DejaNews Question

[Thomas Dowling]

----
From: Robert J Tiess <rjtiess at juno.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 26, 1997 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: DejaNews Question

>Dana Pearson <dpearson at eastland.net> writes:
>>Some months back DejaNews began a new service, newsgroup browsing.
>>Since our college does not provide news service, I thought this new
>>service would be a valuable resource in addition to the search service.
>>However, I have encountered puzzling results as I browse and search
>>(I'm producing an orientation video for our students).
>>
>>First of all, there seems to be far fewer newsgroups available fo
>>browsing than the news service offered by my local ISP.  Web4Lib is
>>not included.
>
>Hello, Dana.  DejaNews allows you to search newsgroups.  However
>Web4Lib is not a newsgroup.  It's a listserv, AKA a mailing list,
>something
>like newsgroups but not the same (the main differences being in the
>way information is stored and disseminated from posters to receivers)

One source of confusion is that Deja News does pick up some or all of the
bit.listserv.* Usenet pseudo hierarchy.  Some Bitnet lists are gatewayed
into news feeds (the big gateways are at Pitt and American U, if memory
serves); if your Usenet feed picks up those groups, you can in fact use
your news reader to read and possibly also post on those lists.  PACS-L,
CDROMLAN, and several other library-related lists have alter egos as
bit.listserv.pacs-l, bit.listserv.cdromlan, etc.  To my knowledge, Web4Lib
has never been gatewayed to a news feed, so Deja News gets at least some of
PACS-L and CDROMLAN but none of Web4Lib.

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu