Usenet is mainly (but not exclusively) distributed over the Internet (its creation actually precedes that of the Internet). It consists of thousands of publicly accessible so-called newsgroups, each of which revolves around a specific topic. Anyone can post messages (or, as they are also called, news articles) to any of these newsgroups (= send them to Usenet and thus make them publicly available) and read what others have posted. It is even possible - subject to certain rules - for anyone to create a new newsgroup on a new topic.

Newsgroups are structured hierarchically. There are general so-called top-level hierarchies, such as comp (for computers), in which English-language newsgroups on the respective topic can be found. A special English-language top-level hierarchy is alt (alternative), which is less regulated than the others when it comes to setting up new newsgroups. In addition, there are top-level hierarchies for languages other than English; such is de the top-level hierarchy for German-language newsgroups. These language-specific top-level hierarchies are then in turn subdivided thematically according to the pattern of the general, English-language top-level hierarchies.

The hierarchy levels are separated by dots. For example, de.comp.sys.next is a German-language newsgroup dealing with the NeXT computer system.

To ensure that only messages pertinent to the topic are posted, some newsgroups are moderated (by their own choice). Messages posted to moderated newsgroups do not go directly to Usenet, but are automatically sent via email to the newsgroup moderator, who then decides whether the message will appear in the newsgroup.

If you are new to Usenet, you should read the newsgroup de.newusers.infos, which contains information and periodic postings for new users (the international equivalent is news.announce.newusers). Especially important are the postings concerning the so-called netiquette, i.e. general rules for communicating with others on Usenet. In de.newusers.infos this includes netiquette for "de.*" and Emily Postnews answers questions about USENET.

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The Usenet and the Internet

The Usenet is a service on the Internet, just like Email, FTP and WWW. But it has a different communication structure. Email is used by two people to communicate with each other privately, just as they would on the telephone or with traditional letters. The WWW, on the other hand, has a classic provider-consumer structure: there is an active information provider who offers information on his (public or non-public) website that can be used by passive consumers.

In contrast, Usenet is public and egalitarian. There is no asymmetry between providers and consumers. Every participant in Usenet is both a reader and a contributor. In this respect, Usenet comes closer than any other service to what the Internet is really about.

In keeping with the spirit of equality and free communication, the software with which Usenet is technically realized is largely free software.