isr.co.ro : glossary Newsgroup One of the many thousands of discussion areas that comprise the Usenet. Each newsgroup is made up of articles (also called "posts" or "postings") and replies to those articles, all in a format that lets specialized "newsreader" programs keep track of articles by factors including subject, date, and whether it's one you've already read. The overall Usenet collection of newsgroups largely follows a hierarchical structure by subject. Group names start with the most general topic, then add a period, and then add the next level division and period until they get to the individual topic area. For example, inside the "sci" (science) domain you'll find "sci.energy," the more detailed "sci.energy.renewable," and the still more detailed "sci.energy.renewable.solar." Newsgroups cover subjects ranging from such serious academic disciplines as computer theory to various esoteric personal obsessions. Some newsgroups are intended for a local geographical area only, while others are distributed by Internet Service Providers or Internet sites around the world. It's up to each site that runs a "news server" to decide which groups to carry. In terms of their organization, newsgroups can be divided into two classes. In unmoderated groups, anybody with Internet access can post an article or reply to the group and it will automatically propagate through the system to all sites that choose to carry that group. In moderated groups, all proposed items are submitted to a "moderator" who then posts those believed to be on topic and of interest to readers of the group.