Using newsgroups in your job search

Black Collegian, Oct 1996 by Johnson, Jacinda R

You're journeying down the Information Superhighway. You've surfed the Web. You've sent Email daily. You've spent countless hours on chat lines. Now, it's time for Usenet newsgroups.

Usenet is a network of machines that exchange mail on the basis of a particular topic. It is one of the most popular segments of the Internet. Newsgroups are maintained by educational institutions, corporations, and people who agree to exchange informa- tion.

Usenet newsgroups are arranged hierarchically by category. The eight major news categories are the following:

alt - "Alternative" subjects

comp - Computer science and related topics

rec - Recreational topics, hobbies, arts

sci - Scientific subjects

soc - Social issues

talk - Debates on controversial issues

misc - Anything that does not fall into a specific category

news - General newsgroup information

All of the categories, except for alt, are generally carried worldwide. The alt groups are usually selectively distributed, because of their subject matter.

The title of the newsgroup identifies the subject. For example, rec.music involves a discussion of music in general. Most subjects have additional subgroups to discuss specific areas of a general topic. For example rec.music.funky is dedicated to funk aficionados.

Some newsgroups are arranged according to geographic regions. For example, atl - Atlanta, ba-Bay Area, chi-Chicago, dc-Washington, DC, to name a few, have several newsgroups of local and national interest, especially for job-seekers.

Any operating system can access Usenet, if news reader software is installed. There is no standard news reader, but the basic features (selecting a newsgroup, searching for topics) are similar. You can read news on every operating system and through most Internet Service Providers, as well as through the World Wide Web. The UNK operating system has tin, nn, tm, m, and xm, to name a few. Free Agent is a freeware (software provided free by its originator) news reader for Windows that can be found on http: Ihv hw.for te inc.com /forte/. To read news articles on Compuserve, after Go type Usenet, then follow the prompts. On America Online, click the Internet Connection icon, then click the Newsgroups Liz icon. Contact your systems administrator or Internet Service Provider for more detailed information.

Most newsreaders use a file called .newsrc to keep track of which newsgroups you are subscribed to and which articles you have read. The .newsrc file also contains a list of all newsgroups handled by the system. When you first use a news reader, the .newsrc file is created for you. Some systems require you to manually select the newsgroups that interest you which can be time-consuming, especially if your system carries all pubic newsgroups. Or you can use DejaNews(TM) at http://www. dejanews.com/. DejaNews searches Usenet/newsgroups and finds the topic you are interested in by a weighted search criteria that sorts information based on the number of occurrences of the word you have entered.

If you are a newcomer to Usenet, you're a "newbie." There are basic newbie questions which are easily answered by simply reading the newsgroup. The most common newbie questions are found in the newsgroups' Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) post. FAQs provide lots of background information on the newsgroup regarding history and rules. As a newbie, you should read the newsgroups, news.newusers. questions and news.announce. newusers, before posting to other newsgroups. You should "lurk" until you understand the specific rules of the group. A lurker reads the newsgroups, but does not post. It has been estimated that less than 10 percent of all news readers actually post messages. For this reason, you should never post anything you would not say in public-you never know who's reading. An important thing to remember about newsgroups is that it is not like a chat room. There is a wider separation in location and time in discussions found on newsgroups because of the way it is distributed. So don't expect an immediate response. Remember that you are posting to the world.

Should you post and offend someone, you may receive a "flame." A flame happens when one poster gets mad at another and sends an abusive message to the entire newsgroup, but directed at the original poster. So, always be polite.

While reading newsgroups is fun and interesting, posting articles and replying to posts make you feel like a part of the group. Before posting to your favorite newsgroup, send a post to a test newsgroup to ensure that your system is working correctly. The newsgroups, misc.test and alt.test, contain first-time posts from users. Using these test newsgroups prevents the inevitable flames that would come if you posted a test message to an active newsgroup.

Posting Hints

1. Read the FAQ before you post.

2. Post to the correct newsgroup.

3. Do not cross-post (post to more than one newsgroup), if possible.

4. Define your subject clearly.

5. Be polite in your posts.

6. Do not flame unless you want to be flamed.