Date: Tue, 5 May 2026 16:12:37 +0200 Subject: usenet's usefulness From: D Message-Id: <20260505.161237.7fe47fc0@msgid.frell.theremailer.net> Newsgroups: alt.comp.software.firefox Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!sewer!news.dizum.net!not-for-mail Organization: dizum.com - The Internet Problem Provider X-Abuse: abuse@dizum.com Injection-Info: sewer.dizum.com - 2001::1/128 Xref: csiph.com alt.comp.software.firefox:17041 certainly for more than three decades, unmoderated usenet newsgroups have been the untamed wild west of internet-accessible public forums, as anyone could post plain text articles averting content moderation, making unmoderated usenet the only public repository on planet earth that has not been routinely subjected to moderation, i.e. censorship newsreader filters are typically used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio inherent in these uncensored message boards, by manually white- listing helpful content while automatically ignoring everything else, most all newsreaders have filtering options, allow multiservers, etc. (using Tor Browser 15.0.11) >http://usenet-fr.yakakwatik.org/newsreaders.html >Last update: 05/06/2025 > Introduction > Newsreaders > 40Tude Dialog (Windows) > Betterbird (Linux / Windows / macOS) > Claws-Mail (Linux / Windows / macOS) > Evolution (Linux) > flnews (Linux, UNIX systems) > Gnus (Linux / Windows / macOS) > Gravity (Windows) > MacCafe (macOS) > MacSOUP (macOS = 10.14) > MesNews (Windows) > ModNewsreader (Android and its forks) > Pan (Linux / macOS) > SeaMonkey (Linux / Windows / macOS) > slrn (Linux / Windows / macOS) > Sylpheed (Linux / Windows / macOS) > Thunderbird (Linux / Windows / macOS) > tin (Linux / Windows / macOS) > Xananews (Windows) > Xnews (Windows) > References and useful links [end quote] client-side newsreader filtering is essential to usenet's usefulness, listing helpful content while automatically ignoring everything else web-based usenet servers certainly have their usefulness too, telnet is also very helpful, but for those who recall using "deja news" for newsgroup browsing, searching, posting, replying, it worked reliably up to until about twenty-five years ago, then "google groups" worked for a couple of years, but after 2004 (twenty-two years ago), it was clear to everyone that gg had become unreliable, no longer useful as a usenet archive search engine, but did apparently work famously for flooding usenet beyond all other servers combined, reigning champion and yet, after forty-five long years, tiny usenet just won't go away, hence has been the forum of choice for nonconformists, free thinkers, outsiders, specifically because unmoderated newsgroups are available, and apart from server-side spam filters, expirations, removals, etc., uncensored content is posted intact . . . social media can't compete, and some nntp newsservers carry binary groups, for those so inclined usenet probably serves other purposes lesser known or even unheardof, but in general terms, it's a means of communication unique to itself, its audience many contributors but mostly lurkers, a silent majority, so though it may seem as if no one is reading, be sure that they are