Usenet is unmoderated. Once you post it, it sticks forever. We could probably get one of the independent providers to give free access to a new newsgroup. Anyone have any thoughts?

I’ve used Usenet for my content needs for years because it’s so fast and risk free. I think we could also use it for our community discussions.

  • djmarcone@kbin.social
    6·
    2 years ago

    Usenet WAS basically the internet back in the early to mid 90s,they are also called list servers, that’s basically what they are.

    You post to a list by topic and it appends your post to the list. It’s like reddit in that there are topics and subjects but the list just goes on forever.

    Each post will have your subject line and other header info and the software will let you reply and quote and so on.

    The key is that it isn’t very centralized, servers will copy the lists and host their own. The cool thing was it would let you post binaries. So piracy and pr0n on the internet was here b4 websites were really a thing.

    There are a lot of list servers out there but my understanding is that the good ones are a subscription now.

    • freewifiiiii@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      6·
      2 years ago

      subscriptions

      Yes. You need to pay a small amount but unless you plan on downloading many TBs of stuff the cost is really small. The speeds and lack of risk makes it worthwhile for me. I think I paid $5 for a 1 TB account and I can use the free level of access at my indexers without having to pay.

      Like I said in my original post, I wonder if we can get a provider to host a newsgroup for us for free?

        • freewifiiiii@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
          4·
          2 years ago

          I messaged the owner of the Newsgroup direct website on Reddit and asked if he would honor an old price and he did. He was very active on the Usenet subreddit.

        • Briongloid@aussie.zone
          2·
          2 years ago

          I personally use frugalusenet for $4/pm, which is unlimited, but if I could find $5/1TB I would switch to that.

          Indexer I pay $1/pm for a big one and I have a free one that has less.

        • Ann Onymous
          1·
          2 years ago

          I’ve had a lifetime sub for NZBGeek (indexer) since 2015 (one-off payment of something like 20-30 USD) and currently pay 6 USD/month for unlimited downloads with NewsGroupDirect. The NGD sub was 4 USD/month until recently and I got it at that price through a promotion that I found out about on Reddit (probably r/usenet) a few years ago.

          There’s some free trials listed here, but sadly all the best info is probably still on r/usenet.