Introduction to Usenet Hierarchies
Whenever you have a lot of information, you have to make sure that users can find their way around it easily. On Usenet, the largest categories of information are referred to as hierarchies. These hierarchies let you know what type of information is contained in the newsgroup in the broadest terms. The name has further categories and, by going down the list, you get a very clear idea of the topic of any newsgroup. As an example, you might find a newsgroup named rec.climbing.ice interesting if you were an ice climber. There are 8 main hierarchies and literally hundreds of others that are of varying degrees of importance and legitimacy.
The 8 main hierarchies and their subjects include:
? comp: computers
? humanities: humanities
? misc: miscellaneous topics
? news: Usenet topics
? rec: recreation
? sci: science
? soc: social topics
? talk: various discussions
Just about every Usenet server in the world carries these hierarchies. It’s relatively hard to get a new newsgroup approved in these hierarchies. Technologically, the Usenet is completely decentralized. Majority votes, however, provide a human solution to the problem of maintaining quality on newsgroups. There are some other hierarchies that bear discussion, as well, however.
Some hierarchies are more specific than the Big 8, as they’re called. The bionet hierarchy, for instance, is technically about science, but the topic is large enough that biology was given its own hierarchy. There are a few hierarchies that are commonly carried by Usenet servers outside of the Big 8. A server may also carry regional content. A server in New Mexico, for instance, may have several hierarchies on it that represent specific newsgroups for people living in New Mexico. In most cases, these hierarchies will not be replicated across servers outside the region where they’re of interest.
Your newsreader will get a list of all the newsgroups on your server and let you choose which ones you want to subscribe to. You can narrow down your options by using the hierarchies to display only those that are likely of interest to you. There are a staggering number of newsgroups available, but not all of them are useful. Some are abandoned and some are mostly advertising. Within the Big 8 and the other major hierarchies, however, you’ll generally find plenty of groups for any given interest that are very active. Remember to only post articles that are on topic. Failing to do so is a faux pas.
Expert Marion Marshall maintains several websites about Usenet and NNTP technologies. By visiting his website http://usenetreviewz.com you can learn about usenet and
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