Promotion Via the World Wide Wild - USENET News Groups
About USENET and Posting
One of the earliest Internet applications, USENET was originally conceieved in 1979 as a forum for an organization called "USENIX," a UNIX users group now called the "Advanced Computing Technical Association"; hence the name (it does not stand for "Users Network"). USENET is now a wild and crazy place. Newsgroups are unmoderated for the most part, and are often little more than spam-fests. Although unfamiliar to many Internet users, USENET hosts tens of thousands of newsgroups which are browsed by millions of people from all over the world. Google and some other search engines also index these groups to some extent, so news releases posted here are likely to generate at least some additional interest.
Although officially unmoderated, USENET newsgroups have certain generally accepted rules of decorum. These are enforced by flaming those who violate them. To avoid flame attacks, or being seen as a spammer or an ignorant novice, do not ignore these rules. Because USENET is a great resource for spambots, never include your real name or email address, either in the header or body of your post. Provide only a link to your website. Your news reader will probably not send posts without a valid-looking email address. Rather than make up something or munge your actual address, reverse its username and domain name components - for example, I would change gwarner@boysmindbooks.com to renrawg@skoobdnimsyob.com. That will look less philistine, and is not likely to inadvertently produce anyone else's actual email address.
A post that is just advertising or hype will probably not get anyone's attention. Your modified press release should work fine here, with its regular title used as the subject line. Post it only in groups where it is likely to be relevant and appropriate. For example, to post notes about my SfS book (a book for secretaries of nonprofits), I found only the following nine groups among the 56,000 newsgroups available on my server:
• alt.books
• alt.business
• alt.business.ads
• alt.business.home
• alt.business.misc
• alt.business.seminars
• alt.christian.businessmen
• alt.marketplace.books
• soc.org.nonprofit
For The Manitou Passage Story, a book about a particular aspect of Michigan history, and a story of interest to Northwest Michigan tourists, and visitors to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakershore (NPS) in particular, these newsgroups seemed appropriate:
• can.rec.boating
• alt.books
• alt.coast.guard
• alt.marketplace.books
• alt.support.lonliness.lighthouse-keepers
• alt.travel.lighthouse
• rec.boats
• rec.boats.cruising
• rec.outdoors.national-parks
For Mind Over Monster, s self-help psychology book for preteen and adolescent boys, the situation gets a little dicey. Some of the following newsgroups contain pornographic content, and to the extent that some of it involves underage boys, it would be considered child pornography. One would naturally be reluctant to post anything in these groups, but on the other hand, it seems likely that some of those who do are probably prime candidates for the message this particular book attempt to get across. I decided that I a post in these groups turn out to be to be the spark that helped just one boy, that would be worth risking my reputation for. I did avoid the most atrocious examples of bad taste, however. The groups remaining on the list were these:
• alt.binaries.boys
• alt.binaries.boys.choir-and-soloist
• alt.binaries.multimedia.treblevoices
• alt.binaries.pictures.boys
• alt.books
• alt.fan.prettyboy
• alt.fan.utb.naughty-boy
• alt.gayteen.personals
• alt.marketplace.books
• alt.news.boys
• alt.parents-teens
• alt.psychology
• alt.psychology.personality
• alt.psychology.psychotherapy
• alt.suicide.methods
• alt.support.boylovers
• alt.support.depression.teens
• alt.support.personality
• alt.teens.gay
• ... etc.
News Servers
Most Internet service providers include at least limited access to the USENET system. These news servers usually leave a lot to be desired, but are good for gaining some experience if you are new to this aspect of the Internet. There is also always an assortment of free news servers. These services are also usually limited, however full-featured systems undergoing testing are sometimes temporarily open to anonymous users. Search Google for "free news servers," or check the NewsParrot for an up-to-date list of what's available.
To appreciate the full power of the USENET system, a subscription service is usually the only real alternative. Here, the situation is much brighter; there are several very good and reasonably priced services to choose from. Here are a few that come highly recommended by USENET users:
• UseNetServer.com $14.95/Mo (no limits)
• NewsHosting.com $10.00 for 10Gb/Mo
• EasyNews $9.98 20Gb/Mo (unused gigs roll over)
• Giganews $7.95 2Gb/Mo (rated as "a premium service")
• Newsfeeds.com $4.95 2Gb/Mo (promoted at easiest for newbies
These services all host a full complement of USENET news groups, which currently number upwards of 120,000. Many of those are inactive for one reason or another, so the number of groups in a service's list does not necessarily indicate the quality of their service. Most offer a link where you can review the groups they cover in advance. Sign-up is completed using your credit card, and rebilling occurs automatically each month until you cancel your subscription. If your usage is limited, unused gigabytes are sometimes continuously rolled over. If you use up your bandwidth before the month is out, it's usually very easy to immediately renew your subscription at that point and continue with whatever you were doing when you reached the previous limit. I've been using EasyNews for the past several months, and have never had any complaints. EasyNews offers a web-interface, making it easy to access their system from any computer.
Readers
Windows Outlook Express, which comes with all versions of the Windows operating system as a companion to Internet Explorer, is adequate for text messaging. Otherwise, the only free newsreader that can be recommended is XNews.
XNews is fairly easy to use out of the box. But it also has a lot of capability, so that naturally introduces the possibility of complexity if you wish to change the default configuration in some way. XNews has no help file, as it were. Clicking on "Help" brings up its manual, which isn't always that helpful. Download and install XNews, then browse the tutorials provided by Slyck's Guide to XNews and newZguide, and you will quickly be cruising USENET like a pro.
