Instead of being one discussion, it is in reality thousands of discussions on almost any topic you can think of. These discussions can take the shape of informal e-mail messages that go to a few select individuals or mediated lists that involve thousands. The best way to start is to use one of the many available news reader programs. There are a variety of readers such as rn, nn, trn, tin , and a growing number of news clients for PCs and MACs. Let's try to keep this simple.
Some lists are subscription lists.
This means that you need to subscribe to the news group. Usually this is done by e-mailing your subscription request to a specific location. Once you subscribe you will start receiving any and all public mail that comes to that particular news group. Anytime anyone drops a note to the list, you and everyone else on the list will get a copy of the message. You are free to respond to any, all, or none of the incoming messages.