USENET NEWS

Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board system in which millions of computer users
exchange information on a vast range of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and email
discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and users
must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted to these groups. This is
distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list
member.
Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion
forums, called newsgroups. Usenet administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any)
newsgroups to sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.
There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in existence. While many are academic in nature,
numerous newsgroups are organized around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related
work takes place in Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as
Usenet newsgroups.
The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of newsreader software programs. For example, the
Netscape suite comes with a newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also
available as standalone products.