What is USENET

[nikhilbhardwaj]

from what i can gather it is something similar to the internet.
but how can someone become a usenet member
what browser/client is needed to view usenet sites??

it seems to be quite confusing

is this usenet something like rapidshare or is it paid??

[Dayofswords]

from what i understand, its like a world wide messageboard

i have yet figured out how to gain access

i know google(groups, i believe) archives all the messages

[szymon_g]

you can use browser to acces it via google, or you can use more specialized programs for it, like slrn

[Nerd King]

I used to play with it back in the day. It used to be that your ISP would provide you with a server to access it and you'd have access via Outlook Express (yes I was a windows user) or whatever client program.
It's essentially a text and binaries platform, with a messageboard-like structure, and groups on every topic known to man, though how much you saw was down to how much your ISP censored. There's some nasty stuff on there.
It got old, and now not many people use it, though lots of spambots use it. It's essentially a dead platform. That said, the binaries groups can still provide good pirated material if you're into that. You can get access to a good server but these days you have to pay for it.

[standingwave]

I used to use it back in the good old days, before there was a world wide web . It predates pretty much every internet protocol except for email. For example:

smtp = email
ftp = file transfer
nntp = usenet
http = web

Essentially, it's a really slow message board. An ISP might have an nntp server. You post a message on your server and it gradually propagates (syncs) to every other server on the Internet. This could take seconds or hours depending upon geography.

It also supports binaries but it was especially 'tarded: the binary image gets encoded as ASCII characters for transmission which had the effect of actually increasing the amount of data needed to be transmitted.

You can still gain free access to the text portion via google here:
http://groups.google.com

But it's pretty much just spam these days since the world wide web came along.

[audiomick]

Wikipedia has something to say about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

[coolbrook]

USENET was awesome back in the day.

Who remembers Forté Free Agent?

[steev182]

What's the 1st rule of Fight Club?

[samalex]

Oy vey... it's weird hearing people ask what Usenet is, but I guess now'days it's become more of the 'back alley' of the Internet so I don't blame most people for avoiding it anymore.

Back in its day Usenet used to be where you went for most of your news and information about anything, and most developers and businesses posted updates so you were always in the loop depending on which groups you frequented. This was of course before WWW.

Usenet technically though is still very much alive, and even though I still frequent a few groups (comp.os.* and alt.bbs.* mostly) most of the ones I used to check daily have since been overrun with spam, pr0n, or just crap conversations.

You're right, Google News does connect to Usenet, but IMO it's a horrible experience since it tries to mix Usenet groups with WWW groups -- and does a very poor job at it. I first touched Usenet around 1994 or so, and since then I used various clients and BBSes then settled into DejaNews up until Google bought them many moons ago, then I switched to my ISP's news servers until they pulled the plug on it a year or two ago. Now I use Eternal September (http://www.eternal-september.org/) which offers free access to the Text Only groups -- which honestly is all you need. My suggestion is to avoid _all_ Usenet binaries, though anymore you need to subscribe to a paying service to get those since most ISP's have dropped Usenet access (which I don't blame them for doing).

For more info on Usenet read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

Also I suggest getting a good NNTP client because I've yet to see a good Web-based one. Firefox Thunderbird works great, but there are MANY others. I also like Pine (or Alpine) now which is a command line email and NNTP client.

Take care --

Sam

[steev182]

I remember when I worked for an ISP that had a big usenet server infrastructure and a service around it and during a talk being held by the CTO, they basically said to us 'it's the quickest way of downloading anything you can imagine'.

[whiskeylover]

This thread makes me nostalgic.

[Villiam]

I remember when i used usenet a long time ago. Collecting all the parts and then recompiling them. and if any part get messed up, either i had to download it again or had to use some rebuilding software to correct it. It was fun. But nowadays its no more fun with all these torrents and stuff around.

[BinaryDigit]

Hrmm, I feel really old all of a sudden. :P :)

[samalex]

I remember when I worked for an ISP that had a big usenet server infrastructure and a service around it and during a talk being held by the CTO, they basically said to us 'it's the quickest way of downloading anything you can imagine'.

The problem though is Usenet wasn't meant to transmit files like this. It was a medium for text content that had been perverted into doing something it wasn't supposed to do. I admit I used to download Star Trek episodes and comics from Usenet until about 8 years ago when I got a file that wasn't what it said it was... and lets just say it was enough to turn me away from Usenet Binaries forever.

Sam

[bvanaerde]

I got a file that wasn't what it said it was...
On the internet, you're never sure. This can also happen with, let's say, torrents.

[steev182]

To be fair, thats what made me stick with newzbin and usenet because torrents were both too slow and not what they were meant to be sometimes.

