USENET Hierarchies

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Here is a description of some of the major top-level categories USENET news is organized by:

alt.*

Groups that discuss alternative ways of looking at things. A hierarchy alternative to the mainstream.

bionet.*

Discussions related to biology.

biz.*

Discussions related to business. This news group allows postings of advertisements or other marketing materials; such activity is not allowed in other groups

comp.*

Computer science and related topics. This includes computer science 'proper', software sources, information on hardware and software systems, and topics of general interest.

gnu.*

Free Software Foundation and its GNU project.

ieee.*

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

k12.*

K-12 school teachers, and other education-based stuff.

misc.*

Anything that does not fit into any of the other categories.

news.*

Groups concerned with the news network and news software. If you are new, you should read these for a while, especially news.announce.newusers

rec.*

Groups discussing hobbies, recreational activities, and the arts.

sci.*

Groups discussing scientific research and applications (other than computer science). This includes newsgroups for many of the established scientific and engineering disciplines, including some social sciences.

soc.*

Groups that address social issues, where social can mean 'politically relevant' or 'socializing', or anything in between

talk.*

Groups that are a forum for debate on controversial topics.

vmsnet.*

Groups related to DEC VAX/VMS and DECNET computer systems.