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You talk about it as if it's dead.

I wouldn't say its dead, but today... people tend to join web-based social networks with more controls. Reddit, Facebook, etc. etc.

USENET was the original social network. But moderation issues (ie: pornography, cracked software distribution) has made it more difficult to interact with raw USENET today unless you specifically pay for a USENET service. Universities have been closing down their public and free USENET servers in recent years.

Overall, discussions online happen over Reddit, Facebook... and of course, Hacker News. I bet you an entire generation of readers have no idea what USENET is.

I'm aware of it because it's the inspiration for the message system in _A Fire Upon The Deep_ (Vernor Vinge).

That's a great book. I remember when my old ISP provided access to a free usenet service. This was a standard practice that stopped 5-10 years ago.

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