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Newsgroup Introduction
So far, we've learned how to surf the Web for information on almost any topic imaginable. Most of our questions can be answered if we know how to find the right Web page, but what if there isn't a Web page in existence with the information we need? Is there anyone out there who can help? Thankfully, the answer is yes. Using NEWSGROUPS is like having your choice of thousands of bulletin boards, each with its own specific topic. USENET newsgroups, another portion of the Internet besides the Web, E-mail, and Telnet, is a worldwide network of computers set up to transmit messages belonging to specific newsgroups. Usenet is a network of newservers and newsgroups. It is the largest discussion forum on the Internet. Unlike E-mail, newsgroup messages don't clutter your mailbox because you read and respond to them from a news program such as Netscape Communicator's Collabra. The messages in each newsgroup are organized by topics. If you respond to a message, inside the newsreader your response will appear underneath the original posting. Different topics inside newsgroups are called THREADS. You can tell one thread from another because your newsreader keeps all articles from a single thread grouped together. Also, responses to the original posting that created the thread generally have "re Thread Name" in the subject heading. Accessing Newsgroups Via a News Reader So how are you able to access all of these messages? There are two ways. The first way to access newsgroups only works if your ISP has a news server that receives the USENET news feed. Over 400MB, or 30,000 messages per day are sent to most news servers. News server administrators can decide which groups they want to subscribe to. This is why some newsgroups are available from some ISPs while others are not. The "ALT" newsgroups discussed below are the ones most likely to be left off of certain news servers. This is unlike the Web, where all sites can be accessed from every ISP. There are 100,000 news servers around the world. Therefore, it should not surprise you that it can take up to 72 hours for your posting to reach everyone of the servers. Any computer that can attach itself to the Internet with a static IP address can become a USENET provider if it has software that implements the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP.) Accessing Newsgroups Via Google Some people access the newsgroups via free web-based Usenet services such as google.com and Reference.com. The web-based services do not, however, enable the viewing of attachments--files such as pictures attached to posted messages. Google purchased the online database of newsgroups from deja.com. However, Google’s implementation is currently in Beta. Still, Google's archive covers Usenet postings from 1995 to present. The archive contains upwards of 650 million messages - over a terabyte of human conversation. To find a particular group using Google, type the name of that group into the search box (for example, alt.music.classical) or browse to it by following links from the Google Groups homepage. You should see a listing of recent threads from that group, ordered by date. Click on any thread name to see the most recent posts to that thread; you can scroll up or down to see the complete thread. The advanced search page lets you restrict your search to pages in a given newsgroup or newsgroup hierarchy. To find all pages in a given newsgroup hierarchy, use the * notation to denote "all pages in this hierarchy". For example, to find pages within the comp.os hierarchy, enter "comp.os.*" (without the quotation marks) in the newsgroup section of the advanced search page. You can also search for group names containing a particular word -- just type that word into the 'Newsgroups' box on the advanced search page. For example, to search for all groups whose name includes "forsale", just type "forsale" into the 'Newsgroups' box. This would then find articles from groups such as "alt.ads.forsale", but would not find articles in a hypothetical group "alt.ads.everythingforsale". Each search result or Usenet article is tagged with a "View Thread" link. Click this link to view up to 10 articles from the thread around the article you selected. You can navigate in the thread view to see all articles by selecting the 10 previous articles, 10 next articles, or by jumping to the first or last article in the thread. The archive is currently updated several times per day. There may be a delay of up to 12 hours between articles being posted to a news server and those articles being searchable within Google's newsgroup search. We realize this is less than ideal, and we hope to increase the frequency of updates in the near future. Google Groups does not archive any binary content. Newsgroup Hierarchies There are over 70,000 different newsgroups, organized by nine major hierarchies. 