What is a newsgroup name for?
A newsgroup is a collection of articles with a common purpose. A name for a newsgroup serves several purposes. • It tells those who want to read the group that this group is for them. • It tells those who do not want to read the group that this group is not for them. • It classifies similar groups together so that: • the group name can convey more meaning than just what can fit in 14 letters. (e.g. alt.music.monkees vs. alt.monkees) • similar groups can be placed logically nearer to each other in sorted or hierarchical listings. • It makes those who are interested in various aspects of a more general classification more able to find specific groups. (For example, those interested in philosophy can search for “philosophy” in the newsgroup name to find general groups as well as those about specific philosphies like alt.philosophy.zen) • The top-level hieararchy is not a jumbled mess of thousands of newsgroups, with often ambiguous names. • Small sites can more easily choose the kinds of
