suzmccarth wrote:

> I should mention, since you once asked how long I had been using
> usenet, whatever that is, that joining qalam was the first time I
> had used the internet.

"Usenet" (I don't know why it's called that) is the network that relays
newsgroups - broadcast discussion channels. Before the Internet
absorbed everything in the Nineties, Usenet relays also used various
other media. Now, Usenet generally means the newsgroups themselves, or
rather those in the "Big Eight" families (news.*, comp.*, sci.*, soc.*,
rec.*, talk.*, misc.*, humanities.*) as opposed to Alternet (alt.*) and
the various regional and local families.

--
Anton Sherwood, http://www.ogre.nu/
"How'd ya like to climb this high *without* no mountain?" --Porky Pine