1. comp (computer science) 2. news (Usenet Information) 3. rec (hobbies, sports, recreation and the arts) 4. sci (scientific research) 5. soc (social issues) 6. talk (controversial discussions) 7. humanities (literature, fine arts, etc.) 8. misc (anything else) 9. alt (alternative to above categories--not an official part of USENET) There are many other hierarchies that aren't officially part of USENET, including k12, NY etc. However, the unoffical alt hierarchy is the largest and carries most of the "controversial"and "sleazy" newsgroups. Each of the above hierarchies can be broken down into subcategories such as rec.music.punk or news.newusers or comp.info.Java or comp.info.HTML. There is no set number of subcategories for newsgroups. Three levels is common, but many newsgroups with more than three levels exist. The subcategories generally go from general to specific, although some useless newsgroups such as alt.bob.is.a.jerk also exist. It is fairly easy to create a newsgroup in the alt hierarchy, which is why you will come across inane groups such as the one above. Some newsgroups end in ".d" The d stands for discussion. There will generally be another newsgroup such as alt.jokes that is only for posting jokes. alt.jokes.d, on the other hand, would be a newsgroup for discussing the jokes posted in alt.jokes. How Does USENET Work? No one person runs USENET as the newsgroup postings originate from all over the world. As soon as you create a posting, it can be read by anyone on the same news server as you. However, for the message to travel around the globe, it must be passed around to all of the news servers. Every news server receives a periodic NEWSFEED from another news server. During this time, your news server receives all new messages that have passed to the server that provides your newsfeed and your news server provides its feed with all of the messages that originate from your server. Then when your newsfeed provider communicates with its newsfeed provider, the process is repeated. The system is sped up by news servers that act as way stations. These servers only provide feeds to other servers. Once a message hits one of these servers, it will be sent to a lot of news servers at once. USENET originated in 1979 as an experiment. It was created so students and faculty at Duke University and The University of North Carolina could exchange news messages and notices..hence the term newsgroups. Newsgroup postings don't remain on your ISPs news server forever. At 400 MB a day, even the largest hard drive would fill up quickly. Some ISPs allow articles to remain on the server for up to a week, but in general, three or four days is more the norm. Bell Atlantic, RVCC's provider, appears to keep messages on its news server for at least three weeks. When RVCC had its own news server, it only kept messages for one week. Newbies The first time you download a newsgroup, you should look for the Frequently Asked Questions posting (FAQ) Inside the FAQ, you will find answers to basic questions about the newsgroup including who founded it, what types of questions should be posted, and answers to basic questions. Finding answers to basic questions will hopefully prevent new visitors like you from asking the same questions over and over again. If you can't find the FAQ in the newsgroup, check the newsgroup news.answers You should also LURK for a while before posting. See what kind of questions people ask and topics they discuss. See what kind of questions and responses receive angry, hurtful responses. These are the types of postings you want to avoid. Getting Flamed The worst thing that can happen to a Newsgroup newbie is getting flamed. This means that a lot of angry Netizens send them unwanted E-mail messages telling him/her what a buffoon he/she is. What will get you flamed: · Asking questions already in the FAQ. The book uses an excellent example...If you are visiting the group rec.arts.disney, don't ask, "Is it true that Walt Disney is frozen?" I'm sure this question has been asked too many times and the answer can be found in the FAQ. · Answering a question that has already been answered by a previous respondent. Check through the entire thread before responding to make sure that you are not answering a question for the second or even third time. · Posting meaningless responses like "I agree!" You agree to what?? · Stating common information such as "Did you know that The Sopranos is most likely only going to run for five seasons?" If it's in the headlines, it's probably common knowledge. · Posting test messages such as "This is my first newsgroup posting. Testing one, two, three" unless you are posting to alt.test or misc.test. · Not keeping your signature files small. Also, a witty comment might be funny the first time, but painfully annoying the second or third time. · Advertising anything!!! Exploiting the medium will only get you flamed mercilessly. · Writing in all capital letters. It is the online representation of SCREAMING! It's also a tell tale sign that you are a newsgroup newbie. Your cover will be blown. · Excessive grammatical or spelling errors. Credibility begins and ends with proper spelling and grammar. · Posting a message that is only to be read by a single person instead of sending it via E-mail. Don't use a public forum to make a private statement. · Posting a discussion in a group that is not for discussions, such as alt.jokes Newsgroup Netiquette When you post you should: · Not be sarcastic...Sarcasm doesn't carry well in the written word · Keep your posting short and sweet. Don't ramble · Be clear and succinct, especially in your subject heading · Delete unnecessary information from the original quoted posting. For instance, if the original message you're replying to was 200 lines, and you're response deals with 5 lines of the 200, delete the other 195 quoted lines to cut down on the length of the message. · If you are in a newsgroup that deals with movies, books or TVs, include the word SPOILER in your subject heading if you are going to give away a large part of the plot. This will warn people who have not seen or read the piece of work to avoid