If you go to Google and join up for their newsgroups you have an idea
of the level of involvement newsgroups play in peoples lives: Maybe
the people in companies from the net , adverstising ,Govt and media
have done a good job of dilutting newsgroup appeal by limiting acess
and minimizing mass involvment. I think spamming has minimal affect.
Most every internet page has ads that are easier to ignore then
commercials on tv yet tv appeal is still huge for tv.