I am really upset there is no good way of searching archives of usenet. It  is a fascinating piece of history.<p>I used to have a pretty good screen scraper that would search queries on the Google Groups Usenet archives. Inspired by images like this <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;doom.wikia.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Doom_clones?file=Doom_clone_vs_first_person_shooter.png" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;doom.wikia.com&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Doom_clones?file=Doom_clone_vs_fi...</a><p>I was able to dredge some pretty amazing historic articles. Some examples:<p>First impressions of the GNU manifesto:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;rec.arts.animation&#x2F;nKfkfLmfzM4" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;rec.arts.animation&#x2F;n...</a><p>Furst impressions of SNES<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;rec.games.video&#x2F;gt3TN5_EnPY" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;rec.games.video&#x2F;gt3T...</a><p>First impressions of PERL<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;comp.sources.d&#x2F;QPt288ya0QI" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;comp.sources.d&#x2F;QPt28...</a><p>First impressions of Eminem<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;rec.music.hip-hop&#x2F;oLAW4Mlt8Sk" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;rec.music.hip-hop&#x2F;oL...</a><p>Steve jobs leaves in 85<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;net.micro.mac&#x2F;93SYtBQKEQw" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;net.micro.mac&#x2F;93SYtB...</a><p>First impressions of Doom:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action&#x2F;331R_W597JA" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;comp.sys.ibm.pc.game...</a><p>People pissed at apple in 84<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;net.flame&#x2F;e4-wxFKyUuE" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;net.flame&#x2F;e4-wxFKyUu...</a><p>WWW first announced:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;comp.sys.next.announce&#x2F;avWAjISncfw" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;comp.sys.next.announ...</a>