🚀 go-pugleaf

"David Kaye" wrote ...
> (G) wrote:
>> On these newsgroups, I get the impression the young people do not use,
>> or do not like to use USENET. Perhaps they are somewhere else.
>> It was not like this10 to 15 years ago. And, there is a lot
>> of frustrated old people around here.
>
> 10 to 15 years ago there weren't Web-based forums.  In fact, 15 years
> ago there wasn't a Web as we know it.  Google Groups may have been the
> salvation of Usenet.

OTOH, the view from Usenet is that Google Groups may be the
death of Usenet.  In much the same way as AOL was a great blow
to the internet.  i.e. suddenly foisting thousands of illiterate users
onto the service and significantly raising the level of chaos.

> Actually, someone operating a for-profit news server could build some
> market share by touting the uncensored nature of Usenet.  They could
> sell access and news clients for those people who don't have them.

Yes, people have been doing this for years and they have a large
and growing customer base.  Many smaller ISPs outsource NNTP
service to large commercial providers such as Supernews, et.al.

Google Groups user interface is so desperately bad, I don't see
how anybody can tolerate it.  The real thing, even with a lowest-
common-denominator newsreader like Outlook Express is so
much faster, more direct, more convenient, more efficient, it isn't
even a close comparison.