@f8d9bc1c 

Spent many years on USENET. Miss it. Had many great conversations and learned a lot of tech, security, encryptions stuff. 

 @f8d9bc1c it's kind of been a thing for pirates. 

 @f8d9bc1c 
I held the all-time record for most posts on alt-startrek.vs.starwars. 

If Usenet made a comeback, someone could break that record. ... I don't know how I feel about that. 

 @f8d9bc1c This would be kind of a wild outcome. 

I actually only got around to dropping my last Usenet provider about 2 or 3 years ago. I was still finding it useful for downloading classical music 

 @f8d9bc1c @bb1a99d2 

Google sure did their best to bury it alive. 

 @f8d9bc1c I recall and miss using an Emacs Usenet client to chat among friends on a Linux netsec board 20 years ago. I fondly recall user “Luke” posting “ring, ring, Neo” and waiting for my reply before he dialed me (from Australia!) to surprise me (I’m American). I miss Usenet chat. 
Now it is just a service that I use as a utility for pulling in binary data using a suite of software that decrypts gobbledygook posted in text form to forums that I’m unfamiliar with. 

 @f8d9bc1c started there too. Was online right from the mid '80s as a student with a big research corp, where we had our own internal newsgroups, as well as those of the larger world.

Crazy we used to share our full names, email addresses and employer info in our post signatures with no concern.

Also, signature files! With our favorite quotes or ASCII art in there. 

 @f8d9bc1c That would be so great.  I miss it a great deal.  Used to come as a standard part of any internet connection and now the servers are almost impossible to find.  I gave up like a decade ago.  Miss my comp.lang.* 

 @f8d9bc1c Also, true story.  Was a frequent participant of the comp.lang.* groups (especially c related langs where you could rub elbows with bjarne and meyers.  Someone posted a block of gibberish that I spent hours deciphering--discovering base64 like some code cracking guru only to be greeted by...goatse.  People today don't even know what that is. 

 @f8d9bc1c Now somebody bring back GEnie. 

 @f8d9bc1c Ah the days of downloading binaries… 

 @f8d9bc1c Yes please! 

 @f8d9bc1c we need a bit of retrofuturism in Usenet and make it easier to use. It may flourish again 

 @f8d9bc1c It's aaaalways on the verge of a comeback