the link above is just one i ran across when googling 'what is usenet?'. seems to cover my own understanding of usenet. i've been on usenet since
1999 and online in general since the early 90s, so i dont consider myself a newbie online.where i understand that what i type in usenet is my own copyright, it is also out there for all the world to read via many, many servers. when i post it goes from my isp (i'm reading/posting with my email program) to eternal-september.org (i register to use this server) and on thru several other servers around the world before it shows up for me to read on the group.
i'm not sure what all the hullaballo is here about sewgirls other than they are another usenet server that charges for advertsing and perhaps making a living out of it. i surely dont see it as copyright infringement when they show posts to usenet from me. those of you who are getting in a tizz have me confused. it appears a rather simple process to access usenet and become your own server. not that i've ever had the inclination to do so as i've now got 4 different free servers set up to access usenet thru my email reader (Outlook Express). at one time my own isp was a usenet server carrying tens of thousands of the various groups but when they stopped i went out and found lots of other free servers. i use 4 of them now because occasionally one of them is down probably doing maintenence or something else on their system so i try another one. ok, enough of my babbling on. what is the big deal with sewgirls vs any other usenet server around the globe? cheers, jeanne