We are talking about the NNTP server ran by Mensys or whoever has replaced them? There has been activity as recently as perhaps a week or two ago (e.s.hardware-01-12-16, e.s.misc-01-16-16). Today I notice that TB is complaining about not being able to connect.
This has happened before and it did come back.
There is always comp.os.os2.ecomstation on your favorite news server, perhaps nntp.aioe.org if you need a free one. I paid $10 for an account on nntp.astraweb.com which gives me something like 25GBs with no time limit, should last a lifetime for text. Just checked, I've used 0.02GBs.