On 23 Nov 2003 10:32:38 -0800, (edfan) wrote:

Tom Watson wrote in message ws.com...
I read someone's comment the other day about how their ISP claimed
that "no one uses newsgroups anymore."

My own ISP has made the same comment to me when I've called to
complain about inadequate Newsgroup service. They seem to feel that
their customer base uses Usenet in only a marginal fashion. They act
as though they couldn't be bothered.

I think so many newsgroups have been taken over by spammers and
hatemongers, it's tough to waste so much time wading through the muck.
This newsgroup has been better than average but there are dozens of
others that have succumbed. Everywhere you go, it's porn, spam, get
rich quick schemes, JUNK. It's not hard to understand why users have
been leaving in droves.

There are serious implications if this continues in the trend
direction. Not one newsgroup in my memory has ever recovered once it
was thoroughly spammed for more than a month or two. Some newsgroups
have been taken over by the folks who spammed it to death. Maybe
that's cheaper than starting up a new group.


Actually Internet use is on the decline due to all the annoyances,
ads, vermit and such. But the internet is certainly here to stay.