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Posted on Sun, Mar. 13, 2005



There's still a lot of use for Usenet




The Internet's defining characteristic is its interactivity, and one
of the oldest tools for this is Usenet. America Online recently
decided to drop Usenet from its services.

This, along with generating howls of protest from some, has led others
to question the viability of Usenet as a useful tool for individuals
and businesses.

Created in 1979 by two Duke University graduate students, Usenet is
still the world's largest gabfest, with nearly 100,000 separate
discussion groups covering the humanities, the sciences, business,
politics, computers, and other areas.

Though they are formally called "newsgroups," most Usenet groups
deliver far more opinion, debate, rumor, advice, camaraderie, humor,
flirting and spam than hard news.

Despite the fact that Americans, and English speakers in general, are
disproportionately represented, participation is worldwide, which has
led some over the years to suggest that Usenet can help people better
understand one another and bridge differences between countries and
cultures.

But discussion on Usenet is text-based, and other online communication
and community-building tec hnologies have come along with more
graphical pizzazz. Blogs, short for Web logs, and Web-based discussion
groups get more attention today.

Many people who have gone online since the Web became popular in the
mid-1990s do not even know about Usenet.

Usenet can still be a valuable resource, for discussing what is on
your mind and gauging what is on the mind of others.

"AOL doesn't get it," Nathan Boyle said in a discussion at CNET, a
technology news and information site, following a CNET article about
AOL's decision to drop Usenet.

Boyle, a financial services consultant in Bowling Green, Ohio, has his
own blog in addition to participating in Web-based discussion groups.

But he still appreciates Usenet for its research and archival
benefits.

"It's an amazing resource," he said in a telephone interview.

Blogs are typically sounding boards for individuals, controlled by
them.

Web-based discussion groups are controlled by the Web site or company
that runs them. With Usenet, "anybody can speak his mind," Boyle said.

Boyle's sentiments were echoed in the same discussion by Jeff
Barringer.

"Usenet is the ultimate leveler when it comes to free speech," said
Barringer, who runs OnlineHobbyist.com Inc., a Web-based community for
pet lovers.

In a phone interview, Barringer said he used Usenet for marketing and
research. By participating in Usenet discussions, he attracts people
to his own service's online discussions.

He also finds background material useful for his business through his
Usenet involvement.

The premier tool to mine Usenet for informational nuggets is Google
Groups, a free service of Google, the popular Web search engine. Along
with letting you participate in Usenet discussions, Google Groups also
provides advanced search tools to help you find out what people are
saying about your organization, your competition, or yourself.

A lesser-known but interesting Usenet search tool is a free offering
from Microsoft called Netscan.

It excels at providing aggregate information on the level of
discussion activity about specific subjects.

Despite AOL's move, many Internet service providers continue to offer
access to Usenet through Usenet programs, or "newsreaders," such as
Forte Agent, or through e-mail programs that offer newsreading
capabilities, such as Microsoft Outlook Express.

Participating in Usenet discussions this way is more convenient than
through Google Groups, which is primarily a search and archiving
service.

If your ISP does not offer Usenet access, two popular options for
obtaining it are Giganews and News.Individual.NET.

On the Web

www.cnet.com

www.nwlbnet.blogspot.com

www.pethobbyist.com

http://groups.google.com

http://netscan.research.

microsoft.com

www.forteinc.com/agent

www.giganews.com

http://news.individual.net


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Contact columnist Reid Goldsborough at
. Read his recent work at http://go.
philly.com/reidgoldsborough.





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Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker

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http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)