Questions Frequently Asked by New Newsgroup Users

== What is a newsgroup? ==
* A newsgroup is something like a mailbox that the public is invited to use to store e-mail ("posts") sent to the mailbox. Anybody who wants to look in the newsgroup to read the posts that have been sent to it may do so.
== What is a newsreader? ==
* A newsreader is a piece of software that lets users look in the newsgroup, sort the posts that are there, read the posts, or make new posts.
== What is Usenet? ==
* The totality of all news servers that provide newsgroups.
* Exactly how to define it is a matter of much debate. Here is a classic article on Usenet; and a reply to that article.
* A brief description of Usenet.
* The history of the big-8, which played a major role in the history of Usenet.
* "Usenet is a worldwide electronic discussion community. It dates from before the Internet, when articles were tranmitted with modems over phone lines. Now the Internet is used. Each newsgroup is dedicated to a specific topic. Articles are copied from the originating site to other participating sites [news servers]" of Virgina ITC.
== What is a hierarchy? ==
* An ordered list of newsgroups.
* Each of the subsets of the Big-8 is a hierarchy (comp.*, humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*, soc.*, talk.*). 
* Each of the subsets of the eight hierarchies may be called a hierarchy if it does have or potentially may have more than one newsgroup sharing the same initial components in the name. So, for example, the misc.health.* hierarchy is the list of all newsgroups whose names begin with "misc.health": 
misc.health.aids	AIDS issues and support.
misc.health.alternative	Alternative, complementary and holistic health care.
misc.health.arthritis	Arthritis and related disorders.
misc.health.diabetes	Discussion of diabetes management in day to day life.
misc.health.infertility	Treatment & support of infertility.
misc.health.injuries.rsi.misc	All about Repetitive Strain Injuries.
misc.health.therapy.occupational	All areas of occupational therapy.
* In the preceding example, "misc.health.injuries.rsi" could become a new hierarchy if other newsgroups beginning with those four components were added to the list such as "misc.health.injuries.rsi.diagnosis", "misc.health.injuries.rsi.support", or "misc.health.injuries.rsi.tech".
== What is the difference between Google Groups and Usenet? ==
* Google archives most newsgroups on Usenet and makes the old articles available through a page-based interface. Most news servers only hold articles for a short time depending on how the news administrator has set up the system.
* Google also provides a method for creating new Google Groups that are Google-specific; such groups are not a part of the Usenet and do not circulate on Usenet news servers.
* Google is not a traditional news service provider. Neither the newsgroup archives nor the non-Usenet Google Groups can be accessed by a newsreader.
== What is the difference between a web forum and Usenet? ==
* On Usenet, articles are copied from the originating site to other participating sites; web forums are hosted by one internet site. 
* Usenet groups can be accessed using a newsreader; web forums are accessed using an internet browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, etc.).
* The person who controls the host site for the web forum controls the forum; there is no such central administration for Usenet.
== Who's in charge of this system? ==
* Nobody. It's decentralized.
* Everybody who uses it. Drive carefully. Buckle your Usenet seatbelts.
* News administrators. They decide what newsgroups are carried on their news servers.
* Moderators of groups (if the group is moderated).
* Hierarchy administrators. They make up lists that may or may not be carried by news administrators. The Big-Eight Management Board is an example of hierarchy administration, except that the Board has eight lists to think about.
== What is the Big-8? ==
* It is a consortium of eight Usenet hierarchies. The eight lists are all managed by Usenet Big-8 Management Board.
comp.* 	Computer topics, both hardware and software.
news.* 	Administration of the Big 8, as well as about Usenet and Netnews in general, and related topics.
sci.* 	Science and technology.
humanities.*	The humanities.
rec.* 	Recreational topics, including music, sports, games, outdoor recreation, hobbies, crafts, ...
soc.* 	Socializing, society, and social issues.
talk.* 	Endless discussion, largely about politics.
misc.* 	A mixture of newsgroups that don't fit the other 7 hierarchies. Many are about the practical aspects of everyday life.
* For more information, see the history of the Big-8.
== What is a mail-to-news gateway? ==
* It is a site that translates news into mail and (sometimes) mail into news.
