Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Usenet newsgroup
open-in-new
<p>A Usenet newsgroup is a <a href="/facts/Software_repository/TlX4RM8Y">repository</a> usually within the <a href="/facts/Usenet/lYJWFBR6">Usenet</a> system for messages <a href="/facts/Posting_style/1A18rrCQ">posted</a> from users in different locations using the <a href="/facts/Internet/Xw1rVvJU">Internet</a>. They are not only <a href="/facts/Discussion_group/wTJ02IYM">discussion groups</a> or conversations, but also a repository to publish articles, start developing tasks like creating Linux, sustain mailing lists and file uploading. That’s thank to the protocol that poses no article size limit, but are to the providers to decide. In the late 1980s, Usenet articles were often limited by the providers to 60,000 characters, but in time, Usenet groups have been split into two types: <i>text</i> for mainly discussions, conversations, articles, limited by most providers to about 32,000 characters, and <i>binary</i> for file transfer, with providers setting limits ranging from less than 1 MB to about 4 MB. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, <a href="/facts/Internet_forum/bRuqfQfN">discussion forums</a> on the <a href="/facts/World_Wide_Web/wvnTrWFq">World Wide Web</a>. <a href="/facts/News_client/Xn8FS66Q">Newsreader</a> software is used to read the content of newsgroups. Before the adoption of the <a href="/facts/World_Wide_Web/wvnTrWFq">World Wide Web</a>, Usenet newsgroups were among the most popular Internet services. </p><p>Communication is facilitated by the <a href="/facts/Network_News_Transfer_Protocol/YTgxGqgR">Network News Transfer Protocol</a> (NNTP) which allows connection to Usenet servers and data transfer over the internet. Similar to another early (yet still used) protocol <a href="/facts/SMTP/TeCRKDpJ">SMTP</a> which is used for email messages, NNTP allows both server-server and client-server communication. This means that newsgroups can be replicated from <a href="/facts/Server_(computing)/dEaYFD7r">server</a> to server which gives the Usenet network the ability to maintain a level of robust data persistence as a result of built-in data redundancy. However, most users will access using only the client-server commands of NNTP and in almost all cases will use a GUI for browsing as opposed to command line based client-server communication specified in the NNTP protocol. </p>