4 ms·

I always feel like I missed out on a pretty exciting era whenever I read about Usenet. I envy those who have strong memories around comp.* and wish that I coul

I always feel like I missed out on a pretty exciting era whenever I read about Usenet. I envy those who have strong memories around comp.* and wish that I could have been a part of it.

ChuckMcM 11y ago
You didn't.
PhasmaFelis 11y ago
It baffles me why this got downvoted.
steven2012 11y ago
Take reddit and remove all the karma whoring, and you have the Usenet. I think reddit is essentially Usenet 2.0 for all intents and purposes. You get all of the good and bad associated with Usenet, but in a much more easily accessible format.
- DanBC 11y ago
  Reddit is a much worse form of Usenet. You're limited to the reddit clients; you're limited to what admins allow; and you're limited to what mods allow.
  - steven2012 11y ago
    I disagree. I think reddit is much, much more accessible, and because of that, some of the communities on reddit are thriving in a way that was never possible with the Usenet.
Ayaz 11y ago
Reading this, I could not help but feel an incredible longing for a proper threaded UseNet client, a good UseNet subscription that contained most of the important channels, refraining from top-posting, using fixed-width fonts, and in general, spending a good part of my time as a youth learning one too many things and interacting with fascinating people. For someone who was (and still is) quite pedantic about word-wrapping and fonts and proper indentation levels while quoting, Google Groups never came close.
DanBC 11y ago
You could download a news reader (I liked slrn; other people like tin or trn or pan; but there's a bunch of others) and find a free text server. Or you could download INN and set up your own local group for you and your friends. http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn// http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn// (Perhaps INN isn't the best server to start with! Maybe Diablo is better.) http://www.openusenet.org/ http://www.openusenet.org/

I always feel like I missed out on a pretty exciting era whenever I read about Usenet. I envy those who have strong memories around comp.* and wish that I could have been a part of it.

ChuckMcM 11y ago

You didn't.

PhasmaFelis 11y ago

It baffles me why this got downvoted.

steven2012 11y ago

Take reddit and remove all the karma whoring, and you have the Usenet. I think reddit is essentially Usenet 2.0 for all intents and purposes. You get all of the good and bad associated with Usenet, but in a much more easily accessible format.

DanBC 11y ago
Reddit is a much worse form of Usenet. You're limited to the reddit clients; you're limited to what admins allow; and you're limited to what mods allow.
- steven2012 11y ago
  I disagree. I think reddit is much, much more accessible, and because of that, some of the communities on reddit are thriving in a way that was never possible with the Usenet.

Ayaz 11y ago

Reading this, I could not help but feel an incredible longing for a proper threaded UseNet client, a good UseNet subscription that contained most of the important channels, refraining from top-posting, using fixed-width fonts, and in general, spending a good part of my time as a youth learning one too many things and interacting with fascinating people. For someone who was (and still is) quite pedantic about word-wrapping and fonts and proper indentation levels while quoting, Google Groups never came close.

DanBC 11y ago

You could download a news reader (I liked slrn; other people like tin or trn or pan; but there's a bunch of others) and find a free text server. Or you could download INN and set up your own local group for you and your friends. http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn// http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/inn// (Perhaps INN isn't the best server to start with! Maybe Diablo is better.) http://www.openusenet.org/ http://www.openusenet.org/