From emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm  Thu Feb  3 23:34:20 1994 remote from awwe
Received: by awwe.UUCP (1.65/waf)
	via UUCP; Fri, 04 Feb 94 05:16:51 EST
	for root
Received: from emory.mathcs.emory.edu by
	emoryu1.cc.emory.edu (5.65/Emory_cc.3.4.16) via SMTP
	id AA24028 ; Thu, 3 Feb 94 23:34:15 -0500
Received: from Princeton.EDU by
	emory.mathcs.emory.edu (5.65/Emory_mathcs.3.4.18) via SMTP
	id AA08372 ; Thu, 3 Feb 94 23:34:05 -0500
Return-Path: nancyamm@phoenix.Princeton.EDU
Received: from ponyexpress.Princeton.EDU by Princeton.EDU (5.65b/2.104/princeton)
	id AA01362; Thu, 3 Feb 94 23:14:38 -0500
Received: from flagstaff.Princeton.EDU by ponyexpress.princeton.edu (5.65c/1.113/newPE)
	id AA11616; Thu, 3 Feb 1994 23:14:36 -0500
Received: by flagstaff.Princeton.EDU (4.1/Phoenix_Cluster_Client)
	id AA07722; Thu, 3 Feb 94 23:14:35 EST
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 23:14:34 -0500 (EST)
From: Nancy Ammerman <emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm>
To: Jackie Ammerman <emory!emoryu1!awwe!root@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9402032320.D3501-0100000@flagstaff.Princeton.EDU>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Chapter 3: USENET I
 
 


3.1  THE GLOBAL WATERING HOLE


     Imagine a conversation carried out over a period of hours and days, 
as if people were leaving messages and responses on a bulletin board.  Or 
imagine the electronic equivalent of a radio talk show where everybody 
can put their two cents in and no one is ever on hold. 
     Unlike e-mail, which is "one-to-one,"  Usenet is "many-to-many." 
Usenet is the international meeting place, where people gather to meet 
their friends, discuss the day's events, keep up with computer trends or 
talk about whatever's on their mind.  Jumping into a Usenet discussion 
can be a liberating experience.  Nobody knows what you look or sound 
like, how old you are, what your background is.  You're judged solely on 
your words, your ability to make a point. 
     To many people, Usenet IS the Net. In fact, it is often confused 
with Internet.  But it is a totally separate system. All Internet sites 
CAN carry Usenet, but so do many non-Internet sites, from sophisticated 
Unix machines to old XT clones and Apple IIs. 
     Technically, Usenet messages are shipped around the world, from 
host system to host system, using one of several specific Net 
protocols.  Your host system stores all of its Usenet messages in one 
place, which everybody with an account on the system can access. That 
way, no matter how many people actually read a given message, each 
host system has to store only one copy of it. Many host systems "talk" 
with several others regularly in case one or another of their links goes 
down for some reason.  When two host systems connect, they basically 
compare notes on which Usenet messages they already have.  Any that one 
is missing the other then transmits, and vice-versa.  Because they are 
computers, they don't mind running through thousands, even millions, of 
these comparisons every day. 
     Yes, millions.  For Usenet is huge.  Every day, Usenet users 
pump upwards of 40 million characters a day into the system -- roughly 
the equivalent of volumes A-G of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
     Obviously, nobody could possibly keep up with this immense flow of 
messages.  Let's look at how to find conferences and discussions of 
interest to you. 
     The basic building block of Usenet is the newsgroup, which is a 
collection of messages with a related theme (on other networks, these 
would be called conferences, forums, bboards or special-interest 
groups).  There are now more than 5,000 of these newsgroups, in several 
diferent languages, covering everything from art to zoology, from 
science fiction to South Africa.
     Some public-access systems, typically the ones that work through 
menus, try to make it easier by dividing Usenet into several broad 
categories.  Choose one of those and you're given a list of newsgroups in 
that category.  Then select the newsgroup you're interested in and start 
reading. 
     Other systems let you compile your own "reading list" so that you 
only see messages in conferences you want.  In both cases, conferences 
are arranged in a particular hierarchy devised in the early 1980s.  
Newsgroup names start with one of a series of broad topic names.  For 
example, newsgroups beginning with "comp." are about particular computer-
related topics.  These broad topics are followed by a series of more 
focused topics (so that "comp.unix" groups are limited to discussion 
about Unix).  The main hierarchies are: 
 
             bionet          Research biology
             bit.listserv    Conferences originating as Bitnet mailing lists
             biz             Business
             comp            Computers and related subjects
             misc            Discussions that don't fit anywhere else
             news            News about Usenet itself
             rec             Hobbies, games and recreation
             sci             Science other than research biology
             soc             "Social" groups, often ethnically related
             talk            Politics and related topics
             alt             Controversial or unusual topics; not
                             carried by all sites
 
