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Go to eternal-september.org, sign up, set up Thunderbird or another NNTP client, and you can experience Usenet today in all its glory. Comp.misc is a good group to start with.

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The above post is the best answer to what is Usenet; understand it from using it.

For anyone who doesn't want to sign up to try it, there's also:

news.aioe.org

https://www.aioe.org

Thanks! I just did it. Very interesting.

If you are comfortable with text-based interfaces, I'd suggested getting slrn to see what Usenet was like back in the days when most of us only had text terminals.

If you are an Emacs user, Gnus is another way to get the old school experience.

Another text one that was popular is tin, which I've never used but which, like slrn, is still maintained and updated.

If you want to set up slrn -- as suggested in another post -- I can help. It's not particularly intuitive. I first used Claws Mail and Thunderbird and then set up slrn.

I still use Thunderbird most often.

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