I feel like it's easy to avoid spam on Usenet at the moment because few spammers give a crap about Usenet. If it became popular again this would change, just like the first time it became popular.
That said, one of the things I really liked about Usenet is that the client was entirely in your hands. Some of the Usenet readers were incredibly sophisticated and no internet forum software has ever come close to offering an equivalent level of utility. I would jump on a "Usenet, but with moderation/spam control baked in" in a heartbeat. In fact this is pretty much what Reddit is, which makes me sad that they're trying so hard to Digg it.
That said, one of the things I really liked about Usenet is that the client was entirely in your hands. Some of the Usenet readers were incredibly sophisticated and no internet forum software has ever come close to offering an equivalent level of utility. I would jump on a "Usenet, but with moderation/spam control baked in" in a heartbeat. In fact this is pretty much what Reddit is, which makes me sad that they're trying so hard to Digg it.