your net:// Anarchy thrives in newsgroup land

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Bored by banners? Linked out? If you are jaded with the commercialism of the web, you could be ready for newsgroups, also known as "Usenet."

Though they are much less known than the web, many people think these anarchic and mainly text-based public discussion areas embody the original spirit of the internet.

Thousands upon thousands of newsgroups exist on almost every topic imaginable, and a dozen or so new ones are formed every week. Each newsgroup contains messages, or "posts," which are rather like public e-mails that can be read and replied to.

Nobody "owns" Usenet, but your service provider decides how many newsgroups (if any) it will keep on its news server.

While many newsgroups attract people interested in a certain subject, say astronomy, from all over the world, others are based on countries or localities - for example, there are 30 relating to New Zealand.

According to statistics compiled by ihug systems administrator and newsmaster Simon Lyall, 22,552 messages were posted across all New Zealand groups in June, but some groups are more popular than others.

The most popular discussion group, with 8177 posts, was nz.general, where just about anything is fair game, from recent hikes in the price of petrol to the latest episode of Shortland St.

A close second with 7914 posts was nz.politics, which features lively debate on the local economy as well as more in-depth discussions on the price of petrol.

Anyone interested in computers should head straight for nz.comp (4193 posts), where technical gossip is exchanged and surplus hardware and software are offered for sale. The group also acts like an unofficial technical support department - most people frequenting it seem happy to give advice on any technical query.

Nz.arts, which as might be expected deals with the arts, received 118 posts, while nz.biz.misc, which unlike the other groups allows advertising, was the least popular with just seven messages.

There are also 14 regional New Zealand groups catering for local areas, for example Auckland's is called nz.reg.auckland.general. These groups often feature similar discussions to nz.general, but they also work on a local level, with the pros and cons of restaurants or dating agencies popular topics.

Newsgroup watching can quickly become an addiction, and the debating floor sometimes seems to be hogged by a few people with a high opinion of their oratorical skills, just like other public forums.

However, while a large number of posts are often made by the same few people, untold thousands are likely to be watching the action anonymously or "lurking" in the background, as nobody (except perhaps your internet service provider) knows that you are reading a newsgroup post.

This makes reading newsgroups, which can be done easily with e-mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook as well as specialised newsreader programs, relatively "safe."

Some messages, especially those newsgroups including the word "binaries" in their name which contain images or other attached files, occasionally harbour viruses, but they are usually deleted before they cause much harm.

Posting to a newsgroup, on the other hand, requires a little more care.

Old hands at Usenet almost never specify their real e-mail address when setting up a newsreading program as unscrupulous direct marketing companies regularly scour Usenet to build up their mailing lists.

Many people also choose not to post messages under their real names, and once again a simple adjustment to the settings in an e-mail or newsreader program will substitute an alias. After all, you never know who might be lurking.

USENET: GETTING YOURSELF HOOKED UP

Want to know more about newsgroups? A good place to start is www.faqs.org/usenet.

The next thing you will need is a newsgroup reader. You can use Microsoft Outlook's built-in one or find out about others at www.newsreaders.com/win/clients.html. You will also need to ask your internet provider for the name of its newsgroup server so you can set up the software to connect.

If that all sounds too hard, go to dejanews.com, which is a free web-based news service.

For more on NZ newsgroups, including details on how to create new ones, go to www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/nz-news-hierarchy.