NewsGroup Therapy

Internet "newsgroups" can be a potent information resource for you and visitors to your Web site. We help you tap into the action.

by Bob Weibel

• Introduction
• The Usenet and its "newsgroups" function as a global collection of electronic discussion groups.
• You probably have all you need to access newsgroups : a Web browser and Internet access.
• With access to newsgroups, you can tap straight into up-to-date discussions of social issues, merchandise, technologies, arts—virtually anything that concerns you.
• You can link newsgroup discussions to your Web site and create your own newsgroups.
• Newsgroup "news" resides on numerous "news" servers throughout the world, which pass news messages from one to the other. It's decentralized.
• Newsgroup names
• How to read "the news"
• Netiquitte
• Starting news groups

Chances are that someone, somewhere in the world has faced the same technical, personal, academic, artistic, or political challenges you have. Chances are they have knowledge or insight based on their experiences and wouldn't mind sharing it with you. Now, if you could get together, your problem might be solved. That's where Usenet comes in.

What are the Usenet and newsgroups?

The "news" in newsgroup refers to keeping people up-to-date with issues on a given topic; nothing to do, necessarily, with radio or TV "News at 8!" It means sharing information, thoughts, and feelings.

At last count, there were more than 50,000 newsgroups. They cover more topics than you could imagine: politics, history, pets, books, movies, music, sex—even practical firsthand information on using NetObjects Fusion! Within each of many general categories you'll find subcategories, and even subcategories of those.

With that in mind, picture the Usenet as a global collection of electronic discussion groups, each functioning as a sort of special-interest bulletin board. In general, bulletin boards or forums—such as Usenet newsgroups—function as communal e-mail. Someone logs onto the bulletin board and leaves a message, such as a technical question, political statement, joke, or whatever. Someone else logs on and responds to the message and then waits for a response and so on.

But, it's a glass house; everyone else logging on can read the string of messages, usually called a "thread. " Motivated by benevolence or fury, they can offer a technical solution or "flame" at opinions they find outrageous.

Usenet has some distinct terminology: each electronic discussion bulletin board is called a newsgroup, as you might have guessed. And each newsgroup message is often called an "article."

Keep in mind that Usenet newsgroups are strictly discussion groups. Unlike other bulletin boards, on-line forums, or customer-support Web pages, you won't find libraries for downloading software, for example. And the network structure of Usenet isn't centralized at any particular computer or site; it's spread all over the place.

Making use of Usenet

I can safely say the Usenet is probably my most useful Internet resource, or at least tied with the Web. First off, I can tap straight into current discussions about my professional purview, computer equipment and software. And not just company-sponsored information, but hands-on, hard-hitting reactions from folks in the trenches, folks who use the products and know whether they work, and who care about how well they work.

Plus, you can enhance the interactive aspect of your Web site by linking certain Web pages to relevant Usenet newsgroups. You'll see that NetObjects' Web site does just that, linking to newsgroups devoted to using NetObjects Fusion. We'll discuss further on how you can do that conveniently through the Deja News service.

Where is Usenet?

The way Usenet works overall affects how it might or might not work for you. For starters, it's different than the World Wide Web. A typical Web site exists on a Web server somewhere on the Internet, and folks anywhere can access your Web pages. Although search engines such as Excite, Infoseek, or Yahoo can help folks find your site, your site exists in one place (although you can create mirror—duplicate sites). If your site's in Timbuktu, then everyone reading your site has their browser pointed to a Web server in Timbuktu.

But Usenet newsgroups are different. First off, the newsgroups' news isn't located at any centralized place. Instead, newsgroup articles are passed along to lots of separate news-server computers operated by Internet service providers, schools, universities, and companies. These news servers contain databases of newsgroup articles. To access newsgroups, you connect to one of these servers, much as you'd connect to your ISP's mail server.

So, basically, there is no central server on Usenet. There's a bunch of servers, each one connected to other news servers. My ISP, for example, has a news server computer, in addition to its mail server and Web server computers. That server connects to another regional news server on the Internet. (Note, though, that not all newsgroups are on the Internet. You can set up news servers to serve an intranet or other private network.)

In the long run, each news server on a network works to keep other servers full of news. In a perfect world, newsgroup articles would be duplicated on each server, as the news passed around, so each one would have all the news. But that doesn't quite happen, as we'll explain.

