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1.1 root 1: .\" Modified 9/29/85 by Matt Bishop ([email protected])
2: .\" to work with the TROFF news document macros.
3: .ds h0 "How to Read the Network News
4: .ds h1
5: .ds h2 %
6: .ds f0 "\*(vr
7: .ds f1
8: .ds f2 "Februrary 26, 1986
9: .de Qp \" quoted command as hanging char
10: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
11: ..
12: .de Qc \" quoted command as hanging string
13: .lp "\\f3<\\s-2\\$1\\s0>\\f1" \\$2
14: ..
15: .de Op \" option as hanging string
16: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
17: ..
18: .mt
19: How to Read the Network News
20: .au
21: Mark R. Horton
22: .ai
23: AT&T Bell Laboratories
24: Columbus, OH 43213
25: .au
26: Revised by Rick Adams for 2.10.3
27: .bt
28: .hu
29: What is the Network News?
30: .pg
31: USENET (Users' Network)
32: is a bulletin board shared among many
33: computer systems around the world.
34: USENET is a logical network,
35: sitting on top of several physical networks,
36: among them
37: .i UUCP ,
38: .i BLICN ,
39: .i BERKNET ,
40: .i X.25 ,
41: and the
42: .i ARPANET .
43: Sites on USENET include many universities,
44: private companies and research organizations.
45: Most of the members of USENET are either
46: university computer science departments
47: or part of AT&T.
48: Currently, there are over 2000 USENET sites in the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan
49: and Korea with more joining every day. Most are running the
50: .ux
51: operating system.
52: .pg
53: The network news,
54: or simply
55: .i netnews ,
56: is the set of programs that provide access to the news
57: and transfer it from one machine to the next.
58: Netnews was originally written at Duke University
59: and has been modified extensively by the University
60: of California at Berkeley and others.
61: Netnews allows articles to be posted for limited or very wide distribution.
62: This document contains a list of newsgroups
63: that were active at the time the document was written.
64: It exists
65: to assist you in determining which newsgroups you may
66: want to subscribe to.
67: When creating a new article,
68: the level of distribution can be controlled
69: by use of the
70: .cf Distribution
71: field.
72: This will prevent notices of apartments for rent in New Jersey
73: being broadcast to California
74: (or even Europe).
75: .pg
76: Any user can post an article,
77: which will be sent out to the network
78: to be read by persons interested in that topic.
79: You can specify which topics are of interest to you by putting them in a
80: .i "subscription list" .
81: Then,
82: whenever you ask to read news,
83: the news reading program will present all unread articles of interest.
84: There are also facilities for browsing through old news,
85: posting follow-up articles,
86: and sending direct electronic mail replies to the author of an article.
87: .pg
88: This paper is a tutorial,
89: aimed at the user who wants to read and possibly post news.
90: The system administrator who must install the software
91: should see the companion document
92: .i "USENET Version B Installation" .
93: .hu
94: Why USENET?
95: .pg
96: USENET is useful in a number of ways.
97: Someone wishing to announce a new program or product can reach a wide audience.
98: A user can ask \*(lqDoes anyone have an
99: .i x ?\*(rq
100: and will usually get several responses within a day or two.
101: Bug reports and their fixes can be made quickly available
102: without the usual overhead of sending out mass mailings.
103: Discussions involving many people at different locations
104: can take place without having to get everyone together.
105: .pg
106: Another facility with similar capabilities to
107: .i netnews
108: is the
109: .i "electronic mailing list" .
110: A mailing list is a collection of electronic mailing addresses of users
111: who are interested in a particular topic.
112: By sending electronic mail to the list,
113: all users on the list receive a copy of the article.
114: While the mailing list facility is quite useful,
115: USENET offers a number of advantages not present in mailing lists.
116: Getting yourself on a mailing list is not always easy.
117: You have to figure out who maintains the list and ask them to put you on it.
118: Often these people are out of town or busy,
119: and don't put you on the list for several days.
120: Sometimes you have to send mail to the entire mailing list,
121: hoping that one of the readers will tell you who maintains the list.
122: Once you are on the list,
123: you often find yourself in the middle of a discussion.
124: Netnews keeps old articles around until they expire (usually about two weeks)
125: so you can browse through old news to catch up on what you missed.
126: Similarly,
127: referring to an old article is easy,
128: without having to keep a personal file of all old mail to the list.
129: .pg
130: Another advantage is appreciated by the other users of the system.
131: There is less overhead in having only one copy of each message
132: sent to each machine,
133: rather than having separate copies sent
134: to each of several users on the same machine.
135: This cuts down on computer time to process the messages,
136: and on-line costs for telephone calls to transfer messages
137: from one machine to another (when phone lines are used).
138: Another advantage is in the disk space consumed.
139: When only one message is sent to each system,
140: only one copy of the message is kept on disk.
141: In a mailing list environment,
142: each user has a copy in a mailbox.
143: .hu
144: How do I Read News?
145: .pg
146: In the USENET jargon,
147: interest topics are called
148: .i newsgroups .
149: A newsgroup list appears in a later section,
150: current as this paper was written.
151: You have your own
152: .i "subscription list"
153: of newsgroups to which you are said to
154: .i subscribe .
155: .pg
156: The simplest way to read news is to type the command:
157: .sd c
158: readnews
159: .ed
160: Other possibilities include: a full-screen-oriented news reading program,
161: .i vnews (1),
162: (described in the Appendix) and the
163: .i notesfile
164: system, which can also be used for news (described in a separate paper.)
165: Each newsgroup to which you subscribe will be presented,
166: one article at a time.
