[Tobiah]

But I'm afraid we are seeing the dying gasps of Usenet

Is it that the multitude of web forums, each with their
own URL and login to remember, with their cumbersome
interfaces have replaced news groups? If so, I have
yet to find one that supplants RAP.

I actually do like mailing lists just as much as news.
I just filter the messages into a folder, at which point
the experience is indistinguishable from usenet (I'm
using Thunderbird).

Everyone has email, but usenet takes some doing,
including finding a reliable and permanent server.
I can see why new people don't get into it.

Anyone else remember the days of Archie and Veronica
when they had usenet, but you did it on the command
line, and the first step was to answer yes or no to
hundreds of groups?