The secret of newsgroup creation

== For former proponents only ==

Anyone that claims they can create groups have a personality problem.
Users can not create newsgroups.
Only the server administrator has the magic power of newsgroup creation, nobody else. If you want to create a newsgroup you need to have a good talk with the server administrator.

What do you need in your bag before you can contact a server administrator.

• Someone must have sent a valid control.
• The control should have been formatted correctly.
• The control must be available on the server at ISC.org.
• The newsgroup should be listed on the newsgroups file at ISC.org.
• There must be a potential userbase (people that are willing to use your newsgroup).
• Beer helps.

If you have discussed newsgroup creation in alt.config (see nntp.aacity.net) you should know the answers to the above.

The server administrator is only interested in users of his (I'll assume he's a he and not a she just for writing purposes so lady-admins, please don't shout bigot) server. Sometimes server administrators listen to other users but only if the newsgroup is already filled with on-topic discussions.

You need to gather your userbase. If you provided a Justification during discussion in alt.config you know where they are. They can contact their server administrators.
So how to contact your userbase?
Change your usenet signature containing a message to promote the newsgroup. Something like "Only Llama's discussed in alt.animals.llama can spit". Or "Is alt.animals.llama available on your server? No? Request it!". Be creative, advertising is good. Post on-topic in relating newsgroups, participate in discussions. If the topic hit's your topic (like: "South American Wild Life") reply with an x-post with your newsgroup. If discussion is totally on-topic in your newsgroup ("How do I shave a Llama for wool") set a follow-up, identify that in your posting.

It's always good to setup a website promoting your newsgroup. Something like alt.autos.citroen or alt.binaries.e-book.msreader. It can be a home for a FAQ or an archive of postings. You can reference that site in your signature. Promote that site all over the Internet. With that you not only promote your newsgroup but also Usenet, we need posters!

Request the userbase to help you with promoting the newsgroup.
Get anyone you know to request your newsgroup on their server. Be persuasive, be kind, be gentile but don't stop. Promoting a text newsgroup takes about half a year without any guarantees. Promoting a binary newsgroup takes about a year without any guarantees.

If the control was send using a working e-mail address a server administrator or someone from your userbase can contact you with questions about the newsgroup.

Spamming to get users into a newsgroup is a bad idea. A one-time announcement (x-post with f-up) in relating newsgroups is allowed but you won't receive any love for doing that. If you over-do it you can loose your posting privileges on your server.

For some odd reason newsgroups that are available on (txt-only) news.individual.net propagate easier. Look at their website on how to request your newsgroup on that server. Newsgroup propagation can be followed from groupsearch.aacity.net. The Top1000 is a great list about server activity. You can use that list to discover the servers that are available.

If your newsgroup was created in the Big Eight Hierarchies there is no guarantee for success. Though there are plenty of servers that honour Big Eight controls, there are plenty of servers that don't. You still need to promote the newsgroup.

Some possible addresses on how to contact a server administrator:

• news@yourISP
• newsmaster@yourISP
• newsgroups@yourISP
• help@yourISP
• assistance@yourISP
• support@yourISP
• info@yourISP
• usenet@yourISP

Be sure to mention that the group is listed at ISC.org. It can help.
Most ISP's / NSP's have a few newsgroups of their own, only available on their servers. When mailing them does not help you could try to request the newsgroup in one of those newsgroups.

Fill your newsgroup with discussion if it's a txt newsgroup, fill it with binaries if it's a binary newsgroup. In the beginning there is no need to be on-topic. Any postings will do. The newsgroup needs traffic, bits and bytes. With that it is easier to request a newsgroup on a server that you don't use. The server administrator will assume his customers also will have an interest in your newsgroup. Later on when the userbase is present you, and the other posters, can tighten up posting rules.

Boosters don't do much but they do show server administrators that the newsgroup has active support, administrators like that. Also it is possible that a booster reaches newly installed servers. After the control booster after a week, after a month, after half a year and yearly. The booster should be an exact copy of the newgroup with the word booster on line two, like in the newgroup the first line should be empty. It is possible to introduce an additional (small) paragraph after the booster line listing the amount of postings in the last three months.

Nobody owns your newsgroup. The posters of the newsgroup make up the rules so don't get frustrated when they want something else.

If the newsgroup fails to become a success (after you promoted it for a year), blame -=Hawk=-, drink a beer, wear a bowtie and start all over again.

Any question regarding the above can be answered by the volunteers that invest news:alt.config. Comments on this page are also welcome there.

Rev.3 Dec 20, 2006. 2Rowdy