Article
An article is a post or message found in a Usenet newsgroup. Articles may be posted in threads on a particular topic of discussion and may be viewed and responded to by newsgroup users. Usenet articles may be text or binary and can have any number of topics according to the newsgroups that they are found in. Binary articles are non-text files such as pictures, audio files, and videos that have been encoded into text to be compatible with Usenet. Text articles are traditional Usenet messages similar to message board posts, etc. Articles are generally not posted by companies or organizations and are rarely edited by any entity unless found to be deletable Spam or off-topic in a moderated newsgroup.
Big 8
The major current top-level newsgroup hierarchies. The Big 8 includes comp.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*, soc.*, talk.*, and humanities.*. These hierarchies are overseen by the Big 8 Management Board, and new groups are added through a system of discussion, nomination, and voting. The alt.* hierarchy features quite a few more newsgroups than any Big 8 hierarchy because of its openness towards newsgroup creation.
Binary File
A binary file is any encoded file found in a newsgroup. An encoded binary file may be contained within a single newsgroup article (single part binary file) or may be contained in multiple articles (multi part binary file). Binary files are typically posted in newsgroups specifically designated for the posting of binary files. These newsgroups are called binary newsgroups.
Charter
A formal message that describes the foundation and purpose of proposed and existing newsgroups. Charters also discuss what constitutes on- and off-topic posting, and the moderation status of the newsgroup. In this regard, there is a slight overlap between a charter and a newsgroup FAQ. Check out UsenetFAQGuides for a list of quality newsgroup FAQ's.
Completion
Completion refers to the ratio of the number of articles expected to be on a news server to the number of articles actually present on the server. Potential issues such as network congestion, data loss, and downtime may result in a Usenet server having missing articles. When a Usenet server is missing numerous articles it is said to have a low ""Completion Rate"". Completion issues can be overcome by peering with other Usenet servers and by making sure supporting systems like Internet connectivity, processors, and storage devices have plenty of capacity and are finely tuned.
Connections / Streams
A connection or steam refers to a server session opened by newsreader software which is then used to download articles, download headers, or to communicate with the Usenet server. Multiple connections can be used to prioritize article or header downloading, get around connection based rate limits, or to maximize overall throughput. Newsreaders and Usenet providers vary in their support for multiple connections so check out the support documentation of your newsreader and your Usenet provider before you start to change your concurrent connections settings.
Crossposting
Crossposting is sending an article simultaneously to more than one group, usually because the article contains relevant subject matter for all groups. Crossposting an original message is normally acceptable netiquette, but replies and follow-ups are usually edited to only appear in the particular newsgroup the respondent found the original article. Some groups may not allow crossposting and, if done improperly or if posted to many groups, a crossposted article may be marked as Spam.
Decoding
Decoding is the opposite of encoding -- taking data that has been converted into one format and restoring it to its original format. In terms of Usenet, decoding always refers to converting binary articles into their original binary files. Many current newsreaders support real-time decoding so that binary articles appear as binary files from the moment they are first viewed all the way to the time they are downloaded.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law which was enacted by the 105th United States Congress in 1998 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998. The DMCA is a complex law whose general purpose is to criminalize the distribution and use of technology which facilitates the circumvention of of measures designed to prevent copyright violations. The DMCA expands the consequences of violating copyrights through the Internet and by other electronic means. The law also requires the removal of copyright infringing material from users' websites by service providers, while limiting service providers liability for their users' infringements in general. Exceptions of liability are also made for non-profit educational institutions whose students or faculty violate copyright. Some criticism of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act argues that the law is one or more of the following: poorly written, anti-competitive, unfair, a violation of free speech, unnecessarily limiting to legitimate researchers, scientists, etc.
Discussion / Thread
A series of Usenet articles, consisting of an initial post and all of the follow-ups to the post. Different clients may display these conversations differently, but in most cases they are organized to show responses in a nested style with consistent timestamps.
Emoticon
A method of displaying faces and other pictures with standard text characters. :-) is an emoticon for a smiling face. Emoticons were first proposed on Usenet to help convey the tone of a message. For example, a sarcastic comment could be seen as serious and rude, but with an emoticon, the intended meaning is better expressed. Emoticons are now common in every current digital text-based communication medium.