Controlling feeding frenzy

In Usenet terms, the news moving from one news server to another is called a feed. If I post a response to a newsgroup article, my ISP's server sends my response back to the server that fed the original. That server will pass my response on—feed it—to the servers connecting with it, and so on. My article will simply propagate itself from server to server, traveling to places I might never expect.

There's no central control over the Usenet news process. But there is a lot of local control, and that strongly affects which newsgroups you see, and how you see them. For example, my ISP doesn't decide which Web sites I can visit. In fact, I'd find it pretty odd if it did. But, in fact, my ISP could censor out certain sites if it wanted, and some do. That's because administrators of newsgroup servers choose the newsgroups they'll carry. My ISP happens to get all the newsgroups that the server "upstream" from it provides, i.e., "carries." It carries a lot of them, too, almost 14,000. But that's not all of them. NetObjects' newsgroups, for example, don't show up on my ISP's server, but I have other ways to find them.

The news server administrator also decides for how long it will let a news article hang around on its server. Some hold articles for just a few days, others for a month or more.

Newsgroup names

Newsgroup names look a little funny, at first blush. They're structured into parts separated by dots, such as "rec.photo.technique.nature" or "rec.photo.technique.people. " Each part may be up to 14 characters long, and should consist only of letters, digits, "+" and "-", with at least one letter.

Names fall into clear hierarchies. For example, all computer-related groups fall under "comp, " and all recreational/hobby groups fall under "rec." Each may be subdivided into second, third, and lower level hierarchies, such as the "rec.photo" example above. The first part is the most general (comp or rec, for example), the second more specific, and so on. Here are the main hierarchies:

• alt: myriad volatile groups discussing nearly any topic.
• biz: commercial services and advertisements.
• comp: computers and computing.
• misc: a miscellaneous assortment of groups and topics.
• sci: scientific and technical topics.
• soc: social issues and political discussions.

There are a lot of other main hierarchies. For a comprehensive list of user groups, check out www.internetdatabase.com/usenet.htm.

How to read the news

There are two ways to read newsgroup news over the Internet. One way is through the "news reader" built into your Web browser or e-mail program, connecting to a local or remote news server. Another way, generally easier and better in many cases, is through the Web, via the Deja News newsgroup archive and related services.  I use both methods, depending on my mood and needs.

Via the local news server

Current Web browsers offer more than just World Wide Web connections. Poke around your Web browser and you'll also find options for viewing "News." (Note that browser "News" channels may take you to on-line "news-of-the-day" content from various wire or news networks—not newsgroups per se.) Before you start, find out the name of your ISP's "news" server. Either call tech support or check the ISP's Web site. The name will look something like "isp.news."

• In Internet Explorer 4, click Go/News. This will automatically take you to Outlook Express' news reader. You'll be prompted to enter your name and e-mail address and then be prompted to enter the name of the news (NTTP) server.Next you'll indicate the type of Internet connection you have (LAN or phone connection) and indicate which dial-up connection you've already established (the one currently serving your Web/e-mail access will work fine.)
• From Netscape Navigator in Netscape Communicator 4.0, click Communicator/Collabra Discussion Groups. The Netscape Messaging Center will load, and you'll see some Local Mail icons on the main part of the window, plus a default "news" server as the last item. You're going to update that server entry to conform with your ISP's server. To do that, click Edit/Preferences. Then click Groups Server under the Mail & Groups section of the menu tree at the right. Enter the name of your ISP's news server, and then click OK.

You can use other news servers on the Internet, in addition to the one at your ISP. Navigator and IE also let you add additional news server links, so I've repeated the above processes, adding a second news server named news.netobjects.com, NetObjects' own news server. I do this because its "feed" just doesn't make it to my ISP's server. I can also link to NetObjects' newsgroups through its Web site, as we cover further on.

Subscribing

From here on, the news readers in IE and Navigator work pretty much the same. You'll either click the Subscribe button in Navigator or in either IE or Navigator, right click on the news server icon and select Subscribe.

A newsgrou p Window will pop up and connect to the news server. If you've never connected to the news server before, the newsgrou p reader will download the names of all the newsgroups carried on the server. This could take a few minutes. After that, you can start to browse through the list of newsgroup names and their descriptions, or type in the name of a specific newsgroup. Or you can enter a word to search for a list of newsgroups containing that word.

