June 29th, 3304. Shortly after the release of 3.1, I think. And it was/is completely optional
EDIT: The RSS feed still seems to work, and Inara tracks Galnet as well, but you can neither link entries nor search the thing. The article in question is on page 26 (for now):
EDIT: Uh, Inara, ed.frank-heinrich.net and my Galnet app all stopped on the 24th, while the latest article is from 28th, so the feed was possibly cancelled too. But there is hope & fun with JSON (errrm...Drupal?):
Thank you for the informations. I've now seen the article in Inara (currently on page 27). At least there is somewhere to be informed about what's going on in the galaxy!
It sounds like the Thargoid menace in Deciat IS something to worry about, though...
Nope, better to concentrate on the places they are actually attacking. Those ones are just looking at thargoid tourist beacons 'this is the location where we first crushed the unruly meatbags on our return in 3304'