On Friday, November 7, 2014 4:58:19 AM UTC-6, Lostgallifreyan wrote:

There may be more innocent explanations, like Usenet going to the dogs
generally, public perception genrally favouring forums on the web.

Many ISP's did that in the US a long time ago. The main reason being it's
a pain and $$$ for them to maintain usenet, and I suppose the cost and hassle
is not worth it for them vs the fairly low amount of their users that actually
use usenet. In other words it's mainly about money. Or at least here in the
states. Comcast dropped it a few years ago. So I just use google groups, which
I had for a backup. I've actually got used to google groups and actually prefer
it to using a usenet server and a reader, which is T-bird in my case.
It's easier and faster to read the posts, where I can see all in a thread with
one click, without having to click through each post individually.

I also see all old archived posts in a thread, like the one's Gmailers often
reply to a decade or more after the original posts.. :|
I don't know what it is that provokes Gmailers to reply to posts so old it's
often a crapshoot if the OP is still alive or not, much less still active. :/
But if you some loon replying to a 15 year old post, it's almost certainly
a Gmailer, which I don't use.

Now I use aioe as a backup in case GG craps out, which they do every once
in a while. aioe is free same as ES.

BTW, I got my revenge on Comcast recently. I had triple play and movie
channels which the price kept going up, up, up, and I got tired of having
to renegotiate a new price every year, as I refused to pay their full bloated
prices.
So 3 months ago, I canceled everything but internet. My bill went from $165
a month to about $64 a month. It can be even cheaper if I dump their now $10 a
month gateway modem, and buy my own, which I plan to do when I get around to it.
It was $8 a month until 2 months ago.. :/

My speed is now slower from my previous appx 58 mbps, to my current 7.2 mbps,
or 15 mbps if I go in the unsecured xfinity back door using my laptop and
wi-fi, but even 7 mbps is fast enough for most of my uses. It's only been
three months, and I've already saved over $300.. Will save over $1200 a year.
That's what they get for provoking me with once a year greediness and price
scheme mayhem, which drove me up the wall every fall. :+