167: As each article is presented,
168: you will be shown the
169: .i header
170: (containing the name of the author,
171: the subject,
172: and the length of the article)
173: and you will be asked if you want more.
174: There are a number of possible choices you can make at this point.
175: The three most common
176: .qp y , (
177: .qp n ,
178: and
179: .qp q )
180: are suggested by the program.
181: (To see a complete list of possible responses,
182: type
183: .qp ?
184: for help.)
185: You can type
186: .qp y
187: for \*(lqyes\*(rq
188: (or simply hit
189: .qc RETURN )
190: and the rest of the message will be displayed.
191: (If the message is long,
192: it may stop before it runs off the top of the screen.
193: Type
194: .qc SPACE
195: or
196: .qc RETURN
197: to see more of the message.
198: Another choice you can make is
199: .qp n
200: for \*(lqno\*(rq.
201: This means you are not interested in the message \-
202: it will not be offered to you again.
203: A third option is
204: .qp q
205: for \*(lqquit\*(rq.
206: This causes a record to be made of which articles you read
207: (or refused)
208: and you will exit netnews.
209: When you have read all the news,
210: this happens automatically.
211: The
212: .qp q
213: command is mainly useful if you are in a hurry
214: and don't have time to read all the news right now.
215: (Many users put a
216: .i readnews (1)
217: or
218: .i checknews (1)
219: command in their
220: .i .profile
221: or
222: .i .login
223: files so that they will see new news each time they log in.)
224: .pg
225: If you are reading news for the first time,
226: you may find yourself swamped by the volume of unread news,
227: especially if the default subscription is
228: .ng all .
229: Don't let this bother you.
230: If you are getting newsgroups in which you have no interest,
231: you can change your subscription list
232: (see below).
233: Also,
234: bear in mind that what you see
235: is probably at least two weeks' accumulation of news.
236: If you want to just get rid of all old news and start anew,
237: type
238: .sd c
239: readnews \-p \-n all > /dev/null &
240: .ed
241: which will throw away all old news,
242: recording that you have seen it all.
243: (The
244: .qp &
245: puts it in the background;
246: chances are that there is so much old news on your machine
247: that you won't want to wait for it all.)
248: Or,
249: you can use the
250: .qp K
251: command to mark all articles in the current newsgroup as read.
252: .pg
253: Once you catch up with (or ignore) all the old news,
254: the news will come in daily at a more manageable rate.
255: (If the daily rate is still too much
256: you may wish to unsubscribe to some of the higher volume, less useful newsgroups.)
257: Finally,
258: note that while an article is printing,
259: you can hit
260: your interrupt character
261: (usually
262: .qc CONTROL-C
263: or
264: .qc DELETE ),
265: which will throw away the rest of the article.
266: .pg
267: Among the other commands you can type after seeing the header
268: of an article are:
269: .Qp x 13
270: Exit
271: .i readnews .
272: This is different from
273: .qp q
274: in that the
275: .qp q
276: command
277: will update the record of which articles you have read,
278: but
279: .qp x
280: will pretend you never started
281: .i readnews .
282: .Qp N 13
283: Go on to the next newsgroup.
284: The remaining articles in the current newsgroup are considered
285: .i unread ,
286: and will be offered to you again the next time you read news.
287: .Qp "s \f2file\fP" 13
288: The article is saved in a disk file with the given name.
289: In practice,
290: what usually happens is that an article is printed,
291: and then
292: .i readnews
293: goes on to print the header of the next article
294: before you get a chance to type anything.
295: So you usually want to write out the
296: .i previous
297: message
298: (the last one you have read in full);
299: in this case,
300: use the form
301: .qp s\-
302: .i filename .
303: .Qp e 13
304: Erase the memory of having seen this article.
305: It will be offered to you again next time,
306: as though you had never seen it.
307: The
308: .qp e\-
309: case variation (erase memory of the previously read article instead of
310: the current article)
311: is useful for checking follow-ups to see
312: if anyone has already said what you wanted to say.
313: .Qp r 13
314: Reply to the author of the message.
315: You will be placed in the editor,
316: with a set of headers derived from the message you are replying to.
317: Type in your message after the blank line.
318: If you wish to edit the header list
319: to add more recipients or send carbon copies,
320: for instance,
321: you can edit the header lines.
322: Anyone listed on a line beginning with
323: .hf To
324: or
325: .hf Cc
326: will receive a copy of your reply.
327: Note that the path used to receive a piece of news may not be the fastest
328: way to reply by mail. If speed is important and you know a faster way,
329: edit it in place of what the reply command supplied.
330: A mail command will then be started up,
331: addressed to the persons listed in the header.
332: You are then returned to
333: .i readnews .
334: The case
335: .qp r\-
336: is also useful to reply to the previous message.
337: Another variation on this is
338: .qp rd\-
339: which puts you in
340: .b $MAILER
341: (or
342: .i mail (1)
343: by default)
344: to type in your reply directly.
345: .Qp f 13
346: Post a follow-up message to the same newsgroup.
347: This posts an article on this newsgroup
348: with the same title as the original article.
349: Use common sense when posting follow-ups. (Read Matt Bishop's paper
350: \*(lqHow to use USENET Effectively\*(rq for extended discussion of when
351: and when not to post -- many follow-up articles should have just been replies.)
352: You will be placed in the editor. Enter your message and exit.
353: The case
354: .qp f\-
355: is also useful to follow up the previous message.
356: In each case,
357: the editor you are placed in will be
358: .i vi (1)
359: unless you set
360: .b EDITOR
361: (in your environment) to some other editor.
362: You should enter the text of the follow-up after the blank line.
363: .Qp + 13
364: The article is skipped for now.
365: The next time you read news,
366: you will be offered this article again.
