History of Usenet Newsgroups

Somewhere in Hong Kong, a physics student has a question; in Canada, someone answers it. Elsewhere, a debate is raging: Was there really a King Arthur? It’s just another day on Usenet – part town hall, part study hall. What started 35 years ago to meet a simple technical need has spread to every nook and cranny of the free world, a monument to the overpowering human need to communicate.

Today, Usenet users communicate with more than just words. Usenet is also a popular way to distribute binary files, like mp3 music and digital video.

Usenet: The Early Years

Usenet began in late 1979, when two Duke University graduate students, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, had the idea to connect computer systems as a way of sharing information about the UNIX operating system. Meanwhile, at nearby University of North Carolina, graduate student Steve Bellovin wrote what would become the first newsreader software, and the two universities were soon connected.

Starting slowly at first, Usenet growth picked up steam throughout the 1980’s. By 1988, around 11,000 computer networks were part of the Usenet system. Along the way, Usenet was guided by network administrators at key distribution points, volunteers and systems that would come to be known as the Usenet backbone.

Growth of Usenet

It wasn’t long before Usenet users found more to talk about than Unix – and more people to talk with. New groups began to form, and the network’s original three hierarchies became bogged down by a dense, haphazard structure. So the backbone providers created a new hierarchy, with seven top-level groups: comp.* (Computer discussions), misc.* (miscellaneous topics), news.* (newsgroup issues), rec.* - (recreation and entertainment), sci.* (science), soc.* (social discussions), talk.* (controversial topics).

This reorganization, known as the Great Renaming by Usenet veterans, gave Usenet seven broad categories. Another hierarchy – humanities.* – was added later, creating what is often called the “big eight.” New groups are added through a process in which groups are suggested and voted upon by interested Usenet participants.

But some found this bureaucratic approach limiting, and another hierarchy – alt.* – was started, in which participants could create groups more directly. The alt.* hierarchy evolved to take on topics too controversial for the Big Eight, as well as most of the groups containing binary files.

Usenet Today

The Internet boom of the 1990’s brought new changes and challenges. In the 80’s, Usenet traffic was carried mostly across private networks and dial-up connections between network sites, but the Internet was faster and could carry Usenet to more places – and more people, as private homes connected to the Internet in large numbers. At first, the veteran Usenet community resented this influx of “newbies,” particularly the ones from fast-growing online service America Online.

In 1994, Usenet would face another unwanted intrusion: For the first time, advertisers began broadcasting messages to all newsgroups at once, a technique that became known as “spamming.”

But despite these growing pains, Usenet thrives. Today, there are specialized hierarchies for countries from Austria (at.*) to South Africa (za.*). Many US states and large cities have their own hierarchies as well.

Large corporations, such as Microsoft, IBM, Novell and 3Com, have embraced Usenet as a cost-effective way to support and educate their customers.

Today, Usenet is a “must-have” resource for millions of people, so popular that many turn to services like Usenet Monster for the fast, reliable Usenet access they need.