"80,000 groups, how do I get around?"

Finding your way around newsgroups is not difficult at all.   Usenet is categorized by a series of hierarchies. The original "Big Eight" hierarchies are COMP, HUMANITIES, MISC, NEWS, REC, SCI, SOC, TALK. 

Each of these names is the first name of the groups in that hierarchy, for example news.newusers.announce adds a sub-group to the news hierarchy, newusers. Thus, any number of groups can follow this hierarchy, such as news.newusers.questions, or news.newusers.newsgroups.

The Alt Hierarchy

Groups in the Big Eight are created through a very formal proposal and voting process. The "ALT" hierarchy was developed with a relaxed set of standards for creating new groups, and is one of the most popular hierarchies, but also the least controlled, with many strange and unusual groups being created. 

Generally ALT groups are never deleted, so there are many groups with misspelled names, or empty groups whose only messages are automated spam postings, so this makes navigating the ALT groups a little harder. Some ALT groups are pornographic, others are filled with hate messages. The ALT groups basically give everyone a platform, regardless of who they are or what they believe in.

For a detailed listing of all the hierarchies click here.

"Subscriptions"

You will soon find that there are groups you want to follow on a regular basis.  The easiest way to keep track of the messages in these groups is to "subscribe" to the individual groups.

In Outlook Express, and other newsreaders, you search the full list of groups, and mark off the discussions you choose to follow.  When you launch your newsreader you're subscribed groups are usually available in a folder tree format for quick access.  One click on the group name and the current headers are downloaded to your computer for your review.  Clicking on the header downloads the full message.

Continue on with the RA Guide to Usenet

Jump straight to setting up a new Usenet account with Outlook Express