Definition: Usenet is a collection of discussion groups that involve thousands of people all around the world. Within Usenet discussion groups topics vary widely, each group discussing a different topic. Literally any topic that you could consider there most likely is a discussion group devoted to it, and you can go there and read what others are saying or add to the discussion yourself.  Currently there are more than 20,000 active newsgroups and the number grows daily.

Newsgroups are divided into categories to try and add some structure to all this. Each newsgroup is given a name that consists of multiple parts, each part of the name is seperated by a ".".  The first part of the name specifies what newsgroup the discussion belongs to.  Here is a partial list of some of the categories:

This all might seem a little confusing till you see a couple examples.  By looking at the title of the newsgroup you can tell what it is about. For example:

alt.comp.lang.borland-delphi -- This would be a discussion on the programming language Delphi by Borland.

alt.comp.periphs.scanner -- This is a discussion on a certain peripheral the scanner.

comp.os.ms-windows.apps.financial -- This group would discuss all financial applications available for Microsof Windows.

For Additional Information:

A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
Netiquette
Netizens: An Anthology
Rules for posting to Usenet
What are Usenet newsgroups?

See Also: Finding Newsgroups.
See Also: Newsgroups Software.
See Also: Searching Newsgroups.

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Revised: March 01, 1998.