Reference sheet prepared by Jolene M. Morris, District Technology Director, Grand Co. School District
Newsgroups or Usenet News can be thought of as public mail. On Usernet News, you'll find messages posted in over 2300 categories. These messages are not sent to a particular individual, but rather are sent to the news server. The news messages are stored on the Usenet server and are generally open to the public.
To be able to read the messages, you must use gopher or have access to a news reader such as rn, nn, trn, or tin -- refer to the reference sheets on these news readers. Most groups allow readers to post any message they want. Before you post a message to a group, you should read the informal "rules and policies" of the group. These are called the group's FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).
Group Types
The 2300+ news groups are categorized into 19 different areas. A complete list of the 2300+ groups is listed in the Internet Yellow Pages published by McGraw Hill on a regular basis.
Category # of Groups
alt (alternate topics) 774
bionet (biology) 47
bit (Bitnet newsgroups) 211
biz (high-tech businesses) 35
comp (computers) 526
clari (Clarinet news) 239
ddn (Defense Data Netw.) 2
gnu (GNU OS) 28
ieee (IEEE organization) 12
info (information) 40
k12 (education) 36
misc (miscellaneous) 42
news (Usenet news) 22
rec (games & recreation) 295
sci (science) 87
soc (sociology) 97
talk (debate & politics) 21
u3b (3b OS) 5
vmsnet (VMS OS) 35
Access to Usenet News
If you are brand new to Usernet news, consider first reading the news messages in
news.announce.newusers
news.groups
news.newsites
news.newusers.questions
When you find a group you'd like to read, be sure to read the group's FAQs before reading and/or posting messages. Most FAQs are in the subgroup .answers in each category. Usenet news should be a menu item on your network and/or will be listed on your Gopher.
More Information about Usenet
Anonymous Posting Service allows you to post messages to a Usenet group anonymously. For information on this service, send e-mail to:
Address: help@anon.penet.fi
Creating Alternative Newsgroups is a guide explaining how to create your own news groups in the .alt category.
Anonymous ftp:
Address: rtfm.mit.edu
Path: /pub/usenet/news.answers/
alt-config-guide
Creating Standard Newsgroups is a guide explaining how to create your own news groups in the standard categories.
Anonymous ftp:
Address: rtfm.mit.edu
Path: /pub/usenet/news.answers/
creating-newsgroups/
FAQ Searches and Archives allows you to search and browse the Usenet FAQs.
Gopher:
Address: merlot.welch.jhu.edu
Path: Usenet News and FAXs
All FAQs Searches & Arch.
Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) Lists is a file containing the FAQs from many of the Usenet newsgroups:
Anonymous ftp:
Address: rtfm.mit.edu
Path: /pub/usenet/news.answers/
Newsgroup Descriptions are detailed descriptions of various Usenet newsgroups.
telnet:
Address: kufacts.cc.ukans.edu
Login: kufacts
NNTP News Servers is a list of publicly accessible NNTP servers which allow you to post to Usenet news via telnet.
Finger:
Address: lesikar@tigger.stcloud.
msus.edu
Publicly Accessible News Servers is a list of publicly accessible news servers via telnet, ftp, ftpmail, fsp, X.25, and bookmarks for Gopher sites that provide access to Usenet.
Finger:
Address: lesikar@tigger.stcloud.
msus.edu
Usenet News via Gopher gives you public access to Usenet News in case your local network or Gopher does not carry news groups.
Gopher:
Address: gopher.msu.edu
Path: News & Weather
USENET News
Gopher:
Address: gopher.bham.ac.uk
Path: Usenet News Reader
Gopher:
Address: merlot.welch.jhu.edu
Path: Usenet News and FAQs
Read USENET News Groups
K-12 USENET Groups
k12.chat.elementary K-5 students, chat
k12.chat.junior 6-8-grade students, chat
k12.chat.senior 9-12-grade students, chat
k12.chat.teacher K-12 teachers, chat
k12.ed.art K-12 arts/crafts ed. curriculum
k12.ed.business K-12 business ed. curriculum
k12.ed.comp.literacy K-12 computer lit. curriculum
k12.ed.health-pe K-12 health/PE curricula
k12.ed.life-skills K-12 career education, counseling
k12.ed.math K-12 mathematics curriculum
k12.ed.music K-12 music curriculum
k12.ed.science K-12 science curriculum
k12.ed.soc-studies K-12 social studies/history curr.
k12.ed.special K-12 ed handicaps, special needs
k12.ed.tag Gifted and talented K-12 students
k12.ed.tech K-12 industrial arts/voc. education
k12.lang.art Teaching language skills in K-12
k12.lang.deutsch-eng Bilingual German/English
k12.lang.esp-eng Bilingual Spanish/English
k12.lang.francais French with native speakers
k12.lang.russian Bilingual Russian/English speakers
k12.library Info. technologies in K-12 libraries
k12.sys.projects Online teaching projects
