• On the Internet, what is a newsgroup?
• What are "spamming" and "flaming"?
• What newsreaders for Macintosh and Windows are available on the Internet?
• My Internet Service Provider (ISP) doesn't provide a news server, how can I access newsgroups?
• What is a binary file attachment?
• Is there any way I can see newsgroups on the World Wide Web?
• What if I know a topic I am looking for, but don't know which newsgroups to start with?

On the Internet, what is a newsgroup?

One of Usenet's collection of topical groupings. Usenet groups (which are like a giant public-access electronic bulletin board from which anyone can post and read) can be either "unmoderated" or "moderated." An unmoderated newsgroup allows anyone to post directly to it and, therefore, can often end up an unrelated free-for-all discussion. In contrast, a moderated newsgroup has all submissions automatically directed to a moderator, who, in turn, edits or filters the content and then posts the results to the newsgroup. You will almost always find better, more relevant material in a moderated group, but since it requires a person to hand sift the information, few moderated groups stay active. While newsgroups are an excellent means to find people with similar interests and often are the best resource to ask questions from topical gurus, discussions can sometimes get side-tracked and "spamming" and "flaming" run rampant. If you consider yourself "easily offended" try to stick to moderated, non-controversial newsgroups and avoid any that refer to pictures or sex--or you may not like what you see or read. As a concerned parent, I strongly recommend you monitor young children when they visit newsgroups.

What are "spamming" and "flaming"?

Spamming is causing one or more Usenet newsgroups to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages (usually deliberately). If you visit newsgroups regularly, you begin to see advertisements for "how to make a million dollars a year" posted in what seems like every newsgroup. While this might be appropriate in a newsgroup devoted to entrepreneurial interests, it would not be appropriate in a newsgroup devoted to children's toys or the tenets of Catholicism. Flaming is sending a news message or e-mail intended to insult or provoke a response. A "flamer" often uses vulgarities or hate-related messages to deliver his or her point and may be banned from certain newsgroups.

What newsreaders for Macintosh and Windows are available on the Internet?

For Windows or Windows 95, both Free Agent and WinVN are excellent news readers (programs that allow the reading and posting to newsgroups). I prefer Free Agent because it is faster and has more configuration options, however, WinVN had some nice features that were not included in Free Agent. And, although I haven't actually used it, I have read many reviews that consider Netwatcher the fastest and best Macintosh newsreader. The best part is all three of these are freeware--so you never pay a dime for them.

My Internet Service Provider (ISP) doesn't provide a news server, how can I access newsgroups?

Fortunately, there are a few public newsgroups available. Unfortunately, you have to configure this in your newsreader. As an example, you can set up Free Agent by selecting "Preferences" and "System Profile" and changing the "News Server" to either "news.uwsuper.edu" or "news.ak.net." The former news server had 3,706 newsgroups available last week, but didn't contain any images or other binary file attachments. The later news server contained 12,867 newsgroups, had every attachment, and contained more files in most groups.

What is a binary file attachment?

A binary file is a graphic, sound, video, or program file (other than plain text) that has been converted to a format so it can be sent over the Internet. If you were to look at a converted (or encoded) file, you would see a long list of incoherent, strange characters. There are two main standards for encoding, UUENCODE--an old Unix programming language derivative pronounced "u u encode," and MIME--a 1992 international standard that is far superior to UUENCODE and used by the better e-mail packages and news readers.

Is there any way I can see newsgroups on the World Wide Web?

Zippo is a great alternative to regular news readers. From Zippo you can very easily view attached pictures and read messages from your normal WWW browser. Unfortunately, like many other popular web sites, Zippo can sometimes be difficult to attach to and has many sites either missing or restricted access. However, if your favorite newsgroup is there, and you don't want to mess with trying to set up a newsreader, Zippo is your quick and easy access to news.

What if I know a topic I am looking for, but don't know which of the 12,000+ newsgroups to start with?

Then try Alta Vista. In addition to being the best database search for WWW addresses, you can change the "Select" from "the Web" to "Usenet" and search the most recent newsgroup listings.