@Wildbill I think it was a very special (and privileged) set of people at that pre-web Usenet time who suddenly, like me, found a tribe of like-minded people they couldn’t have imagined existed. The fediverse today in many ways has the same demographics I think. It’s less group-focused though, not sure whether this is good or bad.
@J12t Absolutely. I remember stumbling into just the amateur radio section of USENET and losing my mind with the conversations and tips that were there. Folks used to write up guides on how to modify gear even! (I may have penned one of those at one point.)