This article was written in response to a recent post in the General Discussion Forum concerning downloading of messages from Remarq. In this article, I hope to highlight what Usenet is, its differences from web browsing, how to connect to it, and where to find big breasts on it! I hope it will enlighten the Usenet uninitiated, but also convey a greater understanding of how it works to frequent users. 

Sites such as Remarq (there are others, but Remarq gets referred to most often at the BEA) perform an admirable service for those who are unable to access the Usenet by proper means. However, because it is accessed over via the Web, it in no way makes an adequate tool for downloading large quantities of images that are posted to newsgroups. Let me explain why…

 “The first thing to understand about Usenet is that it is widely misunderstood.”
- Chip Salzenberg

During the late 80’s and into the 90’s, the World Wide Web has become the norm for traversing the internet, mainly because of the ease-of-use of HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and the lovely, flashy, graphics-laden web pages that browsers can display. When you wish to view a page on a web site (say at the BEA, for instance), your computer will ‘talk’ to your ISP’s*  server, this server will then determine the ‘IP’ address where the web page is stored, and work out a route over other internet servers (known as ‘nodes’) to the server that stores the requested page. Once the target server has received notice that information is required, it will process all the necessary data and transfer it back across the nodes to your ISP’s server, and ultimately onto your computer.

As you may have guessed, this process is fraught with areas where the process can be slowed down. First, your ISP could be busy: the requesting of information, determination of the route to take, and reception of information could be slowed. Next, you have no idea of the quantity of traffic over each of the nodes, as these will usually be ISPs themselves. Last and possibly most important is the quantity of net traffic at the target site – if it's very popular (as Remarq is), then it's going to need a very fast connection to the web to keep speeds up, and some damned hefty servers to process all the transactions.

(*Note: When I refer to ISPs, I predominantly mean commercial internet providers, but not exclusively. I also mean other internet providers such as Educational, Governmental faculties, etc., that use internet connections.)

When you consider that there are over 40,000 publicly available newsgroups on the Internet (of which Remarq captures a fair chunk), and that many of them receive over 1000 messages per day (with some for the more popular groups such as alt.mag.playboy, it's not uncommon to find 4000+ posts a day), you can see that any server has its work cut out just receiving it all. When you add the fact that web-based news browsers have to cope with huge number of requests from all 'round the world, then you can understand that there is a fairly large potential for slowdowns.

Internet News, or Usenet, inherently differs from Web browsing, and many would say that it was the first freely accessible area of the Internet. In many ways, Usenet is more akin to the e-mail account that you may have received from your ISP. When you post a message with a POP mail account, it gets uploaded to your ISP’s POP mail server, which identifies the recipient’s server from the address, traverses the Internet (across nodes if necessary), and drops the message into the recipient's ‘In-Tray’, ready for downloading.

Similarly each ISP that is Usenet-enabled carries a Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP) server that handles all the news activity. When you create a news post, the message is uploaded to your news server, and then out from there. The difference is that once it lands on your news server (the original node), it propagates in all available directions to every Usenet node around the world. This means that when you download a post from, say, alt .binaries .pictures .erotica .breasts, you are actually downloading it locally from your ISP’s news server. Naturally, this is going to be far faster than traversing the whole of the internet via a web browser.

Examples of the quantity of Usenet traffic can be found here.

You may have already noticed how newsgroup's names are structured. Groups are stored in hierarchies similar to a directory system on your PC, Mac, or Unix Workstation. In the early days, there were seven base groups (‘The Seven Sisters’), all of which contained the major topics of conversation. Any Usenet-enabled news server carries at least one --if not all-- of these seven groups. The groups are:

comp - topics of interest to computer users of all categories

misc - groups addressing themes not easily classified into any other headings

sci - discussions relating to research in or application of the established sciences

soc - groups primarily addressing social issues and socialising

talk - largely debate-oriented

news - concerned with the Usenet network itself

rec - oriented towards hobbies and recreation

As the Internet --and thus Usenet-- has grown, more root hierarchies have been added, and the one in which most of you boob hounds will be interested is the alt (alternative and anarchical) groups hierarchy. The alt groups hierarchy has grown rapidly as the Internet gradually frees itself from Educational / Governmental organizations and penetrates the mainstream, yet it contains the most taboo areas of the Internet. Anything from Sex to The Simpsons is covered in the alt groups.

