Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register


Groups > alt.privacy > #31528

usenet's usefulness

Date 2026-05-05 17:47 +0200
From D <J@M>
Subject usenet's usefulness
Message-Id <20260505.174708.2222fb9e@msgid.frell.theremailer.net>
Newsgroups alt.privacy
Organization dizum.com - The Internet Problem Provider

Show all headers | View raw


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

Back to alt.privacy | Previous | NextNext in thread | Find similar


Thread

usenet's usefulness D <J@M> - 2026-05-05 17:47 +0200
  Re: usenet's usefulness Keith <user13263@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-09 01:53 +0000
    Re: usenet's usefulness yeti <yeti@tilde.institute> - 2026-05-09 14:42 +0042
      Re: usenet's usefulness Keith <user13263@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-09 21:40 +0000
      Re: usenet's usefulness Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> - 2026-05-09 15:58 -0700
        Re: usenet's usefulness yeti <yeti@tilde.institute> - 2026-05-10 04:09 +0042
    Re: usenet's usefulness D <J@M> - 2026-05-09 19:23 +0200
    Re: usenet's usefulness Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> - 2026-05-09 15:54 -0700
      Re: usenet's usefulness rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-05-10 18:56 +0000
    Re: usenet's usefulness rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-05-10 18:50 +0000
      Re: usenet's usefulness ����rp�nk <20121222@example.com> - 2026-05-12 17:29 +0200

csiph-web