[-=glw=-]
One of the earliest Internet applications, USENET was originally conceieved in 1979 as a forum for an organization called "USENIX," a UNIX users group now called the "Advanced Computing Technical Association"; hence the name (it does not stand for "Users Network"). USENET is now a wild and crazy place. Newsgroups are unmoderated for the most part, and are often little more than spam-fests. Although unfamiliar to many Internet users, USENET hosts tens of thousands of newsgroups which are browsed by millions of people from all over the world. Google and some other search engines also index these groups to some extent, so news releases posted here are likely to generate at least some additional interest.
Although officially unmoderated, USENET newsgroups have certain generally accepted rules of decorum. These are enforced by flaming those who violate them. To avoid flame attacks, or being seen as a spammer or an ignorant novice, do not ignore these rules. Because USENET is a great resource for spambots, never include your real name or email address, either in the header or body of your post. Provide only a link to your website. Your news reader will probably not send posts without a valid-looking email address. Rather than make up something or munge your actual address, reverse its username and domain name components - for example, I would change gwarner@boysmindbooks.com to renrawg@skoobdnimsyob.com. That will look less philistine, and is not likely to inadvertently produce anyone else's actual email address.
A post that is just advertising or hype will probably not get anyone's attention. Your modified press release should work fine here, with its regular title used as the subject line. Post it only in groups where it is likely to be relevant and appropriate. For example, to post notes about my SfS book (a book for secretaries of nonprofits), I found only the following nine groups among the 56,000 newsgroups available on my server:
• alt.books
• alt.business
• alt.business.ads
• alt.business.home
• alt.business.misc
• alt.business.seminars
• alt.christian.businessmen
• alt.marketplace.books
• soc.org.nonprofit
For The Manitou Passage Story, a book about a particular aspect of Michigan history, and a story of interest to Northwest Michigan tourists, and visitors to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakershore (NPS) in particular, these newsgroups seemed appropriate:
• can.rec.boating
• alt.books
• alt.coast.guard
• alt.marketplace.books
• alt.support.lonliness.lighthouse-keepers
• alt.travel.lighthouse
• rec.boats
• rec.boats.cruising
• rec.outdoors.national-parks
For Mind Over Monster, s self-help psychology book for preteen and adolescent boys, the situation gets a little dicey. Some of the following newsgroups contain pornographic content, and to the extent that some of it involves underage boys, it would be considered child pornography. One would naturally be reluctant to post anything in these groups, but on the other hand, it seems likely that some of those who do are probably prime candidates for the message this particular book attempt to get across. I decided that I a post in these groups turn out to be to be the spark that helped just one boy, that would be worth risking my reputation for. I did avoid the most atrocious examples of bad taste, however. The groups remaining on the list were these:
• alt.binaries.boys
• alt.binaries.boys.choir-and-soloist
• alt.binaries.multimedia.treblevoices
• alt.binaries.pictures.boys
• alt.books
• alt.fan.prettyboy
• alt.fan.utb.naughty-boy
• alt.gayteen.personals
• alt.marketplace.books
• alt.news.boys
• alt.parents-teens
• alt.psychology
• alt.psychology.personality
• alt.psychology.psychotherapy
• alt.suicide.methods
• alt.support.boylovers
• alt.support.depression.teens
• alt.support.personality
• alt.teens.gay
• ... etc.
News Servers
Most Internet service providers include at least limited access to the USENET system. These news servers usually leave a lot to be desired, but are good for gaining some experience if you are new to this aspect of the Internet. There is also always an assortment of free news servers. These services are also usually limited, however full-featured systems undergoing testing are sometimes temporarily open to anonymous users. Search Google for "free news servers," or check the NewsParrot for an up-to-date list of what's available.
To appreciate the full power of the USENET system, a subscription service is usually the only real alternative. Here, the situation is much brighter; there are several very good and reasonably priced services to choose from. Here are a few that come highly recommended by USENET users:
• UseNetServer.com $14.95/Mo (no limits)
• NewsHosting.com $10.00 for 10Gb/Mo
• EasyNews $9.98 20Gb/Mo (unused gigs roll over)
• Giganews $7.95 2Gb/Mo (rated as "a premium service")
• Newsfeeds.com $4.95 2Gb/Mo (promoted at easiest for newbies
These services all host a full complement of USENET news groups, which currently number upwards of 120,000. Many of those are inactive for one reason or another, so the number of groups in a service's list does not necessarily indicate the quality of their service. Most offer a link where you can review the groups they cover in advance. Sign-up is completed using your credit card, and rebilling occurs automatically each month until you cancel your subscription. If your usage is limited, unused gigabytes are sometimes continuously rolled over. If you use up your bandwidth before the month is out, it's usually very easy to immediately renew your subscription at that point and continue with whatever you were doing when you reached the previous limit. I've been using EasyNews for the past several months, and have never had any complaints. EasyNews offers a web-interface, making it easy to access their system from any computer.
Readers
Windows Outlook Express, which comes with all versions of the Windows operating system as a companion to Internet Explorer, is adequate for text messaging. Otherwise, the only free newsreader that can be recommended is XNews.
XNews is fairly easy to use out of the box. But it also has a lot of capability, so that naturally introduces the possibility of complexity if you wish to change the default configuration in some way. XNews has no help file, as it were. Clicking on "Help" brings up its manual, which isn't always that helpful. Download and install XNews, then browse the tutorials provided by Slyck's Guide to XNews and newZguide, and you will quickly be cruising USENET like a pro.
[-=glw=-]
Labels: Book Marketing
posted by BoysMind at
10:29 PM
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