Hi Rusty,

>My impression is that most people don't even know that usenet exists;
>all they're aware of is the web, and therefore web forums.  Think
>about it; they have a question and what do they do: a google or yahoo
>search.
>  
>
That is also my impression. Some people don't know what Usenet is, 
others think it is a remnant of the hippie era.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

The yahoo groups are quite nice actually.  You can use them either as
a conventional mailing list or read the messages via the web
interface.  The Files, Photos, Calendar, etc. functions make it very
handy for clubs and many other special interest groups.

Joerg <n...@removethispacbell.net> writes:

> Hi Kelly,
> 
> > Many of the products/packages I use are well-supported via mailing 
> > lists, vendor-hosted web forums, and 3rd-party (Yahoo!) hosted web 
> > forums.  Add in the various RSS-based forums I read, and there's not a 
> > lot of need for me to keep reading Usenet other than old habits.
> 
> 
> I haven't tried Yahoo yet because I didn't like their sign-up process 
> but as for vendor forums and other fancy interfaces I have yet to see 
> anything that is as efficient as Usenet.
> 
> > That's not to say that I don't appreciate the charms of Usenet - I 
> > find most web forums bland, visually noisy, and the GUIs mostly suck.  
> > A good newsreader is a wonderful tool.
> 
> 
> Indeed it is. Many 'modern' forums are outright useless. 
> Over-sophisticated and way too slow.
> 
> Regards, Joerg
> 
> http://www.analogconsultants.com

Joerg <n...@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

[...]

>I haven't tried Yahoo yet because I didn't like their sign-up process 
>but as for vendor forums and other fancy interfaces I have yet to see 
>anything that is as efficient as Usenet.

you can subscribe top most Yahoo! groups via mail without a Yahoo! ID
(IOW sign-up), just like any other "standard" mailing list.

Only to access the file areas etc. of most Yahoo! groups, you need an
ID. A bit complicated, but no real problem, although I
(suspicious/paranoid) use a specific mail address for it.

A mailing list is IMHO nearly as efficient as a newsgroup.

Oliver
-- 
Oliver Betz, Muenchen (oliverbetz.de)