Emerging technologies and decreasing use have reduced the effectiveness of Purdue’s own on-campus Usenet service.

"I have seen a number of widely used services become available on and off campus that provide similar and sometimes more options than Usenet,” says Ed Evans, director of software services for ITaP. “As these new services have appeared, we've seen a corresponding decline in the usage of Usenet.”

For these reasons, ITaP will no longer offer the Usenet service after December 31, 2009.

Some alternatives to the Usenet service provided by ITaP:

• Blackboard Vista allows users to share files and contact students in a class, along with many other features not available with Usenet
• Boiler Ride service can help users find a ride to campus or be part of a carpool
• Purdue-Board can be used to share information about campus activities
• Course email lists can be used to communicate directly with all the students in a course

For information about using these ITaP services, go to GoldAnswers, ITaP's knowledge base.

Publicly available services also support discussion groups, buying or selling items and more. They are:

• Craigslist, which can be used to buy or sell items locally
• Google Groups, which supports discussion groups and also includes other Usenet groups based on common interests

Last updated: Oct. 26, 2009

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