367: .Qp \- 13
368: Go back to the previous article.
369: This toggles,
370: so that two
371: .qp \- 's
372: get you the current article.
373: .Qp b 13
374: Back up one article in the current group.
375: This is not necessarily the previous article.
376: .Qp U 13
377: Unsubscribe from this newsgroup.
378: Your
379: .i \&.newsrc (5)
380: file will be edited to change the
381: .qp :
382: for that newsgroup to an
383: .qp !
384: preventing you from being shown that newsgroup again.
385: .Qp ? 13
386: If you type any unrecognized command,
387: a summary of valid commands will be printed.
388: .hu
389: Changing your Subscription List
390: .pg
391: If you take no special action you will subscribe to a default subscription list.
392: This default varies locally.
393: To find out your local default,
394: type
395: .sd c
396: readnews \-s
397: .ed
398: Typically this list will include all newsgroups ending in \*(lqgeneral\*(rq,
399: such as
400: .ng general ,
401: and
402: .ng net.general .
403: (As distributed,
404: the default is
405: .ng general\f1,\fPall.general .
406: Another popular default is
407: .ng all .)
408: You can change this by creating a file in your home directory named
409: .i .newsrc
410: which contains as its first line a line of the form:
411: .sd c
412: options \-n newsgroup,newsgroup,newsgroup ...
413: .ed
414: If your lines get too long,
415: you can continue them on subsequent lines
416: by beginning those lines with a space.
417: (The netnews system will put extra lines in this file
418: to record which articles you have read.
419: You should ignore these lines unless you want to edit them.)
420: For example,
421: if you are creating a subscription list for the first time,
422: and have already read news,
423: you will find some text already in your
424: .i .newsrc
425: file,
426: recording which articles you have read.
427: You should put your
428: .b options
429: line before the first line of the file.)
430: Thus,
431: .sd c
432: options \-n general,net.general,mod.human-nets
433: .ed
434: will subscribe to those three newsgroups.
435: .pg
436: An
437: .qp !
438: can be used to exclude certain newsgroups and the word
439: .ng all
440: can be used as a wild card,
441: representing any newsgroup.
442: You can also use
443: .ng all
444: as a prefix or suffix to match a class of newsgroups.
445: For example,
446: .sd c
447: options \-n all,!mod.all,!net.jokes,!all.unix-all
448: .ed
449: will result in a subscription to all newsgroups except for ARPANET news,
450: jokes,
451: and any
452: .ux
453: information.
454: The metacharacter
455: .qp .
456: is like
457: .qp /
458: to the shell,
459: and
460: .ng all
461: is like
462: .qp * .
463: .pg
464: A simpler way to subscribe to news is to subscribe to
465: .ng all ,
466: and then use the
467: .qp U
468: .i readnews
469: command to unsubscribe to newsgroups you don't want to read.
470: This way you will see new newsgroups that are created,
471: get a chance to evaluate them,
472: and then unsubscribe to those that don't interest you.
473: .pg
474: The order of the newsgroups in your
475: .i .newsrc
476: (after the options line)
477: is the order in which newsgroups will be shown.
478: If you want something other than the default,
479: move the lines around until you are satisfied with the order.
480: Be careful to keep the options line as the first line in the file.
481: .hu
482: Submitting Articles
483: .pg
484: To submit a new news article type
485: .sd c
486: postnews
487: .ed
488: First,
489: it will ask you if this is a follow-up to an article.
490: Answer
491: .b yes
492: or
493: .b no .
494: If
495: .b yes ,
496: you really should have done an
497: .qp f
498: from
499: .i readnews ,
500: but it will try and figure out which article you are following up to.
501: It will ask for the newsgroup in which you read the article
502: and the article number.
503: If you can't remember,
504: go back to
505: .i readnews
506: and find out.
507: It is important that discussions are kept together.
508: It is very frustrating for someone to read a follow-up that says:
509: \&\*(lqI agree.
510: It's very dangerous to leave that program as distributed.\*(rq
511: and not have any idea what the poster was referring to.
512: .pg
513: If you answer
514: .b no ,
515: .i postnews (1)
516: will ask you for the subject of the new article.
517: This should be as informative as possible.
518: For example,
519: .cf "'67 Porsche for sale in New Jersey"
520: is much better than
521: .cf "Car for sale"
522: or even
523: .cf "For sale" .
524: It will then ask which newsgroups you want the article posted in.
525: If you are unsure,
526: type
527: .qp ?
528: instead of a specific newsgroup
529: and it will show you the list of currently available groups.
530: Then,
531: you will be asked how far your article should be distributed.
532: It is important to keep this as small as possible
533: to accomplish the purpose of your article.
534: Remember that many newsgroups are read in Europe,
535: Australia,
536: and Asia in addition to the United States and Canada.
537: It does no good
538: (to use the previous example)
539: to post a
540: .cf "Car for sale in New Jersey"
541: article with a distribution of
542: .ng world .
543: There is almost no chance that a person in Sweden or Korea
544: would be interested in buying your car (even if it is a Porsche).
545: It is a waste of money and computer resources
546: to transmit the article that far.
547: For this specific case,
548: the appropriate distribution would be
549: .ng nj
550: or only in New Jersey.
551: If there were no local distribution available,
552: at least it should be confined to
553: .ng usa .
554: If you are unsure of the distributions available at your site,
555: type
556: .qp ?
557: instead of a distribution
558: and you will receive a list of distributions valid for your site.
559: If the distribution is
560: .ng world ,
561: your article will be read (perhaps with disgust)
562: by thousands of people around the world.
563: .pg
564: Then you will be placed in the editor.
