Usenet FAQ

Index

1. What is Usenet or Newsnet?
2. What do I need to read news groups?
3. How do I set up my newsreader for Ziplink?
4. How many news groups does Ziplink have, and do they have all of them?
5. How do I find a news group that interests me?
6. Does Ziplink run any news groups?
7. When I post a message or reply to one does everyone see what I have put up?
8. Why doesn't the message I have posted appear right away?
9. How do I download pictures or files from the news groups?
10. How can I upload a file to one of my usenet posts?
11. Why are files encoded on news groups?
12. Why are there posts in the news groups to buy products or to make money?
13. Does Ziplink censor any of the news groups?
14. How long does Ziplink keep messages that are posted to news groups on the server?

Related information can be found at the FAQ's for the different OS MacOS /Windows95 /WindowsNT /Windows3.1 /Unix

1. Q. What is Usenet or Newsnet?

   A. Usenet or Newsnet is a bulletin board system for the Internet. It is a place where you can go to a Newsgroup on a unique topic and post a message to all of the other Internet users out there, or just read what others have posted.
   
   

2. Q. What do I need to read news groups?

   A. You will need a Newreader. You can find a newsreader at the TUCOWS site. This is a good location to find any software. Both Netscape and Internet Explorer can read news groups also.
   
   

3. Q. How do I set up my newsreader for Ziplink?

   A. Depending on what Newsreader you are using you will need the following information.
   Ziplink news server - news2.ziplink.net
   Ziplink smtp server - smtp.ziplink.net
   Your e-mail address - yourusername(without the p at the beginning)@ziplink.net
   
   

4. Q. How many news groups does Ziplink have, and do they have all of them?

   A. Ziplink has over 16000 news groups though this isn't all of them this is most of the news groups out there. Ziplink is constantly adding new groups as they come into being or are requested by our members.
   
   

5. Q. How do I find a news group that interests me?

   A. This depends on the newsreader you are using and what you are interested in. Most Newreaders have the ability to do a search through titles of news groups. All of them will show you the entire list of news groups, but there are so many of them that it is hard to just scroll through them.
   
   

6. Q. Does Ziplink run any news groups?

   A. Yes Ziplink is using the following groups .
   local.zip.announce
   Only announcements are posted here dealing with the Ziplink service.
   local.zip.talk Here customers help each other out, by posting questions, and suggestions to each other.
   local.zip.software-requests This groups is used to request software to be added to the servers or Unix shell accounts.
   

7. Q. When I post a message or reply to one does everyone see what I have put up?

   A. Yes eventually. It takes time for all of the different news servers to get your post, but they will get it. If you didn't want everyone to see your reply then you should just use e-mail to send you a reply.
   
   

8. Q. Why doesn't the message I posted appear right away?

   A. Because of how the Internet news system works your message may not appear for a little while, but it has been posted unless you have gotten an error message back from your newsreader. Your message will arrive at different times on different news servers across the Internet, but it will make it to all the ones that carry the news group you are posting to eventually.
   
   

9. Q. How do I download pictures or files from the news groups?

   A. If you are using a newsreader other than Netscape then it should have a choice that allows you to download binary files. Most good newsreaders support downloading files. They will do it automatically and put together the differ pieces of the post. If you are downloading a file that has been encoded you may need another piece of software to decode the file after it has been downloaded. Netscape will download picture so that you can see them as they are download, but it doesn't handle multi-part files yet. For more information you should go to the different OS FAQ's. MacOS /Windows95 /WindowsNT /Windows3.1 /Unix
   
   

10. Q. How can I upload a file in one of my usenet posts?

    A. Though we won't know how to do this in your newsreader, you should have a choice that allows you to attach a file on a post. The de facto standard on news posts is UUencoding. Though there are post that are MIME encoded also. Most good newsreaders will do this for you automatically, though some will need a helper applications to do it with. If you file is really big you should break it into smaller posts, but once again most good Newreaders take care of this for you.
    
    

11. Q. Why are files encoded on news groups?

    A. The news system wasn't designed to handle binary files, so they have to be encoded to look like text files before they are uploaded to the news server.
    
    

12. Q. Why are there post in the news groups to buy products or to make money?

    A. Since so many people read news groups there are those who sell products, or who think that Internet users will go for their get rich quick schemes. These people will post adds to the news groups. This is greatly frowned upon. Most readers of news groups dislike this practice greatly. It is called spamming. The best way to deal with it is to ignore it. Remember that it is against Ziplink accepted use policy to just spam news groups.
    
    

13. Q. Does Ziplink censor any of the news groups?

    A. Ziplink doesn't censor any of the news groups it caries. We are just providing access, it would be much more of a legal matter if we did censor new groups because then we could be held responsible for censoring the wrong item or not censoring the right item etc... Ziplink leaves it up to the member to censor themselves. If you don't want to see what is in a unique news group then don't go in to it.
    
    

14. Q. How long does Ziplink keep messages that are posted to news groups on the server?

    A. For groups in the comp.* hierarchy messages are held for 12 days in the other hierarchies it is 8 days.

Related information can be found at the FAQ's for the different OS MacOS /Windows95 /WindowsNT /Windows3.1 /Unix

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