Network News
Network news is a method of exchanging information on the Internet. Similar topics are arranged into newsgroups (sometimes referred to as electronic bulletin boards). Within each newsgroup are articles, or postings. The format includes specifics about the origin and date of an article and the newsgroup(s) where the message is posted. The majority of articles are informal and are written by people who have some expertise or some interest in the newsgroup topic. Some newsgroups are moderated in that postings require approval of the owner or moderator.
The rate at which new articles arrive in newsgroups is known as traffic. Each article has a subject that distinguishes it from other articles within the same newsgroup. A group of articles with the same subject is known collectively as a thread. Network news readers frequently describe themselves as a community. There are many unwritten rules (and a few written ones) which, if broken, will undoubtedly result in a barrage of uncomplimentary e-mail to you and possibly to your news administrator. When people send mail of this type, they are doing what is called flaming. To avoid being flamed, new users are encouraged to take a few minutes to read articles in newsgroups news.announce.newusers and news.newusers.questions.
The requirements for reading and posting to newgroups are a way of connecting to the news server (at OSU, nntp.service.ohio-state.edu ) and news reading/posting software such as that included with Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Netscape, or alternatively, a full-featured program like FreeAgent (for Windows) or NewsWatcher (for Macintosh) available from the OIT Software Downloads site.
Current Record: 2476
Create Date: 05-09-2005
Last Reviewed: 10-04-2007
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