--- On Fri, 6/27/08, Jonathan Hutchins hutchins@tarcanfel.org wrote:
As to running a Usenet relay - it's a very expensive thing to do. It's a LOT of data and a LOT of traffic. Most usenet servers, I believe, are still run on multi machine clusters. This is why subscriptions are so high, why ISP's are eager to shed the burden, and why you don't find local guys who used to run BBSs running their own Usenet servers.
Compared to the amount of benefit that any small group of users like our LUG would get, the traffic of a Usenet server would mostly be wasted - but it would cost a lot.
I agree it would cost a lot if the private KCLUG Usenet server ran a server with the whole set of newsgroups. However, existing Usenet servers can choose not to accept certain newsgroups and even entire hierarchies.
Would the cost be the same as a "full-set" Usenet server if the KCLUG Usenet server only included those text-only newsgroups specifically requested by KCLUG members? It would seem to me that, for example, 10 text-only newsgroups would use a heck of a lot less hard drive space and processor power than 10,000 newsgroups.