As mentioned earlier, there are 40,000 freely available newsgroups on Usenet (many more if you include ‘closed’ groups – those inside a particular network), and it's up to the News Administrator at each ISP to decide which newsgroups they wish to carry. I’m fortunate that my ISP (ClaraNET) recently bought a huge new newsserver, because they now carry every publicly available group. However, many ISPs do not take that policy. If you know that a group exists but you can’t access it, you should contact your ISP; they will add it if they value you as a customer. (Educational organisations may not quite so forthcoming when you ask the news administrator to add the group alt.sex.sheep.baaa.baaa!!)

Traditionally, Usenet newsgroups were created as discussion text boards much akin to the BEA’s forum. In fact, the idea for web forums owes a lot to newsgroups. When a message is posted to Usenet, the NNTP server allocates it a unique Message-ID. This Message-ID is important because all the other NNTP servers that the message propagates to use it to see it they already have this message. The ID also contains other important information, such is whether it’s a follow-up to another news message. This is how discussion threads are formed.

Those who have frequented Usenet or Remarq for images know that there are newsgroups that are not limited to text – jpeg’s, mpeg’s, avi’s, exe’s, etc. can all be found. The alt.binaries hierarchy is where the majority of the binaries are posted, although there are a few other binary newsgroups available on different hierarchies. Though it is not necessarily impossible to post binaries to non-binary newsgroups, it may be considered poor netiquette to do so. Some groups stray, though. For instance, alt.mag.playboy, alt.fan.televisionx are full of binary posts, even though they are not in the binaries hierarchy. Some ISP’s take the option of filtering off the binaries in non-binary groups in an effort to save disk space.

The lifetime of a message on Usenet is up to each ISP’s News Administrator, because each ISP has a different server configuration, and a finite amount of disk space available on their server. I've recently discovered that the ClaraNET news servers are configured with two 'spools' - one for small messages (usually text), and another for large files (binaries). These spools operate on a first-in/first-out basis, purging the oldest messages when more space for new messages is required. In my experience, binary postings last a day or 2, and text messages last longer. I imagine that it's a fairly similar story across all ISP’s.

Right now, as you read all my waffle about Usenet and how it works, you’re thinking, “Yeah, Yeah, get on with it. How do I get to this mine of information (and where can I see some huge baps!)?” Well, what you need is a newsreader.

A newsreader is an application that resides on your computer and provides you with an interface to your ISP’s NNTP server. Newsreaders are freely available, and can be downloaded from many locations.

Note: although hating Microsoft and all things Microsoft seems to be an international pastime, all the references I make towards newsreaders apply specifically to Microsoft Outlook Express 5. Believe it or not, this product is exceptionally good at its task, probably better than most others, and I can see no reason for changing it. Hell, its even stable! The basic operations of all newsreaders are the same, and most perform all the same advanced functions as well; they may just be organized slightly differently.

One of the first things you need to do with a newsreader (after installation!) is set up an account. The account information requested will be things such as the name you wish to be displayed on your news posts, an e-mail address should people want to contact you directly (it's not always good to enter your real one – more later), and most importantly, the address of your ISP’s NNTP server. You will need to dig out your ISP’s installation instructions, or contact your ISP directly if you don’t know it. Some ISP’s are fairly sensible with the server names – for instance, my POP mail server is mail.clara.net, and my news server is news.clara.net.

Once your account is set up, you should access the Internet in whatever fashion you normally do. Once connected for the first time, you'll need to download the list of Usenet newsgroups that your ISP carries. This must only be done the first time your new news account is activated; once done, the newsreader stores the available groups, and only makes occasional extra downloads when it detects more groups that have been added by your ISP.

Your newsreader will offer an option to display a list of all the groups on the server. Outlook Express has a drill-down function, whereby you can type a keyword and it will drill down to the list of newsgroups that contain the keyword. Newsreaders also allow you to ‘subscribe’ to a group. This doesn’t actually do anything to the group, or your NNTP server; it just provides you easy access to your favorite groups, and your newsreader will automatically monitor the number of posts made to your subscribed groups.

Once you’ve selected a group to visit, the first thing the browser will do when you enter it is download the list of message ‘headers’. These headers are small in size (to allow for quick download), and contain key information such as the message-ID, the post date, the poster's display name, the size of the message (in bytes and in ‘lines’), and most importantly, the message subject. Newsreaders can be set to download a certain number of headers at a time; I overrode the default on OE and set it to 1000 headers, due to the number of posts on the newsgroups I visit. Your newsreader will remember the message-ID’s that it has already seen, so it will only download new messages following the last previously received message-ID, even when old messages have been deleted from the cache. Only by ‘resetting’ the group can you re-download old headers, if they still exist on your NNTP server.

