People who have access to these news groups can read messages, post messages and reply to a particular poster. There are currently about 10,000 news groups.
News groups have names made up of several components, separated by periods.
These hierarchies are well established and new top-level hierarchies are created very rarely. Use mixed case, because text in all uppercase is hard to read and is generally used for emphasis in your message. A message in all uppercase is considered shouting and should be avoided. Commercial advertising is not permitted on netnews groups. Get to know a group before posting.