Not everyone responded, but many did. Overwhelmingly, both classes preferred listservs--although that may be in part because they became familiar with listservs first. Here are their comments.
Michelle Elling: Compared to LISTSERV, I seem to like this discussion group alot better. I didn't have to worry about subscribing and then going into my e-mail account and read close to 200 messages a day. I could just go into the USENET when ever I wanted and read up on all the discussions being made.
[In regard to listservs:] It was very interesting to see how each one approached a different way of talking with each other. You could tell there was a big difference in the different personalities of each group. It was interesting to see the vocabulary change from one to another. I hope to do more lerking of other different groups in the future and maybe get involved in sending mail to them.
Sasha K. Erickson: I found lurking on listservs interesting and an eye-opening adventure. I am amazed at the variety of lists and the people that subscribe to them. There are so many possibilities for exploration right at our fingertips.
I recommend students and anyone else to atleast take a look into the listservs. There are some interesting topic on the net and the fact that a subscriber can write to the list and that message is delivered to all the other subcribers is an exciting way to air one's ideas, opinions, and comments. It's really exciting to read a message from someone on the other side of the world for the first time, give it a try, who knows what the results might be.
I had some trouble actually getting my subcriptions in and confirming those subscriptions once the list recieved them. The tricky part about subscription is that the subscriber must reply back to the list within approximately 48 hours of subscribing or they will have to subscribe all over again.
[Later:] I found the USENET system much more convienient than the listserv form of recieving information. For one thing there's the absence of all that mail in the subscriber's mailbox which is such a convenience. Limiting the search to exactly what information the browser needs is another benefit. If the article does not contain the information needed all that needs to be done is moving to the next article. This saves the time of deleting any messages from the mailbox that are not needed. I also felt like it was faster and easier to browse through the different subjects on the USENET in comparison to the listserv which requires first subscribing to a group and then waiting for them to send you mail. On the USENET you have immediate access to the articles without the inconvenient waiting period.
Natalee Heisler: I response to the Usenet Newsgroups that we have been observing, I observed three of them and I did not enjoy them nearly as much as did the Listserv. I didn't think that the professionalism was nearly as high in the Usenet and that the grammar that they used was somewhat inappropriate at times. There were often times when the language was very offensive and the swearing was very uncalled for.
La Rae Kvanvig: I think that the usenet provides you with a lot of information. Depending on your subject, they might be more useful than the listserv.
Kathy Larson: I prefer to read the usenet groups because they are more informative and educational. I also like that they donUt take up all my mail space. I think I could even find useful information to use for research.
Angela List: I did not have as much fun with the usenet newsgroups as I did on the listservers. I lurked on a group for law enforcement,volleyball, and music. They did not go as deep into depth with there discussions and they were harder to follow.
If I were to use listserv or usenet for a research paper, I would have to recommend the listserv for some topics but the newsgroups for others. If it were a paper on law enforcement/criminal law I would use listserv, if it were on volleyball I would use usenet. So it really would have to deal with the topic. Overall though, I enjoyed listserv.
Paige Nelson: In comparing listservs and usenets, I think the usenets are more interesting. I can see a downfall of the usenets however. It seems a bit scattered and hard to follow. One message may post a question and it may not be answered for the next several postings and you have to kind of read through all the other stuff. It is very time consuming doing it that way. I do not enjoy spending hours at a computer screen, fifteen minutes and I'm ready to do something else. They all seemed like distinct discourse communities to me. After all that is the whole idea! One of the usenets I've been lurking on is about camping and so that's all I read about-camping. The usenets and listservs are a way for a lot of people interested in the same things to communicate and I think it is a very efficient and unusual way of gathering information. I can see many uses for these groups.
[Later:] In comparing the listservs and usenets I like both of them. The listserv I am in, American Lit is more useful to me intellectually and the usenet camping is more useful to me for vacations!
Mike Calmus:Certain types are almost identical. I prefer LISTSERV's over news groups because email is less of a pain to read. I don't think I would ever use either for a research paper unless it was highly specialized and could be taken from a newsgroup/listserv where lots of real experts hung out, or it was about newsgroups and listservs.
I prefer each of them for different things. ListServs tend to be more specific and it's often easier to get very technical responses. Usenet groups however often have more regular contributers and generally there is a larger audience to tap from. I'm not sure either would be that useful for most types of research papers, because of the topics that are covered. The web is a much more versatile source for research.
Jason Leber: I liked the Usenet with some exceptions. There is alot of
useless material that is not worth reading and some subjects can be hard
to find. Despite these irritations, there is an abundence of
entertaining subjects and some very funny writers. The Usenet service
would rate a "7" on my scale of enjoyment.
I liked the list-servs more than the usenet because they are more
useful. The usenet is so clustered and difficult to find any useful
information in all the junk. List-servs offer an easy way to post your
needs for anyone in a specific field to respond. I think that the
list-servs would be much more useful for a research paper. I enjoyed the
list-servs, both the good and bad ones, because I was able to read any
information that was posted in any field.
Matthew McArthur: In monitoring all my USENET groups, I disliked
that they repeated the say article over and over. To me LISTSERVs and
the USENET are very similiar. If I had to choose which I like better I
would have to say the LISTSERVs. I just enjoy it more, although both
would be very useful when doing a research paper.
