Xref: utzoo news.lists:937 news.groups:12033 news.announce.newusers:456 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!husc6!purdue!spaf From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford) Newsgroups: news.lists,news.groups,news.announce.newusers Subject: Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies (Updated: 3 Sep 1989) Summary: describes the following alternate hierarchies: alt, bionet, biz, gnu, inet/ddn, pubnet, unix-pc, u3b Message-ID: <7847@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> Date: 3 Sep 89 22:25:31 GMT Expires: 2 Dec 89 22:25:30 GMT Followup-To: news.lists Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ. Lines: 330 Approved: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU Supersedes: <7416@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> Original-from: hoptoad!gnu (John Gilmore) and spaf@purdue.edu (Gene Spafford) [Most recent change: 3 Sep 1989 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)] 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 finding a feed. In general, these groups are not carried by the entire network due to their volume, a restricted sphere 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, since the only people who get them are those who asked to get them. This freedom is more restricted in the Usenet as a whole, since every mainstream posting and every mainstream newsgroup name must be acceptable to a much wider audience than is present in these hierarchies. Due to 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; 2.10.3 or 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!uunet-request 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 directly to me. Alt --- "alt" is a small collection of newsgroups which are being distributed by a collection of sites that choose to carry them. Many Usenet sites are not interested in these groups. Here is a recent list of the 'alt" newsgroups: alt.activism Activities for activists. alt.aquaria The aquarium & related as a hobby. alt.bbs Computer BBS systems & software. alt.co-ops Discussion about co-operatives. alt.config Alternative subnet discussions and connectivity. alt.cosuard Council of Sysops & Users Against Rate Discrimination. alt.cult-movies Movies with a cult following (e.g., Rocky Horror PS) alt.cyb-sys Cybernetic systems. alt.cyberpunk High-tech low-life. alt.dev.null The ultimate in moderated newsgroups. (Moderated) alt.drugs Recreational pharmaceuticals and related flames. alt.emusic Exotic music discussions. alt.fax Faxing documents -- protocols, equipment, etc. alt.fishing Fishing as a hobby and sport. alt.flame Alternative, literate, pithy, succinct screaming. alt.gambling Discussions about games of chance (and mischance). alt.gourmand Recipes & cooking info. (Moderated) alt.great-lakes Discussions of the Great Lakes and adjacent places. alt.hypertext Discussion of hypertext -- uses, transport, etc. alt.individualism Philosophies where individual rights are paramount. alt.msdos.programmer For the serious MS/DOS programmer (no for sale ads). alt.postmodern Postmodernism, semiotics, deconstruction, and the like. alt.prose Postings of original writings, fictional & otherwise. alt.prose.d Discussions about postings in alt.prose. alt.recovery 12-step groups (such as AA, ACA, GA, etc) alt.religion.computers People who believe computing is "real life." alt.restaurants Serious consideration of the art of restauranting. alt.rhode_island Discussion of the great little state. alt.rissa For discussing the one and only rissa alt.romance ?? alt.rmgroup For the people who like to rmgroup/newgroup things alt.rock-n-roll Counterpart to alt.sex and alt.drugs.... alt.sca Society for Creative Anachronism alt.sex Postings of a prurient nature. alt.sex.bondage Postings about dominance/submission. alt.slack Posting relating to the Church of the Subgenius. alt.sources Alternative source code, unmoderated. Caveat Emptor. alt.sources.amiga Technically-oriented Amiga PC sources. (Moderated) alt.sources.d Discussion of posted sources. alt.test Alternative subnetwork testing. alt.weemba Talk & flames about the one & only Weemba. Submissions to the moderated alt.gourmand group should be mailed to recipes@decwrl.dec.com (Brian Reid). Submissions to the moderated Amiga sources group should be mailed to amiga-sources@sugar.uu.net 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. Bionet ------ There is a newsgroup hierarchy for topics interesting to biologists called "bionet" originating from NET.BIO.NET and carried on a growing number of machines including rutgers, phri, mit-eddie, ukma, and all of the machines at UCSD. Contact Eliot Lear for more details. The current newsgroup list looks like this: bionet.agroforestry Discussion of Agroforestry bionet.general General BIONET announcements. bionet.sci-resources Information about funding agencies, etc. bionet.jobs Scientific Job opportunities. bionet.journals.contents Contents of biology journal publications. bionet.molbio.ageing Discussions of cellular and organismal ageing. bionet.molbio.news Research news of interest to the community. bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts Requests for information and lab reagents. bionet.molbio.genbank Info about the GenBank Nucleic acid database. bionet.molbio.embldatabank Info about the EMBL Nucleic acid database. bionet.molbio.pir Info about the PIR protein sequence database. bionet.molbio.bio-matrix Computer applications to biological databases. bionet.molbio.evolution How genes and proteins have evolved. bionet.molbio.gene-org How genes are organized on chromosomes. bionet.molbio.proteins Research on proteins and protein databases. bionet.molbio.swiss-prot Discussion on the SWISS-PROT Database. bionet.population-bio Technical discussions about population biology. bionet.software Information about software for biology. bionet.technology.conversion Use of techology to convert waste and biomass. 