As of October of 2002, there are around 100,000 Usenet newsgroups, of which approximately a fifth are active. This number varies, depending on the news server carrying the newsgroups.
While it would be impractical for Wikipedia to list each and every newsgroup, several newsgroups are notable and popular, and some have had a considerable history.
Newsgroups of interests include:
- alt.atheism — discusses atheism
- alt.ascii-art — a group for posting, admiring and discussing ASCII art.
- alt.binaries.slack — artwork created by and for the Church of the SubGenius.
- alt.callahans — Spider Robinson's Callahan's Place online
- alt.config — creation of new newsgroups in the alt.* hierarchy.
- alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island — Aglami, core of insanity.
- alt.fan.douglas-adams — discussing the writer Douglas Adams.
- alt.folklore.urban — confirming and debunking myth, rumour and old-wives-tales.
- alt.pub.dragons-inn — play by email gaming and fantasy fiction
- alt.religion.kibology — He who Greps.
- alt.religion.scientology — discussion of the controversial subject of Scientology.
- alt.revisionism — discussion of Holocaust revisionism.
- alt.sex — the first alt.* newsgroup for discussion of sexual topics.
- alt.sex.bondage — discussion of BDSM sex (largely replaced by soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm ).
- alt.sex.stories — text-based erotic stories of all types.
- alt.sexual.abuse.recovery and alt.sexual.abuse.recovery.moderated
- alt.suicide.holiday — pro-choice discussion of suicide.
- alt.sysadmin.recovery — the Scary Devil Monastery.
- alt.talk.creationism — discussion of the pros and cons of creationism.
- alt.tasteless — discussion of subject matter in too poor taste to be discussed elsewhere.
- alt.tv.simpsons — discusses the television show The Simpsons.
- alt.usenet.kooks — discussion of Usenet kooks and their idiosyncratic theories.
- alt.zines — discussion of small-press publications, magazines, and pamphlets (zines).
- news.admin.net-abuse.email — discussion of abuse of email by spammers and other parties.
- news.groups — creation and deletion of newsgroups in the Big 8 (comp.*, humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*, soc.*, and talk.*)
- rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan
- rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc — discussion of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- rec.humor.funny — edited (moderated) jokes.
- rec.arts.erotica — text-based erotic stories — was banned at many sites.
- rec.humor.oracle — Internet humor
- rec.sport.pro-wrestling — general discussion of professional wrestling and current events using wrestling related terms.
- rec.sport.soccer — general discussion of world football (soccer).
- soc.support.youth.gay-lesbian-bi — support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered teenagers and youths.
- talk.bizarre — a newsfroup for experiencing the bizarre.
- talk.origins — evolution-creationism controversy which maintains an extensive FAQ.
See also
- Google Groups contains a complete browsable list of groups at http://groups.google.com/groups?group=*
