Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis.llnl.gov!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!bionet!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!nic.MR.NET!umn-cs!cctb!randy
From: randy@cctb.mn.org (Randy Orrison)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Questions about USENET (/bitnet)
Message-ID: <158@cctb.mn.org>
Date: 25 Jan 89 20:48:28 GMT
References: <1466@cc.helsinki.fi> <3047@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Reply-To: randy@cctb.mn.org (Randy Orrison)
Organization: Chemical Computer Thinking Battery, St. Paul, MN
Lines: 40

In an article lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee) writes:
| From an article by harmo@cc.helsinki.fi (Timo Harmo (Valt. tiet. tdk)):
| " 1.  What is USENET? I've understood it's a network of all the si-
| " tes that participate and distribute these newsgroups.

From the paper "How to Use USENET Effectively" (by Matt Bishop,
distributed with the news software):

	USENET is a worldwide bulletin board system in which thousands
	of computers pass articles back and forth.

This has always been what I understood USENET to be:  the network of
machines that transfer news.  It's not related to the internet, or to
UUCP, or to BITNET, except that all of these mechanisms are used to
transmit news.

| " Should BITNET sites that distibute news be counted in?

Obviously.  The distribution of news defines USENET.

Everyone who reads news should read this paper, and the companion "How
to Read the Network News" by Mark R. Horton.  If anyone wants a copy of
either of these, they are available wherever the news software is
available, and if you don't have access to that, send me mail, and I'll
send you a copy.

In "How to Use USENET Effectively", it says:

	You should read this document and understand it thoroughly
	before you even think about posting anything.

This is very true.  Also, everyone should read news.announce.newusers.

	-randy

-- 
Randy Orrison - Chemical Computer Thinking Battery - randy@cctb.mn.org
(aka randy@{umn-cs.uucp, ux.acss.umn.edu, umnacvx.bitnet, garnet.uucp})
	"Blow a lawyer to pieces / It's the obvious way
	 Don't wait for a thesis / Do it today"		- Al Stewart