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Newsgroup FAQs - New Users

This document contains the AT&T Worldnet Help New Users Newsgroup FAQs posted to the worldnet.help.faqs newsgroup every 30 days.

If you have any additional questions and are unable to find the answers in our FAQs, please post them in one of the AT&T Worldnet help newsgroups. For a list of all of the AT&T Worldnet help newsgroups, see Getting Help Through Newsgroups. If you're new to newsgroups, please read our Newsgroups Tutorial for a brief introduction to newsgroups and instructions on how to participate in them.

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Computer Jargon

Question: Are there any Web sites or books about computer jargon for new users?

Answer: There are many resources for computer jargon and terminology. There is "The New Hacker's Dictionary," also known as the "Jargon File." It's a wonderful compendium of Internet history, lore, and science. It can be found on the Web at these sites:

Large and varied dictionaries of Internet and computer terms are found at these sites:

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Cookies

Question: What are cookies, and should I be concerned about them?

Answer: They're just very small text files and cannot do anything harmful to your computer. For additional information about cookies, visit the Web sites below.

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Creating a Newsgroup

Question: How can I create a newsgroup?

Answer: The question, "How do I create a new newsgroup," comes up regularly. This FAQ first explains how to look for existing newsgroups that might meet your needs, and then provides pointers to information on how to create a new Usenet newsgroup. This FAQ only applies to creating a Usenet newsgroup. Creating a new worldnet.* newsgroup is entirely up to Worldnet, and you can post suggestions and discuss possibilities in worldnet.topics.proposed:

You can also try worldnet.topics.proposed.discussion:

The same is true for creating new local newsgroups at other Internet service providers, also known as ISPs.

First, have you looked for a newsgroup that already covers the topic you're interested in? With about 20,000 newsgroups available on the excellent AT&T Worldnet news servers, the chances are there is one out there already.

Try a search engine that will allow you to search archived Usenet posts. This should help you find what newsgroups, if any, people are already using for posts on the subjects you're interested in.

One of the best Usenet search engines is Google where you can use the search box to enter search words or select to read an article on the basics of searching Usenet.

Another is Alta Vista where you can enter "discussion groups" into the Web Page Search field. Other Web pages with Usenet search engines and lists for browsing the names of newsgroups are in a FAQ regularly posted in this newsgroup entitled, What is Usenet?

If you find an existing newsgroup that looks interesting but isn't carried by AT&T Worldnet Service, post your request in worldnet.suggestions:

If you do decide you want to start a completely new Usenet newsgroup, be warned that there's a little more to the process than just thinking up a name and asking your ISP to start carrying it. If you're not familiar with how Usenet works and how newsgroups are created, you might want to find someone more experienced with Usenet to help you with the process.

If you want to create a new newsgroup in one of the Big Eight hierarchies (comp.*, humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*, soc.*, and talk.*), look in any of the following for a FAQ with the subject of How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup:

If you want to create an alt.* newsgroup, look in any of the following for a FAQ with subject of "So You Want to Create an Alt Newsgroup.":

For other hierarchies, look for information on creating newsgroups in the appropriate *.config or *.answers newsgroup. For example, balt.config for the balt hierarchy.

For additional information on newsgroup creation, go to any of the following:

If you're thinking about starting a moderated newsgroup, or moderating one, the "Moderated Newsgroups FAQ" is helpful, which can be found in any of the following:

On the Web, most of the above FAQs and tips are available at:

Creating newsgroups in the alt.* hierarchy:

Creating newsgroups in the Big Eight hierarchy:

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Creating a Web Site

Question: How can I create a Web site?

Answer: Though it may seem intimidating at first, it's really not very hard. Publishing something on the Web is fundamentally no different for the biggest companies like Microsoft or the New York Times, than it is for you and me. There are two parts to making a home page on the World Wide Web: designing and producing your pages, and publishing them on a Web server. Below are some good pointers to reliable info on these topics.

