Chapter 28. Using Google Groups

Not all the information on the Internet resides on the World Wide Web. For many years, Usenet, an assemblage of topic-specific discussion groups, was one of the most dominant parts of the Internet. Though less influential than it once was, Usenet still existsand, when it comes to searching for information, the messages exchanged in Usenet newsgroups often contain information relevant to the search queries you might have.

The problem with Usenet is that it's difficult to perform a "live" search among all the current newsgroups. Not only are there tens of thousands of groups to search through, you're also faced with the problem of currency. Because individual postings stay available in a newsgroup for only a limited period of time, messages "scroll off" particularly active newsgroups within a matter of days.

Fortunately for all of us, Google maintains a comprehensive archive of Usenet newsgroup messages, past and present. And Google's done Usenet one better, enabling the average user to create his or her own topic-specific discussion groups as part of its Google Groups service.

For all these reasons, Google Groups is a particularly important part of the Google empire. Read on to learn more.