Encoding
The general definition of encoding is converting data from one form to another, for various reasons. On Usenet, encoding is the process by which binary files are 'translated' into plain text that can be posted to newsgroups. Each character of encoded text represents a bit of data from the original binary file. Encoded articles can be represented as binaries in real-time by many current newsreader programs. For older systems, there are also utilities available to decode binary articles after they have been downloaded.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions. Documents that attempt to answer the most common questions posted in a newsgroup, either about the subject of the newsgroup or regarding the group itself. For example, the FAQ for a newsgroup such as sci.astronomy may include answers to basic astronomy questions, as well as the accepted netiquette rules of the group.
Flame
Attacking other Usenet participants with derisive comments. A heated discussion that devolves into personal attacks can be considered a ""flame war."" Users who primarily flame other users are often considered trolls.
Follow-up / Reply
An article that is posted in response to an original article subject.
Handle
The chosen username or alias of a Usenet participant. A user's handle is not necessarily derived from their real name, email address, or other obvious detail. Frequently, a handle is a personally chosen nickname. In this sense, it is exactly the same as a 'handle' in CB radio culture. Military callsigns are a similar concept.
Header
Supplemental information at the beginning of every Usenet article, containing info such as the subject, originating server, and the time of the article's creation. Detailed headers are hidden by default in most Usenet clients. Usenet headers are extremely similar to their email counterparts.
IHAVE
A particular Usenet feed used to exchange articles between news servers.
Incomplete
An incomplete is a Usenet article that has missing or corrupted data, or it can be any missing articles in a large multipart post. Incomplete articles can happen because of a problem while downloading such as an incomplete connection or crash, or may be the result of an error during the process of propagation (the transferring of Usenet articles between servers). Retention, or the amount of time an article is kept on a provider's server, may also be to blame if an article or pieces of a multipart post have crossed your Usenet provider's retention threshold. A user can identify missing pieces of multipart posts with software programs that compile all parts of the file and any Par2 files (files uploaded by the poster, fixing known data gaps) and finds any completion problems.
Killfile
A killfile is a file that a Usenet user can supply to instruct their news client to ignore articles specified users or which discuss topics that they don't find interesting. Killfiles 'ignore' articles by not displaying those that match the header information specified in the killfile. Some news clients come equipped with killfiles as a standard feature, which saves you from having to manually ignore articles.
Kook
An unstable, ""crazy"" Usenet participant. A kook is not necessarily a troll, but can simply be a user that posts unintelligible or nonsensical comments, wild conspiracy theories, and other items of an eccentric nature.
Lurk
To read a newsgroup without posting much or at all. Users who lurk are known as lurkers. Breaking the silence and posting content is called delurking. Users normally lurk to learn the norms of a newsgroup and the identities of its participants. Because Usenet is built around community participation, lurking is not encouraged.
Moderated
A newsgroup in which messages must be approved by an elected moderator before they are posted publically. Moderated newsgroups are free of most Usenet issues such as trolls and flaming. Many newsgroups that deal with sensitive or taboo topics are moderated to ensure civil discussions. One pitfall of newsgroup moderation is that a moderator can vacate their position without first appointing a new moderator. If this occurs, the newsgroup will unofficially lose all activity because no messages can be posted.
Multi part binary file
A binary file that must be posted throughout multiple articles because it is larger than the character limit per article on a news server. Many news clients handle multi part binary files in a way that makes them appear as single posts in a newsgroup and automatically assemble the parts once they have been downloaded.
Netiquette
The set of manners and unspoken social rules that govern online discussions. Like traditional etiquette, many netiquette rules are a simple application of common sense. Habits such as using appropriate capitalization, punctuation, and paragraph breaks are basic examples of netiquette. If one disregards netiquette, their posts can come across as shouting, or run-together sentences that are difficult to comprehend. Most users that display poor netiquette are swiftly ignored regardless of the content of their posts.
Newbie
The term ""newbie"" is not unique to Usenet or Internet culture. A newbie is simply anyone without experience in a certain field. On Usenet, newbies are often considered to lack a good understanding of netiquette. Many newbies will lurk in newsgroups to get an idea of the social norms and tone of a particular group.
News / Usenet Feed
Any type of service designed specifically to provide Usenet articles.
