What is usenet?

frenchy88

Saw few messages about that thing...what is it exactly? Is that like torrent or something?

hbr

frenchy88 wrote: »

Saw few messages about that thing...what is it exactly? Is that like torrent or something?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USENET

Also see newsgroups and newsreader.

Its the best thing since sliced bread, and its probably been around as long.

watty

frenchy88 wrote: »

Saw few messages about that thing...what is it exactly? Is that like torrent or something?

yes and no.

Some people use only the text. Which is original kind. It's what Forums like this have evolved from. Most are unmoderated. For the Text very little bandwidth is needed as it is very similar to an email client and by default historically you only downloaded headings. (NTTP procol) Thunderbird is not bad for integrating the traditional usenet text groups with mailing lists etc... Outlook needs plugins or your posts will greatly anger the traditionalists. Wear asbestos coat and welding googles on some groups. You'll really understand why boards has strict moderation afterwards. 110 bps (yes 1/10,000th of Broadband speed !) will work fine for text usenet /newsgroups/nttp. Since there are no graphics at all, it ought to work fine on a smart phone even on plain GSM, if the ISP has a newserver or if you have an account and you have a "newsreader client" (I'm not talking about Binary Groups)

Spam, lack of moderation and most ISPs NOT carrying usenet due to binary groups (high traffic and copyright infringement) have almost killed usenet. If your ISP does not have a newsserver for the traditional text groups they can be accessed via Google or Yahoo on a web page like a very bad version of a Forum. This may also work on a phone handset with browser but no news client. eircom used to carry most of the useful text/chat groups. No idea about the binaries.

We can't discuss the binary groups or how you access them as it full of warez etc. It's a mugs game anyway downloading warez.

Amalgam

watty wrote: »

We can't discuss the binary groups or how you access them as it full of warez etc. It's a mugs game anyway downloading warez.

That's a bit unfair I think, it is just a medium to convey\pass on data, it's what you do with it that defines the legal or illegal part of it.

watty

It's a bit unfair but made so by the idiots using BNG, as it is largely pirate material.

Torrents also have legal use. But the clue is in the name of a popular Tracker and 99.9% of what their search engine shows up.

This is a privately owned enterprise and the rules they have I think are a minimum for smooth, safe and legal running. "Fair" doesn't really have to come into it. Though I have no problem with the rules here.

Amalgam

The unfair remark was at my presumed understanding that you were tarring binary groups with a large brush, not the rules and regulations of boards.ie, which I have no problems with either.

calex71

i've heard of usenet referred to as 'peadonet' these days , i nearly go as far as saying 99% of is use is for warez or worse now.

I would say its far from dead , it's very much alive and well for ilegitimate purposes.