Web-based Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. Web based Usenet is a system where as a typical newsreader client is not necessary to access the data but, is made available via a Web browser.
Introduction
Usenet newsgroups are normally accessed by a newsreader that allows the user to access the encoded data. The user must obtain a news server account and a newsgroup reader to decode the data made available through the users newsgroup server. With web based Usenet, all of the technical aspects of setting up an account and retrieving data are alleviated by allowing access with one account. All of the data is already decoded and made available for viewing via any web browser.
Setup and access
The browser interface offered by web based Usenet providers is typically known as a Usenet browser. All of the data is already compiled and ready for viewing. Normally, they will have a thumbnail format for their images and videos to make browsing much faster and simpler. Typically, there is no set up for web based Usenet. It is as easy as navigating through a browser to the provider's web site. Web-based Usenet is especially useful for those who have access to the internet but do not have or do not know how to set up a Usenet server newsreader.
Web based popularity
Google groups is the most popular web based Usenet browsers and has Terabytes of archived data. With over 700 million post and 20 years of archived data Google groups is by far the largest web based Usenet archive.[1] Many other websites have started offering access to newsgroups through your browser. With the fall in the popularity of Usenet and the rise in the use of the World Wide Web, it only seems natural to merge the two.