     In addition, many host systems carry newsgroups for a particular 
city, state or region.  For example, ne.housing is a newsgroup where 
New Englanders look for apartments.  A growing number also carry K12 
newsgroups, which are aimed at elementary and secondary teachers and 
students.  And a number of sites carry clari newsgroups, which is 
actually a commercial service consisting of wire-service stories and 
a unique online computer news service (more on this in chapter 10). 


3.2 NAVIGATING USENET WITH nn


     How do you dive right in?  As mentioned, on some systems, it's all 
done through menus -- you just keep choosing from a list of choices until 
you get to the newsgroup you want and then hit the "read" command.  On 
Unix systems, however, you will have to use a "newsreader" program.  Two 
of the more common ones are known as rn (for "read news") and nn (for "no 
news" -- because it's supposed to be simpler to use). 
     For beginners, nn may be the better choice because it works with
menus -- you get a list of articles in a given newsgroup and then you 
choose which ones you want to see.  To try it out, connect to your host 
system and, at the command line, type 
 
               nn news.announce.newusers
 
and hit enter.  After a few seconds, you should see something like 
this:
 
Newsgroup: news.announce.newusers                     Articles: 22 of 22/1 NEW 
                                                                               
a Gene Spafford   776  Answers to Frequently Asked Questions                   
b Gene Spafford   362  A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community       
c Gene Spafford   387  Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette     
d Gene Spafford   101  Hints on writing style for Usenet                       
e Gene Spafford    74  Introduction to news.announce                           
f Gene Spafford   367  USENET Software: History and Sources                    
g Gene Spafford   353  What is Usenet?                                         
h taylor          241  A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists          
i Gene Spafford   585  Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I               
j Gene Spafford   455  >Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II             
k David C Lawrenc 151  How to Create a New Newsgroup                           
l Gene Spafford   106  How to Get Information about Networks                   
m Gene Spafford   888  List of Active Newsgroups                               
n Gene Spafford   504  List of Moderators                                      
o Gene Spafford  1051  Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part I               
p Gene Spafford  1123  Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part II              
q Gene Spafford  1193  >Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part III            
r Jonathan Kamens 644  How to become a USENET site                             
s Jonathan Kamen 1344  List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part I         
                                                                               
-- 15:52 -- SELECT -- help:? -----Top 85%-----                                 
Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)                                
 
     Obviously, this is a good newsgroup to begin your exploration of 
Usenet!  Here's what all this means:  The first letter on each line is 
the letter you type to read that particular "article" (it makes sense 
that a "newsgroup" would have "articles").  Next comes the name of the 
person who wrote that article, followed by its length, in lines, and 
what the article is about. At the bottom, you see the local time at your 
access site, what you're doing right now (i.e., SELECTing articles), 
which key to hit for some help (the ? key) and how many of the articles 
in the newsgroup you can see on this screen. The "(moderated)" means the 
newsgroup has a "moderator" who is the only one who can directly post 
messages to it.  This is generally limited to groups such as this, which 
contain articles of basic information or for digests, which are 
basically online magazines (more on them in a bit). 
      Say you're particularly interested in what "Emily Postnews" has to 
say about proper etiquette on Usenet. Hit your c key (lower case!), and 
the line will light up.  If you want to read something else, hit the key 
that corresponds to it.  And if you want to see what's on the next page 
of articles, hit return or your space bar.
     But you're impatient to get going, and you want to read that 
article now.  The command for that in nn is a capital Z.  Hit it and 
you'll see something like this:
 
 
Gene Spafford: Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on NetiquetteSep 92 04:17 
Original-author: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)                           
Archive-name: emily-postnews/part1                                             
Last-change: 30 Nov 91 by brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)                  
                                                                               
                                                                               
**NOTE: this is intended to be satirical.  If you do not recognize             
  it as such, consult a doctor or professional comedian.  The                  
  recommendations in this article should recognized for what                   
  they are -- admonitions about what NOT to do.                                
                                                                               
