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How do I use Usenet newsgroups?
Newsgroups are one of the richest sources of information on the Internet. They are really just like massive mailing lists, open to anyone who wants to join. If you need to find a specific piece of information, you'll find it in a newsgroup if all else fails. Remember that newsgroups are uncensored; if you have children you WILL want to filter access to them. Your ISP should have filtering software (if not, here's another argument for AOL ;) ).
There are many different programs for reading newsgroups, although most are also e-mail programs. We'll use Microsoft's Outlook Express in the following example because it's Free! If you don't use Outlook Express, you're e-mail reader will still probably set up the same.
Open Outlook Express and select Tools ---> Accounts ---> Add ---> News. You'll be led step-by-step through the process of establishing a news account.
Name: Use your real name, or make one up.
E-mail address: This is the e-mail address that will show up when you send a message to the newsgroup. Junk e-mailers send automated programs to harvest e-mail addresses from newsgroups, so unless you like massive quantities of junk e-mail, you'll want to doctor your address in a way that will fool the harvesters, but not people. For example, if your e-mail address is inet@inet-asst.com, you can change it to inetAT@ATinet-asst.com, and either let people figure it out on their own, or include a note at the end of your message telling them how to change it to the real address.
Internet News Server Name: This is the address of the newsgroup. To get started with newsgroups, type in:
news.lockergnome.com
That's all the information you'll need to give. You'll be asked if you would like to download newsgroups from the news account you just added. The lockergnome news server has twenty newsgroups as of December 30, 1998, from which you can pick any or all to subscribe to. Click the ones you want, click the Subscribe button, and then click OK.
Take a few days to see how the newsgroup works before posting to it. Some have their own special rules; violating these rules (such as posting off-topic) will get you nasty and abusive e-mails from other subscribers.
Some general rules and things to remember:
1. Usenet is not an organization.
No person or group has authority over Usenet as a whole. No one controls who gets a news feed, which articles are propagated where, who can post articles, or anything else. There is no "Usenet Incorporated," nor is there a "Usenet User's Group." You're on your own.
2. Usenet is not a democracy.
Since there is no person or group in charge of Usenet as a whole
-- i.e. there is no Usenet "government" -- it follows that Usenet
cannot be a democracy, autocracy, or any other kind of "-acy."
3. Usenet is not fair.
After all, who shall decide what's fair? For that matter, if
someone is behaving unfairly, who's going to stop him?
4. Usenet is not a right.
Some people misunderstand their local right of "freedom of speech"
to mean that they have a legal right to use others' computers to
say what they wish in whatever way they wish, and the owners of
said computers have no right to stop them.
Those people are wrong. Freedom of speech also means freedom not
to speak. If I choose not to use my computer to aid your speech,
that is my right. Freedom of the press belongs to those who own
one.
5. Usenet is not an academic network.
It is no surprise that many Usenet sites are universities,
research labs or other academic institutions. Usenet originated
with a link between two universities, and the exchange of ideas
and information is what such institutions are all about. But the
passage of years has changed Usenet's character. Today, by plain
count, most Usenet sites are commercial entities.
6. Usenet is not an advertising medium.
Because of Usenet's roots in academia, and because Usenet depends
so heavily on cooperation (sometimes among competitors), custom
dictates that advertising be kept to a minimum. It is tolerated
if it is infrequent, informative, and low-hype.
The "comp.newprod" newsgroup is NOT an exception to this rule:
product announcements are screened by a moderator in an attempt to
keep the hype-to-information ratio in check.
If you must engage in flackery for your company, use the "biz"
hierarchy, which is explicitly "advertising-allowed", and which
(like all of Usenet) is carried only by those sites that want it.
7. Usenet is not the Internet.
The Internet is a wide-ranging network, parts of which are
subsidized by various governments. It carries many kinds of
traffic, of which Usenet is only one. And the Internet is only
one of the various networks carrying Usenet traffic.
8. Usenet is not a United States network.
It is true that Usenet originated in the United States, and the
fastest growth in Usenet sites has been there. Nowadays, however,
Usenet extends worldwide.
The heaviest concentrations of Usenet sites outside the U.S. seem
to be in Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan.
Keep Usenet's worldwide nature in mind when you post articles.
Even those who can read your language may have a culture wildly
different from yours. When your words are read, they might not
mean what you think they mean.
Usenet smileys:
~~:-( Net.flame O |-) Net.religion 8 :-I Net.unix-wizards X-( Net.suicide
You can get a sample of what newgroups have to offer by going to http://www.dejanews.com or AltaVista
AltaVista Search
