While there was a lot of useful information on Usenet, it quickly degenerated into a cesspool of crap. It may have been freedom, but the overarching theme was anarchy.
Still, many Usenet groups were unmoderated.
Some people like anarchy.
Sure, but don’t confuse it with freedom.
By 2019, no one will use text forums. All forums will be video-based. My 2002 site is the source.
Some people want to watch the world burn.
Nope. My sole coding was with punch cards. Fond memories of hunting through the Sciences building, looking for an unused punch card machine…
Part of what you do to turn any technology into a mass commodity is that you render it unnecessary for the end user to know or understand how it works (and the makers/sellers even seek to discourage more technically-oriented users getting “under the hood”). In practical terms this means a large part of recent people accessing the network do so on a virtually magic device that just shows them things and connects them to other people, through some myterious sciencey stuff. “It’s all a set of tubes” is about as much as you can hope.
Then there’s also how the speed of technology evolution can lead the moderately technically inclined amateur user to a degradation of skills.
Those are on 8chan or whatever replaced it, and Twitter 
Still, “no moderation” is not the same as “many … were unmoderated”. 
US Army didn’t like us RATTmen to do that but I’m sure it happened anyway. 