                                                                               
                        "Dear Emily Postnews"                                  
                                                                               
        Emily Postnews, foremost authority on proper net behaviour,            
        gives her advice on how to act on the net.                             
                                                                               
============================================================================   
                                                                               
Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -- verbose@noisy          
                                                                               
A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you             
-- 09:57 --.announce.newusers-- LAST --help:?--Top 4%--                        
 
     The first few lines are the message's header, similar to the header 
you get in e-mail messages.  Then comes the beginning of the message.  
The last line tells you the time again, the newsgroup name (or part of 
it, anyway), the position in your message stack that this message 
occupies, how to get help, and how much of the message is on screen.  If 
you want to keep reading this message, just hit your space bar (not your 
enter key!) for the next screen and so on until done. When done, you'll 
be returned to the newsgroup menu.  For now hit Q (upper case this time), 
which quits you out of nn and returns you to your host system's command 
line. 
     To get a look at another interesting newsgroup, type
 
                nn comp.risks
 
and hit enter.  This newsgroup is another moderated group, this time a 
digest of all the funny and frightening ways computers and the people 
who run and use them can go wrong.  Again, you read articles by 
selecting their letters.  If you're in the middle of an article and 
decide you want to go onto the next one, hit your n key.
     Now it's time to look for some newsgroups that might be of 
particular interest to you.  Unix host systems that have nn use a program 
called nngrep (ever get the feeling Unix was not entirely written in 
English?) that lets you scan newsgroups.  Exit nn and at your host 
system's command line, type 
 
                nngrep word
 
where word is the subject you're interested in.  If you use a Macintosh 
computer, you might try
 
                nngrep mac
 
     You'll get something that looks like this:
 
               alt.music.machines.of.loving.grace
               alt.religion.emacs
               comp.binaries.mac
               comp.emacs
               comp.lang.forth.mac
               comp.os.mach
               comp.sources.mac
               comp.sys.mac.announce
               comp.sys.mac.apps
               comp.sys.mac.comm
               comp.sys.mac.databases
               comp.sys.mac.digest
               comp.sys.mac.games
               comp.sys.mac.hardware
               comp.sys.mac.hypercard
               comp.sys.mac.misc
               comp.sys.mac.programmer
               comp.sys.mac.system
               comp.sys.mac.wanted
               gnu.emacs.announce
               gnu.emacs.bug
               gnu.emacs.gnews
               gnu.emacs.gnus
               gnu.emacs.help
               gnu.emacs.lisp.manual
               gnu.emacs.sources
               gnu.emacs.vm.bug
               gnu.emacs.vm.info
               gnu.emacs.vms
 
     Note that some of these obviously have something to do with 
Macintoshes while some obviously do not; nngrep is not a perfect system.  
If you want to get a list of ALL the newsgroups available on your host 
system, type 
 
                nngrep -a |more
 
or
                nngrep -a |pg
 
and hit enter (which one to use depends on the Unix used on your host 
system; if one doesn't do anything, try the other). You don't 
absolutely need the |more or |pg, but if you don't include it, the list 
will keep scrolling, rather than pausing every 24 lines.  If you are in 
nn, hitting a capital Y will bring up a similar list. 
     Typing "nn newsgroup" for every newsgroup can get awfully tiring 
after awhile.  When you use nn, your host system looks in a file called 
.newsrc.  This is basically a list of every newsgroup on the host system 
along with notations on which groups and articles you have read (all 
maintained by the computer).  You can also use this file to create a 
"reading list" that brings up each newsgroup to which you want to 
"subscribe."  To try it out, type 
 
                nn
 
without any newsgroup name, and hit enter.  
     Unfortunately, you will start out with a .newsrc file that has you 
"subscribed" to every single newsgroup on your host system!  To delete 
a newsgroup from your reading list, type a capital U while its menu is 
on the screen.  The computer will ask you if you're sure you want to 
"unsubscribe."  If you then hit a Y, you'll be unsubscribed and put in 
the next group. 
     With many host systems carrying thousands of newsgroups, this will 
take you forever.  
     Fortunately, there are a couple of easier ways to do this.  Both 
involve calling up your .newsrc file in a word or text processor.  In a 
.newsrc file, each newsgroup takes up one line, consisting of the 
group's name, an exclamation point or a colon and a range of numbers.  
Newsgroups with a colon are ones to which you are subscribed; those 
followed by an exclamation point are "un-subscribed."  To start with a 
clean slate, then, you have to change all those colons to exclamation 
points. 
     If you know how to use emacs or vi, call up the .newsrc file (you 
might want to make a copy of .newsrc first, just in case), and use the 
search-and-replace function to make the change.
    If you're not comfortable with these text processor, you can 
download the .newsrc file, make the changes on your own computer and 
then upload the revised file.  Before you download the file, however, 
you should do a couple of things.  One is to type
 
