FAQs on Newsgroups
General FAQs on Usenet Newsgroups.
- What are Newsgroups?
- What are newsgroups used for?
- Free advice -- what's the catch?
- My friend says there are some really bad stuff in the newsgroups -- is this true?
- What is the difference between moderated and unmoderated newsgroups?
- How can I access newsgroups?
What are Newsgroups?
Newsgroups are collections of letters left on a virtual bulletin board. With Newsgroups, you can look at a collection postings and their replies. Most newsgroups are open or unmoderated (which means that no one monitors the activities).
What are newsgroups used for?
Newsgroups are great interactive way to find answers to difficult answers. Newsgroups let you "post" global e-mail messages (which are readable to anyone that read the newsgroup). Hopefully, someone will respond to your question. If you know the answer to a question someone else has posted, you can share your knowledge with them. You get free advice and you can also give free advice.
Free advice -- what's the catch?
The same catch as with any advice -- some is good and accurate and some is less than reliable. With most newsgroups, several people will post answers to your problem, so you can see what everyone says and pick the best sounding answer. However, you can't always rely on that either.
My friend says there are some really bad stuff in the newsgroups -- is this true?
Yes. Welcome to the Internet! Newsgroups have the same problems as e-mail, list groups, web pages, and other services related to the Internet -- there will be people that post junk and even offensive information. Be aware that people often post profanity, sexually explicit language, and spam about some scam that is supposed to make you rich yesterday. Most of this junk is filtered out with the "moderated" newsgroups.
What is the difference between moderated and unmoderated newsgroups?
Moderated newsgroups have someone that is in charge of the postings that make it on the group. This means that this person scans through each submitted posting for relavance and non-offensive content. Moderated groups usually contain less profanity, contain more related postings, and even less "redundant" postings. Some moderated newsgroups have official web sites with help and faq files with information from the most common questions posted on the newsgroup.
Unmoderated do not have any person checking the messages that make it to the newsgroup. You can usually post a question or reply to message much quicker with unmoderated newgroups, but you have to deal with the unrelated postings (spam, etc.) and offensive language. In addition, a large number of unmoderated sites do not have an official web site with related help and faq files.
How can I access newsgroups?
You need a special software program to access the newsgroups. Internet Explorer 3 comes with Internet News, Netscape incorporates it in the e-mail program, Internet Explorer 4 intergrates it into Outlook Express, and there are many other news packages -- like Forte Free Agent.
Once you have your software, you will need to configure the software to read the newsgroups from AlaNet's service. The news server should be set to news.ala.net.
Last Updated: Thursday, March 25, 1999