As soon as you find a message that you wish to see, click on its header, and the newsreader will begin downloading the message body, it’s content. OE allows you to see the message in either a preview pane or a separate window. Like E-mail, newsgroups don’t actually like real binary files as they are, and so they have to be encoded. E-mail systems use MIME encoding for attachments, but newsgroups use Uuencode / Uudecode. While MIME encoded files may be uploaded to newsgroups, it is considered poor netiquette to do so, as UU is the default. In days gone by, you would have had to use a separate program to decode the messages, but nowadays, newsreaders automatically detect Uuencoded files and decode them (as do E-mail applications). Encoding binary files always incurs a slight size cost, hence the encoded message will be slightly larger than the decoded binary in the post.

Clicking on more than one post while another is still downloading will just make the newsreader queue the messages to be downloaded. However, if you find a large selection of messages to download, you can ‘mark’ each message for download. When you have all the messages that you wish to download marked, you can batch download them (know as ‘Synchronising’ in OE5, for some reason) in a separate process, leaving you free to browse other groups, or the web.

Larger binary files such as mpeg’s will not necessarily make it to all NNTP servers if they are encoded in their original size, as some ISP’s limit the size of messages allowed. To alleviate this issue, most news poster applications have a split function: you can preset the maximum size of the message, and it will encode the binary attachment and spread the encoded data across several messages filled to the maximum size. If you encounter split binaries, OE (and most new newsreaders) offer a ‘Combine and Decode’ facility. You can either download all the parts of the message manually, or let the Combine and Decode feature do it, but once everything is downloaded, the newsreader will detect the encoded parts, join them all together, and decode them to make a single file. Split messages can be identified from the message header: the header will contain a notation of (number / total); i.e. (1/17), meaning the first part of a seventeen-part split.

(Note: If you are manually downloading a split file, OE will decode the file before it has encountered the uuencode ‘file end’ tag. This means that it will decode the first part of a multiple split, as this contains the header, but the other messages will just remain as rubbish ASCII text. All parts of the file need to then be Combined and Decoded).

Usenet is only as good as those who contribute to it, so I urge you to do so. Lurkers are aggravating (we’re sure they’re there, but not defiantly), but those who occasionally pipe up and shout “ATTN Everyone: Please Flood ….” are really very annoying!

Creating a Usenet message is much the same as creating an Email message. The main difference between E-mail and Newsgroup posts is that your recipient is the group, and you should be in the group so that it will be selected upon the creation of the message. If you wish to contribute to an existing thread or another message, just select the message you want to reply to, then select ‘Reply to Group’. Alternatively a ‘Reply to Sender’ is available; this will activate your E-mail application. (However not everyone will have real E-mail addresses on their posts, as it can attract unwanted junk mail to their accounts.) Attaching a binary file is just as simple: use the attach function in the message window, or drag and drop the file.

Although OE5 is geared up towards downloading multiple newsgroup posts, it isn’t geared towards the bulk posting of multiple files. When I first started posting to Usenet, I began by doing multiple drag and drop messages, but this soon became too laborious to continue, and I sought an alternative. It quickly became apparent that multiple poster programs were readily available, and I settled upon an application called ‘News On Rocketfuel’ (Newsblaster). Newblaster allows you to set a message header, then pick up any files that you want posted from a preset directory. Newsblaster will automatically uuencode each file, add the filename to the message header (if required) and post the message to the group or groups selected.

Right now, you know what Usenet is, how to access it and send and receive posts. What you now want to know is where to get the best stuff. Well, as with the web, Usenet is a voyage of discovery, and most tastes are covered. However, just seeing a newsgroup name that you think you might like doesn’t necessarily mean there will be anything interesting there. What I can give you is a starting point with the best breast newsgroups that I frequent:

alt .binaries .pictures .erotica .breasts – Straight off, this is the biggie. This is the oldest of the binary breast newsgroups, and the best known. The downside of its popularity is that it attracts the most crap! Despite that, there are awesome quantities of posts made to this group. Even as a frequent contributor, I would estimate I download at least 500 new images a week from this group alone.Ê While the group title only specifies ‘breasts’, it has tended over the years to mean ‘big (or VERY big) breasts’. This is the place to post and find images of all women with outstanding busts. Images of cosmetically enhanced women can be found here, too, and posts of such are welcomed. Naturals may also be present (seeing as they are on topic), but you will usually find that they are limited to the ‘slim and really stacked’ ideal, like Linsey Dawn or Chloe. There are other natural forums available.