                cp .newsrc temprc
 
and hit enter.  You will actually download this temprc file (note the 
name does not start with a period -- some computers, such as those using 
MS-DOS, do not allow file names starting with periods).  After you 
download the file, open it in your favorite word processor and use its 
search-and-replace function to change the exclamation points to colons. 
Be careful not to change anything else!  Save the document in ASCII or 
text format.  Dial back into your host system.  At the command line, 
type
 
                cp temprc temprc1
 
and hit enter.  This new file will serve as your backup .newsrc file 
just in case something goes wrong. Upload the temprc file from your 
computer.  This will overwrite the Unix system's old temprc file.  Now 
type 
 
                cp temprc .newsrc
 
and hit enter.  You now have a clean slate to start creating a reading 
list.


3.3  nn COMMANDS

 
To mark a specific article for reading, type the letter next to it (in lower 
case).  To mark a specific article and all of its responses, type the letter 
and an asterisk, for example: 
 
          a* 
 
To un-select an article, type the letter next to it (again, in lower case). 
 
C               Cancels an article (around the world) that you wrote.  
                Every article posted on Usenet has a unique ID number.  
                Hitting a capital C sends out a new message that tells host 
                systems that receive it to find earlier message and delete 
                it. 
 
F               To post a public response, or follow-up. If selected while 
                still on a newsgroup "page", asks you which article to 
                follow up.  If selected while in a specific article, will 
                follow up that article. In either case, you'll be asked if 
                you want to include the original article in yours. Caution:
                puts you in whatever text editor is your default.
 
N               Goes to the next subscribed newsgroup with unread articles. 
 
P               Goes to the previous subscribed newsgroup with unread 
                articles. 
 
G news.group    Goes to a specific newsgroup. Can be used to subscribe to 
                new newsgroups.  Hitting G brings up a sub-menu: 
 
                          u     Goes to the group and shows only un-read 
                                articles. 
 
                          a     Goes to the group and shows all articles, 
                                even ones you've already read. 
 
                          s     Will show you only articles with a specific 
                                subject. 
 
                          n     Will show you only articles from a specific 
                                person. 
 
M               Mails a copy of the current article to somebody.  You'll be 
                asked for the recipient's e-mail address and whether you 
                want to add any comments to the article before sending it 
                off.  As with F, puts you in the default editor.
 
:post           Post an article. You'll be asked for the name of the group. 
 
Q               Quit, or exit, nn. 
 
U               Un-subscribe from the current newsgroup. 
 
R               Responds to an article via e-mail. 
 
space           Hitting the space bar brings up the next page of articles. 
 
X               If you have selected articles, this will show them to you 
                and then take you to the next subscribed newsgroup with 
                unread articles. If you don't have any selected articles, 
                it marks all articles as read and takes you to the next 
                unread subscribed newsgroup. 
 
=word           Finds and marks all articles in the newsgroup with a 
                specific word in the "subject:" line, for example: 
 
                          =modem 
 
Z               Shows you selected articles immediately and then returns 
                you to the current newsgroup. 
 
?               Brings up a help screen. 
 
<               Goes to the previous page in the newsgroup. 
 
>               Goes to the next page in the newsgroup. 
 
$               Goes to the last page in an article.
 
^               Goes to the first page in an article.
 
