There is a google.* hierarchy.

Here's the 2nd rfd:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.google/browse_thread/thread/e42bfbe0a1278d9b/e5e7e47d9171be6b#e5e7e47d9171be6b

Here's all the groups under google.* :
http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?sel=33604954

As mentioned in the blog, google.public.support.general is broken according to my tests:

http://groups.google.com/group/google.public.support.general/browse_frm/thread/a8fc9668e57674df/49e1ef6ba279c4d8#49e1ef6ba279c4d8

Try it!

Neat and all, but I'm tempted to wonder, what with the bazillion fora on the Web, and the meta-groups sites like Yahoo's and Google's, aren't USENET newsgroups long obsolete? I'm much more likely to find (and get) my answer from a popular topical forum than I am from an abandoned USENET newsgroup.

I've always been fascinated by the fact you can use simply a Usenet newsreader to quickly switch from one newsgroup to another with one click and that way participate in many forums (newsgroups) without the need of remembering various usernames and passwords (yes, you can save your passwords in your web browser, but for security reasons I don't save any passwords to Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox to make it a bit more difficult to get my passwords).

I also like the possibility to use Google Groups to find for example my old messages (or someone else's) without the need of saving my messages to my own computer or the need of having access to my own computer when I answer for example a frequently asked question or not so frequently asked question and that way I may save some time from searching for the info from the Web (if the web page even exists anymore).

I like the freedom of choice: unmoderated newsgroups for an easy way to communicate with people using even old computers or using the web forums on various web sites. With Usenet newsgroups you can concentrate in the message with no special effects and with web forums you can also play around with fonts and colors. I don't judge either way of communication as I happen to use them both.

I totally agree, forums suck, Usenet rules.

With websites you're totally dependent on the owner. If he goes out of business so does all the valuable content. In Usenet you can use your local server and if it goes down, you can just switch to another one (provided you have access rights).

Also Usenet and newsreaders are specifically optimised for discussions. There's no problem with long threads, quick navigation, reading offline. Web-based forums tend to be slow because of all the crap (ads, heavy graphics, emoticons, avatars, etc.)

Perhaps Usenet has a steeper learning curve as you have to learn a bit how to use it and get access to some server. After that it's pure pleasure (and time waster).