Usenet is unmoderated. Once you post it, it sticks forever. We could probably get one of the independent providers to give free access to a new newsgroup. Anyone have any thoughts?
I’ve used Usenet for my content needs for years because it’s so fast and risk free. I think we could also use it for our community discussions.
Couldn’t we all move to i2p by similar logic?
i2p seems very rudimentary for piracy imo even though it has been around a long time (I have only recently ventured into the realm of i2p, so forgive me, and let me know if I am wrong)
If you are referring to the availability of torrents and people seeding compared to the regular web I think you might be right.
That said from what I’ve read you don’t need a VPN when torrenting over i2p
Hi, I keep hearing this everywhere, what exactly is usenet and how do I use it? (sorry if this is derailing the point of your question)
I haven’t used the Usenet in about 8 years or so. What is currently a good provider? Is sabnzb or wtf it was called still the best software? And what search engine would you recommend for finding nzb in 2023?
In my opinion, the best provider is Eweka. You can still get the €3.99/mo offer at https://www.eweka.nl/en/landing/special-deal. They don’t follow DMCA so uploads tend to last a lot longer. Ideally you’ll have at least one block account from another provider on a different backbone. Check here for a map of providers and backbones https://usenetmap.b-cdn.net/latest.svg. The block account is for when your main provider is missing some parts. However, with Eweka this has been extremely rare for me so you can probably wait on getting a block account if you go with them.
Nowadays, you’ll also need a good indexer (or two or three). Long gone are the days of searching for an nzb on a public site. Nzbgeek is probably a good one to start with since it has open registration. DrunkenSlug is another great one, but requires an invite. I don’t think there is a lemmy alternative, so checkout r/usenetinvites if interested.
SABnzbd and NZBget are the two most used downloaders, but the latter is no longer being maintained.
Uploads do not last a lot longer on Eweka. That is a common misconception that the corporate staff at Eweka seem to be successfully pushing so they can trick you into buying their product TWICE. They own Eweka plus a bunch of other US based sites and want you to purchase an account at eweka and an account at one of their US sites. Now you can see why people are leaving Usenet, when the largest provider is shady like that.
Eweka has to follow NTD rules which are just basically the EUs version of DMCA. Both NTD and DMCA providers get all the same notices I’ve read. Maybe it takes a couple extra hours to process NTD but if you’re using automation then you will be grabbing it in the first 24 hours anyway.
Don’t waste your time paying the extra money for Eweka unless maybe you’re in the EU and just want a server close to you. They don’t have a US based server location.
