WORLD NEWSGROUP HIERARCHIES: =========================== The following is a list of currently active USENET newsgroups as of 12 Mar 1995. This list does not include the gatewayed Internet newsgroups (see below). The groups distributed worldwide are divided into seven broad classifications: "news", "soc", "talk", "misc", "sci", "comp" and "rec". Each of these classifications is organized into groups and subgroups according to topic. "comp" Topics of interest to both computer professionals and hobbyists, including topics in computer science, software source, and information on hardware and software systems. "sci" Discussions marked by special and usually practical knowledge, relating to research in or application of the established sciences. "misc" Groups addressing themes not easily classified under any of the other headings or which incorporate themes from multiple categories. "soc" Groups primarily addressing social issues and socializing. "talk" Groups largely debate-oriented and tending to feature long discussions without resolution and without appreciable amounts of generally useful information. "news" Groups concerned with the news network and software themselves. "rec" Groups oriented towards the arts, hobbies and recreational activities. These "world" newsgroups are (usually) circulated around the entire USENET -- this implies world-wide distribution. Not all groups actually enjoy such wide distribution, however. Some sites take only a selected subset of the more "technical" groups, and controversial "noise" groups are often not carried by many sites (these groups are often under the "talk" and "soc" classifications). Many sites do not carry some or all of the comp.binaries groups. There are groups in other subcategories, but they are local: to institutions, to geographic regions, etc. and they are not listed here. Note that these distribution categories can be used to restrict the propagation of news articles. Currently, distributions include: world worldwide distribution (default) can limited (mostly) to Canada eunet limited (mostly) to European sites in EUNet na limited (mostly) to North America usa limited (mostly) to the United States There may be other regional and local distribution categories available at your site. Most US states have distribution categories named after the two letter abbreviation for that state or category (e.g., "ga" for Georgia, "nj" for New Jersey). Please use an appropriate distribution category if your article is not likely to be of interest to USENET readers worldwide. Please notify me of any errors or changes to the information in this article. David Lawrence tale@uunet.uu.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ALTERNATIVE HIERARCHIES: ======================== Introduction ------------ The Usenet software allows the support and transport of hierarchies of newsgroups not part of the "traditional" Usenet through use of the distribution mechanism. These hierarchies of groups are available to sites wishing to support them and able to find a feed. In general, these groups are not carried by the entire network because of their volume, restricted spheres of interest, or a different set of administrative rules and concerns. In general, it is a bad idea to forward these newsgroups to your neighbors without asking them first; they should only be received at a site by choice. Not only is this generally-accepted net etiquette, it helps to preserve the freedom to do and say as the posters please in these newsgroups, as the only people who get them are those who asked to get them. This freedom is more restricted in the Usenet as a whole, because every mainstream posting and every mainstream newsgroup name must be acceptable to a much wider audience than is present in these hierarchies. Because of the sheer size of the mainstream Usenet, extra-long or controversial postings are more likely to cause problems when posted to the Usenet; however, these alternative hierarchies exist precisely to support those kinds of postings (if germane to the hierarchy). Usually, there is is no restriction on getting these groups as long as you have the capacity to receive, store, and forward the groups; software after B 2.11 news is required to make the distribution mechanism work properly for these groups. How to join each distribution is described below. Note that the "uunet" service carries all of these hierarchies. Contact uunet-request@uunet.uu.net for subscription details. Also note -- the lists in this article are totally unofficial and possibly incomplete or inaccurate. I try to keep the lists up-to-date, but make no guarantee that any of the information contained corresponds with the named groups in any significant way. Corrections and comments should be mailed to the reply address in the header of this article. Alt --- "alt" is a collection of newsgroups that is being distributed by a collection of sites that choose to carry the groups. Many Usenet sites do not receive these groups. Here is a recent list of many active "alt" newsgroups. It represents a view of the altnet as seen by UUNET. Another view can be found in a set of articles posted periodically by Bruce Becker as to alt.config, alt.newgroup, alt.answers, news.admin.misc, and news.groups, called ``Another listing of newsgroups in the "alt" hierarchy.'' Submissions to the moderated alt groups should be made to the addresses listed in the companion posting of moderator addresses. You can join the "alt subnet" by finding a site in your area that carries the groups. Either send mail to the administrators of the sites you connect to, or post something to a local "general" or "wanted" newsgroup for your area. If no sites nearby are getting them, you can get them from uunet or psi. Bionet ------ There is a newsgroup hierarchy for topics interesting to biologists called "bionet" originating from net.bio.net and currently carried at over a third of the sites participating in the Arbitron readership survey. Contact for more details. Bit --- "bit" is a collection of newsgroups which are being distributed by a