A list of Mac related Usenet newsgroups * current as of 9/25/95 *
Note: depending on your newsfeed or news server you may not be able to receive all the newsgroups mentioned here. If you do not receive a particular newsgroup and are interested in getting it - then call or email your service's System Administrator (SysAdmin) or Cust. Service Representative or SysOp (System Operator) or News Administrator and ask (nicely at first) about receiving that particular newsgroup.
If you want a list of over 12,000 newsgroups with their descriptions, from which the lines above were taken, FTP to ftp.uu.net, and get the file /networking/news/config/newsgroups. (This file may contain some newsgroups which your site does not receive, and it may omit some local groups. Ask your local news administrator for details.)
If you don't have access to FTP, mailto://ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk which will send instructions on how to download files by mail.
The two post subjects to look for are "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and "Usenet Newsgroup Creation Companion." You can also get these two files via FTP from:
You will have to search for the specific newsgroup or a wildcard (*) will get all the newsgroups that have FAQs posted (that's in the thousands folks!)
If you're in a hurry, you can get them by sending mail to:
with a blank subject line, and with one or more of the following commands in the message body: send usenet/news.answers/*
The wild card in this email request cannot actually be used. It was used explanatory purposes only. Instead of the wildcard (*) please insert the newsgroup you want to request the FAQ from.
Check this out - every - that's right - every FAQ from every Usenet group that has one available. When someone in your newsgroup shouts "read the FAQ!" you'll know where to find it - or - you'll know where to tell some one to go to find the FAQ. No more excuses. Our thanks to Ohio State Univ.
For the education of others who may have the same problem: several schemes are detailed in the FAQ "How to Receive Banned Newsgroups," which may be obtained by sending e-mail as follows:
This will return to you a list of all the people WHO HAVE POSTED to usenet that have [name] in their address. For example, if you were trying to locate MY address you would send a message that says: send usenet-addresses/francis
This doesn't always work as the person's address may not contain the [name] you are searching for, but it's one resource. You could also try the Internic Directory service. To do so, send a message to:
Multiple commands ARE allowed so you could search several names at once.
If you have any comments or questions about the service, send a message to :
At this site there is a list of pretty much every internet access provider in the world. It is organized by country and area code. So if you know the area code you're in, it will give you a list of all the access providers which you can reach with a local call, usually along with their prices. (Well, some of your area code might not be a "local call," but you can easily weed out the providers by looking at their phone numbers.)
If you don't have access to the World Wide Web, but you are able to do "telnet," you can get on the Web indirectly. Telnet to one of the following two places:
No password is required. This is in Switzerland, so continental US users might be better off using a closer browser.
New Jersey Institute of Technology - USA. Log in as www.
Now you're on the World Wide Web -- see the directions above.
There are some regular text documents listing the intenet providers, but they're a pain in the ass and seem to be out of date. But you can use e-mail to get on the World Wide Web. To do this, (from the WWW FAQ):
Send email to mailto://listproc0@www.cern.ch containing the following single line. (What you put on the subject line doesn't matter; blank is OK. This line should go in the text of the message.) You will receive as a reply a simple page intended to help you learn more about the Web.
Read what they send you, follow its directions, and go to the "http://..." address listed at the beginning of this message.
OR
To find out how to deal with the encoded pictures which are posted in some newsgroups, please read Jim Howard's "alt.binaries.pictures FAQ", which is posted to the following newsgroups:
If they're not there, they've probably expired at your site. However, they're re-posted regularly (at least once a month, usually), so if you wait a while, new copies will appear eventually.
If you're in a hurry, you can get them by sending mail to mailto://mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu, with a blank subject line, and with one or more of the following commands in the message body:
These sites have been found to be available to the general public for NNTP service through port 119. You will need Newsreader software to make use of these sites. These sites were found to be open at the time they were surveyed, but I make no guarantees about future access. News administrators are free to close off sites to the public at any time. I will remove any site from this list that asks to be removed.
I have not surveyed what is available at each of these sites. Please do not overload these sites looking for pornography. The administrators of these sites have been notified about this list, and they are unlikely to make prurient material available to the public. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE A GUEST IN MAKING USE OF THESE FACILITIES. The news adminstrators who support open access to the Usenet News are voluntarily doing a service for the public. PLEASE SHOW GRATITUDE FOR THEIR EFFORTS BY NOT ABUSING THE ACCESS THAT IS PROVIDED!
Please remember also that you can also use Gopher to access the Usenet news. After the list of news servers that are listed directly below, a list of gopher sites comes afterwards.
You must have newsreader software to use these sites!
