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News or Usenet is a network service that allows a large number of users to exchange messages, discuss and communicate in various ways via the Internet as a global network. Users access by different, sometimes remote servers.

News

Some of the conferences within Usenet are hierarchically organized in the so-called groups. Messages within groups are referred to as articles.

Groups are organized hierarchically. At the first level of division there are eight major hierarchy groups (the big eight in English). Each has a specific area:

  • comp – computers, computer science
  • humanities – humanistic science, art and culture
  • misc – different areas
  • news – themes of Usenet group
  • rec – recreation
  • sci – science and technology
  • soc – social and cultural themes
  • talk – discussions.

In addition to these, there are some more at the first level of division, for example:

  • alt – different, sometimes unusual topics
  • bionet – biology
  • bit – remains of the former bitnet network
  • gnu – themes related to GNU Free Software Foundation.

Also, there are various national hierarchies at the first level of division, for example:

  • hr – Croatian groups
  • si – Slovenian groups
  • it -Italian groups
  • de – German groups
  • at – Austrian groups.

Usenet or News services users access one or more servers through which they send their messages to the world. Servers exchange articles, so the article sent from one server for a short while reaches a large number of readers.

Users

pupils
students
roditelji
CARNET system engineers
e-Citizens
schools
ministries
teachers
professors
scientists
other AAI@EduHr users
public
faculties and colleges
other public institutions

How to Become a User

Full access to the reading and writing of new articles is provided to CARNET members (institutions of science and higher education and primary and secondary education).

Outside CARNET network for users from Croatia (dialup access, ADSL, cable or access via a permanent connection from one of the commercial providers of Internet) and the world, it is also possible to have full access using the electronic identity in the AAI@EduHr (roaming) system.

Without the use of an electronic identity in the AAI@EduHr system outside of CARNET network, it is only possible to read all hr.* groups except those with binary content (binaries groups) and it is not allowed to send articles. This approach is allowed to everyone, regardless of the membership of CARNET member institution.

Instructions for use

No matter which browser is used, the access procedure is similar. The first step is to select a news server. For CARNET news server, please specify: news.carnet.hr

The accessed TCP port is 119, which is standard. The server allows access without authorization within CARNET network (and, with restrictions, beyond it), which means that in most cases it is not necessary to enter a password.

If roaming is used for full access to CARNET network, SSL must be enabled and TCP port 563 (nntps) is used.

The next step is to load newsgroups list, list of all groups that can be viewed on the CARNET news server. As there are about 20,000 groups, this operation lasts a bit longer if the connection to the server is not fast.

The third step is to select groups interesting to individual users (subscription).

After selecting groups, you can browse the articles that are in them. The viewer usually offers a list of topic titles (subject) for each selected group. With each title, there is usually a tag whose purpose is to distinguish between read and unread articles. This information is permanently stored by the browser, as well as the list of groups on the server. The viewer usually reports to the user about the appearance of new groups.

The articles are kept on the server for a certain number of days and are then deleted. That number of days is usually not the same for all groups.

Articles may contain other documents, such as images (usually only in groups containing binaries or the like). Better browsers allow you to view these documents from the program itself.

Deletion of articles from the server posted by mistake

The online news service is a global service where thousands of servers constantly exchange articles through a regular feed mechanism. In this way, the article sent to the server is sent to all the other servers with which the exchange has been established. With this chain of exchanges between servers, the message is globally propagated in a very short time to all the servers that transmit that group. NNTP protocol defines a way to cancel the message (Cancel message), but because of possible misuse, most servers ignore the cancel requests, including the CARNET news server.

Anti-spam System

Due to large amounts of spam, the server uses automatic anti-spam measures. This has a special effect on messages sent to hr.* groups via news servers outside Croatia, especially popular groups.google.com. In the event of a problem (and if there is no special reason), we recommend using your ISP’s news server through which you are connecting to the Internet.

Rules of Conduct

Users of the CARNET network are obliged to comply with the rules of conduct set forth in the Decision on the acceptable use of the CARNET Network (CDA 0035) in working with news groups and distribution lists. The general rules of conduct on the Internet can be found on the Abuse Service page.

Also, there are additional rules of conduct for news groups and distribution lists that are described in the text below. Messages from public distribution lists and news groups are available to a large number of people and are often kept for years in publicly available archives, citing users to make positive or negative conclusions about the authors of these messages. Unacceptable conduct on news groups and distribution lists is sometimes referred to as “abuse”.

News groups

Knowledge of the content and topic of a group or a list.

Before starting active participation in the discussions, it is recommended to spend some time passively following a discussion on a group or a list. Avoid asking questions that have already been replied to on the list. Sometimes there are FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) or OAQ/FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), a list of frequently asked questions that should definitely be studied. If it is a topic of professional nature, familiarize yourself with basic terms before sending the first message. Messages that do not fit into the subject cause negative feedback from the list or group users. Messages should be short and related to what is being discussed.

