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I want to know about usenet groups. How do I open them? some links are like comp.something.something.

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What do you currently use to read email? What kind of computer do you use? – DaveParillo Nov 9 '09 at 3:17
I use gmail web interface. I'm in a campus network, with proxy servers. I use desktop. – randy Nov 9 '09 at 4:55
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closed as not a real question by Tom Wijsman, Gareth, ChrisF, techie007, slhck Oct 27 '11 at 10:55

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. See the FAQ.

2 Answers

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If you want something faster than a web-based interface, use a dedicated client. The email programs Thunderbird and Outlook Express can both read news. Point them at your ISP's news server, eg. mine is news.tpg.com.au ; my old one was news.bigpond.com.

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I'm in a campus network, with proxy servers. Can I still be able to read? – randy Nov 9 '09 at 4:59
You'll have to check that for yourself, but the campus might have its own news server. – Hugh Allen Nov 9 '09 at 5:32
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If your ISP does not have a Usenet server (many don't), there are eternal-september.org, aioe.org and x-privat.org. (Remember that posting from public servers, especially Aioe, can be problematic.) – grawity Nov 9 '09 at 13:26
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Google groups is an interface to the usenet groups. If you don't want a different interface then just use google groups.

Usenet is "a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system", an originally pre-web distributed forum. In many ways it is actually pre-internet, as it originally ran on the (usually) serial uucp protocol, with computers calling each other up via modem. Quite strange by today's measure.

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Google Groups actually has more than just a Usenet interface, although you can see Usenet via Google. Suboptimally. – CarlF Nov 9 '09 at 4:46
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