(USEr NETwork) is a global, decentralized, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name. It was conceived by Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979. Users read and post E-mail -like messages (called "articles" or "posts") to one or more of a number of categories, called Newsgroup s. Usenet resembles Bulletin Board System s (BBS) in most respects, and is the precursor to the various Internet Forums which are widely used today.
One notable difference from a BBS is that there is no central server, nor central system owner. Usenet is distributed among a large, constantly changing conglomeration of servers which store and forward messages to one another.
These servers are loosely connected in a variable mesh. Individual users usually read from and post messages to a local server operated by their ISP , university, employer, or some other local organization. Then, the servers exchange the messages between one another.
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