By Square One Technology Usenet is the collection of over 17,000 newsgroups dedicated to most every topic imaginable. Newsgroups are like electronic bulletin boards.
Users post a question or an opinion to a newsgroup dedicated to a particular topic.
Readers have the option of replying publicly back to the newsgroup, or privately via e-mail directly to the author. Sometimes messages stay on the topic of the newsgroup, and sometimes not. Usenet is divided into seven main topic hierarchies. Each is dedicated toward a specific category for discussion. Even though alt is not technically part of Usenet, you can typically access alt newsgroups in the same way as any Usenet newsgroup.