Post

A single message on Usenet. In text newsgroups, a post is the same as an article. In binary newsgroups, due to the complexity of binary files, most posts consist of many articles.

Propagation

The process of transferring Usenet articles between servers.

Pull

A particular Usenet feed used for smaller servers to retrieve new articles from a large server, usually operated independently.

Retention

Retention refers to the length of time that articles are available on a Usenet server before they are removed to make room for newer articles. Recently, this has become a major factor when shopping for a Usenet provider as retention times vary from provider to provider. Retention is relevant to Usenet users because longer retention gives users more opportunity to find and download an article of interest. Many Usenet providers will offer longer retention in text newsgroups because text articles require less storage space than larger binaries. Retention may also be shorter in more popular newsgroups and groups that are comprised of large binary files, such as gaming groups, due to the volume and size of posts in such groups.

Subscribing / Unsubscribing

The process of selecting and monitoring newsgroups that are considered interesting. Most Usenet users subscribe to a handful of newsgroups to regularly read and infrequently subscribe to new newsgroups. Subscribing to a newsgroup makes it easier for the user to access their favorite groups while saving them the trouble of having to manually find them each time they access their news server. The process of subscribing and unsubscribing is usually accomplished easily through a newsreader.

UDP

Usenet Death Penalty. An acronym that describes the action of one or many Usenet servers refusing the articles of another server. This is undertaken as a measure against providers that are sources for spam or disruptive users, and for other extreme circumstances. This refusal may be either passive, meaning that all posts under the UDP are ignored and propagation is prohibited; or a UDP may be active, which results in the actual deletion or cancellation of all posts coming from the offending server or provider. A partial UDP only inhibits the propagation of particular groups, individuals, or hierarchies while a total UDP inhibits the propagation of all data from a server..

yEnc

yEnc is an 8-bit extended ASCII encoding method used to convert binary files for use on Usenet. yEnc was developed as an alternative to uuencode, BASE64, and BinHex. yEnc works by converting bytes in a binary file to a special set of 8-bit extended ASCII characters (encoding). These characters are then posted into a newsgroup article and downloaded by other readers. The characters are then converted back to the original binary bytes (decoding) so the reader can view or use the original file. Example of yEnc Encoded characters: ????V??Qh????@ K???b??_=@? =}A+5?c ? ?+?U?]????Tp?F ?????V??? yEnc was an improvement over traditional encoding technologies such as uuencode or BASE64 because it utilizes the current 8-bit method of data storage vs. the 6-bit or 7-bit based encoding used in previous generations of encoding algorithms. yEnc's 8-bit based encoding algorithm means a smoother conversion from the original binary file and less character mapping. Tradtional Usenet based encoding algorithms add 33-40% of additional data to your source file. This additional data is referred to as overhead. Overhead includes header data and additional character mapping for Usenet specific bytes (examples: nulls, \n\b.\r). yEnc only adds 1-2% overhead through it's encoding algorithm. The value in reduced overhead is felt all along the Usenet chain. By utilizing yEnc the poster spends less time encoding and transferring their encoded file to Usenet. The Usenet provider spends less bandwidth and storage hosting the article and making it available for download to other Usenet users. Down loaders also spend less time downloading the articles and decoding them back into the original file format. Most news readers today support integrated yEnc support so chances are you probably would never know that a post was made using the yEnc encoding algorithm.