 
3.4  USING rn


     Some folks prefer this older newsreader.   
     If you type 
 
                rn news.announce.newusers
 
at your host system's command line, you'll see something like this:
 
    ********  21 unread articles in news.announce.newusers--read now? [ynq]
 
If you hit your Y key, the first article will appear on your screen.  If 
you want to see what articles are available first, though, hit your 
computer's = key and you'll get something like this:
 
     152 Introduction to news.announce    
     153 A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community   
     154 What is Usenet?
     155 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions               
     156 Hints on writing style for Usenet                   
     158 Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I           
     159 Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II               
     160 Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette      
     161 USENET Software: History and Sources                
     162 A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists           
     163 How to Get Information about Networks                    
     164 How to Create a New Newsgroup                       
     169 List of Active Newsgroups                           
     170 List of Moderators                                       
     171 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part I                
     172 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part II               
     173 Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part III              
     174 How to become a USENET site      
     175 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part I     
     176 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part II         
     177 List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part III
    End of article 158 (of 178)--what next? [npq]        
 
     Notice how the messages are in numerical order this time, and don't 
tell you who sent them.  Article 154 looks interesting.  To read it, 
type in 154 and hit enter.  You'll see something like this:
 
   Article 154 (20 more) in news.announce.newusers (moderated):
   From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford)
   Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.admin,news.answers
   Subject: What is Usenet?
   Date: 20 Sep 92 04:17:26 GMT
   Followup-To: news.newusers.questions    
   Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
   Lines: 353      
   Supersedes: <spaf-whatis_715578719@cs.purdue.edu>
 
   Archive-name: what-is-usenet/part1                  
   Original from: chip@tct.com (Chip Salzenberg)                            
   Last-change: 19 July 1992 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
                                                                               
                                                                               
   The first thing to understand about Usenet is that it is widely
   misunderstood.  Every day on Usenet, the "blind men and the elephant"
   phenomenon is evident, in spades.  In my opinion, more flame wars
   arise because of a lack of understanding of the nature of Usenet than
   from any other source.  And consider that such flame wars arise, of
   necessity, among people who are on Usenet.  Imagine, then, how poorly
   understood Usenet must be by those outside!
                                                                               
   --MORE--(7%)
 
     This time, the header looks much more like the gobbledygook you get 
in e-mail messages.  To keep reading, hit your space bar.  If you hit 
your n key (lower case), you'll go to the next message in the 
numerical order.
     To escape rn, just keep hitting your q key (in lower case), until 
you get back to the command line.  Now let's set up your reading list.  
Because rn uses the same .newsrc file as nn, you can use one of the 
search-and-replace methods described above.  Or you can do this:  Type
 
                rn
 
and hit enter.  When the first newsgroup comes up on your screen, hit 
your u key (in lower case).  Hit it again, and again, and again.  Or 
just keep it pressed down (if your computer starts beeping, let up for a 
couple of seconds).  Eventually, you'll be told you're at the end of the 
newsgroups, and asked what you want to do next.  
     Here's where you begin entering newsgroups.  Type 
 
                g newsgroup
 
(for example, g comp.sys.mac.announce) and hit enter.  You'll be asked 
if you want to "subscribe." Hit your y key.  Then type
 
                g next newsgroup
 
(for example, g comp.announce.newusers) and hit enter.  Repeat until 
done.  This process will also set up your reading list for nn, if you 
prefer that newsreader. But how do you know which newsgroups to 
subscribe?  Typing a lower-case l and then hitting enter will show you a 
list of all available newsgroups.  Again, since there could be more than 
2,000 newsgroups on your system, this might not be something you want to 
do.  Fortunately, you can search for groups with particular words in 
their names, using the l command.  Typing 
 
        l mac
 
followed by enter, will bring up a list of newsgroups with those letters 
in them (and as in nn, you will also see groups dealing with emacs and 
the like, in addition to groups related to Macintosh computers).
     Because of the vast amount of messages transmitted over Usenet, 
most systems carry messages for only a few days or weeks.  So if there's 
a message you want to keep, you should either turn on your computer's 
screen capture or save it to a file which you can later download).  To 
save a message as a file in rn, type 
 
                s filename
 
where filename is what you want to call the file. Hit enter.  You'll be 
asked if you want to save it in "mailbox format."  In most cases, you 
can answer with an n (which will strip off the header).  The message 
will now be saved to a file in your News directory (which you can access 
by typing cd News and then hitting enter).  
     Also, some newsgroups fill up particularly quickly -- go away for a 
couple of days and you'll come back to find hundreds of articles!  One 
way to deal with that is to mark them as "read" so that they no longer 
appear on your screen.  In nn, hit a capital J; in rn, a small c. 