[samalex]

This thread makes me nostalgic.

Yup :) It's like when people start talking about BBSes and how wonderful they were. BBSes are still very much alive, though they're just a shadow of what they once were. I will say I'd visit a good BBS network before I'd visit Usenet now'days. And yes, Fidonet is still there and accessible via NNTP on many boards.


On the internet, you're never sure. This can also happen with, let's say, torrents.

And this is why I don't do torrents either. Binaries on Usenet took off in the late 90's and early 2000's after broadband saturation started taking place, and I guess like most who were hit by the Napster revolution I jumped right in.

I'd like to think I've grown wiser since then, so I only get my content from legit sites. I just hate seeing how binaries and other crap on Usenet has brought it to what it is today.

Sam

[Lightstar]

Usenet was useful like.. 10 years ago.
Some people are addicted to it.
I never liked it.

It's like a big message board.

[madhi19]

Usenet is just West of the Sea of Memes and North of the IRC Isles. lolll
http://ubuntuforums.org/picture.php?albumid=1351&pictureid=5753

[oldos2er]

http://www.anta.net/misc/nnq/

[cb951303]

btw, usenet is still alive when it comes to file sharing.

[xpod]

btw, usenet is still alive when it comes to file sharing.

I was just going to say it still seems very popular among many of my ISP`s 20 & 50Mb users. I can just imagine what type of amounts some will be bragging about downloading when the new 100Mb rolls out.

[samalex]

Usenet is just West of the Sea of Memes and North of the IRC Isles. lolll
http://ubuntuforums.org/picture.php?albumid=1351&pictureid=5753

I love it! I could see getting a larger version of that for my cube :)

Speaking of IRC I used to frequent it as well, but probably in the last 7 or 8 years I've stuck to irc.freenode.net since it's geared around open source development and the folks there are generally great.

NNTP is setup so that people can run their own networks, so I wish someone or some company with the means would setup a more organized Usenet-style network that's less Wild West. NNTP allows for authorized people to monitor messages and groups, so if you had legitimate people monitoring the forums (not too unlike how the Ubuntu Forums work) it could really create a solid community with some great content. And no Binaries :) And given it supports standard NNTP it would instantly be accessible to many using a wide variety of clients.

The problem with the WWW anymore is there are so many disconnected message forums. NNTP is a great protocol and if used correctly it could really unify lots of content.

Sam

[whiskeylover]

I love it! I could see getting a larger version of that for my cube :)



http://xkcd.com/256/

Bigger version - http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities.png

[nikhilbhardwaj]

wow guys
you've been most informative
i loved that world map the most

[gletob]

Usenet was pretty cool till torrents came along.

Usenet is just West of the Sea of Memes and North of the IRC Isles. lolll

[snip]


I'd say it looks more like this
http://i49.tinypic.com/23jo3le.jpg
With the Blue being completly annexed by Facebook, Orange, having heavy facebook presence but officially myspace, and the yellow is the anti facebookians.

[madhi19]

Usenet was pretty cool till torrents came along.


I'd say it looks more like this
http://i49.tinypic.com/23jo3le.jpg
With the Blue being completly annexed by Facebook, Orange, having heavy facebook presence but officially myspace, and the yellow is the anti facebookians.
Well the map is a few years old and it shows for one thing you can see that twitter is nowhere to be seen! I wonder if the artist who did would be kind enough to draw an update? Edit: I just looked and it dated Spring 2007.

[johnb820]

Here at the University at Buffalo, we have our own newsgroup server specific to the university and our network and certain professors in the computer science department like to use it. It is a really effective way to share ideas and for professors to communicate with students.

[ken0069]

Ah yes, the "good" old days!

I've had a sub on USENET now since about 1998 and I've downloaded so much stuff there that I had to buy a 1TB drive to store it on. ;) YES there is some viscous crap there now and yes it bit me in the **** a couple of times but I can count those incidences on one hand after 12 years. Seems that in recent years though it's much worse than it was early on. Also most of the binary groups are overrun with "sporge" now and you have to pick and choose what you download. There are a couple of "reputable" release groups that can be trusted, sort of.

When I first started out, it was on dialup and it was slow. First full CD took me 27 hours to download. After that I went to a "multilink PPP" setup with a Diamond "shotgun" dual modem setup that allowed me to use TWO dialup connections at the same time and BTW, I used that shotgun dialup service up until I got my present laptop connect card last year. Problem with the dual dialup was that it takes two phone lines and a dual subscription from your ISP. I was paying right at $55 a month for dual dialup. I did have one year that I tried ISDN but it was VERY expensive, ie, over $110 a month and only one third faster than my shotgun dialup.

