Path: utzoo!utgpu!NDSUVM1!NETNWS-L Date: Thu, 22 Feb 90 17:26:26 EST Reply-To: "Leonard H. Tower Jr." Sender: NETNWS-L Netnews List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was news@BU.EDU.BU.EDU From: "Leonard H. Tower Jr." Subject: Re: Proliferation of bit groups X-To: bit-listserv-netnws-l@cs.psu.edu To: UofToronto LAN redistribution Message-ID: <90Feb23.105651est.58713@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca> Newsgroups: list.netnws-l Distribution: ut Approved: devnull@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu In article <9002170815.AA18201@caesar.cs.montana.edu> NETNWS-L Netnews List Date: 17 Feb 90 05:03:53 GMT Expires: 18 May 90 05:03:52 GMT Followup-To: poster Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ. Supersedes: <9708@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> Original-from: hoptoad!gnu (John Gilmore) and spaf@purdue.edu (Gene Spafford) [Most recent change: 16 Feb 1990 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. ..Text.Deleted... 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: ddn.mgt-bulletin The DDN Management Bulletin from NIC.DDN.MIL (Moderated) ddn.newsletter The DDN Newsletter from NIC.DDN.MIL (Moderated) ..Text.Deleted... -- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- enjoy -len