Newsgroups-An Overview
Background
A newsgroup is an Internet discussion group (similar to bulletin boards).
Started in 1979 at the University of North Carolina, there are now over
30,000 such discussion groups (although at West Georgia we have access
to far fewer than 30,000). These discussion groups are often called
Usenet
for "Users Network."
Positives: effective resource for communication, many different topics/groups
Negatives: text-based, a lot of "spaming", web-based boards taking
over
Finding Appropriate Newsgroups (Newsgroup directories)
Newsgroup Hierarchies (top-level domains)
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rec-recreation
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soc-society/culture
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comp-computer topics
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news-Internet issues
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biz-business related
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sci-science/academic topics
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alt-alternative topics
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misc-any topic
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talk-debate/discussion
Newsgroup Terminology
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Posting an Article-adding a message of your own to
a discussion
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Reply to an article-replying to another article
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Thread-a continuous chain of postings on a single
topic
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Lurking-participating in a newsgroup by reading messages
(not posting)
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Flaming-angry replies to messages
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Spaming- blatantly promotional messages
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Moderated Newsgroup-an individual determines if an
article's content is appropriate for a particular newsgroup. Some
lag exists in posting an article.
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Subscribe- accessing a newsgroup (via Netscape)
Google Newsgroups
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An excellent way to access newsgroups
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Must register (free) to post or reply
Using Netscape's built-in newsreader to Access Usenet
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Under "Communicator," select "Newsgroups"
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Under "file", click on "Subscribe"
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Subscribe to a group
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"New Message" to post an article, "Reply" to reply to a previous post