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).