* If it is uni-directional, the translation only goes in one direction. People can read input from one source but not respond to it.
* If it is bi-directional, the translation goes in both directions. Users receive all input both from the mailing list and the newsgroup and may reply to any post/e-mail by using e-mail or a newsreader.
* Links to mail-to-news gateways.
== Other questions ==
=== Why can't I see newsgroup XYZ? ===
Check with your Usenet provider. They should have a list of all newsgroups that they provide. Some local groups may not be available from all providers and some providers provide groups that others don't.
=== Why can't I see posts that other people see? ===
Check to see if you haven't created a filter to ignore or delete them.
=== Why can't I see my posts? ===
If you post to a moderated group, it may take time for that message to be approved and added to the group.
=== How do I post pictures to the newsgroup? ===
If it is absolutely necessary to share a picture, a best practice would be to link to a picture on a service like imgur.com. Most newsgroups in the Big-8 hierarchies do no allow anything except text (with a very few exceptions). 
=== What is HTML and why don't people like it in on Usenet? ===
HTML is that code that looks like <h>hello world</h>. It makes your message hard to read. It's best to just use plain text.
=== Can't somebody get rid of all that spam and trolls? ===
Because Usenet is de-centralized, it is up to you to filter out any kind of content that you don't like. See our tutorial: Filtering Spam with Thunderbird
=== How do I post a message to every newsgroup in the world? ===
Don't. It's a good way to get banned by your provider.
=== How do I keep from seeing content that I don't like? ===
Don't subscribe to groups with that content and filter any content that happens in groups that you are subscribed to?
=== How can I post pictures to a newsgroup? ===
Find an alt.binaries newsgroup where your pictures will be on-topic and post them there. 
=== Is everybody as sarcastic and short-tempered as you are? ===
No, I'm super chill and level headed. I don't know what you're talking about.
== Other Websites ==
The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Usenet 	The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Usenet 	
Getting Started with Usenet 	Getting Started with Usenet 	
How to Ask Quesions the Smart Way 	How to Ask Quesions the Smart Way 	
Help Vampires: A Spotter’s Guide 	Help Vampires: A Spotter’s Guide 	
How Newsgroups Work 	How Newsgroups Work 	
Internet FAQ Archives 	Internet FAQ Archives 	
Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups 	Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups 	
news.newusers.questions Links Page 	news.newusers.questions Links Page 	
MIT news.announce.newusers archive 	MIT news.announce.newusers archive 	
Newsreaders.com Introduction to Netiquette 	Newsreaders.com Introduction to Netiquette 	
Newsville FAQ on Usenet 	Newsville FAQ on Usenet 	
RFC 1855: Guidelines on Netiquette (1995) 	RFC 1855: Guidelines on Netiquette (1995) 	
University of Virginia FAQs 	University of Virginia FAQs 	
Stanley: User's Guide to the Changing Usenet	Stanley: User's Guide to the Changing Usenet	
UsenetSupport.com (Giganews) 	UsenetSupport.com (Giganews) 	
Using Usenet Newsgroups 	Using Usenet Newsgroups 	
== Visit Newsgroups Designed for New Newsgroup Users ==
news:news.announce.newusers Google news.announce.newusers 	Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)
news:news.answers Google news.answers 	Repository for periodic USENET articles. (Moderated)
news:news.groups.questions Google news.groups.questions 	Where can I find talk about topic X?
news:news.groups.reviews Google link to news.groups.reviews 	What is going on in group or mailing list named X? (Moderated)
news:news:news.lists.misc Google news.lists.misc 	News-related statistics and lists. (Moderated)
news:news.misc Google news.misc 	Discussions of USENET itself.
news:news.newusers.questions Google news.newusers.questions 	Q & A for new users of Usenet. (Moderated) Official n.n.q. homepage
news:news.software.readers Google news.software.readers 	news.software readers--GARN, Amigo!
Whatever You Do, Don't Visit This Newsgroup Unprepared :-O 	Whatever You Do, Don't Visit This Newsgroup Unprepared :-O
news:news.groups can be a little hard on newcomers. Proceed with caution!	
Read Google's news.groups archive to see what I mean. 	
Category:FAQs
Category:Help for new Usenet users