Do you use newsgroups?

[bethalize]

 We haven't had a poll for a while - although that one about lunch keeps popping up - so I thought I would oblige.

The question put to the floor is: do you use newsgroups?

Results (total votes = 31):

No - what are they?	13 / 41.9%
No.	12 / 38.7%
Yes - through Outlook/Outlook Express.	2 / 6.5%
Yes - through Google.	1 / 3.2%
Yes - through other source such as telnet.	3 / 9.7%

 

[whitesatin]

It's me again Liz, ready to demonstrate my lack of knowledge.  What are newsgroups?  I check news on the internet through yahoo, E-News, Reuter's, etc.  Is that what you're talking about?



WhiteSatin

[chris68]

Hey glad I'm not the only one out there not knowing, I use MSN or my local news I have two sites I go to for that.  But forums, didn't know there was such a beast.



Chris

[goldenearring]

Count me among the ignorant here, Liz.  I once knew, but I have totally forgotten what a newsgroup is, too.  So, I probably don't use them.

[bethalize]

Lol! I thought this might be the case. Newsgroups are like message boards, only not in the same format (viewable in a web browser). You can view newsgroups through Outlook Express these days. You can also see them all at Google Groups.

I think they are dead useful, esepecially when it comes to software problems. People don't use them much here, but I thought y'all might in the US.

 

[donnap99]

OK, I think I get it now, so how do you access them?  Is it like a subscription?

 

[bethalize]

Your ISP (Internet service provider) should have a news server. In Outlook Express you can just press Ctrl+W, and in Outlook you go Tools-Go to - Newsgroups (which opens Outlook Express). My news server for example is news.ntlworld.com.

You can see the newsgroups at groups.google.com/. This service is still in beta stage, but it is sooooooo brilliant. It has cached a gazillion messages about just about everything.

Newsgroups used to be Usenet, a UNIX thing. They didn't have any pictures, just text. Now you can see it through a nice friendly browser interface, thanks to Google. This is what people did before 1994!

The newsgroups are amazing for technical questions. Microsoft have a whole range of them. There are also groups about anything you can think of. There are some popular sets, such as alt. comp. and misc. but they can be called anything. The one I like is cam.misc, which is for people in my local area. I also subscribe to uk.computers.advert.mac which is adverts for macintosh computers in the UK (surprise!).

I swear that people sit by their computers and follow the newsgroups all day. I have done this, but now I limit myself, although I have had strong arguements when I was going back every half hour or so to see if I had a reply!

[nici]

I use newsgroups every day - we have a wonderful group in which we discuss the offers from supermarkets. Sounds crazy, but it's a lot of fun, because essentially we talk about everything, from quality of sugar up to problems with kids, jobs or other big questions in life. It's a great thing.

My provider has newsgroups for all cirumctances, from problems with your computer,

household, medicine, political things etc. But something great like TAA I haven't seen there at all  



Nicole

 

[msmarieh]

I use newsgroups off and on. I will warn the feint of heart that some are not moderate and can get quite ummmm... sexually explicit. Let's just say that there are newsgroups for literally EVERY topic - whether Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV fans or Computer Software Problems or Casserole Recipes to others that can't be mentioned in polite society.



Some of them as well are quite prolific in their writing and it can take hours to get through them all. I generally work with listserves more than newsgroups. Listserves are email discussion groups where the postings are mailed directly to your inbox.



Marie