Is Usenet still a thing?

[CwF]

Simple question maybe?

I see it's still out there but different. Since I'm old I remember when it was often provided by isp's. Now it is not commonly available and maybe a pain to use, pain as in extra cost maybe too. It was a staple for me long ago and very active when it was the way to do it.

Not looking for porn, I assume that's still there. But the idea of posting on the internet last forever obviously isn't the case. Nothing I wrote is anywhere to be found.

My point in wondering is if it is still in active use, is the signal to noise ratio any higher than forums? Back in the day it was assumed one was typing to, and reading the text of someone out there that is at least somewhat coherent. Today everyone is on the commodity internet, the barrier to entry is so low I might as well go to the library.

[Bulkley]

Oh you bring back memories. I miss Gopher too. Even with the old dial-up modems a user could scoot into university libraries all over the world. There was no advertising then.

To answer your question, I think Usenet is still around in diehard circles but indirectly. My ISP no longer provides direct links.

[Hallvor]

Usenet's binary traffic is at an all time high, but Usenet has been declining for many years and is pretty much dead in other respects, except for a small core of users.

[cuckooflew]

Yes USNET is still around, and it is "still a thing" for some people. My grandfather started using it way back when, and told me a little about it, but I have not really used it much myself, he (my grand father) started some of the earliest "newgroups": misc.transport.trucking , the newsgroup still exists today. I am very proud of my grandfather, but anyway.... right about the same time, the first WWW sites started, and of course he jumped in and started a website, to help get the votes needed to start the newsgroup....it is a long story but I remember it since he told me the story over and over, he was a truck driver at that time.

My point in wondering is if it is still in active use, is the signal to noise ratio any higher than forums?

I am not sure, I would have to check some news groups, etc. and see, I might just do that later... I do know that now there are several newsgroups all using "trucking" in their name, and it is difficult to figure out which one is best, on those groups the "noise" level is high, sort of like on the CB, lot'ts of truck drivers arguing!....
There also is a USENET news group for Debian, https://wiki.debian.org/UseNet

Newsgroups

linux.debian.* - gateways to debian-*@lists.debian.org
comp.os.linux.*
alt.os.linux.*
comp.mail.misc
comp.unix.*
alt.sysadmin.recovery
comp.lang.*
rec.arts.sf.*

So I suppose the signal to noise ratio might vary depending on which group, who is active, moderated or not moderated, etc...
https://manpages.debian.org/jessie/inn2 ... .5.en.html