Individuals use a newsreader programme to read messages of interest and to post their own messages.
The RISQ news server includes over 60000 news groups, and Lizst includes about 30,000 in its database. Newsgroups are organized hierarchically. The seven official Usenet categories are the following. In the Usenet categories listed above, there is a formal process for proposing, discussing and voting on the formation of new newsgroups. There are also many unofficial categories in which the rules don't apply.