As part of the blueyonder service you are able to access many thousands of newsgroups.

News groups, often referred to as Usenet, enable you to discuss a variety of topics with other Internet users. To enhance communication between customers and blueyonder staff, we provide a number of blueyonder specific groups.

The blueyonder.* hierarchy of newsgroups are private to blueyonder (i.e. not propagated out to Usenet), fall under a number of different general topics, and are strictly non-binary unless otherwise stated below.

A selection of news clients are available, with information on how to configure them being available in the Technical Support Area of our web site.

Reading the newsgroups for a period of time [we suggest a week] before posting is advised, as any problems you are experiencing may be resolved in this time and you may just be asking questions that have been answered before. This is known as "lurking".

Posting the same message to more than one group ("cross-posting" or "multiple posting") is generally not necessary, and is almost always a bad idea. Such messages are likely to be ignored at best, and will draw heavy criticism (not least from fellow posters).

Cross-posting without setting "follow-ups" to a single newsgroup is considered spamming, and such messages will have their follow-ups set by fellow posters and members of Support, if they are not cancelled outright. As your message will be cancelled along with annoying other users, cross posting serves no good purpose.

The "Rules" of Netiquette are clear on this point.

http://kb.indiana.edu/data/affn.html?cust=12244

Our groups are not propagated onto Usenet and cross posting is not permitted without prior permission.

Please see the "Usenet Netiquette FAQ" for more information.

Announcement Groups

Can only be posted to by blueyonder staff, so everything posted here is the official line.

blueyonder.announce

For service announcements from blueyonder staff only. This is the first place to look when you login in order to see any reported problems and fixes, or just general announcements about the service.

Support Groups

For the reporting of support issues to blueyonder staff ONLY. All off topic postings will be "Followed Up" (replies will be directed to a more appropriate group) and/or cancelled.

blueyonder.support.access.dialup

For the specific reporting of diagnostic information with dial-up (standard modem) access to our service ONLY. If you are a dial-up customer and are experiencing routing or network access problems, you should post diagnostic information on these here.

blueyonder.support.access.hi-speed

For the specific reporting of diagnostic information with hi-speed (cable modem) access to our service ONLY. If you are a hi-speed customer and are experiencing routing or network access problems, you should post diagnostic information on these here.

blueyonder.support.mail

For the specific reporting of diagnostic information on blueyonder mail services ONLY.

blueyonder.support.pwp

For the specific reporting of diagnostic information on blueyonder PWP (Personal Web Pages) services ONLY.

blueyonder.support.usenet

For the specific reporting of diagnostic information on blueyonder's Usenet service ONLY. Requests for newsgroup additions may be posted here, once you have checked that they are valid groups on the ISC listings.

blueyonder.support.digitaltv

For the reporting of problems with the Telewest Broadband Digital TV service ONLY.

Feedback Groups

For customers to provide feedback to blueyonder staff.

blueyonder.feedback

Feedback about the Internet services from blueyonder ONLY.

Computing Groups

Discussion and general issues related to specific Computers and Operating Systems.

blueyonder.comp.acorn

Acorn computers.

blueyonder.comp.amiga

Amiga computers.

blueyonder.comp.mac

The Apple Macintosh and general Mac issues.

blueyonder.comp.linux

The LINUX operating system.

blueyonder.comp.nt

The Windows NT operating system.

blueyonder.comp.windows

Windows in general.

Discussion Groups

For users to chat with other users.

blueyonder.discussion.digitaltv

Discussion about Telewest Broadband Digital TV, or Digital TV in general.

blueyonder.discussion.football

General discussion about the beautiful game, from Rio to Rotherham United.

blueyonder.discussion.general

General discussion and chat, including internet related topics such as sites, software and applications.

blueyonder.discussion.hi-speed

blueyonder hi-speed service, and broadband internet services in general such as ADSL.

blueyonder.discussion.usenet

Talk about Usenet in general, the usage and trends of news on the Internet.

blueyonder.discussion.pwp

Discussion about using the blueyonder PWP service, including questions of coding & design for customer websites.

blueyonder.discussion.mail

Discussion about the blueyonder e-mail service, or e-mail in general.

Games Groups

Discussion on and around games and on-line gaming. A place to ask fellow gamers for help and advice.

blueyonder.games.general

Discussion about games not covered in other games groups.

blueyonder.games.cs

Discussion on and around the popular game Counter-Strike, a half-life modification, by players of the game.

blueyonder.games.half-life

Discussion on Half-life by Valve Software. A place to ask fellow player for advice, or help. Both for multiplayer, and single player.

blueyonder.games.quake

Discussion on Quake and QuakeWorld by ID software.

blueyonder.games.quake2

Discussion on Quake2 and its conversions.

blueyonder.games.quake3-arena

Discussion on Quake3 Arena by ID software. Also on its conversions and modifications.

blueyonder.games.tfc

Discussion on the Team Based Half-life modification, Team Fortress Classic. A conversion of the original Quakeworld modification.

blueyonder.games.unreal

Discussion on Epic Games' Unreal.

blueyonder.games.ut

Discussion on the multiplayer-based Unreal Tournament.

blueyonder.games.tribes

Discussion on team-based multiplayer games Tribes by Sierra Software.

blueyonder.games.tribes2

Discussion on team-based multiplayer games Tribes 2 by Sierra Software.

Users' Groups

For users to help other users with computing issues.

Note that these groups do not offer any support or guaranteed input from blueyonder staff. They are there at the request of users to enable them to benefit each other.

blueyonder.users.faqs

For users to post the answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that may help out other users and provide reference material for common problems. The Questions themselves should be posted to one of the other Users' groups listed below.

NOTE: This group can only be posted to by specific users. We suggest that you mail your FAQs to Malcolm Pack, who regularly posts FAQs in this group, and he will submit them for you.

blueyonder.users.self-help

A group for users to help each other, frequently featuring advice with Operating System settings, advice on configuring client software and the likes. If you have a problem but it is not a direct blueyonder support issue, this is the best place to start.

blueyonder.users.self-help.networking

For users who are wishing to network their Internet connection. This group is particularly of use to hi-speed customers who wish to run several machines from their cable modem. Although networking isn't supported, it should work fine with the technology provided.

blueyonder.users.security

Security issues and advice.

Test Groups

For posting of test messages. Limited binary postings *ARE* allowed here (and nowhere else). No multipart binaries of copyright infringing material will be permitted - any such postings will be cancelled.

blueyonder.test

For the posting of test messages.

Last Amended : 2003-10-03 by elfin
Original Author : Alex Brown - blueyonder Webmaster