First, note that this article is meant to be the merest introduction with some general suggestions on where to go for information. Please do not post to this newsgroup with specific questions about Web page producing and publishing. AT&T Worldnet Service's primary resource for that is the excellent worldnet.help.pwp.* series of newsgroups where every question you have about Web pages, whether you're a novice or a Web page expert, can be answered! These newsgroups are listed at the WorldNet Users Reference Desk, also known as WURD.
Getting Help Through Newsgroups

Making a home page involves using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). You can use software, such as FrontPage, Homesite, or Netscape Composer, to make your HTML pages, or you can do it from scratch by putting in the correct HTML coding (known as tags) yourself using any text editor.

A wonderful page to start with that includes pointers to HTML instruction and software, is Web Page Design.

The Personal Web Pages (PWP) Multimedia Forum has excellent help on using graphics and other binary files in your Web page.

For publishing your Web page, you can subscribe to Worldnet's Web hosting server called Personal Web Pages (PWP) Be sure to check out the PWP Help Forum.

For links to all the help you can get from AT&T Worldnet, see The WorldNet User's Reference Desk (WURD) on PWP.

AT&T Worldnet telephone support does not support PWP, but there's all the help you will ever need at the resources suggested above!

Take a shot, get creative, and have fun!

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Finding Help on the Internet

Question: How can I find help on the Internet?

Answer: There is so much help on the Internet that it's hard to select some resources for getting started. Here is one effort to provide basic and intermediate help. Note that you may get to any of these Web sites below by clicking on the hyperlinks (underlined words) in this article.

For a thorough and understandable introductory tour of the Internet, visit the tutorial called "the Internet" with pages on over a dozen Internet topics at:
The WURD Internet Tutorial

For help with AT&T Worldnet, the review the Help Forums. Click on a topic and then click on More frequently asked questions for additional useful information.

For all of your Internet questions be sure to ask in the newsgroups that are listed on the AT&T Worldnet Service Help Newsgroups Web page.

The Internet is nothing if not bountiful, and here are a few of the many Web sites about the Internet that you will find helpful and interesting below.

For informative sites on the Web about some of the various parts of the Internet, see the AT&T Worldnet resources below.

E-MAIL

CHAT

Live chat is another popular part of the Internet. Starting points are:

USENET

For information on Usenet newsgroups, check out WURD on Newsgroups. If you're still hungry, see the news.newsusers.questions Links Page

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Finding People on the Internet

Question: How can I find people on the Internet?

Answer: The Worldnet's Directories page has some useful help for finding people and businesses, as well as a reverse lookup if you only have a telephone number, and a toll-free telephone number directory.

Below are a few more suggestions:

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Introduction to Using Newsgroups

Below is an introduction to using newsgroups.

