Exactly. And there's no disconnect: usenet doesn't scale because each object is copied to all core nodes rather than referenced, or copied-as-needed, or other. This design of distributed messaging platform will eventually break as it grows.
Usenet scales far more gracefully than the current web. Each node sends content to a few downstream nodes. This makes it easy to scale; there is no central mega-node that gets overwhelmed, connectivity is to a nearby upstream where there is a reasonabe amount of bandwidth. Last time I ran a server, the sender could filter based on newsgroup or message size, so avoid swamping links. Content was mostly text. It is possible to use offline transmission — certain groups dumped onto mag tape and mailed, get pulled in at the destination. BTDT. More demand = more client nodes which in turn distribute to other nodes, so each node does not need to talk to a large number of others. We did this about 30 years ago in South Africa; Rhodes university brought in most groups, I brought in alt.*. We each distributed to a select number of nodes, who distributed again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Usenet for the entire sub-continent (along with email) over 9600 bps dial-up circuits. paul