Usenet is and remains, if not entirely dead, at best a zombie. Killed by spammers first, AOL second and the people that would subsequently ruin BitTorrent, like, forever.
Technology choices inspired by nostalgia are not always the best bet, but if you're going all the way, I suggest a return to FidoNet Echomail.
http://ftsc.org/docs/fts-0004.001 should get you started, and I'm sure you'll figure out a way to make node assignments decentralized.
2:285/11.2 signing off. But I still have some bad C code implementing an Echomail processor, if you need it...
Technology choices inspired by nostalgia are not always the best bet, but if you're going all the way, I suggest a return to FidoNet Echomail.
http://ftsc.org/docs/fts-0004.001 should get you started, and I'm sure you'll figure out a way to make node assignments decentralized.
2:285/11.2 signing off. But I still have some bad C code implementing an Echomail processor, if you need it...