PRIMER: Overview Netiquette E-mail/Chat Mailing Lists Newsgroups FTP File Transfer Telnet Gopher Websites/Web Search Cite Sources Make A Bookmark Page Create A Home Page

Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Inc. The Genealogist's Internet Primer, by Sharon L. Brevoort Newsgroups A newsgroup is a conference, forum, or special-interest group which contains related queries and messages submitted by participants to a central server location. From there, the messages can be read by other participants. Newsgroups are similar to mailing lists except that they are accessed through a newsreader instead of e-mail (some may be accessed through the browser provided by your service provider). There are over 40 Usenet newsgroups of interest to genealogists, each with a particular focus and all free. These are especially useful for overcoming stumbling blocks or tackling unusual problems. To read newsgroup messages and post your own contributions, you will need a newsgroup reader such as Free Agent, Netscape News, or the one provided by your service provider. Some newsgroups can be received as mailing lists. The soc.genealogy.misc newsgroup, for example, can be received from the GENMSC-L mailing list. Both Cyndi's List and Genealogical Resources on the Internet list each corresponding newsgroup and mailing list. Accessing a Newsgroup How you access newsgroups depends on your browser and/or newsreader software. You may be able to type the newsgroup URL directly on the command line of your browser or link to one you find listed on a web page. You may be able to type the name of the newsgroup on the command line of your newsreader. You may be able to subscribe to newsgroups from within your newsreader by listing those available and selecting the ones you want. (This is not the same as subscribing to a mailing list where you must register with the list owner; the newsgroup "subscription" is just a way to select newsgroups of interest locally within your newsreader.) AOL: select "Internet", "Internet Extras", "Newsgroups". Participating in Discussion Read the newsgroup for a week or more before posting your first message to get a feel for the tone; this is known as "lurking". Read the FAQ and follow any posted guidelines. Keep to the list topic and adhere to any formatting requirements. Practice good netiquette, and take care to post messages only to the appropriate newsgroup(s). There are two ways to respond to a message. If your response is of general interest, just reply to the message, including the part of the original message to which you are responding. If not, send e-mail directly to the person who posted that message. If the group is moderated, your message will be screened before it is officially posted for others to read. Your newsreader may give you the option to avoid any messages containing particular words, phrases, or names you don't want to see. Newsgroup FAQs The soc.genealogy newsgroups have put together all essential information on the time-saving FAQ pages listed below. A FAQ is a list of frequently asked questions and the oft-repeated answers. To make the best use of your time and everyone else's, read these before joining any of the soc.genealogy newsgroups. Then select the appropriate newsgroup for your message. In addition to the addresses listed below, FAQs are regularly posted once a month to their respective newsgroups. There are even newsgroups devoted to FAQs! Try news.announce.newusers for articles about Usenet newsgroups, news.answers for FAQs from many different newsgroups, and news.newusers.questions for answers not found in the FAQs. FAQ: soc.genealogy FAQ: getting started in genealogy FAQ: netiquette http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/genuki/ http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/genuki/ new_user.html http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/genuki/ netiquette.html This page lists and describes about 25 newsgroups covering various nationalities, ethnic groups, linguistic cultures, medieval research, research methods, genealogical computing, products and services, and miscellaneous topics (doesn't fit anywhere else). Here are just a few: Alternate Computing Miscellany Products & services Research methods Surname queries news:alt.genealogy news:soc.genealogy.computing news:soc.genealogy.misc news:soc.genealogy.marketplace news:soc.genealogy.methods news:soc.genealogy.surnames FAQ: soc.genealogy.misc http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/genuki/ socgmisc.html ...contains a wealth of general information such as where to get online information and guidance, how to receive soc.genealogy.misc postings by e-mail from their mailing list (as a digest, index, or as separate messages), how to get archived messages, how to get a LISTSERV index, how to get GENEALOG files, and how to use the Roots Surname List. Meta-FAQ: soc.genealogy http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/genuki/ meta-faq.html ...summarizes and points to a multitude of FAQs of interest to genealogists. FAQ: soc.genealogy.surnames ftp://ftp.netcom.com under subdirectory /pub/wc/wcmills/gen/ ...describes the standard format for surname queries and tiny tafels. Other FAQs at the same site include "Commonly used place name abbreviations", "German surname queries", "Queries, good and bad" and "The soc.genealogy.surnames archive". Here is just a sampling of a few more FAQs: FAQ: soc.genealogy.marketplace FAQ: soc.genealogy.african FAQ: soc.genealogy.german FAQ: soc.genealogy.jewish FAQ: soc.genealogy.uk+ireland FAQ: soc.genealogy.scottish FAQ: US Social Security FAQ: F.B.I. & genealogy FAQ: Army/Navy/Marine http://www.prairienet.org/~mjolson/ market.html http://members.aol.com/memery/faq/ http://w3g.med.uni-giessen.de/gene/faqs/sgg.html http://www1.jewishgen.org/infofiles/faq.html http://www.herald.co.uk/local_info/genuki/ socguki.html http://www.scot.demon.co.uk/ scotfaq.html http://users.aol.com/rechtman/ ssafaq.html http://users.aol.com/rechtman/fbi.html http://users.aol.com/rechtman/ faq-army.html Lists of Newsgroups Gen. Resources on the Internet: John Fuller's Newsgroup List Cyndi's List: Newsgroups NGS NetGuide (section I.2.) http://members.aol.com/johnf14246/ gen_use.html http://www.CyndisList.com/mailnews.htm http://www.genealogy.org/~ngs/netguide/ welcome.html

The Genealogist's Internet Primer: Overview | Netiquette | E-mail/Chat | Mailing Lists | Newsgroups | FTP | Telnet Gopher | Websites | Cite Sources | Bookmark Page | Create Home Page Copyright © 1998-2007, Sharon L. Brevoort. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Permission to print a single copy for personal use is granted. http://www.hvcn.org/info/gswc/primer/newsgroup.htm Revised 15 October 2007. Send comments or changes to Sharon at wwwgswc@aol.com. Images © Corel Corporation.