Usenet, having been around for several decades now has gotten to the point where you can't just host your own server. While I get the reason behind that, why is not a good idea, to perhaps split away from the current dataset and start a new feed of Usenet servers without the older data and without binaries? The current Usenet would still be present, but it would allow for people not only to go back to self-hosting Usenet, but would also get rid of some of the "junk" that people don't want. And removing binaries from the new one, doesn't stop people from using the old Usenet to continue doing so.<p>Why would this be a bad idea?
I use Usenet.<p>But I don't feel an extra server would add anything that current ones don't have. On the other hand, an extra server is a backup in case one of the current servers falls off the Net.<p>Today we have http and ftp to obtain binaries, and quite large ones at that. The need for binary Usenet newsgroups is pretty much obsolete.<p>What Usenet could do with is more 'advertising'. Not 'advertising ON Usenet' but 'advertising ABOUT Usenet'. Many people just do not know that Usenet exists.<p>I have often said that Reddit is 'The New Usenet' because its layout and threading is very similar. Having said that, my preference is that Reddit can FOAD.
It sort of worked when there were expectations to stay on topic, but at this point a revamped Usenet would need to draw users away from brand-safe social media feeds curated with machine learning funded by advertising.