OvationPro2.20(20-May-96) PuD_  Cndnd6HSVnxd $   77 @0 LLPLx  tn L RISCToneBlackWhiteTransparent RedGreenBlueCyanMagentaYellow Registration  ..HSVn:Pff. @PFDkf#t $z!;JCTrinity.Medium.ItalicHomerton.BoldHomerton.Medium.ObliqueHomerton.MediumTrinity.Medium   BodyText#C;''$,0P33P# yxChaptrHead!z]]m0P33X yxIdentxtC;''$,0P33P# LeftHeader$''-0P33$ RightHeader$''-4P33$ LeftFooter!z..60P33@, RightFooter!z..64P33@, Heading#Dk.. 70P33, yxSubHeading#Dk**20P33( tIndent2C;''$,0P33P# ?8Caption#Dk''-0P33D% pIndent3C;''$,0P33P# ^8bodynoindC;''$,0P33P#     _h#Dk.. 70P33, yxeg84C;''$,0P33P# yxJC;''$,0P33P# ^8W_#Dk**20P33( tW_C;''$,0P33P# t*X !z..64P33@, Q $''-4P33$ NV!z]]m0P33X yxXM !z..60P33@, 3Q" $''-0P33$ eMH #Dk''-0P33D% peMH  F@@$0P33 A {]f  FkDY' _iS (( XM_hNV3Q"Q *X W_ (( XM_hNV3Q"Q *X W_JeMHeg8 || 04p4t^ !MainDict `t @4t  C7 OtherNXD E 4  What is Usenet? Usenet is a facility that allows users of the Internet to communicate with each other about a huge variety of subjects. Usenet provides a vast, ever-changing slew of facts, semi-facts, lies, rumour, argument and humour. People discuss what they do and what they would like to do (and to whom), they tell others what they like and dislike, and they share what they think, and what they think of others thoughts. The hierarchies All of this discussion takes place in newsgroups. At the time of writing there are over 14,000 newsgroups representing a bewildering array of subjects. To make your life easier (phew) these groups are split into eight main hierarchies: comp, sci, talk, news, soc, rec, misc and humanities. Humanities is a new hierarchy that was started in 1995. These are referred to as The Big 8 (or 7 in cases where people haven't caught up). Here is a brief description of contents of these hierarchies:  comppcomputers and computing sciscientific subjects talkdiscussion of thorny issues news wUsenet and how to use it soc=society and social affairs recrecreation, sports and games humanitiesfine art and literature misc}everything else  There is another hierarchy for alternative subjects. It is appropriately named alt. It is this hierarchy, more than any other, that gives the Internet its reputation for being an anarchy. The content within the newsgroups in alt can be questionable and is certainly uncensored. If you delve into these newsgroups, prepare to be offended. There are other hierarchies that exist that are not part of the main hierarchies - here are some of them: bizbusiness matters bionetebiological information clariClarinet news service gnuInformation on GNU projects Newsgroup naming Within hierarchies are the newsgroups. Newsgroups follow a particular naming scheme. For example, within the comp hierarchy is an area concerned with different computer systems. This is called comp.sys. Each system within comp.sys has its own area, so Acorn machines are discussed in comp.sys.acorn. Several subjects within