On: Why did Usenet fail?

[xingped]

This is one of the big reasons, I think. I hear about Usenet all the time, but whenever I try to go looking for it in the past to figure it out, it just makes no sense to me and I cannot figure out how to get to it. To me it's just this nebulous thing that exists somewhere, but I have no idea where.

[UncleSlacky → xingped]

You can get a free account here (text groups only, not binaries):

https://www.eternal-september.org/

You can access Usenet via Thunderbird (or Pan, mentioned in the article).

[walterbell → xingped]

Some ISPs still provide Usenet feeds, or there are commercial Usenet providers in many countries, similar to email.

Usenet can be accessed via the OSS Thunderbird client, or OSS Usenet clients.

https://www.fastusenet.org/thunderbird-windows-tutorial.html

[osswid → xingped]

Go to telehack.com and type 'notes'.

It's not comprehensive, but will give you a taste of the flavor of what Usenet was like.