Web Forums vs. Usenet
Just about everyone is familiar with web forums. These provide easy ways to network online and they’ve become so popular that they’re a component of many different websites. The Usenet, on the other hand, isn’t quite so well known, though it has been around for much, much longer than have web forums.
Usenet, in fact, was invented in the late 1970s and has been used as a popular form of online communication since it was invented. Today, it’s becoming more popular again, and offers an alternative to web forums that lacks many of the nuisances of the Internet.
On a web forum, you create a profile—in most cases—post a question or an article and people respond to it. Quite a few of those people will likely be advertising something or another and, of course, the page itself will usually have a liberal dose of advertising to share, as well. The Usenet version of a forum, called a news group, is a text-based affair. There’s no space for advertising on the posts. There are some spam posts on Usenet, but they tend to be restricted to certain groups and are usually culled from active groups by the newsgroup administrators.
The Usenet system exists separate from the Internet. It’s also exclusively dedicated to newsgroups. There are a staggering number of newsgroups available. Current estimates put the total number of newsgroups available at 100,000 and downloading an entire list of them from any server can be a long process the first time around.
In comparison, there are many forums on the Internet, but they tend to be much smaller than Usenet newsgroups where subscriber numbers are concerned. Newsgroups also have some advantages that are likely the result of their academic roots.
Web forums are used by anyone and everyone who can use an Internet browser. The Usenet newsgroup offerings have to be accessed with a newsreader. Though these programs are very easy to use, not nearly as many people have them as have web browsers. For that reason, newsgroup participants tend to be a bit less casual in their participation than are forum participants.
You’ll find many experts participating on newsgroups, in contrast to the many uninformed posts you usually find on web forums. Scientists, doctors, political experts and much more can all be found on this venerable networking technology, as has been the case for over 30 years.
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