comp.sys.acorn are addressed in different newsgroups. There is comp.sys.acorn.apps for discussing new applications, comp.sys.acorn.programmer for discussing programming etc. etc. The Fig. 1 shows this particular part of the comp hierarchy: Newsgroups are often referred to just by the first letter following each dot so comp.sys.acorn.programmer becomes c.s.a.p. The dot separated naming scheme allows you to determine the contents of a newsgroup fairly accurately from its name because the naming of newsgroups in The Big 8 is strictly controlled. This does not hold true for the alt hierarchy where naming can be erratic. Newsgroup names in alt can follow some sort of order and one particular type of group follows a certain naming scheme. These joke groups stem from the infamous alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork newsgroup, the scheme adopted repeats the last word three times to emphasise the nature of the group, in this case how to speak like the culinary Muppet from Sweden. Another example is @ /_ 7lPrn*#$,hrNY#$,/\r.#$,PAPr#$,Xr#$,r#$, /B_ 7ZPr{#$,t6prΪ#$,Hr#$,9dr#$,FA\rn7#$,/\rNf#$,Nr.#$,!܁'w$,]!܁'w$,#l!܁'!w$,;k!܁'Pw$,wH!܁'w$,J!܁'nw$,!܁'Nw$,!܁'. w$,r;#$,ri#$,=prΘ#$,8'dr#$,<r#$,nXrn%#$,rNT#$,@`r.#$,Hr#$,!܁'w$,up!܁'w$,%!܁'>w$,|!܁'mw$,!܁'nw$,t{p2dq#$,Dq#$,FXq#$,lLq=#$,8@ql#$,g q}#$, ?Lq]#$,:q=#$,q(#$,Ȼq#$,Pq#$,q#$,qL#$,(q{#$,?Lqa#$,TqA#$,Hq!#$, Hq7#$,<qe#$,D4`q#$,l 0yxq#$,  `t!7  <<5.JLL /_6(A J\\%%%Usenet - Have I got news for you L /B _-8 8\L *HnM *HnM <Zy^6 *HnM  X0X]7* nn%lnH*oJ*f *f\@Rc*f E  ( 80ej80ejT\80ej\80eję X]7,<t `,,,5.I*Usenet - Have I got news for you xx<<<@?mhyx^umدD@?m ( 8"e 8:(e\@Rc8"e E  t X  :"K9''-:"KtT]:"Kt:"n/.b ~My.~ uPJtt!*7  H"# y\  DH# A\- <<$ 5. L|L% .4_6(A H& \X <\'%%% Usenet - Have I got news for you LL( .C _-8 HH)  \X L* +!*(n;M *(n;M <:y^7 *(n;M  N0X]7 '($%nn%)&p" l0+,**gf *f\@Rc*gf E  XX, -+BGBGT]BGեh]l\\\  - 0,@l @l TL\S'jF[-!ܳ  X]7./|> $. compFu tstd t... tsys tuacorn tuuadvocacy tuuannounce tuu... tuuprogrammer tu... tuibmpc tu... tusun t... tterminals t... ttext t... ttheory \0/||| 5 I-t 4 5;I-   5jI-  5I-  5_I-G% 8 5?I-jJ T 5&I-P T 5TI- @ 5߃I-r~ \ 5I-} 0 5I-- 8 5I-} 0 5_?I-] 0 5?nI-  5I-  8 5I-  5I-" $ 5)I-  5XI-T , 01-N2 #2w\@RcN2  (120$-ު$T/ު\@Rc$-ު (231$ު$ު\@Rc$ު P`342$ު$\ު\@Rc$ު 453$ު$ު\@Rc$ު (P564$Jު$4Lު\@Rc$Jު (675>4040\@Rc>40 `d786r.ж/ж\@Rcr.ж 897жж\@Rcж (9:8`v`  jF d ? =11T%J11T%JTL\=C_>4=&jI`  X]7@A'B \\@''' Fig. 1. Part of the comp hierarchy LLA / $Ȭ HB  _>4 lCF 7 OtherNXD E <<D LLEq}#$,  tFPN7 C 8THG y\Y <<H 5. LLI .4_6(A HJ \X l\K%%% Usenet - Have I got news for you LLL .C _-8 HXHM  \X LN OF*(n;M *(n;M <:y^7 4*(n;M  0X]7XDEKLHInn%MJGJON*gf *f\@Rc*gf E  ttPFX7 C HHQ y\Y <R5. |<LS ._6(A  HHT t\X \l\U%%%Usenet - Have I got news for you LV .C _-8  lHW  \X LLX YP*HnM *HnM <Zy^6 *HnM R 0X]7NDEUVRSnn%WTQYX*f *f\@Rc*f E (HHlm  ^Xx^h^ Hm c2s x^h^Hn a^cx^h^ HHop n2s`x^h^HHp n^%x^h^H(Htu6~>x^h^ Hu>eHMx^h^