On Sep 21, 12:13*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
Mark writes:
Usenet itself began to die out in large numbers with the advent of
Facebook.

Usenet has been on the decline for years, ever since alternative discussion
venues have become available, most of which do not require a special
interface. I haven't seen any acceleration in the decline because of Facebook,
though.

Well I certainly have. How do I know this? Because I've
been in groups and the key members said, "Hey folks,
we're all going to face book. Then they did."

Facebook itself may turn out to be a flash in the pan.

I'd think the five hundred million people membership alone
would squelch any pan flashes.

Moderated groups on Usenet have always been very quiet compared to unmoderated
groups.

That's true. They commonly end up with just Fred and Joe.
Or, and this is interesting, I know of moderated groups that
became actual cults, where the leader gathers a flock,
dissenting or controversial opinions aren't tolerated, and
the moderator (a man) weeds out all the males and keeps
only a group of women he can manipulate.

There's plenty of censorship elsewhere on the Net. An attraction of
Usenet is that it's still a bastion of free speech (relatively speaking).

That's why nutcases like ari make it their personal toilet.

---
Mark