Usenet was lightyears ahead of any web forum I have seen so far! Decentralized, independent, and offering reader software that still has no match in the world

Usenet was lightyears ahead of any web forum I have seen so far! Decentralized, independent, and offering reader software that still has no match in the world of WWW forums. I have downloaded news batches at 1200 baud and would still want to do this to get those advantages back! Since the web forums have taken over, I have no place to go any longer, except for HN, but even this feels like a drag compared to the elegance of Usenet.