As a unix weanie with 15 yrs of solaris, hp-ux and linux experience I would disagree. In making my own wine and beer both RCW and RCB have been extremely valuable. Usenet has gone through changes both good and bad (the death of comp.unix.wizards because of people posting "how do you remove a file with a - in it" being one that comes to mind). Sometimes the responses are not what you had wanted or need to be taken with a grain of salt but the breadth of experience is sometime astounding. Searching the archives via Google *always* gives good information or a solid lead to search from.
How good a usenet group is can fluctuate and depends on the it's inhabitants. I'm fairly new to RCB but in RCW when you get a personal response from someone like Jack Keller and Lum you know you have solid information. The other forums have their pluses and minuses as well.
Don