If a group interests you, select it and click the Subscribe button. This essentially links you to that group. The reader will then list any separate news articles that you haven't read. To read an article simply double click it.

Until you decide to un-subscribe, you're now a member of that newsgroup, and you'll get an update on its news activity every time you connect to the news server.

The news readers offer fairly intuitive menus for responding to articles, and for posting ones of your own. It's probably a good idea to hang around on the newsgroup—"lurk"—for a few days or weeks and read the news to get a feel for how folks communicate there. Read the newsgroup etiquette section for more newsgroup do's and don'ts.

Via Deja News

If the above details make you think newsgroups just aren't worth the trouble, hold on! There's an easier way, via a Web-based newsgroup archive service offered by Deja News, Inc. We've saved Deja News for you until this point because it helps to understand Usenet before you can grasp the significance of Deja News.

If you've never used newsgroups before, then Deja News is probably the best way to get started. (No, I don't own stock in Deja News. It's just a great service!) If you've ever used the "news" search options at Yahoo, Excite, Infoseek, or other Web search engines, you've actually used Deja News, probably without knowing it.

Deja News is basically an archive and search engine for newsgrou p articles. At its simplest, you just go to the site and enter some search criteria. Deja News kicks back a list of relevant newsgroup articles. But using Deja News differs from reading newsgroups from Usenet news servers. Here are the main differences, all beneficial:

• Full-text search — Deja News doesn't just look at the newsgroup name, description, article title, or article header when searching—as most news readers do. It uses a proprietary text-search indexing technology to help you find articles that discuss the topic of your search.
• Bigger feeds — Deja News carries more news feeds than the typical news server. It carries more than 50,000 newsgroups, in fact, compared to the 14,000 to 20,000 of typical Usenet news servers. You'll find NetObjects' newsgroups there, for example.
• Permanent archive — Whereas most local news servers hold onto newsgroup articles for a few days or weeks, Deja News keeps articles indefinitely. It has archived and indexed every article from all of its news feeds, going back to its launch in 1995. If you're trying to relocate that "helpful article you saw last year, " Deja News is probably your only hope.
• My Deja News — Although primarily an archive, you can quickly and easily register for My Deja News service. My Deja News lets you subscribe to current newsgroups just as you would through Usenet, but you can access it from any computer with Web access--handy when you're on the road.

Newsgroup "Netiquette"

Newsgroups, which have been around since the Usenet News Service was founded in 1979, have some long-standing expectations of how folks should comport themselves in this democratically inspired culture of discussion groups. Here are a few points of newsgroup etiquette:

• Remember, you're posting your articles and responses to a human being, not a computer. Avoid personally abusive language and damaging or overly judgmental statements. If others want to flame, stay out of it. Challenge "bad" ideas with "good" ideas. We can't all be right.
• NEVER USE ALL CAPITALS. It's the on-line form of shouting, and it shows poor professional demeanor.
• It's best to send your responses to the newsgroup and to the poster's e-mail. The recipient is more likely to get your response.
• Save resources: Be sure to trim quotations in follow-ups—from the original posting—to the minimum necessary to make your point. Don't quote other folks' signature files (signatures are the lines of text following your posting).
• Don't post or respond to "Make-Money-Fast" rackets. Most are illegal, and they waste disk space.
• Read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for any Usenet newsgroup before you post messages there.
• Don't advertise your business, except in newsgroups for that purpose. It's usually OK to post a simple Web site announcement in unmoderated newsgroups (newsgroups where all messages are approved before posting), as long as your site deals specifically with the topic of the newsgroup. Your signature lines can mention your business and provide contact information.
• Keep your signature to no more than four lines. Big signatures waste network resources.
• Don't post copyrighted material, unless you've got lawyers, guns, and money—and consider yourself a thief.

Linking to newsgroups

You can really liven up your Web site by providing newsgroup links. They'll let your readers jump straight into lively newsgroup discussions related to the topics or commercial products covered on a particular Web page. Some useful examples are the newsgroup links provided from NetObjects' Web site.