reading your posting, lest the ending be SPOILED. · NEVER flame anyone or respond to a flame. Take a deep breath if a posting bothers you. Ask yourself if you will still care about the message tomorrow. Even if the answer is yes...don't flame or respond to a flame. · Never forget that the person on the other side is human. · Don't assume that a person is speaking for their organization. Many people who post to Usenet do so from machines at their office or school. Despite that, never assume that the person is speaking for the organization. · Be careful what you say about others. You read these posts; so do millions of other people. This group quite possibly includes people you know and care about. Information posted on the net can come back to haunt you or the person you are talking about. · Write well. Most people on Usenet will know you only by what you say and how well you say it. Take the time to make sure your posting will not embarrass you later. · Use descriptive subject lines. The subject line enables a person with limited time to decide whether or not to read your article. · Think about your audience. It is considered bad form to post to a general interest group like misc.misc, soc.net-people, or misc.wanted and then post the same message to some other, more targeted newsgroup. If it belongs in the targeted newsgroup, it does not belong in the broader one. · Use mail instead of posting a follow-up. Frequently, when someone asks a question, many people send out identical answers. This leads to congestion and confusion. It's better to email your answer directly to the poster and suggest they summarize to the network. To learn more about newsgroups, check out news.announce.newusers or news.answers. News.answers will help you learn NETIQUETTE, or how to behave on the Net, specifically in newsgroups. Removing Postings from Google Google will honor requests to remove messages that you have posted yourself (known as nuking a post). You may even be able to do this yourself using the Automatic Removal Tool. Except in extreme circumstances, Google will not act upon an individual's request to remove another person's messages. They firmly believe it is not their role to resolve disputes among the users who have posted millions of messages on Usenet, nor would it be possible to fulfill that role if they chose to undertake it. It is Google's policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in an appropriate manner under such Act and other applicable intellectual property laws, including the removal or disabling of access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity. Moderated Newsgroups Some newsgroups are moderated, meaning that an unpaid moderator reads all of the submissions before they are posted to the newsgroup. These newsgroups have less flaming, advertising and off-topic postings, but nevertheless suffer from censorship. Most newsgroups are NOT moderated. Common Abbreviations Newsgroup postings have their own unique culture. Users generally abbreviate common phrases:
However, you shouldn't abbreviate a phrase that is not common knowledge. YMBF could stand for Your My Best Friend if the world decided to adopt it as an abbreviation, but so far I am the only one to do so. Therefore, I shouldn't use YMBF because someone might think it stood for "You Make Bran Flakes." Emoticons are used in newsgroups to show emotion. :-) is a smiley face if you look sideways. :-( is a frown. You can create your own emoticons... Here is a business person with a tie :-)----> It is hard to express emotion with the written word. Emoticons help make this happen. As stated earlier, you need a newsreader to read and respond to USENET postings. A newsreader downloads articles from newsgroups you subscribe to, and displays their subject headings in your newsreader. It also provides an interface that allows you to maneuver between threads and respond to postings. Understanding the Parts of a Newsgroup Message Like an E-mail message, a newsgroup message consists of three parts: 1. header 2. body 3. signature A newsgroup header can be even longer than an E-mail header. The body, of course, is made up of the message text. Finally, a signature file can be appended to all of your newsgroup messages just like it can to E-mail messages.
There are 20 potential header lines, although few messages will contain all 20. Some of the most important are: · Approved: Name of moderator who approved the article (Only appears in moderated newsgroups) · Control: Special header used in messages designed to create newsgroups · Date: Time and date article was posted (GMT of course {:-->) ) · Lines: Size of the body and signature combined · Message-Id: Unique message identifier generated by the program that sent out the article · Newsgroups: Other newsgroups article was sent to......This is known as cross posting, a real no no · NNTP-Posting Host: Name of Internet host that first posted article · Path: The route the message took to reach your computer · Sender: Address of computer that created message...Should be the news server. · From: Name and address of person that created message · Subject: Short description of article...generally appears in newsreader to help you decide whether or not to download and read article. · X-No-archive:Tells sites that store news postings that this article should not be archived. Google supports the 'X-No-archive: yes' header, and will not archive any articles that contain this text either in the header or in the first line of the message body. RELATED LINKS |
