Subject: Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I

From: [email-masked] (David C Lawrence)
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 23:53:16 -0700

Article: news.announce.newgroups.3619
First 60 lines:
 Archive-name: alt-hierarchies/part1
 Original-author: hoptoad!gnu (John Gilmore) and [email-masked] (Gene Spafford)
 Comment: enhanced & edited until 5/93 by [email-masked] (Gene Spafford)
 Last-change: 8 Jun 1995 by [email-masked] (David C Lawrence)
 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 able to find a feed.	In general,
 these groups are not carried by the entire network because of their
 volume, restricted spheres 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, as the only people who get them are those who asked
 to get them.  This freedom is more restricted in the Usenet as a
 whole, because every mainstream posting and every mainstream newsgroup
 name must be acceptable to a much wider audience than is present in
 these hierarchies.  Because of 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;
 software after B 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 [email-masked] 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 to the reply address in the header of this article.
 Alt
 ---
 "alt" is a collection of newsgroups that is being distributed by a
 collection of sites that choose to carry the groups.  Many Usenet
 sites do not receive these groups.  Here is a recent list of many
 active "alt" newsgroups.  It represents a view of the altnet as seen
 by UUNET.  Another view can be found in a set of articles posted
 periodically by Bruce Becker as <[email-masked]> to 
 alt.config, alt.newgroup, alt.answers, news.admin.misc, and news.groups,
 called ``Another listing of newsgroups in the "alt" hierarchy.''
 That list seems to include every alt group he has ever seen.
 alt.0d			Yet another attempt to collect stupid people up front.
 alt.1d			One-dimensional imaging, & the thinking behind it.
 alt.2600		The magazine or the game system.  You decide.
 alt.2600.hope.announce	Hackers on Planet Earth announcements.
 alt.2600.hope.d		Hackers on Planet Earth discussion.
 alt.2600.hope.tech	Technology concerns for Hackers on Planet Earth 1994.
 alt.2600hz		Use alt.mag.2600 instead.
 alt.3d			Three-dimensional imaging.
 alt.3d.sirds		Especially for Single Image Random Dot Stereograms.
 alt.3d.studio		For 3D Studio users.
 alt.aapg.announce	The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

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