Usenet

Definition

User's network. World's largest electronic bulletin board system that preceded internet but is now its part where discussion forums (newsgroups) are found. Consisting of over 120,000 sites and 20 million daily users from 100 countries it is where email messages covering more than 30,000 topics associated with practically every conceivable topic of human interest are posted. All newsgroups are open to public except a few commercial ones; whereas some are monitored for relevance (moderated) others are not. Usenet newsgroups are sorted into eight major classifications: (1) news. for messages about the Usenet itself, (2) comp. for information science and technology, (3) sci. for academic topics including humanities, (4) soc. for issues related to cultures, (5) talk. for general debate, (6) rec. for games sports and hobbies, (7) misc. for miscellaneous topics that do not fit in previous categories, and (8) alt. for trial and alternative topics.