Newsgroups fever

[El Greco]

I got myself a subscription to easynews.com and I am flabbergasted. I knew that something was going on in newsgroups but I couldn't possibly guess the extent. P2P looks like a childish game compared to the sheer, unadulterated amount of data that is being trafficed over there.

 

[bangdazap]

Why you filthy pirate!

 

[El Greco]

But I only download freeware and public domain stuff! You have to believe me!

 

[bangdazap]

Remember: when you download mp3s you download Communism!

 

[Segnosaur]

I got myself a subscription to easynews.com and I am flabbergasted.

Yes, a lot of internet 'newbies' aren't that familiar with Usenet/Netnews. Long before web forums like this, and P2P file sharing like Napster, Usnet was one of the main ways that people posted messages for others to see. (I used to use Usenet a lot; then, spammers started using people's newsgroup postings as a way to get email addresses.)

One question is, does your regular ISP have a news server? If so, you may not need a subscription to easynews. (I've had 4 ISPs in the last 10 years and they've all had news of some sort. However, the drawback is, many may not keep news postings on line for more than a few days, so you'll have to check back often.)

If anyone wants to find old usenet postings, if you go to google.com, they have an old newsgroup search tool (although I don't think they archive binaries.)