Ennyhoot, this brings me to a question I have regarding USENET. After using Forte Agent for all these years, PAN sucks. I've tried it a couple of times but had little success making it work for me and I was wanting to know if anyone has run Agent in Wine with any success?

Thanks,

Ken

[swoll1980]

It's not like the Internet. It uses the Internet.

[samalex]

Here at the University at Buffalo, we have our own newsgroup server specific to the university and our network and certain professors in the computer science department like to use it. It is a really effective way to share ideas and for professors to communicate with students.

I think this is a perfect way to use NNTP, but unfortunately most people want a fancy web interface and run with apps like phpBB instead of setting up a true NNTP server allowing people to use their own NNTP client.

I personally would LOVE to see a good web-based NNTP client that functioned like phpBB so you could manage the NNTP server. This would let neophytes use the web-based client and more experienced users use the NNTP client of their choice. Plus it gives you the ability to share content between other servers if the need arises.

NNTP is VERY powerful...

Sam

[ken0069]

OK so thanks for all the help on my question about Agent but I figured it out with info from another site. :shock:

[andrew.46]

Hi szymon,


you can use browser to acces it via google, or you can use more specialized programs for it, like slrn

I believe there is a nice Ubuntu wiki article on slrn:

slrn - Community Ubuntu Documentation
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/slrn

Andrew

[yester64]

Oy vey... it's weird hearing people ask what Usenet is, but I guess now'days it's become more of the 'back alley' of the Internet so I don't blame most people for avoiding it anymore.

Back in its day Usenet used to be where you went for most of your news and information about anything, and most developers and businesses posted updates so you were always in the loop depending on which groups you frequented. This was of course before WWW.

Usenet technically though is still very much alive, and even though I still frequent a few groups (comp.os.* and alt.bbs.* mostly) most of the ones I used to check daily have since been overrun with spam, pr0n, or just crap conversations.

You're right, Google News does connect to Usenet, but IMO it's a horrible experience since it tries to mix Usenet groups with WWW groups -- and does a very poor job at it. I first touched Usenet around 1994 or so, and since then I used various clients and BBSes then settled into DejaNews up until Google bought them many moons ago, then I switched to my ISP's news servers until they pulled the plug on it a year or two ago. Now I use Eternal September (http://www.eternal-september.org/) which offers free access to the Text Only groups -- which honestly is all you need. My suggestion is to avoid _all_ Usenet binaries, though anymore you need to subscribe to a paying service to get those since most ISP's have dropped Usenet access (which I don't blame them for doing).

For more info on Usenet read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

Also I suggest getting a good NNTP client because I've yet to see a good Web-based one. Firefox Thunderbird works great, but there are MANY others. I also like Pine (or Alpine) now which is a command line email and NNTP client.

Take care --

Sam

Yes, you will find Fido and Z-Net in it.
I still use it to this day and many people do for various reasons.
You can find almost anything in it. Some legal some not and anyone can create a group (at least it used to be that way).
Today people only know Web and Facebook and perhaps Email, alyough more webmail really.
I noticed that a lot of younger folks are more cloud users, were i am more of an offline user.
But it was really more active before the web became what it is today.

[doas777]

the first rule of usenet is don't talk about usenet.

[oldsoundguy]

usenet ... it is the wild wild west of the internet. almost anything goes from benign to malignant. You will find groups for Jesus and Nazi hate groups. Flame wars on groups that would make even the sturdiest cringe.

BUT, there are professional groups there that are true problem solvers .. lots of special interest groups from professional dog and cat and horse breeders to chefs and the list goes on.

The place is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach and assuredly, NOT FOR KIDS. (way too much porno and really objectionable content to wade through to find groups of significance and merit.)

I use it .. for professional groups (belong to two) and as a really good source for FREE MUSIC .. untraceable by any copyright organization .. no penalties for downloading as it is NOT file sharing!

To take advantage, you need to pay for a news server. An unlimited one will run about 15 bucks US a month.
Then install a news reader. The Agent news reader in Windows is still a valid reader, but you have to pay for the full blown version.
PAN is just great in Ubuntu/Linux/FireFox. It is almost identical to Agent in look and feel and will handle most of the files.
There are other programs that you will need to do files. A RAR program and PAR program to process and verify some downloads.

It takes some time to figure things out, but for some, well worth it.

[yester64]

I am not a geek really, but i use Forte Agent's APN service which is reasonable priced. As low as $3 a month if you only need a couple of textbased groups.

True, you find everything there. But for that you have a good client with which you can filter people or groups.
In some groups you will be punished. Or did that change too?
I actually like the wallpapers a lot. Of course you can get almost everything also on the web.

There are also some good linux newsgroups.