Discussion
Groups
Newsgroups, Web
Boards, and Mailing Lists
|
| What
are discussion groups? |
Discussion groups is a
broad category describing ways in which groups with a common
interest, whether it be playing chess, discussing the latest episode
of a television, or discussion of a political issue, communicate in
a common forum. Three of the common discussion group methods are: Mailing
Lists, Web Boards, and News. |
| What
are mailing lists? |
| Mailing lists are one of
the most common way of discussing a topic of common interest via
e-mail. Rather than trying to e-mail a message to thirty e-mail
addresses at once, you simply mail your message to one single e-mail
address, and the mailing list server handles the delivery of the
message.
To subscribe to a mailing
list, you either go to a web page and put in your e-mail address, or
send a e-mail to a e-mail address indicating that you wish to
subscribe. You will then receive a confirmation that you want to
subscribe to that group. This prevents someone from subscribing you
to groups that you don't want. You will have to either reply to the
confirmation message or click on a link in the message. Once you
have confirmed that you wanted to subscribe, a message is sent out
welcoming you to the newsgroup. SAVE THIS MESSAGE, as it contains
instructions on how to unsubscribe to that particular mailing list.
Most mailing lists default
to a single-message mode, where you receive a message right when
someone mails it out. Many mailing lists also offer an option called
a "digest" where you would receive a batch of messages in
a single mailing, usually on a daily basis.
|
| What
are web boards? |
| Web boards are an extension
of the world wide web. Some web sites, in addition to providing
information on a particular topic, also host a web-based forum where
people can discuss issues of a particular nature. Because of the
disk space and bandwidth required, many of these web boards run on
dedicated servers. Many web-based boards allow you to view messages
in some of their forums, but in order to post, you must register
with that forum. |
| What
is Usenet news? |
| Usenet news is one of the
oldest discussion forums on the Internet, and even pre-dates the
world wide web. All sorts of topics are discussed from the serious
(i.e. computer security issues, political issues), to the fun (games
and television shows), to the just plain weird. For example, the
newsgroup rec.sport.basketball.pro
is for the discussion of professional basketball, while comp.mail.eudora
deals with issues relating to the Eudora mail client. It can be
compared to a mailing list, except that the discussion can take
place worldwide, and subscribing is as easy as clicking the mouse.
Unlike a e-mail mailing list, messages do not pile up in your
mailbox if you do not log into the Internet for several days.
In many cases, newsgroups
can be divided into subgroups. The major classifications
- comp. (computers!)
- humanities. (tiny
number of groups)
- misc. (truly misc)
- news. (internet/usenet)
- rec.
(recreational/sports/hobbies/television/etc)
- sci. (science)
- soc. (social/socialogical)
- talk.
(politics/religion)
- clari. (actual news
articles off the wire services)
- alt. (off-beat
newsgroups - see the alt. FAQ)
This, of course, does not
cover other newsgroups such regional newsgroups, product newsgroups,
or foreign language newsgroups.
|
| How
long are articles kept on the news servers? |
| Articles are retained on
the news servers for at least 30 days, depending on the type of
newsgroup. Articles posted on the text newsgroups (non-binary) will
be retained longer than binary newsgroup articles. Older, non-binary
articles can also be found through Google
Groups. |
| What
do I need to read news? |
You will need a program to
download the articles from the news server to your computer. Some of
these programs for reading news include:
- Outlook Express
- Netscape
- Free Agent and Agent
from Forté
You can also read Usenet
news articles (both current and archived from 1982) through your web
browser by using Google
Groups.
|
| What
are the settings for the newsreader program? |
If you are connected
directly to CalWeb (i.e. though a dial-up, ISDN, or DSL connection):
Server: news.calweb.com
No authentication is required.
If you are connected
outside of CalWeb (i.e. through another Internet provider):
Server: newsreader.calweb.com
Login: Your CalWeb Login (no @calweb.com)
Password: Your CalWeb Password
Once you have configured
your newsreader for CalWeb, the newsreader will download the current
list of newsgroups to your computer. Since there are over 20,000
active newsgroups, this process can easily take several minutes. |
| What
are some tips for discussion groups? |
A few words of advice when
you are new to discussion groups.
- BE POLITE! Remember,
all that the people will see about you is your message, and will
judge you by what you say and how you say it.
- If you are new to a
newsgroup, it is suggest that you just read the messages, or
"lurk" for a while just to get the general feel of how
the newsgroup operates. Many newsgroups post Frequently Asked
Questions (or FAQs) that answer questions that frequently pop up
in the newsgroups. These are posted periodically to the
newsgroup by volunteers, and are often copied on a website
connected with the newsgroup or on the Usenet
FAQ archives.
- Make sure that the
message is on-topic. Talk about last night's television show
would be appropriate in the television group, but inappropriate
in a golfing group.
- Unless explicitly
specified, do not post a binary file in a non-binary group.
- Be careful when
decoding a message from a binaries newsgroup. With the current
volume of messages passing through the newsgroups, it is
impossible to scan the messages for viruses and worms.
|
|
| I
tried posting a message, but the discussion group is moderated.
What's that? |
| Moderated groups means that your
message isn't posted instantly to a newsgroup, but is subject for
review by a moderator who checks to make sure it is appropriate for
that discussion group. This does mean that there will be a delay in
the posting, but also ensures that the group remains on-topic. |
| Can
my e-mail address be captured and be used for SPAM? |
Yes, it is possible for
someone to scan a discussion group and "harvest" your
CalWeb e-mail address for the purposes of sending you unsolicited
commercial e-mail, better known as spam. Some measures that you can
to reduce the spam, yet participate in the groups:
- Use the additional
e-mail accounts that are available with most of our plans. You
can then use one address which you give out to only to your
friends, and a second e-mail address which you can publicly give
out.
- Many web boards give
you the option of hiding your e-mail address from posts in the
newsgroups. In addition, clicking on a e-mail button in a web
forum often takes you to a mail form where the forum will then
mail your message.
- One of the best ways to
harvest e-mail addresses is through posts on a newsgroup. You
may want to consider mangling your e-mail address to make it
harder to get your e-mail address. See our spam
information page for details.
|
|
| Where
can I find out more information? |
| You may want to check out
the following:
Comments about this FAQ? E-mail
us!
Note: Links to external web sites are provided for informational
purposes, and are neither endorsed nor support by CalWeb Internet
Services. |
Serving California Since 1993.
