I Rarely Need to Ask a Question 

Slashdot points to a story from BetaNews about how AOL will be discontinuing access to Usenet next month:

America Online has quietly announced that it will discontinue providing member access to Usenet newsgroups next month. In recent days, AOL subscribers who access keyword "Newsgroups" are greeted with a pop-up message informing them of the change: "Please Note: The AOL Newsgroup service will be discontinued in early 2005."
...
The Usenet dates back to around 1980. Now that blogs and instant messaging have supplanted older Internet technologies such as newsgroups and IRC, it's unlikely that AOL users will create much of an uproar over the decision. But the event nonetheless represents a milestone in Internet history.

Personally I think this is too bad. Granted most people on AOL probably were pretty naive about newsgroups, and added less than they took away from it due to flaming, and lame postings. However, I see this as the quickening of Usenet's decline which is a shame.

Don't get me wrong, I think blogs are great, as are forums and instant messaging. I use all three myself. However, when I'm searching for the answer to a question, one of the first places I still go is Usenet, usually through Google Groups (previously DejaNews). You can search newsgroups going back to the early 80's. To be honest, I rarely ever post to newsgroups... because I don't have to. Almost every time I've needed something, someone else has usually asked the same question, and gotten a response.

Forums and blogs are great, but they are very volatile, and very disconnected. It's easy for a forum or a blog owner to decide to pack it in, or to have a major site crash, and take away the accumulated knowledge that gathered on their site. Because Usenet is archived over the years, you can go back a long time to get the answer you need, which I think is incredible.