Many subjects have multiple levels of subtopics. Users can post to existing newsgroups, respond to previous posts, and create new newsgroups. Some newsgroups are moderated by a designated person who decides which postings to allow or to remove. Most newsgroups are unmoderated. You will need a Newsgroup reader to be able to access newsgroups on the Internet.
Related groups have related names.
The first part of a newsgroup name is called its hierarchy. Before using your news reader to read and post messages, you need to specify the news server you will use. When running your news reader for the first time, your program will download all the available newsgroups on your news server. This process takes quite a while especially if there are many groups on the list. After subscribing to newsgroups, you will see a list of articles posted on the newsgroups.