565: Enter the text of your article,
566: after the blank line,
567: and exit the editor.
568: The article will be posted to the newsgroups specified.
569: If you change your mind about the headers while you are still in the editor,
570: you can edit them as well.
571: Extra headers can also be added before the blank line.
572: .hu
573: Browsing through Old News
574: .pg
575: There are a number of command line options to the
576: .i readnews
577: command to help you find an old article you want to see again.
578: The
579: .op \-n
580: .i newsgroups
581: option restricts your search to certain newsgroups.
582: The
583: .op \-x
584: option arranges to ignore the record of articles read,
585: which is kept in your
586: .i \&.newsrc
587: file.
588: This will cause all articles in all newsgroups to which you
589: subscribe to be displayed,
590: even those which you have already seen.
591: It also causes
592: .i readnews
593: to not update the
594: .i \&.newsrc
595: file.
596: The
597: .op \-a
598: .i date
599: option asks for news received after the given
600: .i date .
601: Note that even with the
602: .op \-a
603: option, only articles you have not already seen will be printed,
604: unless you combine it with the
605: .op \-x
606: option.
607: (Articles are kept on file until they expire,
608: typically after two weeks.)
609: The
610: .op \-t
611: .i keywords
612: option restricts the query to articles mentioning one of the
613: .i keywords
614: in the title of the article.
615: Thus,
616: the command
617: .sd c
618: readnews \-n net.unix \-x \-a last thursday \-t setuid
619: .ed
620: asks for all articles in newsgroup
621: .ng net.unix
622: since last Thursday about the setuid feature.
623: (Be careful with the
624: .op \-t
625: option.
626: The above example will not find articles about
627: .cf suid ,
628: nor will it find articles with no title or
629: whose author did not use the word
630: .cf setuid
631: in the title.)
632: .pg
633: Other useful options include the
634: .op \-l
635: option (which lists only the headers of articles \-
636: a useful form for browsing through lots of messages.)
637: The
638: .op \-p
639: option prints the messages without asking for any input;
640: this is similar to some older news programs on many
641: .ux
642: systems and is useful for directing output to a printer.
643: The
644: .op \-r
645: option produces articles in reverse order,
646: from newest to oldest.
647: .hu
648: User Interfaces
649: .pg
650: The
651: .i "user interface"
652: of a program is the view it presents to the user,
653: that is,
654: what it prints and what it allows you to type.
655: .i Readnews
656: has options allowing you to use different user interfaces.
657: The interface described above is called the \*(lqmsgs\*(rq interface
658: because it mimics the style of the Berkeley
659: .i msgs (1)
660: program.
661: (This program,
662: in turn,
663: mimics a program at MIT of the same name.)
664: The key element of the msgs interface is that after printing the header,
665: you are asked if you want the rest of the message.
666: .pg
667: Another interface is available with the
668: .op \-c
669: option.
670: In this case,
671: the entire message is printed,
672: header and body,
673: and you are prompted at the end of the message.
674: The command options are the same as the msgs interface,
675: but it is usually not necessary to use the
676: .qp \-
677: suffix on the
678: .qp r ,
679: .qp s ,
680: or
681: .qp f
682: commands.
683: This interface is called the \*(lq/bin/mail\*(rq
684: (pronounced \*(lqbin mail\*(lq)
685: interface,
686: because it mimics the
687: .ux
688: program of that name.
689: .pg
690: A third interface is the
691: .i Mail (1)
692: (pronounced \*(lqcap mail\*(rq) interface,
693: available with the
694: .op \-M
695: option.
696: This invokes the
697: .i Mail
698: program directly,
699: and allows you to read news with the same commands as you read mail.
700: (This interface may not work on your system \-
701: it requires a special version of
702: .i Mail
703: with a
704: .qp \-T
705: option.)
706: .pg
707: A fourth interface, is the MH news/mail program from Rand.
708: That program can be used directly to read network news.
709: .pg
710: A fifth interface,
711: .i vnews ,
712: which works well on display terminals, is described in the Appendix.
713: .pg
714: A sixth possibility is the
715: .i notesfile
716: system, described in a separate paper. It is also display-oriented.
717: .pg
718: A seventh possibility is to use your favorite mail system as an interface.
719: There are a number of different mail reading programs, including
720: .i /bin/mail (1),
721: .i Mail ,
722: .i msg (1),
723: and MH.
724: Any mail system with an option to specify an alternative mailbox
725: can be used to read news.
726: For example,
727: to use
728: .i Mail
729: without the
730: .qp \-M
731: option,
732: type
733: .sd c
734: readnews \-c "Mail \-f %"
735: .ed
736: The shell command in quotes is invoked as a child of
737: .i readnews.
738: The
739: .qp \-f
740: option to
741: .i Mail
742: names the alternative mailbox.
743: .i Readnews
744: will put the news in a temporary file,
745: and give the name of this file to the mailer in place of the
746: .qp % .
747: There is an important difference when using this kind of interface.
748: The mailers do not give any indication of which articles you read
749: and which ones you skipped.
750: .i Readnews
751: will assume you read
752: .i all
753: the articles,
754: even if you didn't,
755: and mark them all read.
756: By contrast,
757: the
758: .op \-M
759: option uses the
760: .op \-T
761: option to
762: .i Mail ,
763: asking
764: .i Mail
765: to tell
766: .i readnews
767: which articles you read.
768: .hu
769: Getting News when you Log In
770: .pg
771: Most users like to be told when they first log in if there is any news.
772: This way they are reminded of news,
773: but are not interrupted by it during the day.
774: If you log in once in the morning,
775: you can think of getting the news as reading the morning newspaper.
