Definitions

The following is a “what is” glossary or dictionary of common usenet terms

bandwidth-
an amount of data (measured in megabytes/giga/etc) transfered. This also can refer to the speed at which data transfers (ie 500 kbps)

client-
an application, also known as new readers, used for reading or retrieving articles from Usenet. The latest versions offer support for importing NZBs.

completion-

the calculated percentage of files on a new server which match the original poster’s data. For example, 98.99% is very close to full completion, whereas 85.99% is not. The lower the completion rate, the less likely you’ll be able download a full archive.

connections-
the number of roads your news provider allows your client to take when retrieving a file. Rule of thumb is, the more connections, the better. However 20 connections may not be better for you than 10; this is because your bandwidth max speed is a finite number which cannot be exceeded once reached.

dmca-
the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a U.S. law about the distribution of pirated digital material. This entitles copyright owners to issue takedown requests before serving court papers. These can usually be ignored.

internet service provider (isp)-
an Internet Service Provider is a company which allows you to connect to the internet through Cable, DSL, or other means. Example: AOL, Rogers, Bell Sympatico, Virgin, etc.

news provider (nsp)-
a Newsgroup Service Provider aka Usenet Access Provider is a company which allow you to connect to Usenet. Example: GigaNews, Newshosting, etc.

newsgroups-
a category system employed by Usenet to organize posts and articles into related sections. Example: alt.binaries.movies.xvid, alt.binaries.tv, etc.

nzb-
a text file containing meta data about articles posted to Usenet. NZBs contain information such as post date, poster, subject title, etc. These files do not contain anything other than human-readable text, but can be read by clients to retrieve articles from Usenet.

retention-
the length of time (measured in days) which articles and posts are stored by news providers. The greater the retention, the older the files you’ll be able to download.

ssl-
the Secure Sockets Layers allow users connecting to SSL enabled servers to access content through an encrypted channel which only the particular user is able to decode. If someone else, for instance an ISP, was collecting this data, only garbled text would be visible to that party.

threads-

see connections

usenet-
internet message boards, also known as newsgroups, which allow for the exchange of text and other media, such as pictures, videos, RAR archives, etc.