Definition: newsgroup

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Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10) 

newsgroup

   <messaging> One of Usenet's huge collection of topic groups
   or fora.  Usenet groups can be "unmoderated" (anyone can
   post) or "moderated" (submissions are automatically directed
   to a moderator, who edits or filters and then posts the
   results).  Some newsgroups have parallel mailing lists for
   Internet people with no netnews access, with postings to the
   group automatically propagated to the list and vice versa.
   Some moderated groups (especially those which are actually
   gatewayed Internet mailing lists) are distributed as
   "digests", with groups of postings periodically collected
   into a single large posting with an index.

   Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the C-language forum),
   comp.arch (on computer architectures), comp.Unix.wizards (for
   Unix wizards), rec.arts.sf-lovers (for science-fiction
   fans), and talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political
   discussions and flamage).

   Barry Shein <bzs@world.std.com> is alleged to have said,
   "Remember the good old days when you could read all the group
   names in one day?"  This gives a good idea of the growth and
   size of Usenet.

   See also netiquette.

   [Jargon File]

   (1994-12-13)

Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) 

newsgroup n. [Usenet] One of Usenet's huge collection of topic groups
   or fora. Usenet groups can be `unmoderated' (anyone can post) or
   `moderated' (submissions are automatically directed to a moderator, who
   edits or filters and then posts the results). Some newsgroups have
   parallel mailing lists for Internet people with no netnews access,
   with postings to the group automatically propagated to the list and vice
   versa. Some moderated groups (especially those which are actually
   gatewayed Internet mailing lists) are distributed as `digests', with
   groups of postings periodically collected into a single large posting
   with an index.

   Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the C-language forum), comp.arch
   (on computer architectures), comp.unix.wizards (for Unix wizards),
   rec.arts.sf.written and siblings (for science-fiction fans), and
   talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political discussions and flamage).