776: It is common to put a
777: .i checknews
778: or
779: .i readnews
780: command in your
781: .i .profile
782: or
783: .i .login
784: file of commands that are executed when you log in.
785: .pg
786: Since there might not be any news,
787: and since the
788: .i readnews
789: command goes to a considerable amount of work to find all unread news
790: (assuming you are going to read it),
791: there is another command,
792: called
793: .i checknews ,
794: which tells you if there is any news.
795: The
796: .i checknews
797: command is smaller and faster than
798: .i readnews ,
799: and was designed especially for a login file.
800: There are also options to be silent if there is (or is not) news,
801: and to start up
802: .i readnews
803: automatically if there is news.
804: .pg
805: The options to
806: .i checknews
807: are:
808: .Op \-y 10
809: Print \*(lqThere is news\*(rq if there is any unread news.
810: .Op \-v 10
811: If
812: .op \-y
813: is also given,
814: instead of printing \*(lqThere is news\*(rq,
815: prints \*(lqNews: \fInewsgroup\fP ...\*(rq
816: giving the name of the first newsgroup containing unread news.
817: If
818: .ng general
819: is the first newsgroup presented,
820: this can be used to tell users whether the unread news is important.
821: .Op \-n 10
822: Print \*(lqNo news\*(rq if there is no unread news.
823: .Op \-e 10
824: If there is any unread news,
825: start up
826: .i readnews.
827: Any additional arguments after the
828: .op \-e
829: will be passed to readnews.
830: .pg
831: Thus,
832: .sd c
833: checknews \-yn
834: .ed
835: tells you whether there is any unread news.
836: .sd c
837: checknews \-e \-M
838: .ed
839: starts up
840: .i readnews
841: with the
842: .i Mail
843: interface if there is news,
844: and otherwise does nothing.
845: .sd c
846: checknews \-y
847: .ed
848: tells you if there is news,
849: and is silent if there is no news.
850: .hu
851: Creating New Newsgroups
852: .pg
853: New newsgroups are proposed by the users and created by site administrators.
854: To create a newsgroup,
855: first make sure this is the right thing to do.
856: Normally a suggestion is first posted to
857: .ng net.news.group\f1,\fPnet.relatedgroup
858: for a net newsgroup
859: .ng net.relatedgroup "" (
860: should be the group which you are proposing to subdivide.)
861: For example,
862: to propose creating
863: .ng net.tv.soaps ,
864: post
865: the original article to
866: .ng net.tv\f1,\fPnet.news.group ).
867: Followups are made to
868: .ng net.news.group
869: .i only .
870: (You can force this by putting the line:
871: .sd c
872: Followup-To: net.news.group
873: .ed
874: in the headers of your original posting).
875: If it is established that there is general interest in such a group,
876: and a name is agreed on,
877: then ask your local netnews administrator to create the newsgroup.
878: (It can actually be created by any netnews administrator anywhere on the net,
879: within the scope of the newsgroup.)
880: Once the newsgroup is created and the first article has been posted,
881: the newsgroup is available for all interested persons to post to.
882: .hu
883: List of Newsgroups
884: .pg
885: This section lists the newsgroups that are currently active.
886: It is intended to help you decide what you want to subscribe to.
887: Note that the list is constantly changing.
888: Note also that this list only describes those groups available
889: on a network-wide basis. Since not all installations choose to receive all
890: newsgroups, it is recommended that each installation edit the list of local
891: newsgroups to be correct before distributing this document to their users.
892: If this is not possible,
893: a local appendix can be created.
894: .hu 2
895: Local
896: .pg
897: Local groups are kept on the current machine only.
898: Local names can be identified by the lack of a prefix,
899: that is, there are no periods in local newsgroup names.
900: .lp general 10
901: News to be read by everyone on the local machine.
902: For example:
903: \&\*(lqThe system will be down Monday morning for PM.\*(rq
904: Or,
905: \&\*(lqA new version of program
906: .i x
907: has been installed.\*(rq
908: This newsgroup is usually mandatory \-
909: you are required to subscribe to this newsgroup.
910: (The list of mandatory newsgroups varies locally.)
911: This requirement assures that important announcements reach all users.
912: (Formerly
913: .i msgs .)
914: .hu 2
915: Network Wide
916: .pg
917: These are the groups as of the last editing of this manual.
918: The list is undoubtably already out of date.
919: A current list can be obtained by typing
920: .qp ?
921: to the \*(lqNewsgroups? \*(rq prompt in postnews.
922: .nf
923: .ta 2.5i
924: net.abortion All sorts of discussions on abortion.
925: net.ai Artificial intelligence discussions.
926: net.analog Analog design developments, ideas, and components.
927: net.announce Moderated, general announcements of interest to all.
928: net.announce.newusers Moderated, explanatory postings for new users.
929: net.announce.arpa-internet Announcements from the Arpa world.
930: net.arch Computer architecture.
931: net.astro Astronomy discussions and information.
932: net.astro.expert Discussion by experts in astronomy.
933: net.audio High fidelity audio.
934: net.auto Automobiles, automotive products and laws.
935: net.auto.tech Technical aspects of automobiles, et. al.
936: net.aviation Aviation rules, means, and methods.
937: net.bicycle Bicycles, related products and laws.
938: net.bio Biology and related sciences.
939: net.books Books of all \fIgenres\fP, shapes, and sizes.
940: net.bugs General bug reports and fixes.
941: net.bugs.2bsd Reports of UNIX* version 2BSD related bugs.
942: net.bugs.4bsd Reports of UNIX version 4BSD related bugs.
943: net.bugs.usg Reports of USG (System III, V, etc.) bugs.
