All About Usenet
Usenet is a network of computers and servers
that exchange postings every second of every
day. There is no centralized source for Usenet;
it's just an arragement between server owners
to exchange traffic with one another. In some
cases the exchange is not two-way; a provider
may just want an incoming feed to help its completion
and retention rates (see Glossary
of terms).
Depending on how much traffic a server gets
it may be a farm of servers (cluster) or just
a single server. The number of available postings
on a server is usually determined by available
disk space -- as disk space is reduced, postings
expire to make room for new posts.
Usenet's intent is not the same as the peer-to-peer
networks that have been shut down due to copyright
problems. Usenet was conceived as a place where
users could create forums to discuss anything
and everything one could imagine. As with any
user-generated-content site, there is a small
percentage of abusers who send SPAM or upload
files of which they are not the proper owners
-- both of which are against Usenet etiquette
and result in termination of their respective
newsgroup access.
Help keep Usenet as it was originally designed
-- a place where users of different interests
could exchange ideas, thoughts, news, files
so others around the world could enjoy this
large community!
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