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27 Jan 2023, 07:39 AM | #1 |
Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 60
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Do you remember USENET?
That was the "Mother" of all online forums today!
A lot of useful discussion and information but also a lot of spam on un-moderated groups. What do you think? |
27 Jan 2023, 08:56 AM | #2 |
Essential Contributor
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: NYC
Posts: 485
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Before my time
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27 Jan 2023, 11:42 AM | #3 |
Essential Contributor
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 276
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I download tv shows and movies from usenet everyday. Kind of like torrents.
But I don't use it to talk or have discussions anymore. Not for a very very long time. I have fond memories of having a great many discussions back when computer BBS systems were big. I would participate in discussions in BBS message forums that were "echoed" across the country. Message were transferred by BBS systems by calling other BBS systems over the phone line by modem. System to system. It would take a few days for messages to reach other systems across the country or world. Then the wait for any replies. |
28 Jan 2023, 02:02 PM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 192
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I was an avid user of Usenet, but in my opinion, Facebook was the nail in it's coffin. It's been dead for many years. Most internet users today wouldn't even know how to use it.
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28 Jan 2023, 06:10 PM | #5 | |
The "e" in e-mail
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: EU
Posts: 4,945
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Quote:
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3 Feb 2023, 09:25 PM | #6 |
Cornerstone of the Community
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Philippines
Posts: 846
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Yes. Used it a lot back in the day. Dial up, download new post of the feeds I was subscribed to, hang up, do my thing with them, dial up, send post, hang up. Rinse and repeat daily.
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9 Feb 2023, 10:59 PM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada
Posts: 182
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I bought my first concert tickets from someone on usenet back in 1996.
I still use it today to download things. It's still very much useful but not for what it was in the 90s. |
22 Feb 2023, 12:37 AM | #8 | |
Essential Contributor
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 280
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Quote:
I do still pay for a monthly account, but only because easynews sells USENET+vpn for little more than either individually. Otherwise I'd get a block account where you pay for GBs that never expire. It's still useful for binaries that are hard to find elsewhere. |
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27 Feb 2023, 05:47 AM | #9 |
Master of the @
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: USA
Posts: 1,426
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I used it back when I was a regular on this forum (nearly 20 years ago now. Wow...) and when I was a Fastmail fan, and constantly debating whether to use Outlook Express or Netscape. I miss those days.
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27 Mar 2023, 03:42 PM | #10 |
Cornerstone of the Community
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: The Village
Posts: 616
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First discovered USENET as an undergrad in 1983. Back in the 80s it was really The Thing. My university didn't have "real" Internet then, but even if we had, there wasn't any content on it... all it offered beyond what we had with dialup connections was FTP and telnet - boring
I suppose I continued reading USENET into the 90s... don't have a clear memory of when I stopped, but I have had no desire to get back into it since then. |