Usenet is my core reference for Information Technology information. However, recent unhelpful changes in Google Groups have forced me to search the web for specific info. My results were both satisfying and disturbing.

The first web hits I get are forums caching Usenet. There are often up to six forums showing the same post/thread. Upon viewing these, the source Usenet group name is often removed.

Call it banner blindness, but I don't see many ads on these sites. Maybe they're profiting on click-throughs from "instant content". It's a dirty practice that seems to have mushroomed overnight.

If these slimy forums give me a helpful Usenet thread, I have a hard time finding its original on Google Groups. They've really messed up (again) their most solid resource: When I use a group specific search, don't show me other groups. Why show posts from the same thread multiple times in the results? Why am I getting so few results? And can't they just delete the Google-hosted "groups" which spam using every imaginable keyword?

Google Groups used to work so well, but they broke it again. Maybe these forum caches of Usenet are a blessing.