  1. Newsgroups are similar to e-mail except that instead of sending your message to someone's e-mail box, the message is posted on a bulletin board where anyone can read it and respond. This allows a discussion to take place among several people. A newsgroup may have several active discussions at one time. These discussions happen in threads, groups of related articles generally with the same subject line. Specifically, there is a question or comment followed by an answer(s) or response(s); all information pertaining to this question or comment becomes the thread.
  2. If you want to add something to a thread, choose that question or answer by selecting it, and then choose Reply, (generally at the top of your newsgroup program, also known as a newsreader). If you have a different question, it is best to start a new thread. Select New (instead of Reply), usually at the top of your newsreader.
  3. If all you see are questions and you can't find any answers, you first need to expand the thread. This is done by clicking on the + sign, usually found to the left of the question. When you click the plus sign, it opens the question up and shows all the answers.
  4. You only need to post once, and it is not necessary to post in multiple newsgroups. Although we try to answer questions as quickly as possible, please be patient. The page at: http://www.att.net/care/index/newsgroups.html#q3 states that, "We attempt to answer all questions within 24 hours. More often than not, they are answered within hours. However, if you have not received a response after 24 hours, please repost your question."
  5. AT&T Worldnet Service provides many newsgroups in which to post questions. It is always better and certainly quicker to post to the most appropriately titled newsgroup, because the people answering the question may have more expertise than if you posted to a less appropriate newsgroup. Newsgroups exclusively for AT&T Worldnet members to get answers to questions may be found here.
  6. Newsgroups have a one to many touch, that is, they help many people with the same question. By posting in the appropriate newsgroup, dozens of people with the same problem may be helped by the answer to your question. Before posting your question, remember to check the subject lines of other posts, because we may have already answered your question through the answer to someone else's question! If you don't see answers to questions, select the + sign next to the subject in your newsreader in order to show all the replies.
  7. A few notes about expressing yourself:
    • Although some of us use colloquial or colorful language in our everyday speech, newsgroups are a family affair. Therefore, it is best to leave out some (expletive deleted) words, which many may find objectionable.
    • PLEASE DO NOT TYPE YOUR QUESTION IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Netiquette, also known as Internet etiquette, says that a post to a newsgroup in all capitals means you're shouting.
    • Be considerate in posting to a newsgroup, even if you have a disagreement with a topic or are experiencing a problem. Remember honey attracts more flies than vinegar.
  8. Netiquette states that posting to a newsgroup, excluding groups that have binary in their name, should be done in text only. Many newsgroup programs can only view text, so please do not post binaries (graphics or programs), HTML, or Rich Text Format to the newsgroups. If you want to post with these formats, Worldnet has a special newsgroup for this purpose called worldnet.members-forum.non-text:
  9. Who is answering me? AT&T Worldnet Service employees can be identified by the prefix "AT&T" in their name.
  10. More information about newsgroups may be found at the following:

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News and Current Events

Question: Where can I find news and current events on the Web?

Answer: You can find just about any newspaper, from your local newspaper to worldwide newspapers, available on the Web at the sites below.

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Not Seeing Answers to Questions

Question: I am not seeing answers to my questions in the AT&T Worldnet Service newsgroups?

Answer: If you are not seeing answers to your posted questions, you probably need to expand the threads. Depending on the program you are using, there are a variety of ways to do that:

  1. If you see a little plus sign next the topic, click on it.
  2. Or use the View command in the menu to make sure all messages are visible.
  3. You can also arrange messages by sender, by date or topic. In most cases you can do this simply by clicking on the date, sender, or subject column headers in your newsreader. Make sure you have selected to read ALL messages, not just new ones.
  4. Most newsreaders also have a search function so that you can search for key words in messages.

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Posting Binary File Attachments

Question: How can I post binary files in newsgroups?

Answer: If you have a binary file you want to share with other members of a newsgroup, here are some suggestions on how to make it available without upsetting other people.

First, if you're not familiar with the term binary, then please scroll to the bottom to read the paragraph definition there starting with ***. Generally the term includes anything that is not pure text, known as ASCII.

  1. Post it in an appropriate binary newsgroup, and tell people which newsgroup to find it in. Binary newsgroups include the word binaries as part of the name; for example, alt.binaries.clip-art. Find a newsgroup that invites the kind of binary files you're interested by using the Google Groups search engine.
  2. AT&T Worldnet Service has its own special newsgroup that is devoted to binary postings -- it's a great place to share pictures, cartoons, animated jokes, and to practice your desktop publishing skills. So by all means visit the worldnet.members-forum.non-text news group to play with HTML and formatting (bold, fonts, colors, etc.) in a newsgroup. You may also find some good conversation there. <smile>:
  3. Post a message in the newsgroup listing a Web page or other site where the file can be downloaded.
  4. E-mail it to people who ask for it, but please warn people if it's a really large file.

Please don't post HTML or binary files in a discussion group, unless you know that they are acceptable in that newsgroup. Instead, just post an article telling people where to find it or how to get it.

The prohibition on binary files in discussion groups doesn't apply just to AT&T Worldnet newsgroups. This is a long standing Usenet guideline that applies to all discussion newsgroups, and is based on very practical reasons:
A lot of people around the world have to pay for their phone connections to the Internet, or for time over a certain limit. Dumping binaries into the newsgroups they read means longer times to download the news (note that even HTML takes up about three times the space as ASCII text), and that costs people money. Even with an unlimited account and a local number, the extra download time is a nuisance.