Patricia Mettler: I did not find these groups as interesting or as
easy to follow as the groups I monitored for LISTSERV. Some of the posts
appeared to be "conversations" between two or more individuals on a
single topic. Then the next post would be on a completely different
topic. The USENET groups just seem more general - not as specific - as
the LISTSERVs.
On a scale of 1-10, I would rate USENET groups as 6 or 7 in interesting
and entertaining. I would give them a 4 for usefulness. I will not be
as likely to continue to lurk with these groups as the Listserv groups.
However, I do like the fact that my mailbox doesn't get overcrowded
with the USENET groups. The Listservs really keep the mailbox full and
without a home computer hooked up to the Internet, it's hard to keep up
with all that mail.
I feel that either group could be useful for finding sources for a research
paper.
Rebekah Otte: Although it was very annoying to get a mailbox stuffed
with messages from
the listservs, I found that experience easier than using USENET. Several
times I tried to get on USENET, I couldn't get through. Then when I did
get through, it was really hard to find a site with a topic I was
interested in. I ended up scanning through over a dozen before I picked
these three. So it was harder to use than listserv. But when I finally
got in them, I found them very interesting. Especially since you could
follow a certain "thread" you found interesting.
Heather Parkinson: I have found listservs quite worthwhile. Using the tile address, I was
able to find several lists that were significantly helpful to me.
[Weeks later:] I have had little favorable luck with newsgroups.
More often, I have
found them to be quite rude and often offensive. I didn't like reading
newsgroups any more than I would enjoy listening to a string of pathetic
talk show drivle.
Although I found the listservs to be very sincere, professional,
academic, and helpful, I was consistently appalled at the lack of
intelligent life on the newsgroups. Most of the mail consisted of
thoughtless, petty backlash between offended parties. Personally, I
didin't see the value of wasting time in other peoples problems like this.
As an example, on the listservs about women, a majority of the mail was
discussion about certain historical women, and discussion of their contribution
to our history. There were also many querries for information from people
writing books or teaching classes about women. It was a valueable
network for sharing information.
On newsgroups about women, I couldn't find much that wasn't downright
offensive. It was nasty enough that I wasn't very interested in
searching them too much for anything better, because I really disliked
sifting through the bad stuff.
Even serious subjects, like religion, seemed way off balance. I looked
up my own religion, and didn't even recognize what people were
talking about as my own faith. Because of a number of experiences like
this, in the future, if I wanted to know about a certain subject, I would
not trust newsgroups to be a very credible source.
Newsgroups for simple subjects, like pets (cats, or dwarf rabbits, etc.), at
least were not offensive, but for me not highly rewarding either.
In the future, I will probably avoid searching newsgroups, unless I have
a good recomendation from someone, or feeling patient enough to sort
through a lot of trash.
Melissa Prostrollo: I prefer the listserv format in its content,
but I prefer the
Usenet bulletin board format because it does not fill up my mailbox.
Jay Stimpson: All of the internet in all its faces is useful for a
reserch paper. I
have used pictures to
support reserch as well as background information, all obtained on the
internet.
Between listserves and usenets, listserves are more of a hassel and
usnets are more
rediably serched.
Dustin Vermeulen: I think that Listserv and Usenet are very similar
and covered a lot of
material in the same way. I don't think that I like one method over the other
one.
These methods would be very useful in developing a good research paper. Overall,
I think this was a fun exercise and hope we do more things like this in the future.
Amy Scherer: Overall, it was a good experience, but I would prefer to
view things through the USENETS from now on.
Amy Weaver: I did not like for the USER
groups as well as the LISTSERVS. I had a difficult time finding groups
that I was interested in and moving around between the groups and the
articles within a group. Maybe I just need more practice. I did find a
lot of valuable information in the USER groups. It was also nice to not
have a lot of mail coming in like I had with the LISTSERVS. The benefits
of the USER groups may outweigh the inconvenience of using them.
Michele Westhoff: I liked the listservs for entertainment as well as
picking up useful tips related to your interests. I prefer to read my
listserv messages than to open up a USENET site on a daily basis. Both would
be useful for a research paper because even if you don't find the information
you want already posted, you can easily ask for information directly from the
group or advice on some good sources.I would be more apt to use the USENETs
for research and information. For one thing you don't have to subscribe to them
and wait for messages. The information you need is easy to access.
The listservs I thought were a much better place just for entertainment
and conversation. I would be more likely to continue to subscribe to a
listserv than to open a USENET on a regular basis.
Neal Utesch: I thought that this project was really fun and I found it
exciting to try something new on the internet. It was interesting to be
on the listserv and to see and hear the veiwpoints of other people on the
topics I subscribed to.
Michelle Williams: I do like listservs better than usernet because it
seems easier
to just open up your mailbox and read your messages then having to go
though the whole process of finding which area you want then read the
messages. I also had some trouble with the usernet. It said the file
was full and wouldn't let me read anymore of the messages. I do admit
that if you didn't want alot of information in your mailbox,it would be
easier to use the usernet especially if you just wanted alittle bit of
information on a topic and not want to wait for the messages to come to
you. I believe both would been great resources for your research paper
because they give alot of great information on any topic you would ever
want.I think usernet is a great access to some very
interesting
discussions and would be a useful resource if you were doing a research
paper.
[Weeks later:]I still prefer listservs over the usernet because it seems easier
to access the material and a lot of the subjects that I was interested in
weren't available though usernet.