944: net.bugs.uucp Reports of UUCP related bugs.
945: net.bugs.v7 Reports of UNIX V7 related bugs.
946: net.cog-eng Cognitive engineering.
947: net.college College, college activities, campus life, etc.
948: net.columbia The space shuttle and the STS program.
949: net.comics The funnies, old and new.
950: net.consumers Consumer interests, product reviews, etc.
951: net.cooks Food, cooking, cookbooks, and recipes.
952: net.crypt Different methods of data en/decryption.
953: net.cse Computer science education.
954: net.cycle Motorcycles and related products and laws.
955: net.database Database and data management issues and theory.
956: net.dcom Data communications hardware and software.
957: net.decus DEC* Users' Society newsgroup.
958: net.emacs EMACS editors of different flavors.
959: net.eunice The SRI Eunice system.
960: net.followup Followups to articles in net.general.
961: net.games Games and computer games.
962: net.games.board Discussion and hints on board games.
963: net.games.chess Chess & computer chess.
964: net.games.emp Discussion and hints about Empire.
965: net.games.frp Discussion about Fantasy Role Playing games.
966: net.games.go Discussion about Go.
967: net.games.hack Discussion, hints, etc. about the Hack game.
968: net.games.pbm Discussion about Play by Mail games.
969: net.games.rogue Discussion and hints about Rogue.
970: net.games.trivia Discussion about trivia.
971: net.games.video Discussion about video games.
972: net.garden Gardening, methods and results.
973: net.general *Important* and timely announcements of interest to all.
974: net.graphics Computer graphics, art, animation, image processing.
975: net.ham-radio Amateur Radio practices, contests, events, rules, etc.
976: net.ham-radio.packet Discussion about packet radio setups.
977: net.info-terms All sorts of terminals.
978: net.internat Discussion about international standards
979: net.invest Investments and the handling of money.
980: net.jobs Job announcements, requests, etc.
981: net.jokes Jokes and the like. May be somewhat offensive.
982: net.jokes.d Discussions on the content of net.jokes articles
983: net.kids Children, their behavior and activities.
984: net.lan Local area network hardware and software.
985: net.lang Different computer languages.
986: net.lang.ada Discussion about Ada*.
987: net.lang.apl Discussion about APL.
988: net.lang.c Discussion about C.
989: net.lang.f77 Discussion about FORTRAN.
990: net.lang.forth Discussion about Forth.
991: net.lang.lisp Discussion about LISP.
992: net.lang.mod2 Discussion about Modula-2.
993: net.lang.pascal Discussion about Pascal.
994: net.lang.prolog Discussion about PROLOG.
995: net.lang.st80 Discussion about Smalltalk 80.
996: net.legal Legalities and the ethics of law.
997: net.lsi Large scale integrated circuits.
998: net.mag Magazine summaries, tables of contents, etc.
999: net.mail Proposed new mail/network standards.
1000: net.mail.headers Gatewayed from the ARPA header-people list.
1001: net.math Mathematical discussions and puzzles.
1002: net.math.stat Statistics discussion.
1003: net.math.symbolic Symbolic algebra discussion.
1004: net.med Medicine and its related products and regulations.
1005: net.micro Micro computers of all kinds.
1006: net.micro.16k National Semiconductor 32000 series chips
1007: net.micro.6809 Discussion about 6809's.
1008: net.micro.68k Discussion about 68k's.
1009: net.micro.apple Discussion about Apple micros.
1010: net.micro.amiga Talk about the new Amiga micro.
1011: net.micro.atari Discussion about Atari micros.
1012: net.micro.att Discussions about AT&T microcomputers .
1013: net.micro.cbm Discussion about Commodore micros.
1014: net.micro.cpm Discussion about the CP/M operating system.
1015: net.micro.hp Discussion about Hewlett/Packard's.
1016: net.micro.mac Material about the Apple Macintosh & Lisa.
1017: net.micro.pc Discussion about IBM personal computers.
1018: net.micro.ti Discussion about Texas Instruments.
1019: net.micro.trs-80 Discussion about TRS-80's.
1020: net.misc Various discussions too short-lived for other groups.
1021: net.motss Issues pertaining to homosexuality.
1022: net.movies Reviews and discussions of movies.
1023: net.music Music lovers' group.
1024: net.music.classical Discussion about classical music.
1025: net.music.folk Folks discussing folk music of various sorts.
1026: net.music.gdead A group for (Grateful) Dead-heads.
1027: net.music.synth Synthesizers and computer music.
1028: net.net-people Announcements, requests, etc. about people on the net.
1029: net.news Discussions of USENET itself.
1030: net.news.adm Comments directed to news administrators.
1031: net.news.b Discussion about B news software.
1032: net.news.config Postings of system down times and interruptions.
1033: net.news.group Discussions and lists of newsgroups
1034: net.news.newsite Postings of new site announcements.
1035: net.news.notes Notesfile software from the Univ. of Illinois.
1036: net.news.sa Comments directed to system administrators.
1037: net.news.stargate Discussion about satellite transmission of news.
1038: net.nlang Natural languages, cultures, heritages, etc.
1039: net.nlang.africa Discussions about Africa & things African.
1040: net.nlang.celts Group about Celtics.
1041: net.nlang.greek Group about Greeks.
1042: net.nlang.india Group for discussion about India & things Indian
1043: net.origins Evolution versus creationism (sometimes hot!).
1044: net.periphs Peripheral devices.
1045: net.pets Pets, pet care, and household animals in general.
1046: net.philosophy Philosophical discussions.
1047: net.physics Physical laws, properties, etc.
1048: net.poems For the posting of poems.
1049: net.politics Political discussions. Could get hot.
