A Usenet search engine allows users to browse the thousands of files and posts found in the many newsgroups that make up this part of the Internet. Usenet is not as publicized and therefore not as widely known or used as other forms of Internet communication technology. This is unfortunate, as there are countless advantages to this form of communication, and there are security enhancements that make it more private and secure than many other forms of peer-to-peer file sharing.
Searching the Usenet requires more specialized search technology than other types of search engines. A typical internet search will return possibly millions of pages based on just a few keywords and those pages will be scattered all over the internet. An Internet search engine determines the relevance of any given page using various algorithms, and as any Internet user knows, there is no general organizational scheme for the Internet in general. Suffixes such as dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org are essentially meaningless at this point and cannot be relied on to define the content of the pages on those sites.
Usenet search technology takes advantage of searching through a service that is hierarchically organized by design. For example, if one limits one’s search to just a few newsgroups whose content is relevant, one can be sure that the returned results will not be spam content or other attempts to trick a user into navigating to the wrong page. Newsgroups are very well maintained in terms of organization and being able to drill down like this is a feature that any Usenet search service should offer. It saves a great deal of time and effort and allows users to intelligently expand and collapse search parameters as they go.
A Usenet-based search engine also allows the user to search for only specific types of content. In newsgroups, any file intended to be downloaded and used on a computer is called a “binary.” One can search only groups that have binaries attached to posts to eliminate irrelevant returns in their results. Compare this to a normal internet search where one looks for images of dogs, for example. You will likely get information pages that are dog stories, dog drawings, dog products, etc. With a newsgroup search, one can simply specify “dog images” and search for a binary group where there are bound to be many examples of what one wants.
Search engine services for Usenet are available all over the Internet. One can specify the time elapsed since the post was made in your search, which groups you want to search for, and much more. There are few more efficient ways to find information. Of course, basic text string searches are also very easy, allowing the user to find specific conversations that interest them. These can be narrowed down by focus grouping to make sure the returned results are always relevant.