How Usenet Newsgroups Are Structured

Usenet’s structure is built to support efficient discussion tracking. At its core are newsgroups—topic-specific collections of articles. Each newsgroup belongs to a hierarchy, which helps distinguish subject matter.

The Big 8 hierarchies include:

• comp.* Focuses on computer-related discussions, encompassing both hardware and software topics.​

• humanities.* These groups cover discussions and topics such as religion and spiritualism.

• misc.* Serves as a miscellaneous category for topics that don't align with other specific hierarchies.

• news.* Dedicated to discussions about Usenet itself and news-related content.​

• rec.* Encompasses recreational activities, hobbies, and entertainment topics.​

• sci.* Centers on scientific discussions across various disciplines.​

• soc.* Pertains to social issues, cultural discussions, and societal topics.​

• talk.* Facilitates debates on controversial or open-ended subjects.​

Newsgroup names follow a clear path, such as soc.culture.african. This identifies the group as part of the social discussions hierarchy. UsenetServer’s infrastructure supports reliable access to these discussions across an article retention period spanning over 6,000 days.