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The basics of Usenet

Usenet - A definition

Usenet is a virtual peer-to-peer network for exchanging text messages or binary files with people all over the world. People who know Gnutella will already have an idea what Usenet is like. For all others I'll try to explain it without getting too technically.

Newsgroups

Every Usenet server offers you directories, called "Newsgroups". Newsgroups are like directories on your HD: They can directly contain data or they can contain sub-directories. E.g. there is the Newsgroup "alt.comp" for computer related topics and the Newsgroup "alt.comp.os" for computer related topics regarding operating systems. As you can see, directories use periods as separator, unlike most operating systems, that either use slashes or backslashes. Further you may have noticed that Newsgroups always have a more or less specific topic.

Posting articles

With a Usenet client you can place messages into a Newsgroup (this action is called "posting") and they will travel through the network named Usenet. You can place them into every Newsgroup or every subgroup of it. E.g. you can post a message to alt.comp or to alt.comp.os or to alt.comp.os.linux. You can also post it to more than one group at once, if you think it fits into more than one group. People all over the world can now read your message and even reply to it if they like.

Comparing Usenet to a BBS

You may have already seen something like that on certain web pages. It's often called a BBS (Bulletin Board System), which is nothing more than a guestbook with reply function. But unlike crappy BBSes on webpages, Usenet is a worldwide network and there are lovely clients (similar to e-mail clients), that you can use to write and receive messages a lot easier (even work off-line) and that offer you great filter abilities. Filtering is very important to avoid that you download articles that aren't interesting for you.

Why using Usenet?

People use Usenet to discuss certain topics, to ask questions and to receive answers, to propagate news, stories or binaries, for role playing or just hanging around with people and having a good time. It is something everyone can enjoy. You certainly have already been inside a chat room, haven't you? Well, Usenet is a bit like that, just that it isn't in real-time, which has the advantage: If people aren't online when you send the message, they might still be able to read it, because messages stay on Usenet for several days.

Usenet is NOT Internet

You should know the following right from the start:
Usenet is NOT an Internet Service or part of the Internet, it's an independent network that could easily exist without the Internet. Most Usenet servers simply use the Internet to exchange data with each other because it is there, but they could also use alternative ways. Some Usenet servers for example still exchange data directly via phone lines, from modem to modem without any Internet connection.

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