If you are using an off-line newsreader, reading the manual is a good idea. Read news.announce.newusers for a week or two. There is a newsgroup for newbies called news.announce.newusers. I would recommend that all people who are new to newsgroups read all of the message postings in that group for a week or so. People use these in newsgroups and in email.
Many newsreaders have advanced features that allow users to filter messages.
Even experienced readers may want to review such options every so often. If you do not have the time to read all of the messages posted to the newsgroup, having the software select particular messages for you can be a welcome time-saver. I have some newbie-type questions. Try the newsgroup news.newusers.questions. There will be a lot of other newbies asking questions, and some helpful people there who answer them.