newsgroup (redirected from Newsgroups)

newsgroup

Internet forum for discussion of specific subjects. Newsgroups are organized into subjects (e.g., automobiles); each typically has several subgroups (e.g., classic cars, Formula One racing cars). A person starts a threaded discussion by “posting” (uploading) an article; the follow-up replies (including replies to replies) comprise the discussion. A newsgroup name usually consists of an abbreviation (e.g., “rec” for the recreation newsgroup) followed by subgroup names separated by dots (e.g., “rec.music.jazz”). Viewing and posting messages requires a news reader, a program that connects the user to an Internet news server. Most newsgroups are connected via Usenet, a worldwide network that uses the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). See also bulletin-board system.

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newsgroup

A discussion group on the Internet. Just as e-mail and the Web are two distinct services on the Internet, newsgroups are part of the "Usenet" (user network), which is another service, or facility, on the Internet. Although a newsgroup topic can be newsworthy, newsgroups have nothing to do with the daily news; thus, the term is somewhat misleading.

Newsgroups are organized into categories and subcategories, with the alt (alternative) category having the most diversity (see newsgroup categories). Preceding the Web by more than a decade, newsgroups started in the late 1970s as a message board for Unix and related technical issues. They continue to prosper alongside the Web, although the Web has its own discussion groups (see forum).

Newsgroups start by someone posting an initial query or comment. As others reply, the text forms a chain of related postings called a "message thread." Newsgroups are similar to blogs, but usually have more questions and answers, whereas the blog is often used for general commentary (see blog). Newsgroups are also a source for MP3 files and pictures (see newsgroup categories).

Newsreader software (an NNTP client) is used to "subscribe" to newsgroups and read and post messages. A newsreader, which may be a stand-alone application or part of an e-mail program or Web browser, offers many features such as searching for and automatically subscribing to newsgroups that match some criteria.

The Usenet Network
Some newsgroups are moderated; some are not. They originate from many sources and are hosted on many systems. With more than 100,000 newsgroups, an ISP may decide which newsgroups, if any, to offer customers and how long postings remain online. There are also dedicated Usenet providers that do not discriminate and store most newsgroups indefinitely. See NNTP, Deja.com, syndication format and newsgroup categories.

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newsgroup

Computing a forum where subscribers exchange information about a specific subject by electronic mail

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newsgroup [′nüz‚grüp]

(computer science)

A collection of computers on a wide-area network that form a discussion group on a particular topic, such that a message generated by any computer in the group is automatically distributed over the network to all the others. Also known as forum.

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(messaging)

newsgroup - One of Usenet's huge collection of topic groups or fora. Usenet groups can be "unmoderated" (anyone can post) or "moderated" (submissions are automatically directed to a moderator, who edits or filters and then posts the results). Some newsgroups have parallel mailing lists for Internet people with no netnews access, with postings to the group automatically propagated to the list and vice versa. Some moderated groups (especially those which are actually gatewayed Internet mailing lists) are distributed as "digests", with groups of postings periodically collected into a single large posting with an index. Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the C-language forum), comp.arch (on computer architectures), comp.Unix.wizards (for Unix wizards), rec.arts.sf-lovers (for science-fiction fans), and talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political discussions and flamage). Barry Shein <bzs@world.std.com> is alleged to have said, "Remember the good old days when you could read all the group names in one day?" This gives a good idea of the growth and size of Usenet. See also netiquette.