a. What is Usenet?
Usenet is a distributed network of servers that allows you to exchange messages and files. It was first developed in the 1980s and was popular in the 1990s as a way to share files and discuss topics over the Internet.
Usenet predates what we know today as the World Wide Web (WWW) and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. It was the internet’s first social media platform where users from all over the world could come together in discussion groups specialized by topic and exchange news, events, ideas, and more. Over the years, Usenet evolved to accept user-generated content such as videos, audio files, photos, and even software. While it is not as widely used as it once was, it is still possible to access Usenet today.
b. How does Usenet work?
While modern web platforms rely on centralized services, Usenet operates through a distributed network of servers.
Usenet is not a centralized service— no single company or organization is running and controlling it. Usenet is instead a decentralized network of servers run by different organizations and individuals. This “decentralization” helps Usenet remain relatively resistant to censorship and interference from external control. But remember that Usenet is still not entirely immune to these issues.
Timeline:
Refer to the image below. A user uploads a file, which is broken into parts and given a unique Message ID. This message spreads across Usenet’s distributed servers, and another user downloads the file using an NZB file that maps the needed Message IDs.
c. How to use Usenet?
Usenet is composed of multiple elements that work together to allow you to search, find and download what you are looking for. These elements include Usenet servers (which host content), Usenet clients (software to connect to servers and interact), newsreaders (Clients for reading messages), indexers (websites to help you find content), newsgroups (forums or discussion groups), and NZB files (files that lists downloadable binary files).
Anyone accessing Usenet can post messages or files into Usenet’s newsgroups so that other users can read or download them.
- You create a message or upload a file to a Usenet server. The message or file is given a unique identifier called a “message-id.”
- The message or file is then replicated to other Usenet servers, forming a network of servers that store copies of the message or file.
- You can access the message or file by connecting to a Usenet server and requesting it using its message-id.
- The server will then send the message or file to the user’s computer.
What role does the NZB file play here?
You can use an NZB client to download the files by connecting to a Usenet server and providing the NZB file, which guides the client in downloading the parts of the files from the available servers in the network. This way, the NZB file acts as a map for the client to quickly and efficiently download the desired files from Usenet.