Duke University Shutting Down Usenet Server

[exfileme]

The home to the very first electronic newsgroups will be terminated on Thursday.

Duke University Shutting Down Usenet Server : Read more

 

[hoofhearted]

Probably just a preemptive measure to keep the RIAA and MPAA off their arses.

 

[pangedit]

Not related to teh article but.. Why am I getting a storm of pop up video adds in here all of a sudden?

 

[Trialsking]

[citation][nom]pangedit[/nom]Not related to teh article but.. Why am I getting a storm of pop up video adds in here all of a sudden?[/citation]
No kidding, I know Tom's need to make some $$, but this is silly now! They are going to chase away regular!

 

[elel]

[citation][nom]pangedit[/nom]Not related to teh article but.. Why am I getting a storm of pop up video adds in here all of a sudden?[/citation]
Because you aren't using firefox with adblick plus. I am shocked when I venture outside of my own comfy configured browser and look at this site the way an internet explorer user sees it.

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]elel[/nom]Because you aren't using firefox with adblick plus. I am shocked when I venture outside of my own comfy configured browser and look at this site the way an internet explorer user sees it.[/citation]

Hmmm guess I don't know what pop-ups are after using Firefox for so long!

 

[abbadon_34]

So Sad, So Sad, make me feel OLD, going from 33.6kpbs to 10mbps at UCLA and Usenet was the only way to the full thing

 

[Guest]

I think it's more the ISPs than Twitter that's to blame. AT&T stopped supporting Usenet and I'm betting other ISPs did, as well. That, more than anything else, slashed Usenet usage.

 

[isamuelson]

Ahh, I remember those ascii-pic sigs. Awesome.

Usenet's original home finally being closed. Wow. Sad day.

 

[nukemaster]

Another relic from the golden age of the net...GONE....

 

[zaznet]

Your average Internet user has no idea what Usenet is and has not need for it with most services being web based for quite a while now. Even Usenet had some web portals/clients.

I remember when I used to promote use of Netscape because it included an email and Usenet client feature. Even back then most people had no idea what Usenet was.

 

[gm0n3y]

I can't even remember the last pop-up add I got, especially on this site. And I use Chrome with no ad blocking enabled at all.

 

[rooket]

I love the hover over ads that cover up half of the frickin article LOL haven't had that happen in a little bit though, been careful where I position the mouse on this site hehe.

You'd think that with all the money they are raking in from Apple Computer they wouldn't need ads ;-) ;-) ;-)

 

[belardo]

I'd still be using Usenet today, but TWC / Comcast dropped that service years ago. Some things are better in Usenet.

I go back form the days of BBSes with a 300baud modem.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, first used it on a edu shell account. It really got old having to explain it to people: "Is that a web site?"

 

[Guest]

This program posts news to thousands of machines throughout the entire civilized world. Your message will cost the net hundreds if not thousands of dollars to send everywhere. Please be sure you know what you are doing.

Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this? [ny]

 

[JohnnyLucky]

30 years old? WOW!

 

[Guest]

Usenet was attacked by the bottom-feeders of the Copyright Industry (RIAA, MPAA, etc) with the help of a New York state attorney general said to be on a mission to eliminate child porn. So the equivalent of stopping crank calls by tearing down all telephone lines was done.

I believe the word and idea "spam" also had its origins in the Usenet. "Spammers" were attacked virulently in the newsgroups. And with the decline of the Usenet, we now see the effects. Those web-based discussion forums that were talked about above which people pretend are replacements for the Usenet are now full of spam. In fact, the spam/ads are everywhere, often in font sizes larger than the forum discussion text, and mixed in with it and around it. It is as if the forum operator is intentionally trying to be misleading, and the practices of web-based discussion site providers is as bad as the worst of pornographers who use every trick in the book to get the unwary and even wary to download their malware (or they break your browser with the latest script exploits).

The Usenet will come back again because there is a need for a refuge away from both the clueless and those trying to make a buck on a click. It may even be called "Usenet 2.0" or whatever with a "m*r*ns not welcome" sign on the door.