Re: Dial-up modems (Re: FREE GAME: Spirit of the Mouse)

On Tue, 15 Oct 2024 21:30:04 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
<candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 15:18 this Tuesday (GMT):

On Tue, 15 Oct 2024 00:50:04 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
<candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Hey same, but I just stumbled into it.

Which just brings up the question:

How does one _stumble upon_ Usenet in 2024? Especially the text
newsgroups. It's such a tiny, outdated community, and the learning
curve -compared to other networks- is much higher; you have to find
(and sign up for) an NNTP host, get the software, configure the
software... It's just far more effort than most people would ever
bother to perform for what is, essentially, the same experience you'd
get from Reddit or any web-forum.

Being fascinated with BBSes and finding one with a link to USENET?

Cool.

In the mid-90s, I was forced to scour local Bulletin Boards looking
for any that had Usenet access (ISPs either not existing or just a bit
out of my price range). I'd accessed it via work (itself through a
University if I recall) prior to that but after a certain point that
was no longer available. None of the online services (Prodigy,
CompuServ, etc.) had Usenet access at the time. It was a dark period
of my life. ;-)

Fortunately, I _was_ able to find a BBS, albeit one with ridiculously
tiny connect-time and message quotas (both posting and reading).
Still, it was local and fairly inexpensive and it served until a
dial-up ISP finally made it to my area.

It's sort of neat that a BBS still served the same purpose for you:
connecting you to Usenet.

Hello to any other lurkers reading through a BBS! ;-)