Newsgroups Vs. Listservs

Willie W. Webfoot guides you through newsgroups

Newsgroups Vs. Listservs
or "Broadcast vs. Narrowcast"

"I am a carnivorous fish swimming in two waters, the cold water of art and the hot water of science."

—Salvador Dali

How Are They Similar?
Both Usenet and Mailing Lists take advantage of one to many communication. Whether you are on a mailing list that simply sends information or one in which you can participate in lively discussions, the principal holds true. A single message is delivered to many people. The same holds true for Usenet.

How Are They Different?
USENET is a cooperative network of computers that have agreed to distribute 'netnews'. You might think of USENET as broadcasting, and listserv's as narrowcasting. So the structuring is different. You can access any news group readily as long as you have some type of news reader. To access the information on and participate in a mailing list, you need to subscribe.

Where Should I Start?
Neither USENET or Mailing Lists are better or worse, but there are some things to consider as you begin to explore. Some people do not like to get gobs of e-mail and on a very busy mailing list, you will. On the other hand, you may be just starting to explore the internet, and e-mail may be one of the areas where you already display a whole bunch of self-confidence. In that case, you may feel more comfortable trying your hand at mailing lists. If you are the type of person that likes to learn a little bit of everything at the same time, there is information available on both. No matter how you begin, you will want to start out making a good first impression.

Communicating in a Positive Manner
Human communication is a fascinating subject. When we meet face to face, we interpret the combined signals of another person's vocal tone and volume, facial expressions, eye contact, body language and words to understand another persons ideas. On the phone we rely on vocal tone and volume to help bring meaning to our words. When we communicate in writing, we need to convey all those things that our body normally helps us out with just in words. And for the most part, words make up the communication that takes place in newsgroups.

We've all had the unfortunate experience of both misunderstanding someone else and being misunderstood. It is never fun. The News Netiquette page and the one on E-mail Netiquette will help you to avoid some of the more common errors that people make when they are communicating on the Internet.

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