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Locating information from News Groups

News groups are electronic bulletin boards where you can read messages posted by members on a given subject or you can post your own. Some groups maintain archives of past messages which you can download and browse. There are a number of sets of news groups, such as those whose names begin with ALT, COMP, REC, and SOC. For instance,

news:alt.activism.death-penalty

is the name of the group dealing with that topic, and clicking on it will bring up your default news browser.

News groups, sometimes called Usenet groups because of their origins, tend to be of a general interest nature. They are much less likely to be populated by professionals than are listserv lists, for example. Nonetheless, if one exists in your area, it can be a valuable resource. The COMP set of groups provides a way of obtaining free technical advice on computer topics such as multimedia or particular application packages.

Access and Addresses --

Unlike other types of WWW URLs (addresses), newsgroup URL prefixes do not contain a "//". This is because they are not located at a single site. To get to the discussion list

news:alt.feminism

for instance, you would click on the Open button (or File, Open Location) in Netscape, then enter this URL address: NEWS:ALT.FEMINISM. (Case doesn't matter and there is no period at the end).

Subscribing/Unsubscribing to newsgroups. In Netscape, choose File, Subscribe to Groups, and pick the ones to which you want to subscribe. The new version of Netscape can also subscribe you automatically to newsgroups you visit.

Threads --

A "thread" is a series of messages on a topic. The topic is taken from the "Subject" line of the original message, to which all the others have responded. People may respond to a responder, creating subthreads within threads. There may be several layers of such thread nesting. Clicking on the "Subject" bar will alphabetize the listings by thread.

"Catching Up" --

When you go to a newsgroup, you may see hundreds of postings. To see only new postings next time, click on View, Messages, New.

To catch up without reading unread messages, click on Message, Mark.

Posting --

Click on either the New Msg or the Reply button as appropriate when you want to post to the newsgroup.

Saving What You Encounter --

As with most programs, to save a posting you are looking at, simply select File, Save As or File, Print.

The Green Eggs Report --

"Alice's Restaurant" is a web site at

http://ibd.ar.com/ger/.

Alice searches Usenet news groups looking for URL addresses. The result is that you can use Alice's "Green Eggs" report to look up any newsgroup of interest (ex., alt.activism) and find URL's which have been cited in that newsgroup. Alice adds up to 1,500 URL's a day in this manner.

    Use Deja News to locate an FAQ on investment (or any topic of your choice.)

    Activity: Can you locate Usenet newsgroups on the following topics?

  • Physics
  • Tropical fish
  • Video games
  • Job announcements
  • Your favorite hobby
  • Your religion

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