Frequently Asked Questions

1. Q. Why is my news server on this list?
   A. The databases for this page are automatically created by gathering information from pages all over the Internet. If your news server is listed here, you are on someones list. To get off my list, send me an email which includes the name of your server and a request to be removed.
2. Q. What is this?
   A. This is a web page which lists UseNet News Servers on the Internet that allow public access to their news.
3. Q. How does it work?
   A. The database for this page is created using a custom Perl script. The script downloads lists from many of the other web pages on the net that list free servers. It then puts any new news servers from these lists into my database. Then it downloads the active list for the oldest machines first, and updates the information in the database for that server.
4. Q. How often is this page updated.
   A. The Perl script is run every hour (at 13 minutes after the hour for those of you who are REALLY concerned). The script is currently only allowed to run for at most 20 minutes to save some of my bandwidth. No server is checked less than 24 hours after it's previous update.
5. Q. Why can't I find a group when I

know that it exists and I know that I typed the name correctly?
A. At the moment I am not indexing most of the non-english language or specialty groups. The list of groups I am indexing is listed below:
alt, comp, misc, news, rec, sci, soc, sybase, talk, webring
If there is some hierarchy that you really want I might consider adding it but I don't plan to index the non-english groups. Q. What is your table of servers showing?
A. The table lists each machine, total groups on the server, total articles on the server in indexed hierarchies, how many new groups have been created since the last check, and how many news articles it has received. Q. Why do some of the servers show the same number of total groups and new groups?
A. If this is the first time that a server has been placed in the database, there is no previous total to count from. This causes the new counts to be artificially inflated from 0 to the current amount. Q. Is this all of the free news servers out there?
A. Not even close. There are probably hundreds (or even thousands) more that I don't have in my list. Including some which occassionally ask me to not list them. I always honor such requests. Q. I can't get to news.foo.com anymore. Why?
A. New servers are being put up, and old ones are getting shut down. Quite often, when a new server is set up, the person that is doing the work is not very familiar with how these servers operate. If they don't block outside access, it might be listed in my list. When they discover their mistake, they close down the free access. Q. What other pages do you search for your list.
A. I am currently harvesting the following pages: