These two wikipedia articles are a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nntp https:/

These two wikipedia articles are a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nntp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nntp As for "why pay separate provider" -- that would be because circa 2000 most ISP's dropped offering Usenet access for their customers as part of the deal, which created a market for the paid providers. But, you don't /have/ to pay: https://greycoder.com/best-free-usenet-servers/ https://greycoder.com/best-free-usenet-servers/