What is Usenet?

Usenet is a very confusing place. It isn't part of the internet, though you can apparently log onto it through the internet. It was never really designed to be a software provider, or have millions of pretty pictures. It can really be described as a international debating society (sorry if I've offended anyone with this definition). The "articles" are separated into different newsgroups that discuss specific topics, such as Amiga games or the environment. These can be used to find information about other peoples opinions on a certain topic, or advice on burning questions, such as Which is better the PC or Amiga? The answer is pretty obvious now anyway (OR IS IT).

Unlike the internet, Usenet is not a worldwide archive, so you will not have all of the areas available, only those that your local Usenet site chooses to include. What this basically means is, sites that may prove to be unpopular in a certain area are no longer included.

The Usenet administrator has nearly complete control over their specific site. They can "surpress" any person who has previously been incredibly annoying or insulting so that no one else can read their messages. They basically take away their access. remember to be polite and do not ask stupid questions that may have already been answered in the FAQ document that each Usenet site provides.

It is basically a world-wide discussion system, consisting of a set of areas called "newsgroups." These newsgroups are hierarchically ordered according to subject, so all newsgroups on the Amiga are gathered together in the same hierarchy. It is organised something like this,

Computers -Amiga -Games

Messages are posted by people from all over the world to the newsgroups, to which others replies too. Some newsgroups feature a moderator who reads all of the messages that are posted before they appear in the newsgroup. Anything that is even vaguely nasty doesn't appear.

As far as I know this does not apply to the Amiga newsgroups that are around. Like the internet, Usenet can be accessed on any number of computers, including the Spectrum allegedly, and is available a number of ways. The majority of Usenet traffic is transported over the internet and UUCP.

But I'm not allowed to access Usenet (sob).

Believe it or not, many colleges and universities, including my rather craply renamed polytechnic do not allow you to access Usenet. Luckily, there are a number of sites that allow you to read and post articles via the net. I can't actually remember the address of the sites so you'll have to do a net search. They aren't too difficult to find.

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