Posters to look for include (sorry, this is from memory, so If I’m bound to forget loads of people – no offense): Exterminus (possibly the holder of the biggest flood record so far – take notice when he starts to post), Zephyr (more recently began to do some truly excellent floods), delija, Bo-ama, A.G. (Tiffany Towers fan extreme!), and…oh yeah, I believe some bloke called WipEout! 'as posted a thing or two there!

alt .binaries .pictures .erotica .breasts .large – I believe this to be a relatively newer group to a.b.p.e.b, as I’ve only come across it in the last year or so, and its further down the hierarchy. Posts aren’t as frequent here, and many of them consist of cross-posts from a.b.p.e.b, but it is worth keeping an eye on.

The main character that I’d look out for here is a chap called damole. He went oh Boobcruise 98, and he’s gradually been supplying us with many of his own photos and camcorder clips – totally unique, and totally worth it (SC – its not up to the quality of your SaRenna cruise 97 pics, but still well worth it).

alt .binaries .pictures .erotica .breasts .natural – Pugsley’s playground, or at least it was once. As the title suggests, this is for naturals only, and was originally created by Pugsley. You’ll find anything from the slim and large chested, such as Danni Ashe, to the plump and very large chested, such as Jenny – anything you’d expect from a publication such as Voluptuous. If you intentionally or inadvertently post a model with implants, you will probably be flamed with comments so as “No Plastic Tits Here!!!”

Traffic on this group has died down of late, but the famous Pugsley still contributes his exceptionally high quality Pugscans. RepairMan has been gradually disseminating his entire, enormous collection Veronika Zemanova pictures for all to see. Posters such as Pjuske, Humbert, Swamp-Thing and Gordo are worth looking for, as well.

alt .binaries .pictures .erotica .linsey- dawn- mckenzie – Now, if you like Linsey Dawn (and I can’t see why any breast lover wouldn't!) this is the place to go. Unfortunately, you may not be able to. This group is fairly new, and I’ve got a feeling that it was either created in the UK or wasn’t created through the proper channels, and as such, not a huge number of servers carry it. Despite that, of the big boobed fan groups, this one actually receives a fair amount of traffic – probably due to the wealth of Linsey images and movies available out there. I would say this group is worth getting installed if your ISP doesn’t carry it.

Lattara and Linsey_fan are pretty much carrying this group at the moment, but they have an inordinately large quantity of material to share!

alt .binaries .pictures .sarenna-lee – This group has died of late. Unfortunately, even its creator SLFan1 hasn’t been heard from for some time. My personal belief is that there are so many images available of SaRenna that no one wants to undertake a flood. You will occasionally find that either myself or some other kind soul has posted some new images of SaRenna that have become available.

I visit all of the above groups regularly and know them fairly well. Because of the quantity of material that I find there every day, I rarely have time to look elsewhere. Here are a few other groups you may want to look into. I personally don’t visit them all the time, probably due to lack of posts or material I’m not too interested in, but you may find something you like…

alt .fan .danni- ashe – All you Danni fans are catered to here. From what I’ve seen, discussion and scans of Danni can be found, but the place is often filled with copious quantities of images from the Hotbox.

alt .binaries .tiffany- towers – This is gradually dying down now, but occasional posts of the Canadian wonder can be found here.

alt .binaries .pictures .erotica .breasts .saggy – As the name suggests. I don’t think there is a huge amount of traffic here, though.

alt .binaries .nospam .breasts .natural – The ‘nospam’ hierarchy is a fairly new invention, but it has done little to dispel spam! This particular group has attracted a reasonable quantity of traffic, but not nearly as much as a.b.p.e.b.n.

alt .mag .playboy – If you can be bothered to wade through the multitude of posts, some valuable busty models can be found here, such asÊ Petra and Patti Farnelli. A few other sub-groups have recently sprung up from the Playboy hierarchy which may also be worth a look.

In a word, Spam! Spam is a pretty generic term for unwanted posts. These posts will range from off topic to illegal or distasteful content, but will mainly consist of advertisements for pay sights and such. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule to getting rid of spam (short of moderation, which would be impossible due to the number of posts most of the breasts groups get) because of the free nature of Usenet: it's all part and parcel of it. As for avoiding spam, I’m afraid I can’t be much help either. You’ll just have to distinguish the regular posters from the rubbish over a period of time.

Well, there you are then: your best breast guide to Usenet. Hopefully you’ll feel that you have enough information to venture out into the big wide world of Usenet, collect some posts, and perhaps give some back.

Please note that while I am a big advocate of the newsgroups, I am in no way trying to draw any attention away from the BEA. The BEA and Usenet are geared up to operate totally differently; the BEA for discussion, morphs and art, and Usenet for quick-hit, high-volume posts. My belief is that they can operate in harmony, perhaps even closer than they are now.