This was discussed on reddit a bit ago. The same company in place now ran IPVanish and they logged and rolled over on the user. No reason to think they wouldnt do the same with privado and if you are ultra worried tin foil hat-ish, would they do the same with their usenet? who knows. https://torrentfreak.com/ipvanish-no-logging-vpn-led-homeland-security-to-comcast-user-180505/
Usenet is considered decentralized, it is made up of many independent servers that talk to each other. take one down, and the rest continue on without problems.
if you just want the popular stuff they will be fine since they keep that since many download it but if you veer off that path they have poor completion since their system does not keep everything. but even then with other services at similar prices you can get better for the same price.
blocks could be a bit restrictive unless you reliably download the same each month so you have predictable usage. if you ever deviate or find yourself having to hold back so you dont burn up your block, an unlimited account may be better and then you dont have to worry. unlimited is cheap enough now.
newsdemon is sadly just not that good with their selective retention when better alternatives are there at a similar price.
i think most others covered it but for provider Frugal usenet is probably best bang for your buck as you get access to two separate systems.
Frugal Usenet is on the same backbone as Usenet.Farm
the unlimited frugal servers are newshosting / omicron backbone. frugals bonus server is what is usenetfarm so both backbones together when you subscribe. shouldnt be any real need for a usenetexpress block account since you would have the usenetfarm backup already but i guess if you find a great sale you could throw it into your newsreader.
i think the only real spot for a curated list of bf deals will be the usenet subreddit. otherwise the shitty affiliate sites wont really show you all the actual deals, just their pay per sign up links.
but they are literally the same servers operated the exact same way. a take down happens on newshosting will be reflected at the same exact time on all resellers, astraweb included. astraweb moved over to nh / omicron a few years back where prior they were their own system and i remember when the dmca thing was a big thing for them but that was like a decade+ ago. newshosting or any reseller are all connecting to the same servers, look at the IPs and how close they are, follow the traces to the same location.
astraweb hasnt been their own thing for years. they sell the same thing (omicron backbone access) others sell for cheaper.
true, but if you are paying in cash with presumably a burner email of some sort, what is there to worry about getting out? also, historically, europe (and organizations located there) has been the bigger pricks when it comes to usenet servers and in some cases, users.
there are plenty of newshosting resellers that use the same exact servers that are much cheaper than $15 a month or even $10 a month. use one of the backbone maps to see all of the various ones.
US versus EU servers as far as server content goes will be the same thing.
Astraweb is the same exact servers as Newshosting that you glowingly recommended up thread. cant be that bad i guess. ;)
that map is a bit out of date but also doesnt show all the sellers. this might show things better, https://whatsmyuse.net/
blocknews, frugal usenet and usenetnow take cash in the mail, an option at checkout. maybe others will but they dont make it obvious so you would have to contact them directly. but honestly i wouldnt worry aboutr using your card. paying for usenet access is just as legal as paying for isp access.
i dont think any service is going to give you free weeks or a month with no strings attached. if they did everybody would use them and not pay. you can just buy 1 unlimited month of frugal usenet for 5 bucks (not a subscription) and call it good.
i can understand that about crypto. Fwiw, this discussion was posted recently about usenet and crypto, https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/2612428 Others take crypto and several of the ones mentioned take it directly without a processor and have better perf. than the newsdemon system.
the older stuff on newsdemon is hit or miss anyways cause of the way they handle their storage so it will be hard to know if its gone cause they suck or gone cause of takedown.
yes seems silly they would do it for usenet but i would have said the same thing a few years ago about vpn. i guess things are fine until they arent… my main surprise in the vpn case was their willingness to work with the feds. they told them once we dont have anything and then THEY contacted the feds and said hey, ask again why dont you.