Chris Trottier on Nostr: Folks who believe #EEE narratives often say that #Google killed #Usenet. This is not ...

Folks who believe #EEE narratives often say that #Google killed #Usenet. This is not the case. In fact, Google had little to do with the so-called "death" of Usenet. Let me explain exactly what happened.

The most important thing to know about Usenet is that it uses a protocol called Network News Transfer Protocol (#NNTP). This is not a web protocol. In fact, Usenet itself predates the Web.

Why is this important? Because NNTP uses a different TCP port than the Web's protocol, HTTP. While NNTP uses port 119, HTTP uses port 80.

By the mid-90s, overzealous security policies at many corporations (and some ISPs) blocked all TCP ports except port 80. Which forced most people to do only access Internet services through web browsers.

This meant that most people could only access Usenet through the web instead of a dedicated newsreader.

(Sidenote: blocking all TCP ports except port 80 is also why webmail became popular.)

Well, what website did most people gravitate to in order to access Usenet? A site called DejaNews. From DejaNews, not only could you read and post to Usenet, it also had a powerful search engine that most newsreaders didn't have.

So DejaNews became the default source of Usenet.

Thing is that DejaNews also had a problem. They had difficulty monetizing their service. They tried to offer private Internet forums, not connected to Usenet, to businesses. This didn't work out.

So DejaNews (now named Deja) decided to pivot. So in 1999, they stopped focusing on Usenet. Instead, the did what so many Web 1.0 ventures did and decided to become... a shopping site.

This obviously failed. One year later, Deja sold itself to eBay. And in 2001, Deja's search service shut down permanently.

But that wasn't the end.

After Deja shuttered, Google acquired their Deja's archive. The integrated it into Google Groups. And to this day, you can search Usenet through Google Groups.

Through all this, it's important to understand that Usenet is not dead. It's still very much active. If your ISP allows it, you can use a mail client like Thunderbird to read recent messages posted to Usenet. Even now, Usenet has proven persistent, and it has outlived many proprietary competitors.

Even so, the failure of DejaNews isn't the sole reason Usenet is no longer as relatively popular as it once was.

Remember when I said that most TCP ports except for port 80 were blocked by corporations and ISPs?

Well, that meant that web forums such as phpBB began to overtake Usenet in terms of popularity. Web forums meant that if you had a certain niche interest that wasn't covered by Usenet, you could be up and running much faster than it would take to request a newsgroup devoted to the topic. They also tended to be better moderated than Usenet, and consequently, less overwhelmed by spam.

To be sure, better moderation and less spam was a very big reason so many people opted for web forums over Usenet.

Of course, just because web forums overtook Usenet in terms of conversation doesn't mean Usenet's popular usage was done. Between the late 2000s and early 2010s, Usenet became a popular destination for piracy. In many ways, it was competitive with BitTorrent and Gnutella.

Unfortunately, Usenet being a destination for piracy may have also been the reason that the remaining ISPs that once supported it finally pulled the plug on access. Nowadays, the only way to access Usenet is through specific providers like Easynews.

Google didn't kill Usenet. It's still very much alive, though not as popular anymore. Nevertheless, don't blame Google for its loss in popularity.

Blame overzealous security policies, ISPs, DejaNews, web forums, and piracy.