Usenet

Or USE·NET

[yooz-net, yoos‑]

noun

1. Digital Technology.,  an extensive system of newsgroups: a branch of the internet.

Usenet

/ ˈjuːzˌnɛt /

noun

1. computing a vast collection of newsgroups that follow agreed naming, maintaining, and distribution practices

Word History and Origins

Origin of Usenet¹

First recorded in 1980–85; use(rs) ¹ ( def. ) + net(work)

Example Sentences

All well and good and fair enough, but it’s bizarre for Peretti to ascribe this trend to the emergence of TikTok and black-box feeds when users have bemoaned the prevalence of platform-incentivized outrage since the days of Usenet.

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The platforms included the more contemporary Facebook, Reddit, Gab, and YouTube, and the older USENET, a worldwide distributed discussion system established in 1980 -- over a decade before the world wide web went online to the general public.

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He was the first-ever European buyer of an Apple Macintosh, he helped conceive of and design various digital games, and was a presence in both the virtual forums of Usenet and the physical conferences held by tech engineers.

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Going back nearly four decades, the same pattern has repeated itself: in Usenet, in AOL chatrooms, in the early blogging platforms, in comments threads, and in various forms of social media.

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It used to be in reference to Usenet, then Discord.

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