You can edit this list and include whatever parts are of interest in the bookmark file for your Gopher client. Alternatively you can point your client directly at the site. On a UNIX system, for example, you could point your Gopher client at the La Tech Usenet site with the command
gopher -p '1/Usenet News' aurora.engr.latech.edu 70.
The general format for the command in Unix is
gopher -p 'PATH' host_name port#.
Of course if you are connected via SLIP/PPP then you can use your graphical Gopher client (TurboGopher or similar) to access these newsreading sites.
Remember - You cannot post news articles via Gopher!
Type=1 Name=USENET News @ LaTech Path=1/Usenet News Host=aurora.engr.latech.edu Port=70
Type=1 Name=USENET News (from Michigan State) Path=nntp Host=gopher.msu.edu Port=4320
Type=1 Name=Usenet News (Oakland University) Path=nntp Host=gopher.acs.oakland.edu Port=4320
Type=1 Name=USENET News from University of California, Irvine Path=nntp Host=cwis.oac.uci.edu Port=4324
Type=1 Name=USENET News (San Diego State University) Path=nntp Host=teetot.acusd.edu Port=4320
Type=1 Name=Usenet News Reader (Northwestern University) Path=nntp Host=nuinfo.nwu.edu Port=4321
Type=1 Name=USMA News Spooler (USENET) Path=1/USMA News Spooler (USENET) Host=euler.math.usma.edu Port=70
Type=1 Name=Usenet News (Loyola U Chicago) Path=1/Internet/Usenet News Host=orion.it.luc.edu Port=70
Type=1 Name=USENET News(University of Missouri-Rolla) Path=1 Host=phoenix.cc.umr.edu Port=74
Type=1 Name=USENET News (Ball State University) Path=nntp Host=phantom.bsu.edu Port=4320
Type=1 Name=USENET News (Brigham Young University) Path=nntp Host=phred.math.byu.edu Port=4321
Type=1 Name=USENET News Groups (Illinois State University) Path=nntp Host=rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu Port=4320
Type=1 Name=Usenet News (University of Pennsylvania) Path=nntp Host=ccat.sas.upenn.edu Port=4324
Type=1 Name=USENET News (South Dakota State University) Path=nntp Host=gopher.sdsu.edu Port=4320
Type=1 Name=Usenet News (University of Minnesota 1) Path=nntp Host=mudhoney.micro.umn.edu Port=4324
Type=1 Name=USENET News (University of Minnesota 2) Path=nntp Host=pinchy.micro.umn.EDU Port=4324
Type=1 Name=USENET News (San Diego Supercomputer Center) Path=1/News/Usenet Host=milo.sdsc.edu Port=70
Type=1 Name=USENET News (Virginia Tech) Path=nntp Host=morse.cns.vt.edu Port=4320
Type=1 Name=USENET News (Gettysburg College) Path=nntp Host=jupiter.cc.gettysburg.edu Port=3030
Type=1 Name=Usenet News Reader (Queen's University, Canada) Path=nntp Host=knot.queensu.ca Port=17502
Type=1 Name=USENET News (University of Manitoba) Path=nntp Host=gopher.cc.umanitoba.ca Port=4320
Type=1 Name=Usenet News Reader (Ponitificia Universidad Catolica de Chile) Path= Host=tolten.puc.cl Port=72
Type=1 Name=Usenet News (University of Iceland) Path=nntp Host=hengill.rhi.hi.is Port=4324
Type=1 Name=Usenet News Reader (University of Manchester) Path=nntp Host=info.mcc.ac.uk Port=4320
Type=1 Name=Usenet News Reader (University of Birmingham) Path=1/Usenet Host=rs6000.bham.ac.uk Port=70
Type=1 Name=USENET News (Imperial College, UK) Path=nntp Host=gopher.ic.ac.uk Port=4320
Type=1 Name=USENET News (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences ) Path=nntp Host=pinus.slu.se Port=4324
Type=1 Name=USENET News DENet (Danish Academic Network) Path=nntp Host=gopher.denet.dk Port=4320
Type=1 Name=UseNet News (Queen Mary and Westfield College, UK) Path=1/usenet Host=alpha.qmw.ac.uk Port=70
Type=1 Name=USENET News (University of Tampere, Finland) Path=nntp Host=anemone.uta.fi Port=6671
Type=1 Name=Usenet News Reader (National Sun-Yat Sen University, Taiwan) Path=nntp Host=cc.nsysu.edu.tw Port=4320
Type=1 Name=Usenet News Reader (Australian National University) Path=nntp Host=info.anu.edu.au Port=71
Type=1 Name=USENET News(The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) Path=1/Miscellany/USENET News Host=brolga.cc.uq.oz.au Port=70
Type=1 Name=USENET News (University of Canberra, Australia) Path=nntp Host=services.canberra.edu.au Port=4320