How Does
Storage
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Like web forums and BBS, discussions in Usenet are also threaded but the posts are stored on the server sequentially. Unlike BBS and forums, Usenet does not have a dedicated administrator and a central server. It is distributed among various changing and loosely connected servers that store the data and forward the posts to one another. Some newsgroups may be moderated. When this is the case, all articles are first sent to the moderator for approval before the post appears in the newsgroup.
Transmission
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Most Usenet traffic is transported over the Internet or UUCP, but it is also available on different computer networks and systems. Usenet is not the same as the Internet. The Internet carries various kinds of traffic while Usenet only carries one. The Internet is only one of the many networks carrying Usenet traffic.
Benefits
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Because they have multiple ways of getting from one point to another, newsgroup postings are able to reach their many destinations more efficiently and quickly. For instance, an individual user can post and read messages through a local server operated by an Internet Service Provider, employer, or university. The servers will then exchange the messages and make it accessible to other readers that are beyond the original server. Users can access Usenet content on websites such as Google as well as from application software programs known as newsreaders.
Users
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Usenet is commonly associated with a loose network of universities, research laboratories, government agencies, corporations, and other such organizations that wish to share information on a worldwide scale. However, Usenet is increasingly becoming popular with the mainstream.
eHow Article: How Does Usenet Work?