Even with unlimited access for a monthly fee, the news servers themselves are not limitless resources:
News servers can maintain articles and choose newsgroups to make available to their users based on how they manage a precious commodity: space. Most servers will keep the articles in text newsgroups much longer than those in binary newsgroups solely because of the size differential between binary files and text files. So, when text newsgroups get binary articles posted to them, this wastes the scarce resources of the server. Simple economics dictate that abuse of the no binaries in discussion groups principle will result in fewer news servers and higher prices for Usenet access.

One or two small binaries posted every now and then can't be such a big deal, can it? The problem is, there's a snowball effect: you post a binary file, some one else does the same. Pretty soon, the news servers are buried under them. (That's what's known as the categorical imperative -- a useful guide to ethical conduct is to ask yourself, "What would it be like if everyone always did what I'm thinking of doing?")

Keep in mind that a lot of people in the AT&T Worldnet newsgroups are new to Usenet, and they learn a lot from our example. Please, let's not teach the less experienced AT&T Worldnet members that it's fine to post binaries in non-binary newsgroups! :-)

For those of you who are new to Usenet, here are some pointers to more information on netiquette and Usenet guidelines:
If you don't like receiving flames, mail bombs, and other types of complaints from Usenet users, spend some time reading the FAQs in news:news.announce.newusers.

There are some excellent essays in there on posting guidelines, how to get along with the Usenet community, and related topics. There's nothing in that newsgroup but twenty or so FAQs, so the information is easy to find.

The news.newusers.questions Links Page has an excellent collection of Usenet information for new users, including an article called Pictures, Sounds, and Document Files.

The Usenet Help section of the iBiblio Library and the Usenet References Page have links to most of the best Usenet information.

And look for the introductory material about Usenet at the WURD on Newsgroups

***A binary file is a file containing arbitrary bytes or words, as opposed to a text file containing only printable ASCII characters. A common class of binary files is programs in machine language, also known as executable files, ready to load into memory and execute. Another common class of binary files is sound and graphics--photos, drawings, sound, music, video, etc. Binary refers to the 0 and 1 that make up all computing language, so technically, text is binary too, but in common discussion binary refers to non-text files. Non-text files are usually programs and multimedia stuff, and in discussions like this one, will also include formatted text (word processing files with fancy fonts, bold, italic, and underlined text, colors, etc.) and even HTML.

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Scams, Hoaxes, and Viruses

Question: What about scams, hoaxes, and viruses on the Internet?

Answer: There are a large number of scams and hoaxes that keep popping up on BBSs (bulletin board services), Usenet, and in your e-mail. A few of them were started by well meaning but foolish people. Most of them were created by people who just wanted to cause trouble or rip people off.

For those of you who are new online, please don't post or repost this type of material if you run into it. Experienced users are sick and tired of seeing these things, and at best, all you'll do is annoy people; at worst, you can propagate a virus or an illegal scheme.

Before we get started, remember a basic rule of online life: you cannot see whom you're dealing with, so no matter how attractive or legitimate something looks, be wary. Check it out. Ask around about it. Of course, DO NOT EVER GIVE OUT YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER, OR INTERNET ACCOUNT PASSWORD INFORMATION, or any other private information like telephone number or address, to anyone online. The exception to this is if you know and trust the person or have decided after appropriate investigation to submit information through a secure form on a Web page.

Some typical scams and hoaxes:

Some rules of thumb for spotting scams and hoaxes?

Don't let any of the above discourage you from passing on warnings from people you trust or from sources you know are reliable. However, please check out the stories that don't have really good credentials, because an awful lot of them are hoaxes.

Sources of additional information:

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Smiley Faces or Emoticons

Question: I'm a new user and am confused about some of the symbols I keep seeing. What does :) mean?

