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AOL to Drop Direct Usenet Access
January 26, 2005 10:06 PM EST
NEW YORK - America Online will stop providing direct access to Usenet
newsgroups, one of the earliest forums on the Internet for people to
discuss a large variety of topics from television shows to software to
sex.

The move to drop AOL next month comes as usage of the service has shrunk
to fewer than 1,000 users a month. AOL has some 23 million subscribers
in the United States alone.

Dropping Usenet will let AOL focus more on more popular community
features such as message boards, chat rooms and online journals, said
AOL spokeswoman Jay Esmele.

AOL users still would be able to access Usenet groups from other
providers, including Google Inc., which packages the newsgroups for free
as "Google Groups."

Thousands of Usenet groups exist, covering a range of topics. They go by
such names as "alt.tv.amazing-race," a discussion forum for the reality
series "The Amazing Race." Though Usenet groups are generally text-
based, some exist for exchanging photographs and music files.