sec-intro-usenetUSENET newsgroups
USENET is a worldwide electronic news and discussion forum with a heavy contingent of so-called ``newsgroups''---discussion areas devoted to a particular topic. Much of the development of Linux has been done over the waves of the Internet and USENET, and not suprisingly there are a number of USENET newsgroups available for discussions about Linux.
The original Linux newsgroup was alt.os.linux, and was created to move some of the discussions about Linux out of comp.os.minix and the various mailing lists. Soon, the traffic on alt.os.linux grew to be large enough that a newsgroup in the comp hierarchy was warranted; a vote was taken in February of 1992, and comp.os.linux was created.
comp.os.linux quickly became one of the most popular (and loudest) USENET groups; more popular than any other comp.os group. In December of 1992, a vote was taken to split the newsgroup in order to reduce traffic; only comp.os.linux.announce passed this vote. In July of 1993, the group was finally split into the new hierarchy. Almost 2000 people voted in the comp.os.linux reorganization, making it one of the largest USENET Call For Votes ever.
If you do not have direct USENET access, but are able to send and receive electronic mail from the Internet, there are mail-to-news gateways available for each of the newsgroups below.
It should be noted that the newsgroup comp.os.linux, which was originally the only Linux group, has been superseded by the new hierarchy of groups. If you have access to comp.os.linux, but not to the newer Linux groups listed above, encourage your news administrator to create the new groups on your system.