My, my... that sound of axes grinding has an oddly familiar ring to it.
I don't recognise the name "satnav" but the tone certainly sounds like
the poster should end his rant with "not a fan of..." something.

Back in this ng's heyday (showing my age here, that was something like
1998...) I used to be one of the regular posters here. For the reasons
already discussed above, the signal-to-noise ratio got unacceptably low
for many folk, and most of us disappeared to other forums. This
happened at about the same time as website design was improving and
more people were getting faster connections, so that web-based forums
became pretty standard fare across the internet. I still pop in here
from time to time for a touch of nostalgia, careful as always not to
cut myself on the swarf from those aforementioned axes.

The ukrgb forum has essentially replaced this newsgroup as the de facto
discussion forum for touring paddlers in the UK. I've met and paddled
with the originator, and know that he is passionately in favour of a
not-for-profit *resource* for paddlers - the forum complements the
river guides. The site "owner" (in so much as a resource of that
nature can be "owned" by one person) does not charge for the ads placed
on "his" site, although I believe he occasionally receives discounted
paddling gear from several of them. He has for several years funded
all the server costs from his own pocket. The teeshirt "enterprise"
is, by his own admission, due to popular request from many of the
users. If you don't like the idea of putting money in his pocket,
no-one is forcing you to wear a shirt or click on the links.

As for the format, it comes down to personal choice - modern web forums
are undeniably prettier and for most people are easier to use (e.g.
inserting links, pictures is more straightforward). On the other hand,
USENET ngs have a nice solid ASCII feel to them and of course are far
easier on that old 28kbps modem you refuse to throw away.

As for content, the ukrgb forum has over 3000 registered users and
attracts seemingly dozens of new posts per day. I have seen very
little evidence of moderation - and in the rare cases when the
moderator's brush has been swished around, it has usually been welcomed
by other posters. This ng has a handful of regular posters who are
still apparently trotting out the tired old stuff about the BCU / child
abuse / David Train / blah blah blah that they have been for the past
five years.

Best,
philm