What is Usenet?
Usenet is a way to post messages (articles) to be read by many people
through Internet, similar to bulletin board systems. It is divided
into discussion topics, called newsgroups.
Who uses Usenet?
Many students, faculty, and staff and a growing number of people throughout
the world use Usenet.
Moderated newsgroups
Most newsgroups allow anyone to post messages, but some groups have a
moderator who selects appropriate postings. These newsgroups are marked
"moderated".
Usenet etiquette
- Don't forget that the person on the other side is human.
- Be careful what you say about others. Often people are quick to take
offense.
- Be brief. When quoting from another message, trim down the quoted
message so that it only contains as much information as you feel you need.
- Read a group before posting, to make sure your posting is appropriate.
Cross-posting to many unrelated newsgroups is frowned upon.
- Use descriptive subject titles.
- Keep in mind that sarcasm is not conveyed well over the net.
- Read all follow-ups before posting so you don't repeat what has
already been said.
- Be careful about copyrights and licenses.
- Your postings reflect upon you; be proud of them.
Organization of newsgroups
The top level of the newsgroup hierarchy has:
- upenn
- Local to University of Pennsylvania
- clari
- United Press International (do not redistribute -- copyrighted)
- pa
- Local to state of Pennsylvania
- news
- Usenet topics and software
- rec
- Recreational activities, hobbies, arts
- comp
- Computer science and related topics
- sci
- Scientific research and applications
- talk
- Debate on controversial topics
- soc
- Social issues
- alt
- Alternative newsgroups
Newsgroup names
To find interesting newsgroups, start by looking at newsgroup names:
upenn.sas.deans-forum
| | \
Penn School of Discussion group with
group Arts & Sci. the SAS dean
clari.biz.economy.world
| | \ /
UPI business category, subcategory
news
(copyrighted)
upenn.cis.cse120
| \
dept. course #
This is a typical course newsgroup.
upenn.forsale
This group is for selling your personal belongings, but not for
business postings, since Penn facilities are not commercial.
"For sale" postings should only go in this group, not in
other upenn groups.
misc.jobs.offered
Only for job ads, with heavy emphasis on jobs in computing
of all sorts.
upenn.talk
Discussion of issues at Penn.
There are thousands of newsgroups available on Usenet, for practically
any topic of interest. Look around and see what catches your eye!