Hi Paul,
Newsgroups are essentially electronic forums that are available for just
about any conceivable topic. . To use them, you configure a newsreader
program such as Forte's Free Agent, MicroPlanet Gravity or even Outlook
Express to connect to your Internet provider's news server. When you do
that, you can get a list of available newsgroups and then subscribe to ones
that you might want to read or post to. For example, you could subscribe to
the alt.comp.blind-users newsgroup, where assistive technology for blind
computer users is discussed.
If you're doing this for Outlook Express, the newsgroup folders that you get
correspond to the groups that you subscribe to, and you'd treat them like
any mail folder. Messages come down to your PC, and you read them much as
you would an e-mail message. Like e-mail discussion lists, there are
"threads", which are topics of conversation. Going back to
alt.comp.blind-users, for example, you might find a thread that talks about
the new JAWS release. Somebody might post a message about it to start the
thread, saying that the new release is the greatest thing since sliced
bread. Another message might come along saying that the new release is
bug-riddled, et cetera et cetera, then someone else might chime in saying
something else about it. If you want to put your two cents in, then you
"post" to the newsgroup, in which case your message goes out to the server
and is readable by all other newsgroup subscribers. If you want to reply
directly to a poster, you can do that, too.
Newsgroups date back to the early days of the Internet and were part of what
was once called "usenet". There are thousands upon thousands of them on
every conceivable subject. They can be a useful source of information. Got
a question about Windows? Subscribe to a newsgroup about Windows. Want to
fuss about bugs that you found in Windows XP Service Pack 3? Subscribe to
alt.windows.crash.crash.crash. Want a recipe for your favorite foods,
subscribe to rec.food.recipes. Planning to smoke a pork butt this weekend
and need some tips, subscribe to alt.food.barbecue. Or, if you want to get
some MP3 files for your audio collection, subscribe to an alt.binaries.mp3
newsgroup. You want it, it's probably out there.
To get a feel for what newsgroups are about, go into Google at
http://groups.google.com
and do a search on some topic. there are literally millions upon millions
of newsgroup posts that go back to the beginning of Usenet that have been
archived and that are searchable. I did this once and found a post to
alt.comp.blind-users that I'd written back in 1996. It's amazing.
Usenet is fun, but, sadly, newsgroups have been inundated by spammers, so
there's a lot of junk out there, but it's still fun to play around with.
Okay, I'll stop my rattling on about this and go get some dinner. See ya
later.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Tandy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "peter wilkins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 9:46 AM
Subject: re: [Braillenote] INTERNET NEWS GROUPS
Hi there, what is internet news groups?
Paul
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