NNTP
Network News Transfer Protocol. Acronym for the protocol which defines the behavior of Usenet. Along with HTTP, FTP, and SMTP, NNTP is regarded as one of the four pillars of the internet.
ob-
Stands for ""obligatory"". This prefix is used to add topical content, no matter how trivial, to an otherwise off-topic post. For example, in a newsgroup such as rec.sport.soccer, an otherwise off-topic post about a famous actor may contain an ""ob-soccer"" reference to a soccer related movie, or even something as trivial as a game's score that day.
Off-Topic
Any article that does not conform to the subject of the newsgroup. Some newsgroup users hold extremely negative opinions towards off-topic posting, while other newsgroups may be totally lenient. A number of off-topic articles may contain ""ob-"" (obligatory) content to give the article some relevance to the newsgroup.
Post
A single message on Usenet. In text newsgroups, a post is the same as an article. In binary newsgroups, due to the complexity of binary files, most posts consist of many articles.
Propagation
The process of transferring Usenet articles between servers.
Provider (host)
The company or other entity that provides Usenet connectivity. This can be an ISP, workplace, or university, among other things.
Pull
A particular Usenet feed used for smaller servers to retrieve new articles from a large server, usually operated independently.
Retention
Retention refers to the length of time that articles are available on a Usenet server before they are removed to make room for newer articles. Recently, this has become a major factor when shopping for a Usenet provider as retention times vary from provider to provider. Retention is relevant to Usenet users because longer retention gives users more opportunity to find and download an article of interest. Many Usenet providers will offer longer retention in text newsgroups because text articles require less storage space than larger binaries. Retention may also be shorter in more popular newsgroups and groups that are comprised of large binary files, such as gaming groups, due to the volume and size of posts in such groups.
Signal-to-Noise Ratio
The amount of worthwhile content compared to the amount of spam or other undesirable messages in a newsgroup. A group with a high signal-to-noise ratio has frequent on-topic posts with intelligent replies that offer more than ""me too"" comments. Groups that are frequently spammed, inhabited by trolls, or that quickly descend into flame wars usually have a low signal-to-noise ratio. This term was derived from an engineering term that also describes a useful signal versus the background interference it may experience.
single part binary file
A binary file that is small enough in size to be posted in one article. Many news servers restrict the number of characters allowed in a single article. A single part binary file is one that has fewer characters than the article limit after being encoded for posting. This limit is typically 50,000 characters but can vary depending on the news server.
Spam
Usenet Spam is generally considered to refer to a mass posting of a single message to 20 or more newsgroups, regardless of content or it may be a single unsolicited post of a commercial nature in any newsgroup, such as an advertisment for medical products, pornography, or money making schemes. Spam is also used to refer to similar phenomena in other electronic mediums. Spam is frequently used to advertise products and services of dubious repute and is successful because of its wide reach and almost inexistant cost to produce. Usenet spamming may also be used as a denial of service attack which serves to make targeted newsgroups unreadable by users. Such methods have been employed by members of entities such as the Church of Scientology to prevent criticism of their organization in alt.religion.scientology newsgroup. This method has also been utilized by commercial pornography vendors in alt.sex newsgroups to prevent the distribution of free pornographic materials to users. The term Spam is thought to have been coined from a skit by Monty Python in which a group of Viking diners at a cafe serving a menu which features SPAM in nearly every entree sing a song expressing their love for the Hormel product and repeatedly repeating the word ""SPAM"". This repetition is what was associated with flooding in chat rooms, mass emailing, and excessive Usenet posting. The widely recognized birth of Usenet Spam is dated to a January 17, 1994 post by Clarence L. Thomas IV entitled ""Global Alert for All: Jesus is Coming Soon"". Thomas, an Andrews University system administrator, claimed that a series of recent (in 1994) events were ""an indication that Jesus is coming soon"". One of the more well known Usenet Spam events, and the first commercial use of Spam, came in the form of an advertisement of legal representation for U.S. immigrants seeking enrollment in a ""Green Card Lottery"". The perpatrators were a husband and wife team of lawyers based out of Arizona who succeeded in posting their advertisment to at least 6,000 Usenet groups. With the onset of Spam in Usenet in the early 1990s came the debate over what to do about such mass repeatitive posts and advertisements in newsgroups.
