I entered a slip-road to the information superhighway in 1994, and I learned terms like Archie, Veronica, Gopher, Jughead, and Usenet. Today, Usenet is the only one of these Internet phenomena I still use. Or should I say ‘used’?

For many many years, I’ve taken part in endless discussions on Usenet. I’ve used Deja News (later Google Groups) to research technical problems. I’ve even made real-life friends. Recently, I’ve shifted to mainly technical newsgroups - related to web development, software and hosting. I’ve suffered a little more of the aggressive environment than usual, and today decided to uninstall my Usenet client, 13 years after I first used one.

I have learned a little more about web development from Usenet in the last few months, but I have learned much more about human nature — and it’s not pretty. I like to surround myself with attractive things, so it’s bye-bye Usenet and its road rage mentality.