What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Usenet?

[edrish Cullen]

I've read many things about Usenet, and I'm thinking what are the
advantages and Disadvantages of Usenet. I am grateful if you will
response to my question. Thank you! :)

[Thor Kottelin]

"edrish Cullen" <edrish...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:85cad3fa-d539-4ae4...@jn12g2000pbb.googlegroups.com...

> I've read many things about Usenet, and I'm thinking what are the
> advantages and Disadvantages of Usenet.

The unified user interface a newsreader provides and the well-defined
message format are advantages over web-based forums. Many newsgroup
hierarchies are well maintained, which makes it easy to find a suitable
group for any topic.

Another advantage is related to privacy: the author of an article or the
moderators of a cannot track readers (although the administrators of each
news server could track their own users). Usenet also serves as a form of
collective memory, whereas the contents of web-based forums tend to
disappear when the site is discontinued.

Distributed storage is an important feature of newsgroups in general, but
it can also be seen as a disadvantage, particularly in regard to binary
messages that require a lot of storage space.

--
Thor Kottelin
http://www.anta.net/

[Whiskers]

Disadvantages:

(1) the newbie has to acquire and learn a new piece of software to get the
best results - a 'newsreader' or 'usenet client'. There are a great many
of these, most of them free to use. But you seem to be using an Apple
computer, and there is a limited choice of 'native' newsreaders for those.

(2) an account with a News Service Provider is required. ISPs used to
provide this as part of the basic service, but some (particularly in the
USA) have ceased to do so, and ISP news-servers may not be well operated
even if they still exist. Fortunately there are a good number of
independent NSPs around the world, a few of which are free to use.

Advantages:

(1) the user is able to configure the display entirely to their own liking
(within the limitations of the software they choose to use).

(2) the user can filter or block or 'score' posters or topics
independently of all other users.

(3) there is no 'ownership' of a newsgroup; anyone can post whatever they
wish to any newsgroup (but some groups are 'moderated' to restrict that
aspect).

(4) low bandwidth - usenet is 'text only', no 'mark-up' or binary content,
so it uses a minimum of network resources. It originated before the
internet existed, and when slow modems were the only way for computers to
connect over any distance, so many newsreaders still incorporate the
ability to work 'off line', sending and receiving messages only when an
internet connection is available.

(5) distributed storage; most newsgroups do not exist on only one server
or under the conrol of one service provider, they are 'peered' across a
great many servers located all around the world and operated by many
independent operators (from large universities to small 'hobby' servers
run by one person and commercial providers of all sizes). So it's
virtually impossible to censor or limit access to it globally, even if a
particular government or ISP chooses to make access difficult.

(6) there are even web-forum interfaces to it, such as the 'Google Groups'
you used to post your article. These do not give as flexible and
user-friendly an experience as using your own newsreader and NSP, and
suffer from most of the drawbacks of web-forums generally, but they do have
their uses for some people and can be an entry-point for newbies.

See the newsgroup news.software.readers, and <http://www.newsreaders.com/>
and <http://www.anta.net/misc/nnq/>.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~