NewsgroupDirect :: The Newsgroup Company :: The NewsgroupDirect Heirarchy

The big 8 - The Major hierarchical Categories of Newsgroups

There are 8 primary classifications of newsgroups. These are the original 7 usenet newsgroup hierarchies. The * is a wildcard character. So, for example, comp.microsoft would be in the comp.* hierarchy.

comp.*
Any computer related newsgroup or discussion should be locatd in the comp.* hierarchy.
news.*
Any general usenet news or discussions would be in news.*.
sci.*
There are numerous discussion newsgroups about scientific topics, all of which would fall into the sci.* hierarchy. One of the most important uses for usenet in the early days was for scientists to discuss findings amongst each other, and the sci.* newsgroups provided an organized way to do that.
rec.*
The rec.* newsgroups are for discussions of recreational topics such as games and hobbies.
soc.*
These are the newsgroups devoted to talking about social issues. People also come to thet soc.* groups for socializing with each other.
talk.*
The talk.* newsgroups are typically devoted to heated discussion over contentious social issues.
humanities.*
Newsgroups containing discussion about the arts, literature, etc.
misc.*
The newsgroups in the misc.* hierarchy are typically those that don't make sense in any of the other Big 8 hierarchies.

The Alternative Hierarchy - Alt.*

Because of the difficulty in getting a new Big 8 newsgroup created a new hierarchy was developed where the users had the power to create groups at will. This hierarchy, alt.*, allows discussions on just about any topic and doesn't conform to the same rules as the Big 8. Alt.* newsgroups have thier own hierarchy.

alt.activism.*
Newsgroups where discussion about social activism and awareness take place.
alt.animals.*
People can discuss pets, or animals in general in these newsgroups.
alt.autos.*
The place to be for fans of automobiles and for news about the industry.
alt.binaries.*
These newsgroups are reserved for posting messages containing binary files.
alt.binaries.pictures.*
Posting pictures is one of the favorites pasttimes of newsgroup users. The a.b.pictures.* hierarchy contains newsgroups with pictures for just about anything.
alt.bonehead.*
These interesting newsgroups are home for discussions about particular people, sometimes celebrities.
alt.books.*
Book and author discussion newsgroups.
alt.business.*
Dicussion about various businesses and industries.
alt.comp.*
Computer-related discussion newsgroups.
alt.conspiracy.*
Interesting newsgroups where users trade conspiracy theories and discussions.
alt.culture.*
Various cultures and people are discussed in these newsgroups.
alt.drugs.*
In these newsgroups you can find discussions about many prescription drugs.
alt.family-names.*
Newsgroups for individual family names, such as Jones. Useful for geneaology research.
alt.fan.*
Fans of just about any topic or person can find a group here.
alt.fr.*
alt.* newsgroups with a French twist.
alt.games.*
Dicussion about games of all kinds.
alt.languages.*
Language discussion takes center stage in these newsgroups.
alt.music.*
The newsgroups to read if you want to talk about music or your favorite bands.
alt.personals.*
Usenet: The ORIGINAL online dating service. Check out the alt.personals.* newsgroups if you're interested.
alt.religion.*
Newsgroup discussions about religion.
alt.sex.*
Some of the most popular alt.* newsgroups. Here are you can find discussions about anything related to sex.
alt.sports.*
Sportsfans have thier own place on usenet! The alt.sports.* newsgroups cover just about every sport.
alt.tv.*
Dicuss your favorite TV shows in these newsgroups.