It's not so much that people forget about Usenet as that they forget why it died.

It got spammed to death.
It lost control over its culture, and that culture was crucial to its functioning.
It was too problematic for ISPs (or others) to provide ready access to it: spam, harassment, child pornography, and copyright violations all posed massive concerns.
There was no viable business model for providing the service.

https://redd.it/3c3xyu

#dreddit

@dredmorbius usenet existed for years without a 'viable business model'

It just had shitty moderation options.

@ajr Until it didn't.

@dredmorbius Right, but the reason it stopped existing wasn't that it didn't have a business model. The reason it stopped existing was that it had shitty moderation options.

(And it still exists, it's just a cesspool.)