What is Usenet? Usenet (Unix User Network) is a network in which postings are exchanged. It can be roughly compared to a huge Internet forum.
You may have heard that Usenet is the "Internet within the Internet". However, it is an independent network and was created long before the "World Wide Web". You can find out more about the origins of Usenet here: History of Usenet. However, an Internet connection is absolutely necessary to access the Usenet.
Usenet content
On Usenet, you will find thousands of exciting discussions on a wide variety of topics. In addition to pure text discussions, Usenet also contains a wide variety of files (so-called Usenet binaries). In contrast to other networks, Usenet stands out because postings are hosted on news servers.
The Usenet is also characterized by its high number of participants and speed. The millions of participants worldwide post new topics for discussion every second. On the one hand, it is, therefore, a huge discussion forum in which opinions and information on a wide variety of topics and issues are exchanged on a daily basis.
Read the article: usenet server for more information on the subject.
Usenet newsgroups
The Usenet is also sometimes referred to as a "service on the Internet with newsgroups". The contributions published in the Usenet are sorted into so-called newsgroups. The newsgroups are quasi file folders in the Usenet. Depending on the provider, all content is then stored for different lengths of time.
Our test winner USENEXT, for example, offers access to over 100,000 newsgroups. Text newsgroups are stored on the servers for 10 years and binaries for 8 years. So nothing is lost so quickly here. Since so many contributions accumulated in the course of the years, a manual search in the whole folders is meanwhile very laborious. For this reason, among other things, newsreaders and indexing services were developed.