Usenet

Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. It was conceived by Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979. Users, sometimes called Usenetters, read and post email-like messages (called "articles") to a number of distributed newsgroups, categories that resemble bulletin board systems in most respects. The medium is sustained among a large number of servers, which store and forward messages to one another. Usenet is of significant cultural importance in the networked world, having given rise to, or popularized, many widely recognized concepts and terms such as "FAQ" and "spam".

Organization

The major set of worldwide newsgroups is contained within eight hierarchies, operated under consensual guidelines that govern their administration and naming. The current "Big Eight" are:

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• comp.*: computer-related discussions (comp.software, comp.sys.amiga)
• misc.*: Miscellaneous topics (misc.education, misc.forsale, misc.kids)
• news.*: Discussions and announcements about news (meaning Usenet, not current events) (news.groups, news.admin)
• rec.*: Recreation and entertainment (rec.music, rec.arts.movies)
• sci.*: Science related discussions (sci.psychology, sci.research)
• soc.*: Social discussions (soc.college.org, soc.culture.african)
• talk.*: Talk about various controversial topics (talk.religion, talk.politics)
• humanities.*: Fine arts, literature, and philosophy (humanities.classics, humanities.design.misc)

(Note: the asterisks are used as wildmat patterns, examples follow in parentheses)

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See also Great Renaming.

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The alt.* hierarchy is not subject to the procedures controlling groups in the Big Eight, and it is as a result less organized. However, groups in the alt.* hierarchy tend to be more specialized or specific—for example, there might be a newsgroup under the Big Eight that contains discussions about children's books, but a group in the alt hierarchy may be dedicated to one specific author of children's books. Binaries are posted in alt.*, making it the largest of all the hierarchies.

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Many other hierarchies of newsgroups are distributed alongside these. Regional and language-specific hierarchies such as japan.* and ne.* serve specific regions such as Japan and New England. Companies such as Microsoft administer their own hierarchies to discuss their products and offer community technical support. Some users prefer to use the term "Usenet" to refer only to the Big Eight hierarchies, others include alt as well. The more general term "netnews" incorporates the entire medium, including private organizational news systems.

Related Topics:
Japan - New England - Microsoft

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