Unauthorized activities

The following activities are not permitted:

  • send message with no subject – e.g. asking questions about issues on the operation of Windows operating system to hr.rec.automobiles group
  • sending chains emails and messages that promise quick and easy (false) earnings
  • send the same message to multiple groups at once (crossposting, ECP) – e.g. sending a message on the sale of computer to soc.grad.cakovec (Eng. hr.soc.city.cakovec), hr.soc.grad.zagreb (Eng.hr.soc.city.zagreb) and hr.soc.grad.osijek (Eng. hr.soc.city.osijek) (allowed crossposting to maximum three thematic groups, and in that case it is desirable to use Followup-To: header to redirect all replies to one of these groups)
  • sending copies of the same or very similar messages to multiple groups (multiposting, EMP)
  • advertising for the purpose of gaining earnings, except for a list or a group that is specifically intended for this – for example, a bargaining offer for a website on the rec.sport.trcanje (Eng. hr.rec.sport.running) group. Advertising is generally accepted ONLY in hr.ponuda.* group and hr.demand.* (although some users send ads to the wrong groups, it doesn’t mean it is allowed).
  • sending attachments to groups not meant for such content – they are only sent to binaries groups (e.g. hr.misc.binaries for various content that does not have a specific group) that are foreseen for such content
  • sending offensive content, especially based on national, racial, sexual or religious affiliation
  • it is strictly forbidden to violate copyright on groups and lists.

If a user fails to comply with the prescribed rules of conduct, they shall be sanctioned in accordance with the Abuse Service Rules (the Rules of CARNET Abuse Service) which may include, among others, the ban on Internet access and the prohibition of access to the news server.

Rules of conduct specific to newsgroups

The newsgroup rules of conduct may differ to a lesser extent on various news servers. As a rule, the policy of use is posted by the administrator on websites or otherwise. The policy is in line with the general online conduct rules, and users of newsgroups around the world have developed a specific culture, customs, and rules to keep. The administrator publishes the address to which policy violators can be reported.

Rules of conduct specific to distribution lists

Rules of conduct on distribution lists are often determined by agreement and are specific to a particular list.

Message size

Messages larger than a couple of kb are not recommended due to a long loading time, and also because of the additional burdening and slowdown of the server. If large documents are sent with attachments, and copies of these documents exist on web or FTP servers, then only URL (web address) of the document should be sent.

Private and closed lists

The lists may be, among others, closed or private. Closed lists enable sending only to list subscribers, while private lists do not allow a free subscription. It is not advisable to send messages or parts of discussions from such lists to any public servers.

Other types of communication

Rules of conduct on forums are not strictly defined and are similar to those for newsgroups and differ from server to server. Also, IRC rules generally depend on administrator policy.

These rules were created based on the publicly available document, RFC1855.

Download the App

Access to the news server is accomplished through a program that is commonly referred to as the news reader. Some of them are free, while others are commercial products. Among the best known are:

  • Mozilla Thunderbird
  • Agent
  • Gravity
  • Gnus
  • SLRN
  • TIN
  • Pan
  • XPN

Questions and Answers

Miscellaneous

What is the procedure for opening a new newsgroup?

You need to make a suggestion for opening a new group in the hr.news.groups group. The main reason for opening a new group is usually a steadily increasing amount of traffic on a topic that is currently blocked by another group. Before you try to send a message to the group hr.news.groups, please read the message that is sent on a monthly basis with the topic “[Periodic] Rules for opening new hr.* groups”. 

What can you do if you have not found the answer to your question?

If you have a problem that as a new user you do not know how to resolve (or you are not sure where to send a question), send your question to the hr.news.new-users group, some of the more experienced users may be able to help. If you are concerned about using your Thunderbird, OE, or some other newsgroup access program, ask hr.news.softver. If you are confident that there is a problem on the server, send a detailed description of the problem to the hr.news.admin group. If no one of the more experienced users responds to the question, or if you are having problems accessing the news server, or if you want an autoresponder to answer a question, the contact details are:

CARNET Helpdesk
phone: +385 1 6661 555
e-mail: helpdesk@carnet.hr

How can I search old messages (which no longer are on the news server)?

Usenet search (hr.* and other groups) is available through Google Groups.

Rules of conduct

When someone posts non-subject posts or otherwise makes a group unreadable or offends its participants, what to do?

Report them to the appropriate Abuse Service as follows:

  • See the complete headers of the problematic message and find the header X-Complaints-To:. It contains the e-mail address of the relevant Abuse Service. Usually there is a View Complete Message option, Show full headers or similar (if you do not know how and where it is in your news client, ask hr.news.softver).
  • If you are not sure if this is a violation, visit the ISP’s website and read their usage and conduct policies – with foreign ISPs commonly referred to as the Terms of Service or AUP (Acceptable Usage Policy) and check if the rules have been broken.
  • Send a complete message with all the headers, body of the message, and why you complain about the e-mail address listed in the X-Complaints-To: Header.

