Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) Introduction Description of Functionality –Select one of more discussion groups of interest –Periodically check to determine whether new items have appeared in a discussion and, if they have, read some or all of them. –Post a note to the discussiongroup for others to read. –Post a note that responds to an item someone else has written. –Like a conventional bulletin board, an electronic bulletin board allows anyone to post a message for others to see. –Like a newspaper, an electronic bulletin board service distributes each message to many subscribers.
Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) –Like a newsletter from a club or social group, the message posted to a given electronic bulletin board focus on a single topic of interest. –Like an electronic mail service, an electronic bulletin board service propagates copies of each message quickly. –Like an informal discussion at a social gathering, an electronic bulletin board permits an individual to listen to a conversation, ask questions, occasionally interject small comments, or contribute lengthy statements. Many Bulletin Boards With Diverse Topics –Because a new electronic bulletin board can be created easily and dividing discussions by topic helps focus the discussion on each bulletin board, man bulletin boards have been created. Network News [USENET]
Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) Newsgroup Names [rec, soc, sci, comp, news, talk, misc, clari] Obtaining Network News And the Software To Read Articles How Network News Appears To A User Checking for News Articles –Because the network news software does not automatically inform a user when a new article arrives in a newsgroup, a user who participates in network news must remember to check for new articles regularily. The network news software keeps information that allows it to determine which articles each user has read.
Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) Article Expiration –Because most computer system administrators establish policies that cause articles to expire after a fixed time, any user who participates in network news must remember to check for new articles regularly or the local computer system may erase articles before the user has read them. Reading Network News Selecting Articles Subscribing And UnSubscribing To Newsgroups –Netnews software handles newsgroup subscriptions locally; the software keeps information about the newsgroups a user has joined and the articles the user has read in a file on the user's disk.
Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) Submitting An Article Moderating Newsgroups Size Of Network News –Because netnews contains thousands of newsgroups and the articles submitted to them each day often exceed 20 million characters, no individual can participate in all newsgroups. How Network News Works Redundant Newsfeeds and Duplicate Elimination –To guarantee that it receives a copy of all netnews articles despite temporary network failures, a given site can have multiple newsfeeds. Users only encounter one copy of each article because the software automatically detects duplicates and stores only a single copy of each.
Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) Relationship Between Netnews And Electronic Mail Impact And Significance Of Network News And Mailing Lists Hints and Conventions For Participating In Discussions –When reading an electronic memo or news article, do not make assumptions about the person who wrote it. The writer may have more or less experience than you. The writer may have more or less expertise on a given topic than you. In short, assume neither that the writer is an expert or a fool. –Suspect any message that appears to have been submitted by a famous person or well-known authority -- the header in an electronic message can be forger, and some people seem to derive pleasure from forging them.
Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) –When composing a submission, remember that it will be read by people whose backgrounds differ from yours. Choose words that accurately express your opinion. Provide evidence for your opinions if you have some available. –As in any social interaction, use restraint. For example, before responding to a provocative or outrageous statement, take time to think. –Do not take insults personally, especially when they respond to a memo you wrote. Remember that the writer does not know you and may not respect your title or position. –Use smileys to convey emotions. –Anything written in all uppercase is assumed to express SCREAMING. –If you are a novice, start by asking for help. Look for FAQs. Lurk first before participating.
Chapter 21 - Bulletin Board Service (Network News) Terms – bulletin board service – computer conference – FAQ – network news (netnews) – news article – newsfeed – newsgroup – USENET