Would you consider Freerepublic similar to Usenet?
No. Usenet is/was unmoderated and divided into newsgroups. No one could get banned or suspended.
It is not a news aggregator so much as FR is.
It is divided into newsgroups. The group Alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater got to be a bit of a player, rating a write up in the London Telegraph.
Fun times.