I ran a local NNTP relay on my home phone back in the day. I recall spending quite a bit of time filtering out a lot of the binary groups.
There was a very nice, easy-to-use NNTP server that was intended for small sites with few users, called leafnode. It is in a mature but still-maintained state. https://www.leafnode.org/status.shtml
I ran it on a laptop so I could slurp up my newsgroups and read them on the train with tin.
Another thing that was sometimes done for BBSes was setting yourself up as a 'point node':
> As the number of messages in Echomail grew over time, it became very difficult for users to keep up with the volume while logged into their local BBS. Points were introduced to address this, allowing technically-savvy users to receive the already compressed and batched Echomail (and Netmail) and read it locally on their own machines.[23]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet#Points
This was obviated a bit with the creation of offline news readers (e.g., BlueWave):
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWK_(file_format)
The equivalent to QWK for Usenet were SOUP files:
* https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Simple_Offline_USENET_Packet_Fo...
It's all been downhill since then
Things haven't changed much since then.
There was a concerned expectation that there would be a distinct drop in the quality of USENET posts. They did not disappoint.
> Take away the barrier of entry, let the masses in without any moderation, and it will turn into a cesspool.
So much this. So many brilliant forums began to die as they were flooded with arrogant and foul-mouthed 13 year olds who thought it great fun to flame everybody. Gradually each of the ancient users who had contributed so much eventually logged out, never to reappear.
That and the new breed of Moderators who actively encouraged the trolls based on "any engagement is good".
I should note that the BINARY usenet is still on fire, if you know what that's used for, that is.
My first experience with the Internet was via WebTV, and WebTV had a gated Usenet - only the users had access to it.
It was just full of red hot, vicious flame wars. In retrospect, it was the harbinger of things to come with social media in general. Take away the barrier of entry, let the masses in without any moderation, and it will turn into a cesspool.