2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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Usenet
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/yoosnet/ , /yooznet/ , n. [from Users' Network ; the original spelling was
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USENET, but the mixed-case form is now widely preferred] A distributed
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bboard (bulletin board) system supported mainly by Unix machines. Originally
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implemented in 1979--1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and
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Steve Daniel at Duke University and the University of North Carolina, it has
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swiftly grown to become international in scope and is now probably the
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largest decentralized information utility in existence. As of late 2002, it
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hosts over 100,000 newsgroup s and an unguessably huge volume of new
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technical articles, news, discussion, chatter, and flamage every day (and
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that leaves out the graphics...). By the year the Internet hit the
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mainstream (1994) the original UUCP transport for Usenet was fading out of
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use almost all Usenet connections were over Internet links. A lot of newbies
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and journalists began to refer to Internet newsgroups as though Usenet was
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and always had been just another Internet service. This ignorance greatly
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annoys experienced Usenetters.
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