Usenet

Usenet is a mailing list based collection of assorted forum groups accessed via the NNTP protocol.

Currently the major archive of this important forum is Google Groups, which absorbed DejaNews. However, there are some concerns raised by this.

1. Google could pull Groups at its whim, with no clear donation policy to other archives.
2. Despite Google's claims not to routinely monitor the service, postings are removed or supressed for various reasons.
3. Google currently offers little to distinguish USENET from it's own propriatery groups.
4. The interface used for Groups has issues with some browsers, and accessing text versions of postings is an involved process.

Google Video proves that Google might be the longest-serving goldmine of the internet, but that doesn't make it a reliable long-term host. Copied must be retained.