USENET FAQ's

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What is USENET?

USENET was first developed in 1979 as a way for people at different universities to discuss unix. Its topics soon expanded to include non-computer topics. There are currently thousands of topics, arranged in hierarchical groups, and UCSC subscribes to the standard set of groups, as well as to groups with local, regional, and other nations' focus. Anyone with an internet connection and any of a variety of news reading applications may read the messages of USENET. The names of newsgroups reflect a hierarchy of topic organization. For example:

• comp.sys.mac.datebases is about databases that run on macintosh computers
• comp.virus is about computer viruses on any type of computer
• rec.scuba is about recreational scuba diving in general rec.scuba.equipment concentrates on scuba equipment

USENET is sometimes called "Internet news," "Network News," or simply "news groups." Web browsers usually include a feature for reading usenet. There are also applications which are dedicated newsreaders. FreeAgent is a popular newsreader application for Windows. Newswatcher is the recommended newsreader for the Macintosh. "tin" is the recommended newsreader for unix, but there are many others. There are many web-based usenet sites. A popular one, which contains postings back to 1995 is "Google Groups."

General information about using newsreaders

In order to access a newsgroup, you must have an active connection to the internet and you must be connected to UCSC's network to gain access to the news.ucsc.edu server. Keep in mind that other Internet Service Providers may or may not provide access to a USENET server.

There are many news servers on the internet which carry specialized newsgroups that UCSC does not subscribe to. All newsreaders include a command to "show all newsgroups" which will return a list of all the groups that the server subscribes to. From this list of all newgroups, you can choose (usually termed "subscribe to" ) those groups you'd like to read in the future. Once you've chosen the groups that interest you, you won't need to display the full newsgroup list.

USENET messages are called "posts." Newsreaders usually separate the functions of choosing groups, reading posts, and posting new messages. To learn how to do navigate your news reading software, go to the manufactures site and view their documentation on the particular newsreader you are using. Many newsreaders include "filters", often called "killfiles", which provide the ability to delete posts from people or on topics you determine that you no longer wish to view. These filters can make reading USENET much more productive.

Local USENET Services (the ucsc.* hierarchy)

UCSC's news server is named news.ucsc.edu. If you think that there is a problem with it, email your report to usenet@news.ucsc.edu. A few of the local newsgroups are:

• ucsc.general (any topic relating to UCSC)
• ucsc.comp.os.linux (discussions of the linux computer operation system )
• ucsc.athena (discussions or questions about the CATS/Athena system)
• ucsc.market.books (used for selling textbooks)
• ucsc.college.* (news groups have been set up for discussions at each college)
• ucsc.class.* (news groups pertaining to specific UCSC academic courses)

User Expectations

The ideal of a worldwide forum in which to discuss ideas and share resources in a respectful and orderly manner is not achieved with USENET. USENET is a public resource unmanaged by any authority, but its own users. Because of this, some people violate all rules of decorum in expressing themselves or promoting their products. Many newsgroups are frivolous and silly. Some newsgroups are moderated, which means that posts are filtered for appropriateness before posting.