If the issue persist, or if the Abuse Service does not respond, or you have any additional questions, submit your issue to the hr.news.net-abuse group.

Notice that if someone else violates the rules, it does not give you the right to violate them. If you are unsure what is allowed and what is not allowed, ask the group hr.news.new-users.

In which groups is allowed to send ads?

Ads are allowed to send solely to hr.offer groups * and hr.demand.*

In particular, it is not allowed to send ads to a group of cities, with the excuse “so I’m from that town and sell it locally”. For example, if a salesperson from Zagreb wants to sell a notebook in Zagreb, for example, a message should be sent to the group hr.ponuda.hardver.prijenosnici (Eng. hr.offer.hardware.notebooks) with the subject message e.g. “[Zagreb] I sell Lenovo T400 laptop”, and describe it in more detail in the message and indicate any special conditions.

If you sell something that does not have a specific group of special names (like pets), the right group for ad is hr.ponuda.ostalo (Eng. hr.offer.other).

Also, do not send the same ad to multiple groups – one group (the one that best suits the description) is always enough. For example, if you sell a computer keyboard, the right group is only hr.ponuda.hardver.periferije (Eng. hr.offer.hardware.peripherals). Do not even send the message crosspost to hr.ponuda.hardver.ostalo i/ili hr.ponuda.ostalo (Eng. hr. offer.hardware.peripherals and/or hr.offer.other): other groups are used only when the message does not belong to any other group (in this case they only belong to one *,other group, the one closest to the topic).

In a group, is it allowed to alert users to a policy violation, is this not an 'offtopic'?

If a user violates the rules of conduct and thus interferes with other participants in the group (e.g. non-regular messages, sending ads, insults, etc.), it is desirable to warn the user of the issue in order to minimize it.

There are three basic ways to do this:

  • alert the user by e-mail to the rules and ask to adhere to them
  • forward a message with complete headers to appropriate abuse service
  • alert users publicly on news groups

While the first two ways shall alert a user, who has committed a conduct offence, it shall unfortunately not do anything about educating other group users, who shall often again violate the rules because they see “everyone else is doing it.”

Therefore, the third way of warning is also acceptable. However, when you send such an answer publicly to the newsgroup, follow the following rules:

  • make sure you set up the Followup-To: hr.news.net-abuse header in the message, so that responds to your message would not go to the original group where the problem occurred (worsening the problem even more), but in hr.news.net-abuse that deals with discussions about such issues
  • write in the message a note that the answers are redirected to hr.news.net-abuse (e.g. “Answers to this message are redirected to the hr.news.net-abuse group”)
  • be fair and explain in a message what the user did wrong and how to do it correctly (e.g., “ads are allowed only in hr.offer.* and hr.demand.* groups, please do not send them to other groups”).

Issues and questions when reading messages

If you do not see pictures or other attachments sent to the group using another ISP, what do you need to do?

Attachments are allowed only in groups that have binaries in the name, e.g. hr.misc.binaries. Notify the user that the attachments are sent to the correct group.

Someone has sent a message using Google Groups, news.aioe.org, news.motzarella.org, news.eternal-september.org or some other free or anonymous server out of Croatia, but you do not see it?

Due to frequent abuses and inability to adequately determine responsibility for most such messages, they are subjected to a much sharper anti-spam policy that can be denied by the server.

Ask a question on hr.news.admin group with detailed information about the lost message (message-id or exact time, group, sender, and message subject that did not appear on the server) so that the anti-spam filter could improve and suggest it to the user if it is possible to use own ISP news server to send messages.

Using anonymizing (hiding the sender’s identity as an IP address, etc.) news server as well as news servers outside of Croatia for sending messages to hr.* groups is not advisable, precisely because of a much more aggressive anti-spam filter.


You have typed news.carnet.hr as a server, but you only see text hr.* groups - you do not see foreign or *.binaries groups! Where have they gone?

News.carnet.hr provides full access to CARNET users only. So, for full access you need to be connected to the Internet via CARNet (directly from the member institution or using CMU or some CARNET broadband Internet access). If you are connected to another location, you need to use your AAI server-to-server identifier. Configuration details in both cases can be found on the pages for adjusting news browser. Configuration details in both cases can be found on the pages News Browser Setup. The rest of the world is only enabled to read (not to send new messages) and only to the textual hr.* groups.

Issues and questions when sending messages

Why does error '437 Binary:misplaced' or '437 Binary Image: misplaced' pop out when sending a message to a group?

