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AOL Kills Usenet Access

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the bad-times dept.

Numair writes "BetaNews is reporting that AOL is about to terminate Usenet access for its users. Now, before everyone starts rejoicing ... where is the Usenet community going to find another large media company to protect it from frivolous copyright lawsuits?"

7 of 576 comments (clear)

  1. Whatever gets AOL off the net is fine with me. by IO+ERROR · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the article:

    One dismayed user likened AOL members to drunk drivers on the Information Super Highway.

    Hm, for the most part, they're still just exactly like that. Nothing's changed in 11 years. Unfortunately, this isn't going to kill AOL, as one other person suggested. Somehow, as badly as AOL sucks, they manage to continue to survive. Maybe it's all those CDs they keep distributing everywhere. Want an AOL CD? Go to Burger King! They make half-decent frisbees...

    But I'll take anything that reduces AOL's Internet presence as a good thing for the Internet.

    Oh, and the frivolous lawsuit was against AOL, not Usenet. You can't sue Usenet. It's too decentralized.

    --
    How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
  2. So did Comcast, what's the difference? by garcia · · Score: 4, Informative

    Comcast effectively "killed" Usenet access when it told you that you can get it through a third party (which charges after what 2GB?)

    They gave a viable alternative by pointing people to Google Groups. At least they didn't shut off free access then start charging their users for it.

    AOL has a large userbase of morons. How many of those morons read Usenet anyway? It's likely that it is a tiny group of their overall base. Why support something that no one uses and that you can get through other sources anyway?

  3. Just use this free usenet server: by Karamchand · · Score: 5, Informative

    While it does not provide access to binary groups (for understandable reasons) it works really well for normal text groups. And it's free, all you have to do is registering: news.individual.net

  4. Re:Wow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It looks like September did end, after all.

    For those who don't get it:

    http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/September-that- never-ended.html

  5. Re:Real uses for USENET anymore? by CDS · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are still some very good groups out there. They tend to be very highly-policed (either as officially moderated groups, or via a cadre of regulars who keep things firmly ontopic.)

    comp.lang.c is a great example of this. I owe them a LOT regarding my growth in understanding of C.

  6. Re:Wow. by bamberg · · Score: 5, Informative

    In the days before widespread internet usage, a significant percentage of the participants in Usenet were college students. Every September would see an influx of newbies who didn't have a clue about Usenet conventions and would disrupt things until they were educated. When AOL gained Usenet access people referred to it as "the September that never ended", referring to the fact that there was now a constant influx of clueless newbies.

  7. Re:Wow. by Ex+Machina · · Score: 4, Informative

    and the original post And yes, he is alive, well and still reachable at the easily-despamed email address used there.