USENET
Sameh Hammouri

Almost every Jordanian has heard of hypnosis at one time or another, but few of us know what hypnosis is all about. Some take it as a synonym to witchcraft and magic; others think it is what a professional brainwasher does before making his victim bark like a dog or do other stuff that he would not dream of doing while fully conscious.

What if there's a place were you can go to get free information, and answers to almost any (realistic) question you have in mind about any topic you could think of? Wouldn't that be grand? Well you're in luck, because the Internet has just the thing for you, it is called Usenet.

Usenet, also commonly known as (Internet News) is a cyber place where lots of people drop notes and information about topics of common interest, and are stored for others to read, and later on, respond to if necessary.

Every topic has its own newsgroup (also known as conference, forum, and discussion group) where people discuss their points of view, debate their beliefs, and share their knowledge. Usenet news gives everyone on the Internet an equal chance to participate in a discussion; no one has priority or seniority over anyone else.

One of the greatest benefits of newsgroups is that you can place any question whatsoever about the topic of interest, and be almost certain that you are going to get a relevant satisfactory answer, depending on a few factors.

Think about it this way: there are some 6,137,000,000 people walking this earth, and according to statistics about 400 million of these use the Internet. A large portion of that Cyber population participates in Internet news groups, so whatever piece of information that you are looking for, there is bound to be at least one person out there capable of helping you to reach that knowledge.

Newsgroup topics range from cooking recipes to National Security. Whether you are the only 15-year old who likes opera music in your neighborhood, or just an ordinary guy who gets a kick out of discussing politics, chances are you will find a newsgroup where you will be able to blend in and fit beautifully, without being judged by the color of your skin, your sex, or even your age.

Unlike newspapers, you do not have to pay money to subscribe. Subscribing or unsubscribing to a newsgroup is always one click away, and contrary to e-mail, you do not have to retrieve every single message on the server (the machine where postings are stored) whether you like it or not. With newsgroups you can actually choose what to download, so if the subject of the message does not appeal to you, or you just hate the sender, you can simply ignore it,

To be able to read and post article on the Internet news database, you need to look up a fast News Server, which is not hard to find if you are willing to pay a small amount of money in exchange for this service. If, on the other hand, you have a problem with digging into your pockets, you can use web-based Usenet free access provided by web sites such as www.deja.com, with the small disadvantage of being less convenient to use.

Of course, like in all other Internet resources, Usenet has its own set of unwritten rules and ethics, which are part of the more general Netiquette (networking etiquette), that you might as well consider taking a look at before using the net.

One good way of grasping what it takes to be an active member in the Internet news community is to lurk around (or read without posting), and to comprehend what other people write in a certain newsgroup before actually attempting to post anything there. This is mostly for your benefit, because if you drop the wrong message at the wrong time to the wrong newsgroup, youare in for flame war; a nasty war of words that you can certainly do without.

Something else to keep in mind before participating in a certain discussion group, is to read that group's FAQ, which is a listing of answers to all the (Frequently Asked Questions) in a certain discussion group. These documents are there to make your job and that of the news groups moderators easier. If your question happens to be a frequently asked question, you will be spared the trouble of asking and waiting for answers, and the group's old-timers would be spared the agony of having to read a posting they have probably read a few dozens times before.