In the vernacular of file-sharing terminology, it's almost a given that words are mixed up or misused to describe their intention. Let's start with an easy one: BitTorrent. How often do you see the question, "Is BitTorrent a good P2P network?" That's an easy one to answer, "No, it's not a good network at all. But it sure makes a fine and dandy P2P protocol."

Misusing terminology extends to many facets of file-sharing. How many times have you heard Mininova or isoHunt called a tracker? You could argue that Mininova's Content Distribution system, which allows just about anyone with a desire and internet connection to publish material, qualifies it as a tracker; but in the grand context of things, Mininova and isoHunt are indexers.

Things get a bit confusing from there. Let's take a look at The Pirate Bay - it's both a tracker and an indexer. How's that possible? Well, the Pirate Bay that most people see is just the web front end. In fact it's a lot like isoHunt's indexer. But the difference is that isoHunt directs the end user to other trackers, while The Pirate Bay directs you to their own tracker. Of course since the ownership of the trackers is so muddled, who knows the true categorization of The Pirate Bay.

Two other commonly interchanged words in the file-sharing realm is Usenet and the newsgroups. Here, interchanging these words is a bit more forgivable than misusing P2P terminology. But it's still apparent that some explanation is needed.

So what exactly is a newsgroup, and how is it similar/different from Usenet?

The newsgroups, or a newsgroup, is simply one of many thousands of repositories where discussions take place on a myriad of subjects. For example, comp.security is a newsgroup where computer security is discussed; alt.binaries.test is a newsgroup that permits the uploading of test binary material.

Usenet is a word used to describe all of the action that takes place on the newsgroups. It's the word that unifies the network of people participating on the newsgroups. A single newsgroup is not Usenet - it's only one small part of Usenet, but all of the newsgroups combined is. Make sense? Ok...

As a comparison, consider the Slyck forums. The Slyck forums contain many different subjects - some on BitTorrent, while others discuss current events. The entirely of the Slyck forums is analogous to Usenet, while each independent forum is analogous to a newsgroup.

It's no big deal if you're on comp.security and proclaim on your Facebook page, "Hey I'm getting down with Usenet!" Few will retort, "Yo dude, you're on a newsgroup - please keep it real." But God help you if you call isoHunt a tracker...

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