3.5  rn COMMANDS
 
 
     Different commands are available to you in rn depending on whether you 
are already in a newsgroup or reading a specific article. At any point, 
typing a lower-case H will bring up a list of available commands and some 
terse instructions for using them. Here are some of them: 
 
After you've just called up rn, or within a newsgroup:
 
c             Marks every article in a newsgroup as read (or "caught up")
              so that you don't have to see them again. The system will ask 
              you if you are sure. Can be done either when asked if you
              want to read a particular newsgroup or once in the newsgroup.
 
g             Goes to a newsgroup, in this form: 
     
                        g news.group 
      
              Use this both for going to groups to which you're already 
              subscribed and subscribing to new groups. 
 
h             Provides a list of available commands with terse 
              instructions.
 
l             Gives a list of all available newsgroups.
 
p             Goes to the first previous subscribed newsgroup with un-read 
              articles. 
 
q             Quits, or exits, rn if you have not yet gone into a newsgroup. 
              If you are in a newsgroup, it quits that one and brings you to 
              the next subscribed newsgroup. 
 
Only within a newsgroup:
 
=             Gives a list of all available articles in the newsgroup.
 
 
m             Marks a specific article or series of articles as "un-read" 
              again so that you can come back to them later. Typing
 
                        1700m
 
              and hitting enter would mark just that article as un-read. 
              Typing 
 
                        1700-1800m
 
              and hitting enter would mark all of those articles as un-
              read.
 
space         Brings up the next page of article listings.  If already on
              the last page, displays the first article in the newsgroup.
 
u             Un-subscribe from the newsgroup. 
 
/text/        Searches through the newsgroup for articles with a specific
              word or phrase in the "subject:" line, from the current 
              article to the end of the newsgroup. For example, 
 
                        /EFF/
 
              would bring you to the first article with "EFF" in the 
              "subject:" line.
 
?text?        The same as above except it searches in reverse order from 
              the current article.
 
Only within a specific article:
 
e             Some newsgroups consist of articles that are binary files, 
              typically programs or graphics images.  Hitting e will convert 
              the ASCII characters within such an article into a file you
              can then download and use or view (assuming you have the proper
              computer and software).  Many times, such files will be split
              into several articles; just keep calling up the articles and
              hitting e until done.  You'll find the resulting file in your
              News subdirectory.

C             If you post an article and then decide it was a mistake, call 
              it up on your host system and hit this.  The message will soon 
              begin disappearing on systems around the world. 
 
F             Post a public response in the newsgroup to the current 
              article.  Includes a copy of her posting, which you can then 
              edit down using your host system's text editor. 
 
f             The same as above except it does not include a copy of the 
              original message in yours.
 
m             Marks the current article as "un-read" so that you can come 
              back to it later.  You do not have to type the article 
              number.       
 
Control-N     Brings up the first response to the article. If there is no 
              follow-up article, this returns you to the first unread article 
              in the newsgroup). 
 
Control-P     Goes to the message to which the current article is a reply.
 
n             Goes to the next unread article in the newsgroup. 
 
N             Takes you to the next article in the newsgroup even if you've 
              already read it.
 
q             Quits, or exits, the current article. Leaves you in the current 
              newsgroup.
 
R             Reply, via e-mail only, to the author of the current article. 
              Includes a copy of his message in yours.
 
r             The same as above, except it does not include a copy of his 
              article.
 
s file        Copies the current article to a file in your News directory, 
              where "file" is the name of the file you want to save it to. 
              You'll be asked if you want to use "mailbox" format when 
              saving. If you answer by hitting your N key, most of the 
              header will not be saved. 

s|mail user   Mails a copy of the article to somebody. For "user" substitute
              her e-mail address. Does not let you add comments to the 
              message first, however.
 
space         Hitting the space bar shows the next page of the article, or, if 
              at the end, goes to the next un-read article.


3.6  ESSENTIAL NEWSGROUPS


     With so much to choose from, everybody will likely have their own 
unique Usenet reading list.  But there are a few newsgroups that are 
particularly of interest to newcomers.  Among them:

     news.announce.newusers     This group consists of a series of
                                articles that explain various facets of
                                Usenet.

     news.newusers.questions    This is where you can ask questions 
                                (we'll see how in a bit) about how
                                Usenet works.

     news.announce.newsgroups   Look here for information about new or
                                proposed newsgroups.

     news.answers               Contains lists of "Frequently Asked
                                Questions"  (FAQs) and their answers from 
                                many different newsgroups.  Learn how to
                                fight jet lag in the FAQ from 
                                rec.travel.air; look up answers to common
                                questions about Microsoft Windows in
                                an FAQ from comp.os.ms-windows; etc.

     alt.internet.services      Looking for something in particular on 
                                the Internet?  Ask here.

     alt.infosystems.announce   People adding new information services to
                                the Internet will post details here.


