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WHY USE USENET
For Internet users looking for a sense of community, more are finding
themselves going back to an older technology -- Usenet newsgroups!
And the amount of posts circulating through the world is staggering.
While difficult to get an accurate count of Usenet's active uploading/downloading
population, server administrators estimate Usenet traffic doubles
every 6 to 12 months. Newsgroup visitors worldwide generate more
than a terabyte of data daily according to many Usenet NNTP administrators.
Simple text-based posts, which was Usenet's original intended use,
account for the largest amount of content; but music (MP3, WMA,
ACC, WAV), software (EXE, freeware, shareware), and movie files
(MPG, AVI) are posted as well.
What Exactly Is Usenet?
Usenet is a worldwide bulletin board consisting of more than 120,000
newsgroups. And there's a topic for everything imaginable (and unimaginable
:-), from cars to pet owner; MP3s to adult content.
Getting access to Usenet is easy (click here
for a list of commercial providers of Usenet newsgroup access),
and anyone can post/download messages. Some visitors participate
in discussion threads, while others exchange files. There is no
single organization that owns Usenet, as servers from around the
globe automatically exchange information (via the Networks News
Transport Protocol (NNTP)).
Beginners often access Usenet via their web browser, as many commercial
newsgroup service providers (NSP) offer a "web gateway"
to Usenet. More experienced users who need additional features utilize
what's called a "newsreader". There are many free and
paid versions of "newsreaders" each with its own set of
features.
An excellent description of newsgroup newsreaders can be found here.
The Growth Is Incredible
The number of users participating in Usenet is steadily growing,
along with the percentage of users who visit newsgroups. Some experts
estimate 5-10% of all Internet users regularly use Usenet.
To not experience Usenet is an opportunity lost. With hundreds-of-thousands
of topics, along with users from around the globe exchanging in
every language known to man, Usenet is a chance to participate in
one of the largest information exchange networks on the Internet
today.
Finding Access To Usenet
Your ISP may monitor what you upload/download, show only a limited
number of newsgroups (out of the 120,000 available), apply censorship
to the groups they carry, and offer very limited message retention
(measure in days).
That's where 3rd-party Usenet providers come in. Click
here for a list of providers who uncensored access to all newsgroups,
with high levels of retention (and completion for binary users).
Usenet users are a diverse group; join now and participate in a
wide range of discussions.
Try Usenet today!
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