How to Find a News Server
Newsgroups are discussion groups whose posts are stored on a network news transfer protocol (nntp) server. Posts made to a newsgroup are sent to every person that subscribes to the group.
News servers predate the World Wide Web. Early news servers only stored text messages. Current news servers are often used to share files including music, software and videos.
Many Internet service providers make a news server available to their users. Other news servers are available for a monthly fee.
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Instructions
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Ask your Internet service provider (ISP) if they have a free news server.
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If your ISP doesn't offer a news server, then search the Slyck database (see Resources) for a premium news server. The database includes information such as monthly pricing plans, server information and user comments.
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Download a newsreader (see Resources). This is the software application you will use to read posts and download files from newsgroups. Many email clients also have newsreader support. Check your email client's documentation to determine this.
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Enter the provided news server address, username and password into your newsreader's account settings.
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Download the list of available newsgroups from the news server.
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Subscribe to any newsgroups that interest you.
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Tips & Warnings
When choosing a premium news server, pay attention to its retention rate and completion rate. The retention rate refers to how long messages and files remain on the server. The completion rate refers to the percentage of files that are complete (all parts of the file have been received by the server) and available for download.