Sending binary content (attached file) is only possible in so-called binaries groups, i.e. groups that contain text binaries in their name. E.g. hr.misc.binaries.

Why does error '437 HTML Post' or '437 Attached HTML file' or '437 HTML not allowed in Usenet' pop out a regular message without attachments?

In the settings of your news reader (news reader program), you should choose to send messages as plaintext rather than as HTML or MIME.

Can you delete the already sent message?

This is not possible. Already a few seconds after sending the message, it has been sent to thousands of servers around the world.

The so-called cancel messages designed to delete messages do not have a good authentication mechanism and are therefore banned on many servers on account of frequent abuses. So, even if you manage to delete a message on the server, it shall remain visible on tens of thousands of other servers.

CARNET does not currently support unauthorized cancel messages but plans to support an authorized cancel message soon (the so-called Cancel-Key/Cancel-Lock mechanism).

Why does error '437 EMP' pop out when sending a message?

You are sending a message of the same content too often. It most commonly occurs when a user attempts to send an ad or other message to a group stack.

Do not do it. You do not have to send ads any time (because other users shall normally see ads sent for a few days if they have not read the group in the meantime).

Also, if you need to see the same message in multiple groups, do not send it manually to each group individually, rather use the so-called crosspost – but also with caution (see the question “I want to send a message to multiple groups”).

I want to send a message to multiple groups, how to do it correctly? (so-called 'crosspost')

The need for such things is extremely rare, and in most cases is misused. For example,

  • if the message is sent to a more specific group, it should not be crossposted to a less specific one. For example: a message sent to hr.rec.sport.football is not desirable to be crossposted in hr.rec.sport, as well as a message in hr.soc.religija.krscanstvo.katolici (Eng. hr.soc.religion.christianity.catholics) in hr.soc.religija.krscanstvo (Eng. hr.soc.religion.christianity) and/or hr.soc.religija (Eng. hr.soc.religion).
  • It is not desirable to send a message to several groups among which rivalry or animosity exists (e.g. hr.comp.os.linux and hr.comp.os.winnt)
  • It is not desirable to do crossposts without a commom subject (“I have to ask about pet care, but I have just sent the question to hr.rec.ljubimci (Eng. hr.rec.pets) and to hr.soc.grad.zagreb (Eng. hr.soc.city.zagreb) because this group is read by a lot of smart people”).
  • Crossposting between different hr.soc.city.* groups is inappropriate. These groups serve exclusively for local events – if something local is e.g. in Čakovec, then it is not local in Zagreb as well.
  • Crossposting practically never needs to include any *.other group. These groups are used only when there is no other group where the message is thematic.
  • In the vast majority of other cases, sending the same message to several groups is also inappropriate. Visit hr.news.new-korisnici (Eng. hr.news.new-users) for advice before deciding to send a message to multiple groups.

If you do, however, conclude that it is necessary to send the message to multiple groups, this is done by crossposting only (i.e. listing all groups divided by comma in Newsgroup: header) not by multi-posting (by sending the same message to each group separately).

If you are using crosspost, make sure to place the Followup-To: header in just one of those groups, the one you intend to continue the discussion (or the “poster” value, indicating that you prefer to receive the reply by e-mail).

Note that different servers have different additional anti-spam measures when using crossposts (or worse, multiposts), such as the maximum number of groups in the crosspost, or groups where crosspost is not allowed or similar, so your message maybe shall not appear at certain servers if you are using crossposting. This is an additional reason to avoid sending the same message to multiple groups.

Why does error '437 Posting in the future not allowed' or '437 Article posted in the future' pop out?

Hour (or, more often, time zone) on your computer is not set correctly. Set the right time zone and Webcam for Europe, Zagreb.

Is there a place where it is possible to send a test message?

The appropriate group for tests is hr.test.

If you want to try the crosspost, you can use additional groups like misc.test and alt.test.


Why does error '437 Cancels not accepted here' pop out?

CARNET news server does not accept the so-called cancel messages. Take a look at the details: Can you delete the already sent message?


Why does error '437 Group is reserved for discussions about new news groups' pop out?

Before you try to send a message to the group hr.news.groups, please read the message that is sent on a monthly basis with the subject “[Periodic] Rules for opening new hr.* groups”.

Why does error '440 Posting not allowed' pop out when attempting to send a message?

The News.carnet.hr server allows sending messages only to users connected to CARNET network or using an AAI identifier. You can see the details on: As a server you have typed news.carnet.hr, but you only see textual hr.* groups – you do not see any abroad or *.binaries groups! Where have they gone?

Contact Details

CARNET’s User Support Service

Phone: +385 1 6661 555
E-mail: helpdesk@carnet.hr

For specific issues related to the work of the CARNET news server please report by sending an e-mail to news@carnet.hr. 

Social Media

Group posts can also be tracked through Google Groups Interface.