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PGHammer
join:2003-06-09
Accokeek, MD
clubs:
 ·Comcast
| reply to Dogfather
Re: They were already down to 2GB/mo
It's not the children (and it's not pr0n, either), but, as the OP said, declining interest. Comcast *never* ran the servers themselves (before switching to Giganews, Excite, then AtHome, ran the newsgroup servers, then, in the interim between Excite and Giganews, Comcast leased access from UUNet). Between declining interest in USENET (almost everything available via USENET is available other ways, most of which are far more bandwidth-friendly), and the cost of service, why should Comcast continue eating $8/customer for a service likely used by less than ten percent of their customers? (As much as I used to use the Comcast/Giganews USENET servers, even I haven't used them in more than six months.) Surprisingly, my interest in USENET has declined with the increase in available/usable bandwidth. | |
Usenetter
@datafoundry.com
| Usenet is growing like crazy. Here's a graph showing the news feed over time.
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Usen···(en).svg
If interest is "declining", then how come more content is posted to it every day?
The "declining" argument is BS. | |
Aimhere
join:2001-04-02
Green Bay, WI
| said by Usenetter :
Usenet is growing like crazy. Here's a graph showing the news feed over time.
If interest is "declining", then how come more content is posted to it every day?
The "declining" argument is BS.
That graph shows that the the amount of posts per day (in GB) has grown over the years. But I have to point out that there isn't necessarily any correspondence between the amount of posting and the number of people posting.
The amount of posting has increased for two reasons. First, the binary files being posted have grown, both in size and in quantity. Computer executables (apps, games, etc.) have steadily expanded from single-floppy disks (or even smaller) into multi-DVD-ROM monsters, while data files (music and video) have gone from tiny MIDI sequences to multi-megabyte MP3s to multi-gigabyte full-DVD videos. Second, more and more spammers "discovered" Usenet, posting their drivel in every group under the sun, and while their posts are text-only, the sheer number of them adds up.
Posting to Usenet has grown because it's still one of the easiest and cheapest (for the poster) ways to distribute [binary] stuff... no need to buy/rent a permanent server, no need to build a web GUI, nothing to maintain, no DNS registration, etc.; just subscribe to a Usenet service for a few bucks a month. But the number of people actually using Usenet for discussions seems to be steadily dwindling.
Aimhere | |
Akelvin
join:2008-10-25
Vancouver, WA
| reply to PGHammer
Declining interest you say? Not so, and you know it. Besides, it's clear that you aren't the target audience for Usenet which has always stood for the free exchange of information in a non-monitored environment.
Don't get me wrong, blogs are fine and communication tools are being created every day to cater to just about every personal need. However, what they all lack is the true feeling of privacy and protection in support of "Free Speech."
Personally, I feel that with each nook and corner being exploited for profit, the once enjoyed anonymity that the Internet use to provide no longer exists. To me, Usenet is the last vestige of a true form of "Free" information exchange, while everyone is simply waiting for this too to become property of "The Man." Enjoy it while it lasts. 
***Always keep your pockets free of margarine... | |
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