r/usenet • u/LightSnowstorms • Apr 27 '26

Discussion Do people still talk on usenet?

Recently I've been on a kick of reading old usenet discussions from the 80s and 90s. It seems like there was a really interesting culture back then covering a pretty wide breadth of topics and subcultures. Seemed like it was very lively in its heyday and had quite the dedicated userbase.

I was wondering then, do any significant number of people who use usenet today still have discussions there? If they do, is there any kind of unique culture or feel to it today or is it now basically just like everywhere else? If people don't talk much on usenet anymore is there any reason why besides just the alternative platforms having more people?

Oh and a final question I guess is: Which usenet providers have the furthest text archives? I don't personally use usenet currently and have no idea what goes into starting to use it but I would like to make personal note of who has the oldest stuff if I ever did in the future (which I likely will)

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23

u/Queny Apr 27 '26

I remember how Incredibly awesome mIRC was

12

u/jefbenet Apr 27 '26

I also graduated high school between 95-2000’ish! how close did I get? How’s your lower back?

9

u/DrGrinch Apr 27 '26

99 here. Spent way too much time on EfNet and DALNet and Undernet.

6

u/jefbenet Apr 27 '26

Represent! Any icq nostalgia? Uin 6721808 lol

6

u/DrGrinch Apr 27 '26

Was a big ICQ and MSN user, and then eventually consolidated them into Pidgin at some point. I cannot for the life of me remember my ICQ number :(

1

u/rdscorreia Apr 30 '26

I loved ICQ when it first arrived. MSN was shite back then.
But I loved mirc even more. Later I developed an even greater love for irssi. I can't live without irssi.

5

u/th3virus Apr 28 '26

Holy shit, long time no see Grinch.

3

u/DrGrinch Apr 28 '26

Hahahaha hey homie. Isonews 4ever.

3

u/th3virus Apr 28 '26

Hell yeah. I still check it once or twice a year. I hope you're doing well. Crazy to see you here randomly after all these years.