Netsoc

What are newsgroups?

Newsgroups are like bulletin boards or discussion groups. People can
‘post’ messages to them, reply to messages, save messages, reply privately to
messages by email and so on. The concept is not unlike a mailing list, but
it is viewable by all matrix users.

Examples of such newsgroups or ‘groups’ are matrix.tech and
matrix.announce where there are discussions about technical (read:
nerdy) issues relating to matrix and general announcements made by netsoc
respectively.

Intersocs

We also have full access to Intersocs news. Intersocs is a project that is
intended to strengthen ties between third level computing and networking
student societies. What this actually means in a practical sense, is that
we’ve finally gotten Intersocs news set up (and working, no less!).

The beauty of it is that it’s completely centralised, so, for example,
Skynet in UL and Redbrick in DCU (their equivalents of TCD’s Netsoc) should all
be able to access it. How marvellously egalitarian!

There are currently several general intersocs discussion boards such as
intersocs.news and intersocs.general and several topical groups such as
intersocs.music and intersocs.movies, with more being added all the
time.

What’s all this then?

What you can expect: slagging, in-jokes, nerdy technical discussion,
opinionated rants, intelligent discourse, reviews, general chat, slagging,
abuse. And also slagging. Boards in this format have been running for 6
years in DCU and now generate about 500 posts a day. (i.e. they’re very
popular). It might seem a bit tricky to start out with but stick with
it.

How Do I Access the Newsgroups?

For a complete description and tutorial on using the newsgroups, please read our
newsgroups guide.