This program isn't as friendly as the X windows version but it seems to have fewer bugs and can be accessed faster so you may prefer this version even at your workstation. In order to be polite and not make an idiot out of yourself across six continents read the groups which you are interested in for a couple weeks before your first post. There are two reasons for this. Secondly by reading for awhile you'll be able to gauge the topics which should and shouldn't be brought up within a particular group. Be careful on cross-posting between groups.
Groups are specialized because that's the topic they're interested in.
If you bring in a lot of irrelevant topics from other groups, the chances of you getting flamed are quite high. If you read the news from a workstation or by dialing up, do it during off peak hours. These are just some basic terms which you can see across all of the groups on the net. Each group also has its own phrases and acronyms which you can pick up by listening in for awhile. Other questions can be answered in the 'news.newusers.questions' group.