A newsgroup is a more laid back format for communicating with others on a certain topic than live chat rooms. Newsgroups are usually related to one specific interest though many times off topic subjects will flare up.
For instance, you may subscribe to alt.passions.tv to communicate with others interested in the soap opera, "Passions" and find many strings of conversation ranging from what the characters were wearing, those who met or have seen the stars elsewhere, the plot, spoilers to things like flames, spam, and way off topic subjects like birthdays, holidays or alien spottings (but if you ever saw Passions, that may not be really off topic.)
If you are on AOL, you can access the newsgroups by looking at the top of the menu choices for "Internet" and look for "Newsgroups" (the exact wording will be different depending on which version of AOL you use.) Click on "Find Newsgroups" and enter the subject of your choice. A list of available newsgroups will post and you can subscribe to them or just look before you subscribe.
If you are not on AOL and use Netscape or your IE browser, you can configure your newsgroup settings in the menu which will also be listed along the Internet topics. Both will lead you step by step to set up your account and then allow you to choose your newsgroups.
There are other types of newsgroups that involve you going to a specific site. These can be found at globelists.com, e-groups.com, and listbot.com. You can receive these posts directly in your e-mail as individual posts (which will clutter your inbox fast) or in a condensed version (once or twice a day all e-mail is fused into one long e-mail.) You also have the option to just view the posts at the web site.
Newsgroups are the best places to meet people and make friends. They are also the best places to get spammed, make enemies, and find trouble.
Just think of a newgroup as a big meeting place of strangers coming together for a convention. You may have hard core people on the topic who are almost always there. Some are just curious and will leave when they get bored. Others may just be bored and want to cause trouble. There are people trying to make a sale and mingle with the group in hopes you will eventually buy from them.
As you would in any public area, don't open up too much to a stranger. You would be wise to sit and watch a few threads of conversation for about a week before handing in your two cents to make sure you will not hit a nerve.
Be polite. Be respectful. There are some who deliberately like to cause trouble while others may have just accidentally said the wrong thing which can cause a drawn out flame war. Don't get sucked in. If you stepped on the wrong toes, apologize.
If you are attacked, don't stoop to the same level. Some get kicks out of getting heated responses and will say mean and nasty things about you or to you in a group. If you react the way they hope, they will keep fanning the flames. If you ignore it and rise above this childish behavior, eventually they will give up. The usual members in the group will see who the jerks are from the thread. Don't appear to be a jerk by participating and wasting bandwidth.
Keep track of the groups to which you subscribe. A mistake some newbies make is they subscribe, forget they did, then complain they are being spammed to the group. It makes the newbie really look foolish when they do that. If you are on a newsgroup that you do not wish to be on, find the "unsubscribe" information. Follow the directions and you will not be bothered by them again.