Answer: These symbols are called emoticons or smileys, which comes from the idea of icons that convey emotions. Symbols like :-) and :D are called emoticons or smileys, because if you turn your head sideways to the left, they look like a smiling face. They are used to indicate an emotion in what is essentially a text-based medium. Emoticons convey a smile, a grin, laughter, surprise, anger, confusion, and many more.

Some Web sites with many examples of emoticons, as well as popular abbreviations, e.g., URL and WWW, and acronyms, e.g., AFAICS and IMHO, are below.

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Testing Signature Files and Newsreaders

Question: How can I test my news post signature(s) and newsreader settings to see how my postings appear?

Answer: AT&T Worldnet Service has created a special test newsgroup, which allows you to adjust and experiment with your settings and news-sending capabilities through posting to this group and then viewing the results. It is preferred that you post test messages to this particular newsgroups so that other members are not disturbed by extraneous postings. To go to the test newsgroup, use the worldnet.test newsgroup:

After you post to this newsgroup, refresh the newsgroup, and see if and how your posting appears. If it does not appear yet, wait a bit and then refresh the newsgroup again. The test group is not monitored. Please do not post support related questions in the test group.

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What is on the World Wide Web

Question: What's available on the World Wide Web?

Answer: Surf's up! For information about the Internet, check out some of these sites:

Meta-indexes such as Hotsheet is a Web site with an incredible number of links to things on the World Wide Web. Topics include search, news, sports, reference, link lists, finance, e-zines, humor, quotes, computers, software, games, travel, atlas, knowledge, reference, movies, music, arts, literature, galleries, health, education, jobs, and lots more.

Check out The December List, which has links to all aspects of Internet life. Fascinating.

For a truly grand smorgasbord from A to Z of WWW offerings, don't miss the World Wide Web Consortium's Virtual Library Subject Catalog. Pick a topic of interest and surf or research until the sun comes up!

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What is the Internet

Question: I'm new to the Internet and it's somewhat confusing. I've used e-mail and been on the Web, but what's the Internet all about?

Answer: You're not alone. Everyone on the 'Net was a newbie once. It just takes a little getting used to. Fortunately for all of us, the Internet itself, and especially the World Wide Web, has loads of informative and entertaining resources made specifically for the newcomer. This answer will provide a basic framework for thinking about the Internet and some of the many resources created especially for new users.

First, keep in mind that what we call the Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networks all connected together, computer by computer, with no central authority or organizing principles. Anyone with a computer, a modem, and software called a TCP/IP stack (the protocol that allows one computer to communicate with another on the Internet) can be a part of the Internet. In fact, your own computer is on the Internet whenever you connect to AT&T Worldnet Service.

Each computer on the Net that provides documents and files to other computers and users is called a server, and the computer you use to get a document from the Internet (like the article you're reading now) is called a client. The software (computer program) you use to get a document or file from the Internet, whether it be e-mail, a newsgroup article (like what you're reading now), or a Web page, is called a client application, or sometimes a browser.

Next, the Internet is made up of a number of different parts, or kinds of servers, each of which runs a particular protocol that enables you to obtain a particular kind (or kinds) of document or file, regardless of which operating system your personal computer uses.

Thus, you will connect to a Post Office Protocol (POP3) server to get your e-mail, to a Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) server to get newsgroups, or a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server to get a Web page, or multimedia document from the World Wide Web. There are more protocols and servers too, like Gopher, Telnet, chat, and FTP (File Transfer Protocol). All these parts of the Internet are discussed at the sites suggested below, some of which have glossaries built in.

A few of the resources suggested as introductory resources for Internet users, with some tutorials and starting points for 'Net newbies, include the following:

The WURD on the Internet, which is a tutorial by and for Worldnet members.

Internet 101 is a set of instructions for people who don't like to read instructions!

An older but still useful site Newbies Anonymous -- A Newcomer's Guide to the Internet.

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What is Usenet or Newsgroups

Question: What is Usenet or newsgroups?

Answer: Usenet is the part of the Internet that carries newsgroups, sometimes called netnews. Below are a number of recommended resources with information about Usenet.


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