Usenet can still be useful.

Usenet can still be useful. The Internet's defining characteristic is its interactivity,and one of the oldest tools for this purpose is Usenet. AmericaOnline's recent decision to drop Usenet from its services has ledother online companies to question the viability of Usenet as a usefultool for individuals and businesses. It has also generated howls ofprotest from some. Created in 1979 by two Duke University graduate students, Usenet isstill the world's largest gabfest, with nearly 100,000 discussiongroups covering the humanities, sciences, business, politics, computersand other areas. Though they are formally called "newsgroups,"most Usenet groups deliver far more opinion, debate, rumor, advice,camaraderie, humor, flirting and spare than hard news. Despite the fact that Americans and other English speakers aregenerally disproportionately represented, participation is worldwide,leading some to suggest that Usenet can help people better understandone another and bridge differences between countries and cultures. But discussion on Usenet is text-based, and other onlinecommunication and community-building technologies have come along withmore graphical pizzazz. Blogs, short for Web logs, and Web-baseddiscussion groups get much more attention these days. Many people whohave gone online since the Web became popular in the mid-1990sdon't even know about Usenet. Usenet can still be a valuable resource, both for discussingwhat's on your mind What's On Your MindAustin Access, Channel 10This public access show, produced by Sue Cole, aires every Saturday from 5:30-7:00. Many topics are discussed, which mostly are political issues. and for gauging what's on the minds ofothers. "There's lots of good content in the newsgroups, and Iknow of no other place on the Net where you can get immediate answers insuch a cooperative and knowledgeable environment," said ananonymous post. The nameless author was participating in a discussion atCNET (body) CNET - Centre national d'Etudes des Telecommunications. The French national telecommunications research centre at Lannion. , (www.cnet.com), a technology news and information site, followingan article CNET ran about AOL's decision to drop Usenet. "AOL doesn't get it, and never has," agreed NathanBoyle in the same discussion. Boyle, a financial services consultantfrom Bowling Green, Ohio Bowling Green is the county seat of Wood CountyGR6 in the U.S. state of Ohio. At the time of the 2000 census, the population of Bowling Green was 29,636. It is part of the Toledo, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. , has his own blog--www.nwlbnet.blogspot.com--inaddition to participating in Web-based discussion groups. But he stillappreciates Usenet for its research and archival benefits."It's an amazing resource," he said. Blogs typically are sounding boards for individuals, under thecomplete control of the author. Web-based discussion groups arecontrolled by the site or the company that runs them. With Usenet,"anybody can speak his mind," Boyle said. Boyle's sentiments were echoed in the same discussion by JeffBarringer. "Usenet is the ultimate leveler LevelerMember of a republican faction in England during the English Civil Wars and Commonwealth. The name was coined by the movement's enemies to suggest that its supporters wished to “level men's estates. when it comes to freespeech," said Barringer, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of OnlineHobbyist.comInc., an animal enthusiast online -community hub he operates out ofWalburg, Texas. The freedom of speech epitomized by Usenet, however, isn'talways accompanied by the responsible use of it. Usenet has a sordidunderbelly, much like the Internet in general. You'll findnewsgroups with names such as alt.pictures.erotica.torture, flame postsreeking of the most venal VENAL. Something that is bought. The term is generally applied in a bad sense; as, a venal office is an office which has been purchased. racial or ethnic hatred, spam ads for illegal"make money fast" pyramid schemes, quack healthcare remediesand other come-ons. Fortunately, filtering software in programs such as Norton InternetSecurity Norton Internet Security (NIS) is a computer utility suite made by Symantec Corporation, with a focus on providing comprehensive Internet protection. It is available for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It is one of Symantec's flagship products. and McAfee Internet Security Suite A suite of utilities for maintaining the security of a Windows PC from McAfee. Formerly called McAfee Office, it includes more than a dozen utilities such as antivirus, personal firewall, spam blocker and popup blocker. can protect you, familymembers and coworkers from much of this junk. The best way to approachUsenet is with your eyes open, avoiding (as in the larger world) theseedier places and people. Barringer is one of many business or professional people who relyon Usenet for marketing and research. By participating in Usenetdiscussions, he attracts people to his own service, he said. He alsofinds background material useful for his business through Usenet. The premier tool to mine Usenet for informational nuggets isGoogle, which provides a free service called Google Groups atgroups.google.com. This service provides advanced search tools to helpyou find out, for instance, what people are saying about yourorganization, your competition or yourself. Despite AOL's move, many Internet service providers continueto offer access to Usenet through Usenet programs, or"newsreaders," such as Forte Agent www.forteinc.com/agent, orthrough e-mail managing programs that offer news-reading capabilities,such as Microsoft Outlook Express. If you're an AOL subscriber, or if your ISP doesn't offerUsenet access, you have a number of options for gaining access. You canparticipate in Usenet discussions through Google Groups, thoughit's primarily a search and archiving service. Participating inUsenet this way isn't as convenient as a local newsreader A client program that is used to read messages from Internet-based discussion groups (the venerable Usenet) or syndication feeds such as RSS and Atom. Some programs provide a search and organization tool for both newsgroups and feeds as well as local e-mail messages, contacts and other that yourun from your own computer. If your ISP doesn't provide Usenet, you'll need a localnews feed. Two popular options are Giganews and News.Individual.net. Reid Goldsborough is a syndicated columnist and author of the book"Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway." He can bereached at reidgold@netaxs.com or www.netaxs.com/~reidgold/column.