collection of sites that choose to carry them. The "bit" newsgroups are redistributions of the more popular BitNet LISTSERV mailing lists. Contact Jim McIntosh for more information. Biz --- "Biz" is a distribution of newsgroups that are carried and propagated by sites interested in the world of business products around them -- in particular, computer products and services. This includes product announcements, announcements of fixes and enhancements, product reviews, and postings of demo software. Current biz groups include: Feeds may possibly be obtained from husc6.harvard.edu, news.mcs.com, rpi.edu, rutgers.edu, spl1, and telly.on.ca among others. ClariNet -------- The ClariNet hierarchy consists of newsgroups gatewayed from commercial news services and other ``official'' sources. A feed of the ClariNet groups requires payment of a fee and execution of a license. More information may be obtained by sending mail to "info@clarinet.com". EYE --- EYE magazine, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a free newspaper issued once a week. The scope of articles is greater than just Toronto, so the hierarchy is available on a worldwide basis. For more information, contact eye@interlog.com (Ken Campbell). NNTP feeds can be arranged through him if you cannot get the groups from your regular feeds. GNU --- gnUSENET (gnUSENET is Not USENET) is a set of newsgroups that are gated bi-directionally with the Internet mailing lists of the GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation. GNU (GNU's Not Unix) will be a complete operating system, including application programs, with freely redistributable source code. Please use ONLY gnu.misc.discuss for discussion of topics considered contrary to GNU aims and political philosophy (e.g., porting of GNU code to Apple machines, usefulness of intellectual property laws, etc.). The GNU mailing lists and newsgroups, like the GNU project itself, exist to promote the freedom to share software. So please don't use these newsgroups (or the other GNU lists) to promote or recommend non-free software. (Using them to post ordering information is the ultimate faux pas.) If there is no free program to do a certain task, then somebody should write one! Use gnu.emacs.help to discuss software on gnu.emacs.sources and to ask for sources. gnu.emacs.sources is archived by many sites and they want sources ONLY! The gnu.*.bug groups are pseudo-moderated (that is, the group is marked moderated so that postings are mailed to prep.ai.mit.edu and then redistributed to the both the mailing list and newsgroup from there). The gnu.*announce groups are all fully moderated. If one of your USENET feeds cannot provide you with a feed of the gnUSENET newsgroups, send mail to gnu.gnusenet.config@prep.ai.mit.edu to ask for a feed. Questions about GNU can be directed to gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu or: Free Software Foundation 675 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 USA +1-617-876-3296 HEPnet ------ HEPnet is a collections of networks interconnecting high-energy and nuclear physics research sites. The HEPnet netnews hierarchy was created to facilitate discussions in the HEP and NP communitites. The hierarchy is is maintained by National HEPnet Management. All groups are bi-directionally gatewayed to mailing lists and automatically archived. Questions, requests for feeds, and group deletions/additions should be sent to netnews@hep.net (Internet), netnews@hepnet (BITNET), or hepnet::netnews (HEP-ES DECnet). IEEE ---- The IEEE newsgroups concern the IEEE -- the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The IEEE is willing to distribute these newsgroups via NNTP to any site that desires to carry them. If you would like a feed of these newsgroups, have the news admin for your site contact 'usenet@ieee.org' for a feed. Inet/DDN -------- Another alternative hierarchy is the "inet/ddn" distribution. This consists of many newsgroups bearing names similar to traditional Usenet groups and corresponding to Internet discussion lists. These groups are circulated using the NNTP transport mechanism amongst sites on the Internet in an attempt to reduce the number of copies of these groups flowing through the mail (some sites get these groups via UUCP and other transport mechanisms, but the volume can be substantial and load may be significant without a high-speed link). Further details may be obtained by writing to Erik Fair . Current inet groups are: comp.ai.edu Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Education. comp.ai.vision Artificial Intelligence Vision Research. (Moderated) comp.dcom.lans.hyperchannel Hyperchannel networks within an IP network. comp.editors Topics related to computerized text editing. comp.edu.composition Writing instruction in computer-based classrooms. comp.lang.asm370 Programming in IBM System/370 Assembly Language. comp.lang.clu The CLU language & related topics. comp.lang.forth.mac The CSI MacForth programming environment. comp.lang.icon Topics related to the ICON programming language. comp.lang.idl IDL (Interface Description Language) related topics. comp.lang.lisp.franz The Franz Lisp programming language. comp.lang.lisp.x The XLISP language system. comp.lang.rexx The REXX command language. comp.lang.scheme.c The Scheme language environment. comp.lsi.cad Electrical Computer Aided Design. comp.mail.multi-media Multimedia Mail. comp.music Applications of computers in music research. comp.networks.noctools.announce Info and announcements about NOC tools. (Moderated) comp.networks.noctools.bugs Bug reports and fixes for NOC tools. comp.networks.noctools.d Discussion about NOC tools. comp.networks.noctools.submissions New NOC tools submissions. comp.networks.noctools.tools Descriptions of available NOC tools. (Moderated) comp.networks.noctools.wanted Requests for NOC software. comp.org.isoc.interest Discussion about the Internet Society. comp.os.aos Topics related to Data General's AOS/VS. comp.os.cpm.amethyst Discussion of Amethyst, CP/M-80 software package. comp.os.msdos.4dos The 4DOS command processor