted something quite silly on the alt.romance newsgroup back in the 
> nineties!
> 
> Unfortunately I was foolish enough to use my own full Christian name 
> (which was my email address).
> 
> It is a unique name (nobody else has this name) and as a result this 
> embarrassing usenet posting can come up if somebody "googles" me!
> 
> I am desperate to get this posting off the internet somehow (off that 
> news server!) but I don't know what I can do about it?
> 
> Please can you advice on what to do?
> Jo

  What about (Google Groups) "Groups Help"? I.e. specifically "How do I
remove my own posts?":

<http://groups.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8380&topic=250>

  Note that that removes your post only from Google (Groups), not from
Usenet. There is no way to remove your post from Usenet because no
single entity controls the servers which make up Usenet.

Johanna wrote:

> I posted something quite silly on the alt.romance newsgroup back in the 
> nineties!
> 
> Unfortunately I was foolish enough to use my own full Christian name 
> (which was my email address).
> 
> It is a unique name (nobody else has this name) and as a result this 
> embarrassing usenet posting can come up if somebody "googles" me!
> 
> I am desperate to get this posting off the internet somehow (off that 
> news server!) but I don't know what I can do about it?
> 
> Please can you advice on what to do?
> Jo

If you still have the copy of your original post, you could issue a 
cancel.  However, not every USENET provider honors cancels.  Entities 
that archive USENET post might not honor it as well due to the time 
difference.

Like Frank suggested, you can request the removal of the post from 
Google and other similarly situated entities.

You can always claim you were exploring your writing skills in short or 
whatever kind of story the post was.  Guess if people believe the store, 
you should have become a writer if you are not now.

AK

Frank, AK
Thank you both for responding!

I am very, very grateful - such a huge chip of my shoulder!
I tried the Google Removal Tool, and it looks like the posting will be 
removed! Hurrah!!!!!!!!!!!

(It was a posting from back in 1998 - very silly girly ramblings about my 
crush on somebody, including some explicit details...   Imagine my future 
husband or an employer finding that... <<< >>>>>> !!!)

Very grateful for your help!
Jo



>  What about (Google Groups) "Groups Help"? I.e. specifically "How do I
> remove my own posts?":
>
> <http://groups.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8380&topic=250>
>
>  Note that that removes your post only from Google (Groups), not from
> Usenet. There is no way to remove your post from Usenet because no
> single entity controls the servers which make up Usenet.