THE CUTTING EDGE: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Got a Nose for Newsgroups? Here Are Some Nifty Search Tools

With all this talk about the World Wide Web, you’d think it was the only thing on the Internet worth using. But for my money, the discussion forums known as newsgroups are just about the most valuable resource out there. Where else can you easily learn about holistic methods for ridding your pet of fleas, whether a high-priced modem is really worth the extra money, or what the writer Laurie Colwin died of? (She succumbed to heart failure.)

I know, I know: A lot of newsgroup postings are garbage--immature ravings, endless arguments (known as flame wars), often over arcane points, and ill-informed or lazy queries from people who ask a question that would require a book-length response (e.g.: “How do I build a house? Please e-mail me, I don’t normally read this group. Thanks.”)

It’s all true. I’ve cut back the amount of time I spend “reading news,” as the activity is known. Rare is the posting that can compete with a good book, or even some good journalism, in my opinion. Yet there is still much of interest on Usenet, the insiders’ term for all these newsgroups.

Lately I’ve found that this great resource becomes all the more powerful when used in conjunction with the World Wide Web. Veteran Web surfers, for instance, know that Netscape makes a perfectly good way of reading Usenet newsgroups (to read the newsgroup rec.arts.tv, for instance, you just type in news:rec.arts.tv). I believe most other browsers work this way as well, though I haven’t tested them all.

But did you know that a great new World Wide Web tool, available for free, makes it possible to search thousands of newsgroup postings instantly? It’s called DejaNews, and it’s very useful. To access DejaNews, point your Web browser at https://www.dejanews.com/.

(You can also reach DejaNews via the Usenet Info Center Launch Pad at https://sunsite.unc.edu/usenet-i/, a nice all-around World Wide Web gateway to the riches of Usenet. Here you will be offered a menu of choices allowing you to search for newsgroups, access various newsgroup archives and so forth.)

I’ve used DejaNews, and I was impressed by its great speed and flexibility. I typed Milan Kundera into the search field, and in a matter of seconds got 82 hits going back to April. These are arrayed in a convenient list that includes who wrote each posting. Click on the posting and it appears on screen. Click on its heading and you get the entire thread, which is extremely useful for following a discussion. Go back to the list of your search results, click on the author of a posting and you get a list of this individual’s postings, all over Usenet!

Steve Madere, president of Austin, Tex.-based Deja News Inc., says his company is now indexing six months of Usenet, which amounts to about 16 gigabytes, but that it will soon make available 18 months’ worth, or 30 gigabytes in all. The company relies on custom-developed software that excels at handling gigantic databases.

Madere says his service doesn’t yet include newsgroups in the alt., soc. or talk. hierarchies but will be adding them in the next three weeks. Binary files (pictures, mostly) will continue to be excluded.

As to how Deja News will profit by all this, Madere said it is looking at several possible models, including selling advertising or charging for part of its service.

Web users can also search Usenet using InfoSeek (https://www.infoseek.com), one of my favorite search tools. You may have tried InfoSeek for Web searches, at which it performs admirably, but if you look at the search screen, you’ll discover that you can search Internet newsgroups if you wish. Although InfoSeek appears to search some groups that DejaNews doesn’t, it only goes back five weeks. Thus, my Milan Kundera search brought up only 39 hits. Also, InfoSeek already charges for the service.

Another useful Web site for Usenet aficionados is at https://tile.net/news/, which offers a searchable list of all Usenet groups. Users can find newsgroups of interest by a variety of means at this site. Data on the groups is offered, as is access to their various FAQs. When you locate a group, the page also shows filled-in search forms for Lycos and the WorlWorld Wide Web Worm, a pair of Web search engines. Using these, you can search for Web pages related to the group you happen to find interesting.

For a list of newsgroups in order of supposed readership, visit ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.lists/, where you can find files containing educated guesses at the readership of many Usenet newsgroups. As you might expect, some of the sex groups rank awfully high.

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Using the Usenet

If you use Usenet, it’s important to keep some common sense guidelines in mind, lest you make things worse than they already are by worsening the ratio of noise to signal, as the saying goes.

* As in all writing, economy is the paramount virtue. Be brief and to the point.

* Contribute information. If you saw a relevant article in the Economist or a report on a TV news show, summarize it as briefly and objectively as you can. If someone has posted a question and you know the answer, provide it.

* Make sure what you’re posting belongs where you’re posting it. Don’t wantonly cross-post it to other news groups where it is only marginally relevant.

* Don’t expect others to do all your work for you; if you have a question that can be answered by looking in a dictionary or other handy reference book, look there first.

* If you plan to post a question for others, scan through the group first to see if it’s been asked--and answered--already.

* Don’t try to sell anything (except, of course, in groups with “marketplace” or “for sale” in their name).

* Avoid flame wars. They’re boring, pointless and a threat to the long-term health of Usenet.

* Try to support opinions with facts and to give both without rancor.

* Take the time to use upper and lower case letters, proper spelling and reasonable grammar.

* If you’re posting a follow-up, quote any necessary parts of the earlier posting, but only the necessary parts.

* Read the FAQ; these compendiums of frequently asked questions can save you and everybody else a lot of time.

* Daniel Akst can be reached at Dan.Akst@latimes.com. His World Wide Web page is at https://www.caprica.com/~akst