3.7  SPEAKING UP


     "Threads" are an integral part of Usenet.  When somebody posts a 
message, often somebody else will respond.  Soon, a thread of 
conversation begins.  Following these threads is relatively easy.  In 
nn, related messages are grouped together.  In rn, when you're done 
with a message, you can hit control-N to read the next related 
message, or followup.  As you explore Usenet, it's probably a good 
idea to read discussions for awhile before you jump in.  This way, you 
can get a feel for the particular newsgroup -- each of which has its 
own rhythms.
     Eventually, though, you'll want to speak up.  There are two main 
ways to do this.  You join an existing conversation, or you can start 
a whole new thread.
     If you want to join a discussion, you have to decide if you want 
to include portions of the message you are responding to in your 
message.  The reason to do this is so people can see what you're 
responding to, just in case the original message has disappeared from 
their system (remember that most Usenet messages have a short life span 
on the average host system) or they can't find it.  
     If you're using a Unix host system, joining an existing 
conversation is similar in both nn and rn: hit your F key when done 
with a given article in the thread.  In rn, type a small f if you 
don't want to include portions of the message you're responding to; an 
upper-case F if you do. In nn, type a capital F.  You'll then be asked 
if you want to include portions of the original message. 
     And here's where you hit another Unix wall.  When you hit your F 
key, your host system calls up its basic Unix text editor.  If you're 
lucky, that'll be Pico, a very easy system.  More likely, however, 
you'll get dumped into emacs (or possibly vi), which you've already met 
in the chapter on e-mail.  
     The single most important emacs command is
 
               control-x control-c
 
     This means, depress your control key and hit x.  Then depress the 
control key and hit c.  Memorize this.  In fact, it's so important, it 
bears repeating: 
 
               control-x control-c
 
     These keystrokes are how you get out of emacs.  If it works well, 
you'll be asked if you want to send, edit, abort or list the message you 
were working on.  If it doesn't work well (say you accidentally hit some 
other weird key combination that means something special to emacs) and 
nothing seems to happen, or you just get more weird-looking emacs 
prompts on the bottom of your screen, try hitting control-g. This should 
stop whatever emacs was trying to do (you should see the word "quit" on 
the bottom of your screen), after which you can hit control-x control-c. 
But if this still doesn't work, remember that you can always disconnect 
and dial back in! 
     If you have told your newsreader you do want to include portions 
of the original message in yours, it will automatically put the entire 
thing at the top of your message.  Use the arrow keys to move down to 
the lines you want to delete and hit control-K, which will delete one 
line at a time.
     You can then write your message.  Remember that you have to hit 
enter before your cursor gets to the end of the line, because emacs 
does not have word wrapping.
     When done, hit control-x control-c.  You'll be asked the 
question about sending, editing, aborting, etc.  Chose one.  If you 
hit Y, your host system will start the process to sending your 
message across the Net. 
     The nn and rn programs work differently when it comes to posting 
entirely new messages.  In nn, type
 
     :post
 
and hit enter in any newsgroup.  You'll be asked which newsgroup to 
post a message to.  Type in its name and hit enter.  Then you'll be 
asked for "keywords."  These are words you'd use to attract somebody 
scanning a newsgroup.  Say you're selling your car.  You might type 
the type of car here.  Next comes a "summary" line, which is somewhat 
similar.  Finally, you'll be asked for the message's "distribution."
This is where you put how widely you want your message disseminated.  
Think about this one for a second.  If you are selling your car, it 
makes little sense to send a message about it all over the world.  But 
if you want to talk about the environment, it might make a lot of 
sense.  Each host system has its own set of distribution 
classifications, but there's generally a local one (just for users of 
that system), one for the city, state or region it's in, another for 
the country (for example, usa), one for the continent (for Americans 
and Canadians, na) and finally, one for the entire world (usually: 
world).
     Which one to use?  Generally, a couple of seconds' thought will 
help you decide.  If you're selling your car, use your city or regional 
distribution -- people in Australia won't much care and may even get 
annoyed.  If you want to discuss presidential politics, using a USA 
distribution makes more sense.  If you want to talk about events in the 
Middle East, sending your message to the entire world is perfectly 
acceptable.
     Then you can type your message.  If you've composed your message 
offline (generally a good idea if you and emacs don't get along), you 
can upload it now.  You may see a lot of weird looking characters as 
it uploads into emacs, but those will disappear when you hit control-X 
and then control-C.  Alternately: "save" the message (for example, by 
hitting m in rn), log out, compose your message offline, log back on and 
upload your message into a file on your host system.  Then call up 
Usenet, find the article you "saved." Start a reply, and you'll be asked 
if you want to include a prepared message.  Type in the name of the file 
you just created and hit enter.
     In rn, you have to wait until you get to the end of a newsgroup 
to hit F, which will bring up a message-composing system.  
Alternately, at your host system's command line, you can type 
 
