Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A messaging system that uses a computer network, especially the Internet, to transfer messages organized in thematic groups.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun Internet A world-wide distributed discussion system consisting of newsgroups classified hierarchically by subject.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From USENIX group of computer programmers using the operating system Unix, from users of Unix

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Examples

  • However, the growth of uploads, which we refer to as the Usenet feed, exceeds the growth of the downloads.

    Slyck.com File-Sharing News And Information 2009

  • Usenet is a good way of getting recent, popular content that MAFIAA goons such as MediaSentry are tracking.

    MediaSentry operates in Australia: confirmed 2009

  • So I thought it was a little unfair of the blog Three Word Chant to dig up and reprint a 15-year-old Newsweek piece in which Clifford Stoll that predicts, among other things, that the Internet will fail because, among other things, Usenet is filled with “cacophony.”

    It’s Hard To Make Predictions, Especially About the Future « Steve Wildstrom on Tech 2010

  • Since the Usenet is often used to download movie clips, and probably whole CDs and DVDs, I would think the same applies as with Comcast.

    An Imminent Victory for ‘Net Neutrality’ Advocates - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.

    98.5% of blog comments now illegal « BuzzMachine 2006

  • Discussions in Usenet's sci. med.transcription newsgroup show that such examples were circulating in the medical transcription field (and as lay shaggy dog stories) long before Indian outsourcing was an issue.

    Archive 2004-08-01 Ray Girvan 2004

  • Usenet is still out there, but I wonder if the whole concept of a blog and discussion boards have really eroded what was once a communication stream for folks.

    Blog Explosion 2004

  • Usenet is as bad or worse than P2P only it has one source not multiple sources.

    Gridlock and CWOTMAM 2004

  • Discussions in Usenet's sci. med.transcription newsgroup show that such examples were circulating in the medical transcription field (and as lay shaggy dog stories) long before Indian outsourcing was an issue.

    Medical howlers, allegedly Ray Girvan 2004

  • Net News Tracker use this to monitor mentions of a company, etc. in Usenet news groups.

    Archive 2003-04-01 liz donovan 2003

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