From: eugene@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: [l/m 6/1/92] A short note on Distribution:
Followup-To: poster
Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 92 11:01:09 GMT
Summary: Stop Think Observe Plan
Reply-To: eugene@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Distribution: ca

Panel 15

	Table of Contents of this Chain

15	Distribution Fields				<This panel>
21	Killfiles (with extreme prejudice)
28	Canceling posted news articles
1	Reminders on use of the *.general news.groups
7	General Help Reading News
14	Posting headers and cross-posting

Some of the following information is dependent on the type of interface
you use to read news (but most isn't).

The major news.group hierarchies are:
	comp	misc	rec	sci	soc	talk	alt
There are other ways of looking at this, See Distribution below.
These groups are hierarchical.  Several are special because a site may
chose to NOT receive a class (say not work related).
For instance, the comp groups are this time (1990) include:

ai		editors		lsi		realtime	sys <-----|
arch		edu		mail		risks		terminals |
archives	emacs		misc		security	text	  |
binaries	fonts		music		simulation	theory	  |
bugs		graphics	newprod		society		unix	  |
cog-eng		groupware	object		soft-sys	virus	  |
compilers	ibm		org		software-eng	windows	  |
databases	infosystems	os		sources			  |
dcom		ivideodisc	parallel	specification		  |
doc		lang		periphs		std			  |
dsp		laser-printers	protocols	sw			  |
									  |
Not enough detail?  Recurse down.  Looking at the sys group of comp;	--|
in comp.sys, we have the following subgroups (e.g., 1990 again):

alliant		celerity	laptops		nsc		tandy
amiga		concurrent	m6809		proteon		ti
apollo		dec		m68k		pyramid		transputer
apple		encore		m88k		ridge		workstations
apple2		handhelds	mac		sequent		xerox
atari		hp		mips		sgi		zenith
att		ibm		misc		sun
cbm		intel		ncr		super
cdc		isis		next		tahoe

Too much computer stuff?  Jack a dull boy?  There's other subgroups, in
talk.politics we have:
	guns	mideast	misc	soviet	theory
Take your pick.

For instance, rec.travel (oh, you didn't know about rec.travel?
CAN be a handy group for geographic information).
Want to look for employment? misc.jobs.offered,
			     misc.jobs.resumes,
			     misc.jobs.contracts [LOOK SHARP]
Want to discuss legal issues? misc.legal
			Note: it is better to discuss real legal and medical
			topics with real doctors and lawyers rather than
			netters who maybe speculating (for your own
			protection).
Want to socialize? talk.rumors
Want to have an argument? talk.politics.misc
Locate old friend? soc.net-people
Professional development? comp.edu
Latest in science education? sci.edu
Monty-Python fan? alt.fan.monty-python
Searching for your Roots? soc.culture.african.american
Sound interesting?
It is sometimes better to post to these speciality groups rather
than *.general because you will deal with a friendlier, select audience.
At this time on our hosts, we receive over 1800 newsgroups.  Finding
your particular interests might take a little time, but it might be
worth it.  You will learn more about these groups if you take a few minutes
to read news.announce.newusers.  There is a posting which describes newsgroups.
Or ask your system administrator.  Don't see a news group?  Rules for
creating new ones are in news.announce.newusers (done by frequency,
not simply interest).

There are also more specialized classifications:
	bionet	biz	ddn	gnu	news	test
There might be moderation on these, but consider test open to all.
Examples of even finer classifications/distributions, in the bay area,
we also have:
	att	hp	su	ucb
The first two are examples of fairly closed distributions (you have to
work there), the latter two are examples of reasonably open ones.

Distributions

News.groups are also organized into various regional
"distributions."  For instance,
	ba	ca	la	sac
are regional.  There are numerous regional distributions: most states
are two letters: or, nj, ... companies: att, hp, nations or continents:
can, na, eur, etc.  "World" is an implicit default, use this one with care.**

When you use a Newsgroups: field the first group determines the default
distribution unless a Distributions: field is used.
You can limit the extent of a message by using a Distribution field.
Suppose you want to post a resume, but only consider California,
then you can post to misc.jobs.jobs with a Distribution: ca rather than
world.  You do not and should not cross-post to *.general (you might
startle your boss).

Cross posting is not inherently bad.  It's a good, cross fertilization of
ideas, etc., but subsequent discussions might not be relevant, so
a poster should fill in a Follow-ups: field with a reduced number of
groups for discussion.  To check you want something like:
	Newsgroups: list.of.x-posted.groups,ca.general
	...
	Followup-To: list.of.x-posted.groups	
					# w/o *.general
Place the general groups last, unless you are controlling the Distribution:
field by defaults.

If you have questions, ask your system administrator or send email
rather than post.  Good luck!
--------
** The caution is expressed here because you are dealing with
international audiences and misunderstanding and offense are easy.