1050: net.politics.theory Theory of politics and political systems.
1051: net.puzzle Puzzles, problems, and quizzes.
1052: net.railroad Real and model train fans' newsgroup.
1053: net.rec Recreational/participant sports.
1054: net.rec.birds Hobbyists interested in bird watching.
1055: net.rec.boat Hobbyists interested in boating.
1056: net.rec.bridge Hobbyists interested in bridge.
1057: net.rec.nude Hobbyists interested in naturist/nudist activities.
1058: net.rec.photo Hobbyists interested in photography.
1059: net.rec.scuba Hobbyists interested in SCUBA diving.
1060: net.rec.ski Hobbyists interested in skiing.
1061: net.rec.skydive Hobbyists interested in skydiving.
1062: net.rec.wood Hobbyists interested in woodworking.
1063: net.religion Religious, ethical, and moral implications of actions.
1064: net.religion.christian Discussion about form and nature of Christianity
1065: net.religion.jewish Information and discussion about Judaism.
1066: net.research Research and computer research.
1067: net.roots Genealogical matters.
1068: net.rumor For the posting of rumors.
1069: net.sci General purpose scientific discussions.
1070: net.sf-lovers Science fiction lovers' newsgroup.
1071: net.singles Newsgroup for single people, their activities, etc.
1072: net.social Like net.singles, but for everyone.
1073: net.sources For the posting of software packages & documentation.
1074: net.sources.bugs For bug fixes and features discussion.
1075: net.sources.games Postings of recreational software.
1076: net.sources.mac Software for the Apple Macintosh.
1077: net.space Space, space programs, space related research, etc.
1078: net.sport Spectator sports.
1079: net.sport.baseball Discussion about baseball.
1080: net.sport.football Discussion about football.
1081: net.sport.hockey Discussion about hockey.
1082: net.sport.hoops Discussion about basketball.
1083: net.startrek Star Trek, the TV show and the movies.
1084: net.suicide Suicide, laws, ethics, and its causes and effects (!).
1085: net.taxes Tax laws and advice.
1086: net.test For testing of network software. Very boring.
1087: net.text Text processing.
1088: net.travel Traveling all over the world.
1089: net.tv The boob tube, its history, and past and current shows.
1090: net.tv.drwho Discussion about Dr. Who.
1091: net.tv.soaps Postings about soap operas.
1092: net.unix UNIX neophytes group.
1093: net.unix-wizards Discussions, bug reports, and fixes on and for UNIX.
1094: net.usenix USENIX Association events and announcements.
1095: net.veg Vegetarians.
1096: net.video Video and video components.
1097: net.wanted Requests for things that are needed.
1098: net.wanted.sources Requests for software, termcap entries, etc.
1099: net.wines Wines and spirits.
1100: net.wobegon "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show discussion.
1101: net.women Women's rights, discrimination, etc.
1102: net.works Assorted workstations.
1103: mod.ai Discussions about Artificial Intelligence
1104: mod.compilers Discussion about compiler construction, theory, etc.
1105: mod.computers Discussion about various computers and related.
1106: mod.computers.apollo Apollo computer systems.
1107: mod.computers.ibm-pc The IBM PC, PC-XT, and PC-AT.
1108: mod.computers.laser-printers Laser printers, hardware and software.
1109: mod.computers.macintosh Apple Macintosh micros.
1110: mod.computers.pyramid Pyramid 90x computers.
1111: mod.computers.ridge Ridge 32 computers and ROS.
1112: mod.computers.sequent Sequent systems, (esp. Balance 8000).
1113: mod.computers.sun Sun "workstation" computers
1114: mod.computers.vax DEC's VAX* line of computers & VMS.
1115: mod.computers.workstations Various workstation-type computers.
1116: mod.graphics Graphics software, hardware, theory, etc.
1117: mod.human-nets Computer aided communications digest.
1118: mod.legal Discussions of computers and the law.
1119: mod.map Various maps, including UUCP maps.
1120: mod.motss Moderated newsgroup on gay issues and topics.
1121: mod.movies Moderated reviews and discussion of movies.
1122: mod.music Moderated reviews and discussion of things musical.
1123: mod.newprod Announcements of new products of interest to readers.
1124: mod.newslists Postings of news-related statistics and lists.
1125: mod.os Disussions about operating systems and related areas.
1126: mod.os.os9 Discussions about the os9 operating system.
1127: mod.os.unix Moderated discussion of Unix* features and bugs.
1128: mod.politics Discussions on political problems, systems, solutions.
1129: mod.politics.arms-d Arms discussion digest.
1130: mod.protocols Various forms and types of FTP protocol discussions.
1131: mod.protocols.appletalk Applebus hardware & software discussion.
1132: mod.protocols.kermit Information about the Kermit package.
1133: mod.protocols.tcp-ip TCP and IP network protocols.
1134: mod.rec Discussions on pastimes (not currently active).
1135: mod.rec.guns Discussions about firearms.
1136: mod.recipes A "distributed cookbook" of screened recipes.
1137: mod.risks Risks to the public from computers & users.
1138: mod.sources Moderated postings of public-domain sources.
1139: mod.sources.doc Archived public-domain documentation.
1140: mod.std Moderated discussion about various standards.
1141: mod.std.c Discussion about C language standards.
1142: mod.std.mumps Discussion for the X11.1 committee on Mumps.
1143: mod.std.unix Discussion for the P1003 committee on Unix.
1144: mod.techreports Announcements and lists of technical reports.
1145: mod.telecom Telecommunications digest.
1146: mod.test Testing of moderated newsgroups -- no moderator.
1147: mod.vlsi Very large scale integrated circuits.
