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Newsgroups - What are they?
A Newsgroup is an online discussion group where you can read and post topics on a particular subject. They differ from Chatroooms in that the messages are slower to be posted. Newsreaders allow you to download messages, read news messages and post replies to different newsgroups.
I've heard of 'Usenet' - What is it?
Usenet is the 'primordial soup' of Newsgroups. Sometimes Usenet is referred to as 'Netnews'. It is an international discussion group and it consists of tons of different groups.
Each group has a name that is unique and can consist of two or more parts separated by periods for example:
alt.computers
soc.women
The groups are split into hierachies and they in turn are split up into sub-groups.
The hierarchies are as follows:
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List of Usenet Hierarchies |
| alt |
Wide variety of miscellaneous topics |
| bionet |
Biology |
| bit |
Miscellaneous topics |
| biz |
Business, marketing, advertising |
| comp |
Computers |
| humanities |
Literature, fine arts |
| k12 |
Kindergarten through high school |
| misc |
Miscellaneous topics |
| news |
Usenet itself |
| rec |
Recreation, hobbies, arts |
| sci |
Science and technology |
| soc |
Social and cultural issues |
| talk |
Debate, controversial topics |
'alt' could then become the sub-group alt.computing.
What's the difference between a Moderated and Unmoderated Newsgroup?
With a moderated Newsgroup, your message is emailed to a moderated address. At this address a moderator will go through your message and only post it if s/he thinks it is suitable. This means that you will experience a delay before seeing your posting. The moderator can be a human, a group of people, or a robot (the use of scripts etc. to process messages). One big advantage of having a moderated Newsgroup is that it reduces the volume of off-topic postings and cross postings.
Unmoderated Newsgroups post all messages and postings are seen shortly after they have been emailed.
What is Robotic Moderation?
This is where scripts etc. are used to process the Newsgroup messages. The scripts usually specify certain criteria that messages must uphold to, in order to be posted. Failure to meet these criteria means that messages may have to be approved manually or may be discarded altogether. In some circumstances it could mean changes to the criteria so that messages of this sort do actually get posted automatically in future.
This method of moderation usually has a faster proliferation of messages.
What cirteria would a moderator use when posting messages?
Has the message been cross-posted?
Is the messages from an unknown message poster?
The new message is not a repeat of another previously posted message.
The message contains useful and interesting information.
The message contains words that are specific to that Newsgroup.
What does it take to become a moderator?
You must:
Know your topic.
Have a fair amount of time on your hands.
Have a PC and Modem with a reliable ISP provider.
Have a good knowledge of scripting languages e.g. Perl etc.
Have a good knowledge of the workings of mail and news applications.
How do I access a Newsgroup?
You will need to access your newsreader e.g. Ms Outlook Newsreader (same as Ms Outlook Express) which should be installed on your PC. Most Internet browsers come with a newsreader. You must configure your newsreader to tell it the name of your news server(s). This information can be accessed via your ISP.
Using the Newsreader, you select the group you wish to read and the newsreader will search for the messages on this group for you and display them. You can use the Newsreader itself to post a message to any group.
How do I access a Newsgroup quickly?
In your Internet browser you could type the name of the group you wish to access and your newsreader will start up automatically.
For example:
News:alt.computers to access computer groups
Where are all the messages stored?
All the messages are stored on a News Server. After a certain amount of postings old messages are cleared down from the News Server to make room for new ones.
User Comments
NewsGroups
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