for MS-DOS. comp.os.rsts Topics related to the PDP-11 RSTS/E operating system. comp.os.v The V distributed operating system from Stanford. comp.periphs.printers Information on printers. comp.protocols.iso.dev-environ The ISO Development Environment. comp.protocols.iso.x400 X400 mail protocol discussions. comp.protocols.iso.x400.gateway X400 mail gateway discussions. (Moderated) comp.protocols.pcnet Topics related to PCNET (a personal computer network). comp.protocols.snmp The Simple Network Management Protocol. comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains Topics related to Domain Style names. comp.protocols.time.ntp The network time protocol. comp.security.announce Announcements from the CERT about security. (Moderated) comp.soft-sys.andrew The Andrew system from CMU. comp.soft-sys.nextstep The NeXTstep computing environment. comp.std.announce Announcements about standards activities. (Moderated) comp.sys.cdc Control Data Corporation Computers (e.g., Cybers). comp.sys.handhelds Handheld computers and programmable calculators. comp.sys.intel.ipsc310 Anything related to the Intel 310. comp.sys.northstar Northstar microcomputer users. comp.sys.super Supercomputers. comp.sys.ti.explorer The Texas Instruments Explorer. comp.sys.zenith Heath terminals and related Zenith products. comp.terminals.bitgraph The BB&N BitGraph Terminal. comp.terminals.tty5620 AT&T Dot Mapped Display Terminals (5620 and BLIT). comp.theory Theoretical Computer Science. comp.theory.cell-automata Discussion of all aspects of cellular automata. comp.theory.dynamic-sys Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems. comp.theory.self-org-sys Topics related to self-organization. comp.unix.cray Cray computers and their operating systems. comp.unix.solaris Discussions about the Solaris operating system. comp.windows.x.motif The Motif GUI for the X Window System. ddn.mgt-bulletin The DDN Management Bulletin from NIC.DDN.MIL (Moderated) ddn.newsletter The DDN Newsletter from NIC.DDN.MIL (Moderated) rec.games.vectrex The Vectrex game system. sci.bio.technology Any topic relating to biotechnology. sci.math.num-analysis Numerical Analysis. sci.philosophy.meta Discussions within the scope of "MetaPhilosophy." soc.culture.esperanto The neutral international language Esperanto. Info --- The "info" hierarchy is a collection of mailing lists gatewayed into news at the University of Illinois. The lists are selected based on local interests but have proven popular at a number of sites. Groups are removed when they become available via more mainstream hierarchies. Sites are encouraged to mark *'ed groups as 'n' in their active file. These groups are generally concerned with getting real work done and readers dislike extraneous postings. Postings can still be made by emailing to the listed contact address. K12 --- K12Net is a collection of conferences devoted to K-12 educational curriculum, language exchanges with native speakers, and classroom-to-classroom projects designed by teachers. The conferences are privately distributed among FidoNet-compatible electronic bulletin board systems in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, as well as available from uunet.uu.net as Usenet newsgroups in the hierarchy k12.* Classroom-to-classroom projects are featured in the K12 "Channels" which are periodically reassigned based on usage and appropriate project length. They comprise the k12.sys hierarchy. Forums for casual conversation among students are divided by grade level in the k12.chat hierarchy; there is also an area for teachers to exchange general ideas about using telecommunications in education. For more information, contact one of the members of the K12Net Council of Coordinators: Jack Crawford Janet Murray Rob Reilly Mort Sternheim Louis Van Geel RELCOM ------ Relcom.* is the hierarchy of Russian-language newsgroups distributed mostly on the territory of the former Soviet Union (non-CIS countries included). These groups are available in Europe and Northern America; due to the 8-bit encoding (KOI-8) of Cyrillic letters, minor software modifications may be required. Newsgroups under the hierarchy relcom.commerce contain classified advertisements and are relatively high-volume; the nature of the information distributed in those groups may contradict policy of some networks. However, they may be valuable for researchers and businessmen interested in the first-hand information on the economics of FSU countries. Eugene Peskin is the Relcom staff member responsible for netnews -- contact him for more information. U3B --- Groups dealing with AT&T 3B{2,5,15,20,4000} computers -- everything except for the UNIX PC/3B1. Both uunet and ames carry these groups. VMSnet ------ This hierarchy is for topics of interest to VAX/VMS users (but not necessarily VMS-specific). These groups are a project of the VMSnet working group of the VAX SIG of the US Chapter of DECUS (the Digital Equipment Computer User's Society). They are carried by most major usenet news sites, and almost half of all netnews sites. To find a feed, contact the system managers of news sites near you, and/or post to a local or regional newsgroup and ask if anyone in the area is carrying the VMSnet newsgroups. If you have tried these alternatives and still can not find a site in your local area that carries the VMSnet groups, you can send mail to the VMSnet Network Coordinator, currently Charles T. Smith, Jr. , who will attempt to assist you in finding a feed for the groups. Alternatively, you can send mail to the VMSnet mailing list , which is also gatewayed to the vmsnet.uucp newsgroup and ask for help. In either case, be sure to state where you are geographically, and what your constraints are. For instance, if you can only place local phone calls, be sure to say just what areas are a local call for you. Also describe your network connectivity (what networks you are on, your uucp neighbors, etc.). The current definitive list is always the most recent checkgroups posting in vmsnet.admin. It is posted monthly or whenever the set of newsgroups is changed.