Fidonet was around earlier than Usenet, I think. I remember sysops asking for donations to help pay their phone bills for uploading and downloading all of those messages.
Google archived a bunch of that, embarrassingly enough. So if you want to submit your letters to penpals from the K12 chats about Star Trek or how you hate grade 10 chemistry for one of those “Mortified Guide…” shows, there is a treasure trove of material.
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