Here is a explanation of what is what in the raw data base files. To get the database of what information is available for the group send a message to "usenet-b@clark.net" with a subject line of "See: Newsgroup". For example to see what's there in news.answers you would send a line with a subject "See: news.answers". Upon receiving the request the server will mail you the raw database file for that group. SD: A short description of the group as it appears in "Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies" and "List of Active Newsgroups" posted in news.lists. LD: A long description of the group from multiple sources. This is where I could use the most help. Please see the FAQ for more info. The FAQ can be found at ftp.clark.net:/pub/usenet-b/info/bible-faq, by fingering usenet-b@clark.net, or by sending mail to usenet-b@clark.net with a subject line of help. MD: The Moderator or Coordinator of the group as it appears in "List of Moderators for Usenet" posted to news.lists. RQ: The address where requests, comments, etc. should go to as it appears in "List of Moderators for Usenet" posted to news.lists. SB: The address where submissions should go to as it appears in "List of Moderators for Usenet" posted to news.lists. FAQ: A list of the periodic postings known at this time as it appears in "List of Periodic Informational Postings" posted to news.lists. Each posting is listed in an entry that includes who posts the article, which newsgroup(s) it appears in, what Subject is used, and how often the article is posted. The list is sorted by Newsgroups and Subject information. The character '*' is used as a wildcard, e.g. "v*INF1" matches "v01INF1", "v02INF1", etc. The Date in a posting's entry indicates, where given, when the posting last appeared. However, it may be inaccurate if (a) the maintainer of the posting has changed the Subject line, or (b) the most recent version has not reached my site, or (c) the entry actually corresponds to multiple postings because of wildcarding. The Archive-name, where present, indicates the archive name that appeared in the posting when it was last posted. Note that if one entry matches multiple postings because of wildcarding, then only one archive name will appear. Similarly, the Summary indicates the summary that appeared. ML: The mailing list the newsgroup is gatewayed to as it appears in "Mailing Lists Available in Usenet" posted to news.lists. Any letter after the address inductees the states of the group and they mean the following: < one way gateway from the maillist to the newsgroup M moderated newsgroup D both the maillist and the newsgroup appear in digest form * possibly broken gateway ST: The latest statistics for the group as it appears in "USENET Readership report for *" posted to news.lists. The figures mean the following (for example): +-- Estimated total number of people who read the group, worldwide. | +-- Actual number of readers in sampled population | | +-- Propagation: how many sites receive this group at all | | | +-- Recent traffic (messages per month) | | | | +-- Recent traffic (megabytes per month) | | | | | +-- Crossposting percentage | | | | | | +-- Cost ratio: $US/month/rdr | | | | | | | + Share: % of newsrders | | | | | | | | who read this group. V V V V V V V V 140000 1359 76% 114 0.6 6% 0.00 2.7% STP: The Percentile to the categories in the "ST:" calculed by me (Kevin) with a perl script. For more info on any of these areas please see the corresponding posts to news.lists.