Newsgroups?

[5cupa]

I have never ever used newsgroups in my email or really seen why I should, but i notice even windows live email program still has it as an option.

am i missing out, does anyone here use them?

[0iD]

only for pr0n, before anyone elses says it

not used recently, but did for CAD related stuff.

[5cupa]

oh u edit your post quick sir

[peterb]

Porn (some hardcore and encrypted really nasty stuff), hate, racist white supremacist stuff and torrent feeds for copyright material. There are some legit special interest groups, but most of those tend to be web based now.

(And that knowledge is not through personal experience! )

[sadbuttrue]

The first rule of newsgroups...

[CaptainCrash]

Porn (some hardcore and encrypted really nasty stuff), hate, racist white supremacist stuff and torrent feeds for copyright material. There are some legit special interest groups, but most of those tend to be web based now.

(And that knowledge is not through personal experience! )

Clearly.

Yes, obviously you'll find some unpleasant stuff if you go looking for it, but you paint it as though newsgroups now have no other purpose, and anyone using them is a potential Rule 45 candidate.

Most of the Usenet binary content these days is similar to what you'll find on the main BitTorrent trackers, whatever your opinions on those one way or another. You can usually max out your connection, which is an advantage over the big public torrent sites, and it tends to be somewhat more anonymous, which of course I find invaluable in my endless search for kiddyporn and Nazi memorabilia.

[Andeh13]

Am i right in thinking most of the good ones are subscription based aswell?

Monthly fee for a download quote sort of thing.

[Agent]

Am i right in thinking most of the good ones are subscription based aswell?

Monthly fee for a download quote sort of thing.

All good ones are subscription based.

[Singh400]

Crap load of microsoft.community.* ones still on there (still very active), and newsgroups are used in every Microsoft beta program

Edit* Most if not all are now available through the WebUI: http://www.microsoft.com/communities...s/default.mspx

[mikerr]

All good ones are subscription based.

Only if you are interested in binaries (i.e. video and warez )
The free ones are fine for what usenet was designed for...text discussion.

TBH I'm amazed many subscription news servers haven't been sued or shut down
Unlike bittorrent trackers, usenet news servers do actually hold a copy of the content.

[Funkstar]

TBH I'm amazed many subscription news servers haven't been sued or shut down
Unlike bittorrent trackers, usenet news servers do actually hold a copy of the content.

Probably because the RIAA and MPAA don't know about them. Someone heard you can get movies from a "torrent" so they sued them. No-one has told them about newsgroups yet.

[burtie]

I set up a giganews account 6 months ago paying £21 per month and forgot about it, never really used it. The wife was none please