Setting Up Newsgroups

Using Newsgroups

Configuring Your
 News Reader
   Outlook Express (PC)
   Outlook Express (Mac)
   Pine & PC-Pine
   Netscape (Mac)

Topics on this page:

• How to set up a local UW USENET newsgroup
• How to set up a global USENET newsgroup

You can have a local UW USENET newgroup set up by filling out the appropriate online Newsgroup Request Form and submitting it to UW Technology Service Center (Service Center).

There are two kinds of local newsgroups that you can create, each with its own respective form that you can fill out: class newsgroups and "other" newsgroups for academic or administrative purposes.

It will take a few working days to process the request and set up the group. You will be notified when the group is ready for posting. You should plan to post an initial message to the group. The first message will make the newsgroup visible to people when they look for it with their newsreader software.

Once the newsgroup is set up, you and your students can read and post messages. (And so can anyone else who gets postings distributed here at the UW.) Reading and posting can be done with Pine or a variety of other mail reading programs.

It is a good idea to clearly establish in the first posting the purpose of the newsgroup and any rules or points of etiquette you want people to follow. Everyone using the newsgroup is subject to the published Guidelines for Use of UW Technology Computer & Network Resources and Ethics in Computer Usage. It would be a good idea to make this clear in the initial posting and refer to the articles available from the UW Home Page.

You can find guidelines for creating a global newsgroup in the news.announce.newusers newsgroup. Look for the article "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup."

If that newsgroup is not available (sometimes it gets out of date and is dropped), send email to:

mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu

send usenet/news.groups/How_to_Create_a_New_Usenet_Newsgroup

"How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" outlines the process which begins with your sending an RFD (Request for Discussion) to "news.announce.newgroups". Your proposal for a newsgroup is then discussed, voted on, and generally approved.