NetObjects maintains its own news server—most Unix operating systems, such as Red Hat's Linux, include news server software. The NetObjects Web site then makes links to NetObjects newsgroups at that server. That way, it has created its own feed, guaranteed to carry the NetObjects newsgroups. The HTML code for a news link would look something like this, using NetObjects newsgroups as an example:

<A HREF="news://news.netobjects.com/netobjects.announce">

The news:// code tells the browser to look for a Usenet service. The name of the news server is news.netobjects.com, and the particular newsgroup name is netobjects.announce. The browser automatically loads a newsgroup reader, and you can read the news from there.

In NetObjects Fusion, you choose a link, then click on the External Link tab. Click on the arrow next to URL and select News:// , then fill in the newsgroup name.

There's an important caveat about linking Web pages to Usenet newsgroups. Although you'd be able to successfully provide links to the NetObjects news server and the newsgroups there, you may not have the same luck linking to a news server at your own ISP. That's because the ISP may block outsiders from accessing the news server.

This is the case with me, for example, since I recently tested it. I created a page with a link to a news group on my ISP's news server. I could get to the linked newsgroup, but someone accessing the my Web page from a different ISP couldn't get the newsgroup. They hit my ISP's firewall and were blocked from access. Our readers will need to ask their Web site host about open news server access, and see if they'd be willing to provide. They could also set up their own news server if they're also setting up their own Web server.

Or, there are some "public" news servers that folks can experiment with. Here are a few of many links to public news server lists:

• www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Usenet /Public_Access_Usenet_Sites/
• microsoft.public.news.server.lists newsgroup
• www.freenewsgroups.com/
• members.tripod.com/~Robserver/servers.htm
• www.jammed.com/~newzbot/sorted-group-table.html

Linking via Deja News

If you're looking for an easier way to link newsgrou ps, try Deja News' Linkback system . Linkback lets folks view newsgrou p articles via Deja News while keeping the return to your own site only a click away via a graphic or text-based link on the Deja News search page. Whether you're running a social affairs site or a small business site, you can send folks to Deja News without losing them.

To create a Deja News Linkback, you run the Linkback Wizard from the Deja News Web site. The Linkback Wizard creates the HTML code you'll need for the Linkback, which you can then cut and paste into your Web pages.

Starting a newsgroup

Starting a newsgroup is a complicated process, so complicated, in fact, that you should first ask yourself if the world really needs a new newsgroup. Check existing groups to make sure the one you envision doesn't already exist.

If it doesn't, and you think the world needs your new newsgroup, the next step is to find out if the world—in this case, the citizens of Usenet—feels the same way. That's because while a simple Usenet-protocol control message can start a new newsgroup discussion, you really need to convince the main newsgroup server providers to carry your group. You don't have to set up a "newsgroup site" the way you'd set up a Web site, although you might set up your own news server, the way NetObjects has.

The basic process involves creating a newsgroup proposal message and posting it for comment and eventually putting it to an on-line vote. We can't even begin to outline the process here, so if you have a few evenings to kill, we offer some sites to browse, with relevant links:

• www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/creating-newsgroups/part1 /
• web.presby.edu/jtbell/usenet/newgroup/guidelines.faq
• www.math.psu.edu/barr/alt-creation-guide.html

Deja News forums

Deja News offers an alternative to newsgroup-creation hell: Deja News forums. These are discussion groups that look and act like newsgroups but are accessed only through the Deja News Web site, not through Usenet. Deja News, Inc., now hosts about 30,000 forums, according to company representatives. Starting a forum is no more complicated than filling out an on-line form at the Deja News Web site. You can even list the e-mail addresses of 18 people you'd like to invite to the forum, to whom Deja News will mail an invitation/announcement.

According to Dave Wilson, vice president of marketing for Deja News, enhancements to the forums will include an automatic "co-branding system." A Wizard will guide you to  provide an HTML header and footer, and Deja News will then be able wrap the forum into your page presentation, changing its color scheme to look like part of your site. Even your site's navigation menus/bars will replace those of Deja News on screen.

Experience the news

If you think the Web is wacky and wonderful, wait until you dip into newsgroups via Usenet or Deja News! The term "dynamic" will have new meaning for you, given the huge number and variety of folks you'll find there.

About the author

Bob Weibel is a contributing editor for Publish magazine, and publishing adviser columnist for Computer Currents magazine.

Illustration: Ingo Fast´s Technology at www.artville.com
 

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