Pretty much the question. I heard about Usenet a while back but never managed to wrap my head around it.

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Usenet used to be freely available through most ISPs. But now, even though there are still a lot of usenet groups active for discussion, it is also used for file “sharing”. So hosting Usenet groups can be very data intensive, and ISPs stopped hosting them.

    Google hosts a free portal into usenet at groups.google.com , but I just went there and saw that even they decided it’s too much trouble and will be stopping soon.

    There are a few subscription based usenet servers, they vary from $5 to $10 a month. Easynews.com , giganews.com are two that seem to still be open.

    • damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Yeah Google bought a really great thing and ran it for a very long time as their own version of stackoverflow. I bet stackoverflow was a response to Google’s monopoly on groups answering questions.

      • pantyhosewimp@lemmynsfw.com
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        9 months ago

        I think Stack Overflow was a response to Experts Exchange which teased you with a question but you had to buy a subscription for the answer. Subscribers would answer questions and pay for the privilege of providing that site with content.