Subscribing / Unsubscribing
The process of selecting and monitoring newsgroups that are considered interesting. Most Usenet users subscribe to a handful of newsgroups to regularly read and infrequently subscribe to new newsgroups. Subscribing to a newsgroup makes it easier for the user to access their favorite groups while saving them the trouble of having to manually find them each time they access their news server. The process of subscribing and unsubscribing is usually accomplished easily through a newsreader.
Top Posting
Including one's response above quoted content when replying to an original message. Considered poor netiquette for ostensibly disrupting the flow of the conversation. The majority of users prefer to read the original, quoted, topic before reading the follow-up.
TOS
Terms Of Service. These are the terms and conditions that a Usenet provider requires its users to conform to in order to receive service. These terms detail what constitutes abuse of the system and what actions will cause users to have their service suspended. A Usenet provider's Terms of Service may reference: Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Downloading Cross Posting Off Topic Posting Billing Flaming Spamming Privacy and Security Illegal Posts Cancellation Always carefully read the TOS of the Usenet provider you wish to use to make sure that their policies match your Usenet needs.
Troll
A Usenet participant that deliberately attempts to cause conflict and general discontent in a newsgroup. Trolls are generally not interested in any form of discourse and participate only to get a rise out of other users. In most cases, a troll is best dealt with by ignoring them or placing them in a killfile. Because of the negative view that trolls tend to have amongst the Usenet community, the Usenet troll is aligned with the mythical troll of fairytales, usually depicted as ugly and unwelcome. Trolls and flamers have become such common phenomena in the world of Usenet and the internet at large that they have attracted the attention of social scientists; thus, academic research on the psychological and social motivations for the behavior of trolls is widely available.
UDP
Usenet Death Penalty. An acronym that describes the action of one or many Usenet servers refusing the articles of another server. This is undertaken as a measure against providers that are sources for spam or disruptive users, and for other extreme circumstances. This refusal may be either passive, meaning that all posts under the UDP are ignored and propagation is prohibited; or a UDP may be active, which results in the actual deletion or cancellation of all posts coming from the offending server or provider. A partial UDP only inhibits the propagation of particular groups, individuals, or hierarchies while a total UDP inhibits the propagation of all data from a server.
Usenet Client / News reader / News Client
The software used to participate in Usenet newsgroups. Such programs make Usenet accessible and browsable through an interface that is much like a traditional web browser, allowing users to search newsgroups, download binaries, and read text articles. There are many news clients available, including those associated with the various web browsers such asMozilla's Thunderbird which lets you read email and Usenet. There are also free and paid commercial clients with a variety of different features available.
yEnc
yEnc is an 8-bit extended ASCII encoding method used to convert binary files for use on Usenet. yEnc was developed as an alternative to uuencode, BASE64, and BinHex. yEnc works by converting bytes in a binary file to a special set of 8-bit extended ASCII characters (encoding). These characters are then posted into a newsgroup article and downloaded by other readers. The characters are then converted back to the original binary bytes (decoding) so the reader can view or use the original file. Example of yEnc Encoded characters: ????V??Qh????@ K???b??_=@? =}A+5?c ? ?+?U?]????Tp?F ?????V??? yEnc was an improvement over tradtional encoding technologies such as uuencode or BASE64 because it utilizes the current 8-bit method of data storage vs. the 6-bit or 7-bit based encoding used in previous generations of encoding algoritims. yEnc's 8-bit based encoding algorthim means a smoother conversion from the original binary file and less character mapping. Tradtional Usenet based encoding algorithims add 33-40% of additional data to your source file. This additional data is referred to as overhead. Overhead includes header data and additional character mapping for Usenet specific bytes (examples: nulls, \n\b.\r). yEnc only adds 1-2% overhead through it's encoding algorithim. The value in reduced overhead is felt all along the Usenet chain. By utilizing yEnc the poster spends less time encoding and transfering their encoded file to Usenet. The Usenet provider spends less bandwidth and storage hosting the aritcle and making it available for download to other Usenet users. Downloaders also spend less time downloading the articles and decoding them back into the original file format. Most news readers today support integrated yEnc support so chances are you probably would never know that a post was made using the yEnc encoding algorithim.
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