Internet Technologies 简明教程

Usenet Newsgroup

Usenet (USEr NETwork)

像邮件列表一样，Usenet 也是一种共享信息的方式。它是由 Tom Truscott 和 Jim Ellis 于 1979 年发起的。最初它仅限于两个网站，但如今已有数千个 Usenet 网站，涉及数百万人。

Like mailing lists Usenet is also a way of sharing information. It was started by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis in 1979. Initially it was limited to two sites but today there are thousands of Usenet sites involving millions of people.

Usenet 是一种讨论组，人们可以在其中分享他们感兴趣的话题的观点。发布到新闻组的文章将对该新闻组的所有读者开放。

Usenet is a kind of discussion group where people can share views on topic of their interest. The article posted to a newsgroup becomes available to all readers of the newsgroup.

Newsgroup Classification

全世界存在许多新闻组。这些新闻组使用分层命名系统进行区分，其中每个新闻组都分配一个唯一名称，该名称由句点分隔的字母数字字符串组成。

There exist a number of newsgroups distributed all around the world. These are identified using a hierarchical naming system in which each newsgroup is assigned a unique name that consists of alphabetic strings separated by periods.

名称的最左部分代表新闻组的顶级类别，后跟子主题。可以进一步细分或细分子主题（如果需要）。

The leftmost portion of the name represents the top-level category of the newsgroup followed by subtopic. The subtopic can further be subdivided and subdivided even further (if needed).

例如，新闻组 comp.lang.C 包含有关 C 语言的讨论。最左边的部分 comp 将新闻组归类为包含讨论计算机相关主题的新闻组。第二部分确定与计算机语言相关的一个子主题 lang 。第三部分确定了一种计算机语言，在本例中为 C++.

For example, the newsgroup comp.lang.C contains discussion on C language. The leftmost part comp classifies the newsgroup as one that contains discussion of computer related topics. The second part identifies one of the subtopic lang that related to computer languages. The third part identifirs one of the computer languages, in this case C++.

internet newsgroup hierarchy

下表显示了 Usenet 新闻组的顶层层次结构：

The following table shows the top-level hierarchies of Usenet Newsgroup:

Comp.*

Computer related topics including computer hardware, software, languages etc.

Comp.lang.java.beans Comp.database.oracle

News.*

Newsgroup and Usenet topics

News.software.nntp

Rec.*

Artistic activities, hobbies, or recreational activities such as books, movies etc.

Rec.arts.animation

Sci.*

Scientific topics

Sci.bio.botany

Soc.*

Social issues and various culture

Soc.culture.india

Talk.*

Conventional subjects such as religion, politics etc.

Soc.politics.india

Humanities.*

Art, literature, philosophy and culture

Humanities.classics

Misc.*

Miscellaneous topics i.e. issues tat may not fit into other categories

Misc.answers Misc.books.technical

Working of Usenet Newsgroup

当 Outlook Express 等新闻阅读器连接到新闻服务器时，它会下载订阅新闻组中发布的所有新消息。我们在阅读后既可回复消息，也可向新闻服务器发布新闻文章。

When a newsreader such as outlook express connects to a news server, it downloads all the new messages posted in the subscribed newsgroup. We can either reply a message after reading or post a news article to the news server.

发布到新闻服务器的文章被追加到为该新闻组维护的文件中。然后，新闻服务器会与连接到它的其他新闻服务器共享文章。

The article posted to a news server is appended to the file maintained for that newsgroup Then the news server shares article with other news servers that are connected to it.

然后，每个新闻服务器比较两者是否承载相同的新闻组。如果是，则通过比较文件来检查文件中是否有任何新文章，如果有，则将其追加到文件中。

Then each news server compares if both carry the same newsgroup. If yes, then by comparing the files it checks that if there are any new articles in the file, if so they are appended to the file.

新闻服务器的更新文件随后被发送到连接到它的其他新闻服务器。此过程一直持续到所有新闻服务器都更新信息为止。

The updated file of the news servers is then sent to other news servers connected to it. This process is continues until all of the news servers have updated information.

internet usenet newsgroup working

Reading Articles

如果用户想要阅读文章，用户必须使用新闻阅读器连接到新闻服务器。然后，新闻阅读器将显示新闻服务器上可用的新闻组列表，用户可以在其中订阅任何新闻组。订阅后，新闻阅读器将自动从新闻组下载文章。

If user wants to read article, user has to connect to the news server using the newsreader. The newsreader will then display a list of newsgroups available on the news server where user can subscribe to any of the news group. After subscription the newsreader will automatically download articles from the newsgroup.

在阅读文章后，用户可以通过电子邮件回复新闻组或回复发件人。新闻阅读器会保存有关用户订阅的新闻组以及用户在每个组中阅读的文章的信息。

After reading the article user can either post a reply to newsgroup or reply to sender by email. The newwsreader saves information about the subscribed newsgroups and articles read by the user in each group.

Posting an Article

为了向新闻组发送新文章，用户首先需要撰写一篇文章，并指定他/她想要向谁发送文章的新闻组名称。一篇文章可以一次发送到一个或多个新闻组，前提是所有新闻组都位于同一新闻服务器上。

In order to send new article to a newsgroup, user first need to compose an article and specify the names of the newsgroup to whom he/she wants to send. An article can be sent to one or more newsgroup at a time provided all the newsgroups are on same news server.

Replying an Article

在阅读文章后，用户可以通过电子邮件回复新闻组或回复发件人。有两种可用的选项：“回复”和“回复组”。使用“回复”，回复邮件将发送给文章作者，而“回复组”将回复整个新闻组。

After reading the article user can either post a reply to newsgroup or reply to sender by email. There are two options available Reply and Reply group. Using Reply, the reply mail will be sent to the autor of the article while Reply group will send a reply to whole of the newsgroup.

Cancelling an Article

要在文章发送后取消文章，请选择消息，然后单击“消息”>“取消消息”。它将从新闻服务器中取消该消息。但是，如果有人在取消之前下载了文章，那么此人将能够阅读该文章。

To cancle an article after it is sent, select the message and click Message > Cancel message. It will cancle the message from the news server. But if someone has downloaded an article before cancellation then that person will be able to read the article.

Usenet netiquette

在新闻组上发布文章时，应该遵守以下网络礼仪规则：

While posting an article on a newsgroup, one should follow some rules of netiquette as listed below:

  1. Spend some time in understanding a newsgroup when you join it for first time.

  2. Article posted by you should be easy to read, concise and grammatically correct.

  3. Information should be relevant to the article title.

  4. Don’t post same article to multiple newsgroups.

  5. Avoid providing your business email address while subscribing to a newsgroup as may be used by spammers.

  6. Avoid using capital letters as someone may interpret as shouting.

  7. Prefer to use plain text wherever possible in your article.

Mailing list vs. Newsgroup

S.N.

Mailing List

Newsgroup

1.

Messages are delivered to individual mailboxes of subscribed member of group.

Messages are not posted to individual mailboxes but can be viewed by anyone who has subscribed to that newsgroup.

2.

Working with mailing list is easier than newsgroup. It is easy to compose and receive emails.

Working with a particular newsgroup requires proper knowledge of that newsgroup.

3.

In order to send or receive mails, you required an email program.

It requires a newsgroup reader.

4.

Messages are delivered to certain group of people.

Messages are available to public.

5.

Mailing list does not support threaded discussion.

Newsgroup supports threaded discussion.

6.

Messages delivered to listed subscribers can not be cancelled.

Article posted on a newsgroup can be cancelled.