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It still exists primarily for binary file sharing. Overall, I think Usenet works much better than non-private torrent trackers.

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Usenet has always been like the proverbial blind people and the elephant... people uninterested in binaries are unlikely to agree that Usenet works "better" for the kind of content that it was destroyed for carrying.

Your analogy also applies to those who blame binary sharing for the downfall of text-based Usenet usage, simply because search engines, specialized discussion forums, and social media contributed much more to its death.

A big reason why Usenet is still alive and kicking is thanks to piracy. The same applies to IRC (XDCC), but probably to a lesser extent.

It used to be that every ISP ran a Usenet server. The reason why they stopped is a crackdown on illegal content (piracy and obscenity) on binary groups. The reason why almost nobody complained is that text groups were already in terminal decline.

Mutually reinforcing cycles that led to the current state of Usenet as a seedy backwater where it was once an essential part of the Internet (and the UUCP network before it).

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