Articles on Usenet are divided into newsgroups. Each newsgroup is dedicated to the discussion of one particular topic. Rensselaer subscribes to over 1600 newsgroups and some newsgroups receive over 100 articles per day.
There are many categories in which newsgroup topics fall. The beginning of a newsgroup name gives you an idea of the general subject matter, and the rest of the name points to the specific topic. For example, a newsgroup named comp.lang.fortran is about the Fortran language and rec.sports.tennis discusses all aspects of tennis.
Major divisions of groups are listed below:
There are a broad range of topics, covering almost any conceivable item of conversation, with new groups being created on a weekly basis to discuss new topics. While many newsgroups are academically oriented, a large portion are social groups or general discussion groups.