HIT: Newsgroups

[Peggy Beck <pbeck@recom.com>]

Sharon Texley shared her knowledge of accessing newsgroups:
Subject:
           Re: newsgroup directions
      Date:
           Mon, 28 Apr 1997 21:07:24 -0500 (CDT)
      From:
           Sharon or Bruce Texley <texley@midusa.net>
        To:
           pbeck@recom.com

This time I compressed the two documents using Zipit, but I've never
done
that before so I'm not sure if this will help you.  Try to open them.
(I
assume you have a Dos or Windows computer.)
Also, I've copied and pasted the text from my handouts (the pictures
wouldn't copy into my message).  I hope this helps you.  One is called
"Usenet"; the other is Using NewsWatcher.
I hope this helps.

Sharon Texley

>USENET

Usenet consists of thousands of discussion groups, called newsgroups,
that
>are stored on news servers all over the Internet.  People from all over
>the world involve themselves in newsgroups, which range from professional
>discussions, to serious talk about culture, to plot summaries of TV shows,
>to exchanges of jokes and riddles.
>
>Newsgroups look similar to listserv discussion groups but the messages,
>called articles, don't take up space in your private mailbox.  Instead you
>use a newsreader  (news client software) to read the articles from a
>nearby news server (a kind of on-line bulletin board).   Newsreaders keep
>a subscription list of the newsgroups you like to read, keep track of
>which articles you have and haven't read in each newsgroup, and connect
>with a news server to retrieve articles you want to read, and send
>articles you want to post. Some maintain archival files that can be
>retrieved months, even years, later.
>
>Usenet is divided into broad subject categories, such as the following:
>
>alt  -- controversial or "alternative" topics
>bit  -- redistributions of a subset of LISTSERV mailing lists
>comp -- computers and related subjects
>K12 -- discussion on educational topics
>misc -- discussions that don't fit anywhere else
>news -- USENET news and software
>rec  -- arts, hobbies, and recreation
>sci  -- scientific research and application
>soc  -- social issues and ethnicity
>talk -- politics & related topics; (debate-oriented & long-winded)
>
>
>In his "Roadmaps" online workshop, Patrick Crispen describes Usenet as "an
>international meeting place, where people gather to meet their friends,
>discuss the day's events, keep up with computer trends or talk about
>whatever's on their mind."
>
>     Jumping into a Usenet discussion can be a liberating experience.
>     Nobody knows what you look or sound like, how old you are, what your
>background is. You're judged solely on your words, your
>ability to make a point.

READING, POSTING, AND RESPONDING
>
>In order to read, post and respond to newsgroups, you must first have
>newsreader software (such as NewsWatcher) that is installed either on your
>host server or on your own computer. This software usually allows you to
>save and download articles to your own computer system. Most likely, it
>will allow you to select from a list of subject headings and will delete
>references to articles you have already read.
>
>Some newsreader software will allow you to follow a "thread," a topic of
>conversation that interests you and to eliminate articles that don't
>interest you; this is like compiling your own 'reading list" so that you
>see only messages from discussions you choose.
>
>WWW browsers also allow you to interact with Usenet newsgroups. Some
>browsers, such as Netscape, provide a menu interface to available
>newsgroups, but any browser will allow you to open a specific newsgroup.
>For example, to open the newsgroup alt.quotations, just use the following
>URL format: news:alt.quotations
>
>So, let's assume that you've read and read the postings in a particular
>newsgroup, and now you're ready to respond. The best advice I can give you
>is
>
>  1. look for FAQs on your newsgroup,
>
>  2. "lurk" before you speak, and
>
>  3. follow the "netiquette" guidelines.
>
>READ MORE ABOUT IT:
>
Check out the following web sites for more info on USENET, IRC, and
TALK:
>
>Yahoo's USENET collection:
>http://www.yahoo.com/News/Usenet/
>
>Newsgroups by subject:
>http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/bysubj.html
>
>Yahoo's IRC collection:
>http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Chatting/IRC/
>
>Yahoo's TALK (MUDs) collection:
>http://www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Games/Internet_Games/
>MUDs__MUSHes__MOOs__etc_/
>
>Talkers info:
>http://donald.phast.umass.edu/~friedman/talkers.htmlp

_____________________________________________________________________________
Using NewsWatcher

When you open up NewsWatcher, pull down the Window menu, stopping at
"Show
Full Group List."  Then you can scroll down through the list to see
which
groups interest you.

If you want to see the messages in a group,  double-click on the name of
the group.   A box like the one below will open.
[picture]

Each line tells you the name of the sender and the subject of the
message.
A message beginning with "Re" is a reply to an earlier message.   A
thread
is a group of messages on the same subject.    The triangles to the left
indicate a thread, with the number of messages  in that thread.  If you
click on the triangle, you will see the whole list of messages in that
thread.

NewsWatcher allows you to keep a personal list of newsgroups, called a
subscription list..  When you first start up NewsWatcher, it creates a
blank subscription file for you in an "untitled" window.   (If you
closed
out that window earlier, you can get it back by pulling down the File
menu
to ""New Group Window." )

All you have to do to create your personal subscription list is to drag
the
titles of newsgroups from the "Full Group List" into the "untitled"
window,
and then save the subscription file under a new name.  Here's what my
personal list file looks like:

[picture]
>
Then when you log on next time, you can just choose your folder and
quickly open up the newsgroups you want to read, without looking through
the entire list.   This file will also remember which messages you have
already read and just show you new ones if you wish.

NewsWatcher also lets you look through the Full Group List for a certain
topic.   Pull down the Edit menu to "Find" and type in thetopic you're
looking for.

[picture]
To send a new message to the newsgroup, pull down the News menu to "New
Message."
You will then be able to post your own message to the newsgroup for
others
to read.

I will post a few other hits next week since there were so many
requests. Thanks to Sharon Texley.
Peggy Beck, Media Specialist, pbeck@recom.com