1148: .fi
1149: .bp
1150: .hu
1151: Appendix \- How to use vnews
1152: .hu 2
1153: Overview
1154: .pg
1155: .i Vnews
1156: is a program for reading USENET news.
1157: It is based on
1158: .i readnews
1159: but has a CRT-oriented (full screen) user interface.
1160: The command line options are identical.
1161: The list of available commands is quite similar,
1162: although since
1163: .i vnews
1164: is a
1165: .i visual
1166: interface,
1167: most
1168: .i vnews
1169: commands do not have to be terminated by a newline.
1170: .pg
1171: .i Vnews
1172: uses all but the last two lines of the screen to display the current article.
1173: The next to the last line is the secondary prompt line,
1174: and is used to input string arguments to commands.
1175: The last line contains several fields.
1176: The first field is the prompt field.
1177: If
1178: .i vnews
1179: is at the end of an article,
1180: the prompt is
1181: .cf next? ;
1182: otherwise the prompt is
1183: .cf more? .
1184: The second field is the newsgroup field,
1185: which displays the current newsgroup,
1186: the number of the current article,
1187: and the number of the last article in the newsgroup.
1188: The third field contains the current time,
1189: and the last field contains the word
1190: .cf mail
1191: if you have mail.
1192: When you receive new mail,
1193: the bell on the terminal is rung and the word
1194: .cf MAIL
1195: appears in capital letters for 30 seconds.
1196: .hu 2
1197: Commands
1198: .pg
1199: Most of the
1200: .i readnews
1201: commands have
1202: .i vnews
1203: counterparts and vice versa.
1204: Some differences are:
1205: .si
1206: .lp \(bu 5
1207: It lacks a \*(lqdigest\*(rq command (to deal specially with collections
1208: of articles bundled together).
1209: This would be nice to have,
1210: but it does not seem to be a major deficiency
1211: since you can move around in the digest with
1212: .i vnews
1213: commands.
1214: .lp \(bu 5
1215: To get to the previous group,
1216: use the
1217: .qp N
1218: command with a
1219: .qp \-
1220: argument.
1221: .lp \(bu 5
1222: .i Vnews
1223: has commands for moving around in the article which
1224: .i readnews
1225: does not have since they aren't applicable.
1226: .lp \(bu 5
1227: It has a \*(lqparent\*(rq command which will go to the article
1228: that the current article is a follow-up to,
1229: and a \*(lqwrite\*(rq
1230: command that writes out the body of an article without the header.
1231: .lp \(bu 5
1232: You can refer to the current article from the shell or
1233: while writing a follow-up as
1234: .b $A .
1235: .lp \(bu 5
1236: The \*(lqdecrypt\*(rq command (for decoding possibly offensive
1237: material) always does
1238: .i rot13
1239: which seems to be the default standard but the
1240: .i readnews
1241: version of it occasionally gets confused.
1242: .ei
1243: .hu 2
1244: Commands that differ from
1245: .bi readnews
1246: .pg
1247: Each
1248: .i vnews
1249: command may be preceded by a
1250: .i count .
1251: Some commands use the count; others ignore it.
1252: If
1253: .i count
1254: is omitted,
1255: it defaults to one.
1256: Some commands prompt for an argument
1257: on the second line from the bottom of the screen.
1258: Standard
1259: .ux
1260: erase and kill processing is done on this argument.
1261: The argument is terminated by a return.
1262: An interrupt
1263: .qc DELETE "" (
1264: or
1265: .qc BREAK )
1266: gets you out of any partially entered command.
1267: .Qc CR
1268: A carriage return prints more of the current article,
1269: or goes on to the next article if you are at the end of the current article.
1270: A
1271: .qc SPACE
1272: is equivalent to
1273: .qc CR .
1274: .Qc CONTROL-B
1275: Go backwards
1276: .i count
1277: pages.
1278: .Qc CONTROL-F
1279: Go forward
1280: .i count
1281: pages.
1282: .Qc CONTROL-D
1283: Go forwards half a page.
1284: .Qc CONTROL-U
1285: Go backwards half a page.
1286: .Qc CONTROL-N
1287: Go forwards
1288: .i count
1289: lines.
1290: .Qc CONTROL-Z
1291: Go backwards
1292: .i count
1293: lines.
1294: .Qc CONTROL-L
1295: Redraw the screen.
1296: .qc CONTROL-L
1297: may be typed at any time.
1298: .Qp b
1299: Back up one article in the current group.
1300: .Qp l
1301: Redisplay the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
1302: .Qp n
1303: Move on to the next item in a digest.
1304: .qp \*(lq\&.\*(rq
1305: is equivalent to
1306: .qp n .
1307: This is convenient if your terminal has a keypad.
1308: .Qp p
1309: Show the parent article
1310: (the article that the current article is a follow-up to).
1311: This doesn't work if the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles.
1312: To switch between the current and parent articles,
1313: use the
1314: .qp \-
1315: command.
1316: Unfortunately,
1317: if you use several
1318: .qp p
1319: commands
1320: to trace the discussion back further,
1321: there is no command to return to the original level.
1322: .Qp ug
1323: Unsubscribe to the current group.
1324: This is a two character command to ensure that it is not typed accidentally
1325: and to leave room for other types of unsubscribes
1326: .i e\f1.\fPg ., (
1327: unsubscribe to discussion).
1328: .Qp v
1329: Print the current version of the news software.
1330: .Qp D
1331: Decrypts a joke.
1332: It only handles
1333: .pa rot13
1334: jokes.
1335: The
1336: .qp D
1337: command is a toggle;
1338: typing another
1339: .qp D
1340: re-encrypts the joke.
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