Usenet News is a distributed discussion system subdivided into a hierarchy of thousands of discussion groups called newsgroups.
Persons wishing to discuss the topic of the newsgroup can post and read messages.
While the word Usenet is sometimes used informally to refer to the community of persons who participate in newsgroup discussion, Usenet is not an organization, has no official leadership, is not limited to academic institutions or to the United States, is not synonymous with the Internet, and is not a software program. Since Usenet newsgroups are distributed via computer hardware belonging to various groups, organizations, companies, educational institutions, etc. Institutions often choose to carry only that portion of Usenet that relates to their purposes or that their hardware can accommodate. Rec groups all relate in some way to recreational pursuits. To subscribe to, read, and post to Usenet News, Creighton users can choose either Pine or a full-featured web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer.