Newsgroup server

[bscott at ntisys.com]

On Sat, 11 Jan 2003, at 2:28pm, chrisra at concentric.net wrote:
> I figured [Usenet] was just a broadcast and that anyone could receive
> it....

  In one sense, you are right.  A message posted to a Usenet newsgroup is a
broadcast communication, available to anyone.

  However, it is not broadcast (or even multicast) at the network layer.  
Usenet is a store-and-forward network that exists independently of the
Internet.  It just happens that most Usenet nodes use the Internet to talk
to each other.  So, in order for you to receive a newsfeed, you need to find
an existing Usenet node that is willing to feed to you.  Since operating a
Usenet node can be *very* expensive, that usually incurs a reoccuring
charge.

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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