                Pnews
 
and hit enter.  You'll be prompted somewhat similarly to the nn 
system, except that you'll be given a list of possible distributions.  
If you chose "world," you'll get this message:
 
                                                                               
This program posts news to thousands of machines throughout the entire         
civilized world.  Your message will cost the net hundreds if not thousands of  
dollars to send everywhere.  Please be sure you know what you are doing.       
                                                                               
Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this? [ny]                         
 
     Don't worry -- your message won't really cost the Net untold 
amounts, although, again, it's a good idea to think for a second 
whether your message really should go everywhere.
     If you want to respond to a given post through e-mail, instead of 
publicly, hit R in nn or r or R in rn.  In rn, as with follow-up 
articles, the upper-case key includes the original message in yours.
     Most newsgroups are unmoderated, which means that every message 
you post will eventually wind up on every host system within the 
geographic region you specified that carries that newsgroup.
     Some newsgroups, however, are moderated, as you saw earlier with 
comp.risks.  In these groups, messages are shipped to a single 
location where a moderator, acting much like a magazine editor, 
decides what actually gets posted.  In some cases, groups are 
moderated like scholarly journals.  In other cases, it's to try to cut 
down on the massive number of messages that might otherwise be posted.  
     You'll notice that many articles in Usenet end with a fancy 
"signature" that often contains some witty saying, a clever drawing 
and, almost incidentally, the poster's name and e-mail address.  You 
too can have your own "signature" automatically appended to everything 
you post.  On your own computer, create a signature file.  Try to keep 
it to four lines or less, lest you annoy others on the Net.  Then, 
while connected to your host system, type 
 
               cat>.signature
 
and hit enter (note the period before the s).  Upload your signature 
file into this using your communications software's ASCII upload 
protocol.  When done, hit control-D, the Unix command for closing a 
file.  Now, every time you post a message, this will be appended to it. 
     There are a few caveats to posting.  Usenet is no different from 
a Town Meeting or publication: you're not supposed to break the law, 
whether that's posting copyrighted material or engaging in illegal 
activities.  It is also not a place to try to sell products (except in 
certain biz. and for-sale newsgroups).


3.8  CROSS-POSTING
 

     Sometimes, you'll have an issue you think should be discussed in 
more than one Usenet newsgroup.  Rather than posting individual messages 
in each group, you can post the same message in several groups at once, 
through a process known as cross-posting. 
     Say you want to start a discussion about the political 
ramifications of importing rare tropical fish from Brazil.  People who 
read rec.aquaria might have something to say. So might people who read 
alt.politics.animals and talk.politics.misc.
     Cross-posting is easy.  It also should mean that people on other 
systems who subscribe to several newsgroups will see your message only 
once, rather than several times -- news-reading software can cancel out 
the other copies once a person has read the message.  When you get ready 
to post a message (whether through Pnews for rn or the :post command in 
nn), you'll be asked in which newsgroups.  Type the names of the various 
groups, separated by a comma, but no space, for example: 
 
          rec.aquaria,alt.politics.animals,talk.politics.misc
 
and hit enter.  After answering the other questions (geographic 
distribution, etc.), the message will be posted in the various 
groups (unless one of the groups is moderated, in which case the 
message goes to the moderator, who decides whether to make it public). 
     It's considered bad form to post to an excessive number of 
newsgroups, or inappropriate newsgroups.  Chances are, you don't really 
have to post something in 20 different places.  And while you may think 
your particular political issue is vitally important to the fate of the 
world, chances are the readers of rec.arts.comics will not, or at least 
not important enough to impose on them.  You'll get a lot of nasty e-
mail messages demanding you restrict your messages to the "appropriate" 
newsgroups.






Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
