Questions Frequently Asked by New Newsgroup Users

From Usenet Big-8 Management Board

What is a newsgroup?

  • A newsgroup is something like a mailbox that the public is invited to use to store e-mail ("posts") sent to the mailbox. Anybody who wants to look in the newsgroup to read the posts that have been sent to it may do so.
  • The name of a newsgroup is its mailing address.

What is a newsreader?

  • A newsreader is a piece of software that lets users look in the newsgroup, sort the posts that are there, read the posts, or make new posts.
  • GARNA: "Get a real newsreader, [amigo]."

What is Usenet?

  • The history of the big-8, which played a major role in the history of Usenet.
  • "Usenet is a worldwide electronic discussion community. It dates from before the Internet, when articles were tranmitted with modems over phone lines. Now the Internet is used. Each newsgroup is dedicated to a specific topic. Articles are copied from the originating site to other participating sites [news servers]" of Virgina ITC.

What is a hierarchy?

  • An ordered list of newsgroups.
  • Each of the subsets of the Big-8 is a hierarchy (comp.*, humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*, soc.*, talk.*).
  • Each of the subsets of the eight hierarchies may be called a hierarchy if it does have or potentially may have more than one newsgroup sharing the same initial components in the name. So, for example, the misc.health.* hierarchy is the list of all newsgroups whose names begin with "misc.health":
misc.health.aids	AIDS issues and support.
misc.health.alternative	Alternative, complementary and holistic health care.
misc.health.arthritis	Arthritis and related disorders.
misc.health.diabetes	Discussion of diabetes management in day to day life.
misc.health.infertility	Treatment & support of infertility.
misc.health.injuries.rsi.misc	All about Repetitive Strain Injuries.
misc.health.therapy.occupational	All areas of occupational therapy.
  • In the preceding example, "misc.health.injuries.rsi" could become a new hierarchy if other newsgroups beginning with those four components were added to the list such as "misc.health.injuries.rsi.diagnosis", "misc.health.injuries.rsi.support", or "misc.health.injuries.rsi.tech".

What is the difference between Google Groups and Usenet?

  • Google archives most newsgroups on Usenet and makes the old articles available through a page-based interface. Most news servers only hold articles for a short time depending on how the news administrator has set up the system.
  • Google also provides a method for creating new Google Groups that are Google-specific; such groups do not circulate on Usenet news servers.
  • Google is not a traditional news service provider. Neither the newsgroup archives nor the non-Usenet Google Groups can be accessed by a news reader.

What is the difference between a web forum and Usenet?

  • On Usenet, articles are copied from the originating site to other participating sites; web forums are hosted by one internet site.
  • Usenet groups can be accessed using a newsreader; web forums are accessed using an internet browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, etc.).
  • The person who controls the host site for the web forum controls the forum; there is no such central administration for Usenet.

Who's in charge of this system?

  • Nobody. It's decentralized.
  • Everybody who uses it. Drive carefully. Buckle your Usenet seatbelts.
  • News administrators. They decide what newsgroups are carried on their news servers.
  • Moderators of groups (if the group is moderated).
  • Hierarchy administrators. They make up lists that may or may not be carried by news administrators. The Big-Eight Management Board is an example of hierarchy administration, except that the Board has eight lists to think about.

What is the Big-8?

comp.* Computer topics, both hardware and software.
news.* Administration of the Big 8, as well as about Usenet and Netnews in general, and related topics.
sci.* Science and technology.
humanities.* The humanities.
rec.* Recreational topics, including music, sports, games, outdoor recreation, hobbies, crafts, ...
soc.* Socializing, society, and social issues.
talk.* Endless discussion, largely about politics.
misc.* A mixture of newsgroups that don't fit the other 7 hierarchies. Many are about the practical aspects of everyday life.

What is a mail-to-news gateway?

  • It is a site that translates news into mail and (sometimes) mail into news.
  • If it is uni-directional, the translation only goes in one direction. People can read input from one source but not respond to it.
  • If it is bi-directional, the translation goes in both directions. Users receive all input both from the mailing list and the newsgroup and may reply to any post/e-mail by using e-mail or a newsreader.
  • Links to mail-to-news gateways.

How do I get answers to my other questions?

  • Why can't I see the newsgroup?
  • Why can't I see posts that other people see?
  • Why can't I see my posts?
  • How do I post pictures to the newsgroup?
  • Why is everybody yelling at me for posting pictures to the newsgroup?
  • What is HTML?
  • Why don't people like HTML?
  • WHAT IS A 'CAPS LOCK KEY'?
  • Can't somebody get rid of all that spam?
  • How do I post a message to every newsgroup in the world?
  • How do I keep from seeing all the pornographic pictures?
  • How do I get to see all the pornographic pictures?
  • How can I post my pornographic pictures to a newsgroup?
  • Is everybody as sarcastic and short-tempered as you are?
Visit Other Websites
The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Usenet
Getting Started with Newsgroups
How to Ask Quesions the Smart Way
How Newsgroups Work
Internet FAQ Archives
[Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups]
news.newusers.questions Links Page
[MIT news.announce.newusers archive]
Newsreaders.com Introduction to Netiquette
Newsville FAQ on Usenet
Outlook Express Newsgroup Tutorial
Outlook Express newsgroups 101 (Microsoft)
faqs:rfcs RFC 1855: Guidelines on Netiquette (1995)
University of Virginia FAQs
Stanley: User's Guide to the Changing Usenet
UsenetSupport.com (Giganews)
Using Usenet Newsgroups
Visit Newsgroups Designed for New Newsgroup Users
news:news.announce.newusers
Google news.announce.newusers
Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)
news:news.answers
Google news.answers
Repository for periodic USENET articles. (Moderated)
news:news.groups.questions
Google news.groups.questions
Where can I find talk about topic X?
news:news.groups.reviews
Google link to news.groups.reviews
What is going on in group or mailing list named X? (Moderated)
news:news:news.lists.misc
Google news.lists.misc
News-related statistics and lists. (Moderated)
news:news.misc
Google news.misc
Discussions of USENET itself.
news:news.newusers.questions
Google news.newusers.questions
Q & A for new users of Usenet. (Moderated)
Official n.n.q. homepage
news:news.software.readers
Google news.software.readers
news.software readers--GARN, Amigo!
Whatever You Do, Don't Visit This Newsgroup Unprepared :-O
news:news.groups can be a little hard on newcomers. Proceed with caution!
Read Google's news.groups archive to see what I mean.
Other Pages on This Website
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Understanding Usenet
news.groups.proposals History of the Big-8
List of All Big-8 Newsgroups News Service Providers
Glossary