Exploring
Newsgroups By Jason Thompson
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I explored through some of the generations
newsgroups reports. I found that most students directed their attention towards
driving newsgroups and what and how people conversed about on those newsgroups.
I decided to look at three different kinds of news groups and how people
interact on those. I started by looking at wine, then I
looked at what seems to be the more traditional, driving and
then I looked up one of my hobbies, surfing you
can find newsgroup articles on each of these different topics by clicking on
the topic and then clicking on the find button once you get to the site.
Wine
I accessed a few listings of newsgroup
entries and I was delighted to find that many people accessed wine newsgroups
to exchange information daily. Each day there were a few more entries on the
different wine newsgroups. I chose wine in the hopes of finding information
that would be relevant to my work and also to pose a few questions concerning
how to store wine and also some good books on how to make wine at home. After
going through many articles written to various wine newsgroups I found that
many people had these same questions. I plan to frequent these newsgroups until
someone answers these questions. I am glad to see that many previous questions
by the newsgroup readers were answered within the week in most cases.
1.
Subject: New UK direct wine site
Date: 1999/03/11
Hi,
I have just launched a direct wine sales internet site for the UK. I would be very pleased to receive comments. It is very small but it is a start!
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2.
Subject: Wine Spectator ñ August 1996-Great Wine Cellars
Can anybody help me?
I have recently moved and Iím building a 5,000 cubic cellar. In the move I have ìlost or mislaidî some of my back issues of The Wine Spectator including the August 1996 edition which featured Great Cellars.
We say they do not have back issues for sale. Anyone out there willing to part with their ìcherishedî copy. I would be willing pay a pair price including shipping.
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The newsgroup I got these two entries
from was actually from a newsgroup on alternate usage of the English language.
It was just interesting what kind of topics you could find on different
newsgroups. I chose these entries because it shows how conversations start on
newsgroups due to asking questions and receiving responses. I started by just
looking for articles that were in driving newsgroups. Then I searched through
newsgroup entries just by title name and I came up with these two entries that
are not in a driving newsgroup, but did have something to do with driving. It
was interesting to learn some trivial facts.
1.
Subject: Re: ìDrunk Driving.î
Date: 1999/03/11
In California for many years people would say, ìHe got a ì502î, meaning he was charged with drunk driving. ì502î was the old Penal Code section for DUI or DWI (ie. Driving Under the Influence, or Driving While Intoxicated).
Anyway, what do they call it in England, or Australia? Any short hand terms? (Maybe in Australia itís just called ìDrivingî).
Here we call it standard police procedure.
Hope this helps.
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2.
Subject: Re: ìDrunk Driving.î
Date: 1999/03/11
In Australia itís commonly called drink driving. Donít know why. ìDrunk drivingî makes more sense.
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I chose the newsgroup posting below because
it was a subject first of all that I was interested in and second of all the
topic was one that I am very familiar with. I replied to this entry with a
little bit of insight on what this gentleman could expect this summer on Maui,
since I grew up there and on Oahu. Accessing a newsgroup next time I go on a
trip could be very beneficial in finding inside information on the area I am
planing to visit. I found that most people in newsgroups wrote about waves.
Many articles gave indept ideas of wave formation with explanations that gave me
another lesson in physics. I was glad to find that even surfers from around the
nation have some technical information to discuss with each other, besides just
hyping each other up about who is the best surfer or what is the best spot to
surf.
1.
Subject: SURFING IN HAWAII??????
Date: 1999/03/09
Can any of you guys tell me what the surf is like in the summer (may-august)? On any of the islands. I will be there sometime in early summer (Maui & possibly Oahu). If there is any good surf, where? And how consistent.
thanx..............
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I am going to discuss how I have found
newsgroups to be used by people on the internet. The uses I have found are
informative uses where people exchange information, entertainment reasons in
which people use the information to entertain themselves. Also many people tend
to become friends though newsgroups and start to interact with each other on
social levels
Each newsgroup seems to have a good
amount of productive material being filtered into it. I found that some entries
by readers were short and unelaborate, but some writers have put in great
information that can help other readers find what they are looking for. I was
looking through wine newsgroup entries and I found one entry that is displayed
above which gives a great site to order wine from. The site is www.winebuys.co.uk the site is great for anyone who would like to
purchase wine, see if a certain wine is in stock, or price a wine against a
competitors price. This could be helpful say if I wanted to know how much the
local wine store marks up their prices from that of other places.
Entertainment
Newsgroups can be a great source of
entertainment. I spent about two hours the first time I looked up newsgroup
article descriptions and newsgroup descriptions. It was enjoyable to look up
subjects that I had interest in. The first subject that I spent time on was
wine. I found a few articles where people were obviously bored and started
chating with each other. People on the surfing newsgroups talked about various
things like theories on waves and how they are created and travel to their
destinations.
I personally donít have time and donít enjoy
enjoy chatting on the computer. I found that many people on these different
newsgroups frequent them often and get to know each other on these newsgroups.
People with the same interests can meet other people just by accessing
newsgroups. They can be a great place to acquire information and converse with
other enthusiast. I was happy to find that there were plenty of newsgroup
articles on wine, where to find it, and various other things concerning wine. I
chose to display one of the articles under the wine section in this paper
because the author was interested in wine cellars. I am also interested in wine
cellars and am waiting for a reply by other newsgroup goers.
First of all I learned how to access
newsgroups. I found the easiest way to find what I wanted by using a search
engine on America Online to search newsgroup and newsgroup article
descriptions. The newsgroup article descriptions were great at giving me access
to a large number of informative articles in various newsgroups. Second I found
out how informative newsgroups can be. I found links to great sites and a lot
of trivial knowledge. Most of all I found that a lot of people use newsgroups
and access them daily.
When I started this project I didnít
feel like I was the type of person to access newsgroups. I have accessed chat
rooms before and I didnít find them to be entertaining or worth my time.
Talking to individuals whom you donít know and may not have anything in common
with didnít appeal to me. Some newsgroups turned out to be a great surprise. I
have found that they can be a great source of information. I plan to keep
accessing sites where information on wine is being exchanged. I am also
interested in what other types of newsgroups are out there to be explored.
My feelings during, and
what I would tell the next generation
I enjoyed looking through newsgroups once I
got the hang of it and found out that there was something out there that was of
interest to me. First I want to tell the next generation to be open minded and
explore. I feel the more you explore, the better you will gain a grasp on what
is really out there. I also recommend that one search on items that are of
interest to oneself. This will greatly affect the out come of what you are
trying to accomplish.
My Report1: (Online communities)