Newsgroups
If you have a question that you need answers or opinions for, asking people one at a time with individual e-mail could take a very long time. Also, you would be limited to who you contact by the small number of e-mail addresses you would have.
A better way of seeking information through e-mail is to use a newsgroup. A newsgroup is a place on someone’s computer that allows public posting of messages to be read and responded to by anyone. As a larger application of e-mail, newsgroups allow many people with similar interests to send their questions, answers, suggestions, and opinions to one computer which displays all that is received.
There are a few important differences between regular e-mail and newsgroups. One is that regular e-mail comes to your own “e-mail mailbox” — a place for only your mail that you have to sort through, much like a post office mailbox. A newsgroup area is a place that you must seek out. It is not in a private mailbox but open for all to see and participate in, much like a public bulletin board at the local market. An advantage of a computer bulletin board is that they are set up for a specific topic. Therefore, there are thousands of newsgroups on thousands of topics.
Another advantage newsgroups have is that they are ideal for browsing the titles quickly and users are not committed to sending or replying to every post. You can drop in and view the subjects being discussed (called lurking), and drop out without having to send any e-mail. On the other hand, you may choose to join in on a discussion centered around an issue by sending an e-mail response.
Newsgroup Organization or “DOT SYNTAX”
Newsgroups are named with the broadest grouping listed first, followed by a period (.) and another subgroup name. For example, the newsgroup entitled “rec.music.folk” is a newsgroup for recreational use in the general area of music for discussions of folk music.
There are different general catagories for a variety of topics, each with numbrous subcatagories. Some of the most common newsgroup names are:
| comp. | computer science related topics |
| rec. | hobbies, art, and recreational activities |
| soc. | social and political issues |
| talk. | controversial topics are discussed |
Not all newsgroups may be available to you. This depends on what computer your system’s newsreader uses for its news service. This information should be available from the Internet Service Provider you use. The most popular news service is called USENET. This is a set of newsgroups generally considered to be of global interest. USENET is not a computer network nor is it software. It is a set of regulations that govern how the newsgroups are used. It is monitored by volunteer individuals who keep a certain quality to the information being shared.
A newsgroup must be “subscribed” to; that is, the user who wants to read and send messages to a particular group has to let the individual running the newsgroup know that they are interested. This is usually nothing more than sending an e-mail with the word “subscribe” on it. Sometimes it’s placing an “X” in a checkbox of the newgroup listing. Many ISP’s set up certain newsgroups for you and offer them as part of the package deal when signing on to their service. A “newsreader” may be used to read and respond to newsgroups more efficiently.
We will be able to try out a few newsgroups in class and see our messages posted almost as quickly as we can type them!