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‘Lurking’ okay, as long as you’re doing it on Internet

By Riley Gay

For most people, using the Internet means browsing web sites, sending and receiving email, Instant Messaging and chatting. They know it as a vast resource of information and  entertainment.

But there’s more happening on the Internet, and one of its most interesting and informative elements is nearly as old as the Internet itself: Usenet News.

Usenet is a collection of bulletin boards covering nearly any topic you can imagine.

In fact, there are tens of thousands of unique newsgroups within the Usenet community, with new ones springing up every day.

Each group is a forum for discussion with others of varying degrees of interest and expertise on an amazingly broad range of subjects.

Since it reaches Internet users around the world, Usenet can reasonably be considered the world’s largest town meeting. As such, it can be an invaluable source for assistance, advice, information or just entertainment.

You’ll also find binary files, such as photos and music files, covering just about anything imaginable.

And it’s easy enough to tap into this resource. Besides your Internet connection, all you need to join the Usenet community is a “newsreader”--a software application that will allow you to access and organize the various Usenet newsgroups.

If you’re a Windows user you already have one as part of Outlook Express. Netscape users have their own newsreader included along with Navigator. AOL subscribers can use the built-in newsreader to access newsgroups on AOL’s server.

You’ll also find dozens of freeware and shareware newsreaders obtainable by searching the Internet. A good place to start might be one of the many software download sites such as Tucows.com.

Your Internet service provider can help you to configure your newsreader to access its newsgroup server.

Once there, finding a newsgroup that matches your area of interest can present a bit of a challenge. To help users navigate the vastness of Usenet, groups are organized in a hierarchical tree structure, from general to specific, which will help considerably in narrowing your choices.

For example, some of the more common general topic areas are alt (alternative), comp (computing), rec (recreation), sci (science), and soc (society), each branching into more specific areas.

An interest in Australian rules football, for instance, might lead you to the ‘rec.sport.football.australian’ newsgroup. If your interest is Appalachian prose, you may find yourself visiting the ‘alt.appalachia.literature’ newsgroup.

Even though the number of newsgroups may, at first, seem daunting, most newsreaders include a search engine that will help you to find what you’re looking for.

In addition, a search of http://groups.google.com for a specific topic will produce a list of recently posted, as well as archived, messages. This may further help to familiarize you with newsgroups focusing on your particular area of interest.

Many newsgroups regularly post a FAQ (frequently asked questions) file that will include information helpful to new arrivals.

Anyone new to newsgroups (also called “newbies”) will probably benefit from visiting the ‘news.announce.newusers’ newsgroup.

Here you’ll find answers to almost any question you might have regarding Usenet. You may also want to visit ‘news.newuser.questions’ if you have specific questions you’d like to have answered.

No matter where you wind up, though, there are a few simple rules of etiquette you’ll want to follow when entering a newsgroup for the first time.

For your first foray into any newsgroup, the best policy is to simply read what’s already posted there (commonly called “lurking”) to get a feel for that particular group before adding your own post.

This is considered acceptable behavior, no one will know you’re monitoring the group, and you'll often learn as much from already-posted questions and responses (know as “threads”) as you would by submitting your own.

This will also help you to avoid asking questions that may have already been answered in a previous thread, or posting a question or message that may be considered inappropriate for that particular group.

Although you’ll find most people who frequent newsgroups to be generally helpful and considerate, there will be those with little patience for newbie questions. Finding out as much as possible about any particular newsgroup before posting will help to keep you from being “flamed” (newsgroup jargon for online haranguing).

Once you’ve found a newsgroup or two that you’d like to revisit, you can use your newsreader to “subscribe” to the group. This is akin to bookmarking the group and does not automatically make your name and email address known to those visiting the newsgroup. Only when you post a message or question to the group will your presence be revealed. And you can unsubscribe from a newsgroup just as easily as you subscribe.

You should also be aware that, if and when you do post to any newsgroup, there are certain unscrupulous individuals out there who monitor Usenet in order to glean addresses to add to their “spam” (unsolicited email) mailing lists.

This can be easily avoided by setting up your newsreader to use a fictitious email address or one that isn’t used for your everyday email, such as one from Hotmail, Excite or one of the other free email account providers.

You can also include gibberish in your real email address that will prevent automated harvesters (called “bots”) from getting your actual address. For example, adding “no spam” to your address (as in ‘riley@wranglernews.nospam.com’) would be enough to disguise your correct address. Anyone wanting to respond personally would more than likely know to drop the gibberish part.

Another potential concern, especially to those with children who have access to a computer, is the presence of a number of sex-related and other unsavory newsgroups. In order to shield children and others from these types of groups, you should make sure to have some kind of filtering software installed on your computer to hide these groups from innocent eyes.

Whether you’re new to the Internet or a veteran, Usenet News can be a valuable resource of information on a broad range of topics, a forum for opinions and discussion, or a place where you can offer your own knowledge and experience to others.

It’s the one place on the Internet that can truly be termed a “community” of computer users.

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