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: biz.comp.hardware Generic commercial hardware postings. biz.comp.services Generic commercial service postings. biz.comp.software Generic commercial software postings. biz.comp.telebit Support of the Telebit modem. biz.config Biz Usenet configuration and administration. biz.control Control information and messages. biz.misc Miscellaneous postings of a commercial nature. biz.test Biz newsgroup test messages. biz.stolen Postings about stolen mechandise. Feeds may possibly be obtained from ddsw1.mcs.com, osu-cis.cis.ohio-state.edu, husc6.harvard.edu, rutgers.edu, spl1, and telly.on.ca among others. GNU --- gnUSENET (gnUSENET is Not USENET) is a set of newsgroups that are gated bi-directionally with the Internet mailing lists about 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. The GNU Project is led by Richard Stallman. 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). Current groups include: Newsgroup Description --------- ----------- gnu.announce Status and announcements from the Project. (Moderated) gnu.bash.bug Bourne Again SHell bug reports and suggested fixes. gnu.chess Announcements about the GNU Chess program. gnu.config GNU's Not Usenet administration and configuration. gnu.emacs Editor/development environment and occasional sources. gnu.emacs.bug GNU Emacs bug reports and suggested fixes. gnu.emacs.gnews News reading under GNU Emacs using Weemba's Gnews. gnu.emacs.gnus News reading under GNU Emacs using GNUS (in English). gnu.emacs.lisp.manual GNU Emacs LISP Programmer's Manual working group. gnu.emacs.vms VMS port of GNU Emacs. gnu.g++ Announcements about the GNU C++ Compiler. gnu.g++.bug G++ and GDB+ bug reports and suggested fixes. gnu.g++.lib.bug G++ library bug reports and suggested fixes. gnu.gcc Announcements about the GNU C Compiler. gnu.gcc.bug GNU C Compiler bug reports and suggested fixes. gnu.gdb.bug GNU C/C++ DeBugger bug reports and suggested fixes. gnu.ghostscript.bug GNU Ghostscript interpreter bugs. gnu.misc.discuss Serious discussion about GNU and freed software. gnu.test GNU's Not Usenet alternative sub-network testing. gnu.utils.bug Bugs in GNU utility programs (e.g., gnumake, gawk). Sites carrying the gnu.all newsgroups include bloom-beacon.mit.edu, cs.bu.edu, decwrl.dec.com, cs.utexas.edu, mailrus.cc.umich.edu, mandrill.ces.cwru.edu, osu-cis, cs.purdue.edu, rutgers.edu, telly.on.ca, tut.cis.ohio-state.edu, uccba.uc.edu, and uunet.uu.net, and many more. Ask usenet@any of these sites for a feed, or send mail to gnu.config@cis.ohio-state.edu to find someone who can offer them to you. Questions about GNU can be directed to gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu or: Free Software Foundation, Inc. 675 Mass Ave Cambridge, MA 02139 USA +1 (617) 876-3296 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 Arpa 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 tranpost 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 (fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu). 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.dcom.lans.v2lni Proteon Pronet/V2LNI Ring networks. 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. (Moderated) 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.lang.visual Visual programming languages. comp.lsi.cad Electrical Computer Aided Design. comp.mail.multi-media Multimedia Mail. comp.music Applications of computers in music research. 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.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. (Moderated) comp.protocols.iso.x400.gateway X400 mail gateway discussions. (Moderated) comp.protocols.pcnet Topics related to PCNET (a personal computer network). comp.protocols.pup The Xerox PUP network protocols. comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains Topics related to Domain Style names. comp.soft-sys.andrew The Andrew system from CMU. 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 Xenix on an 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. news.software.nntp The Network News Transfer Protocol. rec.games.vectrex The Vectrex game system. rec.mag.fsfnet A Science Fiction "fanzine." (Moderated) 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. ddn.mgt-bulletin The DDN Management Bulletin from NIC.DDN.MIL (Moderated) ddn.newsletter The DDN Newsletter from NIC.DDN.MIL (Moderated) Pubnet ------ The "pubnet" distribution is for public-access systems and was originated by Bill Wisner. Current groups include: pubnet.config Pubnet connectivity discussions. pubnet.nixpub The "nixpub" list of public access UNIXes. pubnet.sources Software of interest to BBS users and sysops. pubnet.talk Miscellaneous BBS talk. pubnet.test Pubnet subnet testing. pubnet.wanted "Wanted" messages with a limited audience. pubnet.sysops Discussions between sysops of BBS systems. Currently, the following sites receive the group, and the system admins there can be contacted for more info or to establish a feed: chinet, dasys1, ddsw1, gryphon, icus, igloo, killer, ncoast, netsys, qetzal, telly, mit-eddie and tapa. Unix-PC ------- Another such hierarchy is the "unix-pc" distribution. This consists of groups devoted to users of the AT&T Unix-PC. These groups were originated as a mailing list started by three owners of AT&T Unix PCs: Gary Smith, David Dalton and Kathy Vincent. As the list expanded, it turned into a newsgroup hierarchy, and more and more sites began to carry the groups; hundreds of sites now carry these groups. To recieve them, you need to contact a site already getting them; att, gatech, mit-eddie, psuvax1, ucsd and ukma are well-known sites getting these groups and the admins there may be willing to help find a feed should you desire (and ask nicely); uunet also carries these groups. The unix-pc groups circulated include: unix-pc.bugs Bug reports, fixes & workarounds. unix-pc.general General information and discussion. unix-pc.sources Source code to various programs. unix-pc.uucp Configuration and management of uucp on Unix-PCs. unix-pc.test Test group. 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. The groups are "administered" by Len Rose (len@netsys.com). u3b.config 3B Distribution configuration. u3b.misc 3B Miscellaneous Discussions. u3b.sources Sources for AT&T 3B systems. u3b.tech 3B Technical Discussions. u3b.test 3B Distribution Testing. -- Gene Spafford NSF/Purdue/U of Florida Software Engineering Research Center, Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-2004 Internet: spaf@cs.purdue.edu uucp: ...!{decwrl,gatech,ucbvax}!purdue!spaf Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com