Newsgroups
aka Network News, USENET News

Organized Email

Some newsgroups are devoted to current events and headlines. However, network news usually describes topical discussion groups, not "the news" in the traditional sense.

For example, popular newsgroups cover archaeology and sports teams, zoo animals' rights and physical handicaps. In that sense, the give and take and multiple voices of newsgroups make them more like the local coffee house or pub than the daily printed newspaper.

Newsgroup categories are organized in a structured, logical hierarchy. The hierarchy moves from general to specific.

Each newsgroup category can be compared to an organizational chart. For example, in the science (sci) category, there are many subtopics (some of which are shown below), which in turn may have subtopics to the third or fourth level. Thus, rec.sports.football.professional.buffalobills. Liszt is a good place to start.

If you can't find one that interests you, how about starting your own?

USENET

Most newsgroups exist on a network called USENET. It uses the same transmission path as the rest of the Internet, but it is a network in and of itself because it uses a protocol called Network News Transfer Protocol. NNTP is a set of rules that enables newsgroup articles to move smoothly through the Internet. Along with HTTP and several other TCP/IP protocols, NNTP is one component of the whole Internet "network of networks".

TALK, our course discussion forum, acts much like a newsgroup. The big difference? It's not fed into the USENET system.

Client / Server

Network news works on the client/server principle. A client program on your computer lets it interact with a server program on a remote computer. On your end, you need a client program called a newsreader to read and reply to articles or to post new articles. On the remote end, a news server is a computer dedicated to storing newsgroup articles. Because there are thousands of newsgroups, not all newsgroup categories are available on all news servers.

Because you go to the server and bring only the articles you want back to your client, newsgroups are examples of pull technology. Mailing lists, on the other hand, come to you, an example of a push technology. TALK, our course discussion forum, is more like a client-server newsgroup because you have to go to it.

The newsreader's interface that lets you select an article title from a list and to open it. Using commands or menus, you can then save the article, print it, post a new article, or reply to the first one openly to the group or privately to the person who wrote it. A series of articles and the responses to them are called threads.

Did you know? Within four hours after you post, your message (and your posting history on every newsgroup) will be publicly accessible at Deja News. The folks there copy your posting from the news servers and make it available on web servers. Advantages: You can search all the newsgroups. You can read with your browser, so you don't need a news reader. They filter out the spam.

Advice ... before you post lurk know the group's totems and taboos read the faq avoid asking basic questions let a friend read it don't embarrass yourself better yet, sleep on it netiquette learn and practice it responses don't be surprised to get one you don't expect -- or none at all

Warning Newsgroups are unmoderated. Anyone can post anything. And they do. Unfortunately, spam for psychic hot lines get-rich-quick schemes porn sites has so deluged some newsgroups that they don't discuss what their name implies. They don't discuss anything. They're the equivalent of empty lots full of litter and debris. Check out mailing lists.

If you haven't already, now's a good time to make your first contribution toTALK. If you're still unsure, you'll find an etiquette section on the mailing list seed.

last update: July 22, 2000
http://toLearn.net/marketing/newsgroups