# Where can I find a list of the most active Usenet Newsgroups?



## randallpat (Oct 9, 2008)

Microsoft used to have a great site listing the most active newsgroups, but it's gone now.

Many thanks....


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## grue155 (May 29, 2008)

That depends entirely on the news server that you're talking to. Each server has its own list of groups, and within that list, some groups will be more active than others.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

What kind of newsgroup are you looking for? Since there are something over 70,000 of them, you need to be a bit more specific in your specifications! 

It should not depend on the news server for a good feed. Places like Giganews have complete feeds for ALL the available newsgroups.

Have you looked at Google Groups? They offer searchable news group access.


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## randallpat (Oct 9, 2008)

grue155 said:


> That depends entirely on the news server that you're talking to. Each server has its own list of groups, and within that list, some groups will be more active than others.


Sorry if I wasn't clear. Where can I find a list of the most active Usenet Newsgroups - regardless of the servers hosting them?


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## randallpat (Oct 9, 2008)

johnwill said:


> What kind of newsgroup are you looking for? Since there are something over 70,000 of them, you need to be a bit more specific in your specifications!
> 
> It should not depend on the news server for a good feed. Places like Giganews have complete feeds for ALL the available newsgroups.
> 
> Have you looked at Google Groups? They offer searchable news group access.


I'm looking for the newsgroups with the most number of new posts per day. Content doesn't matter as much as activity.

I have a list of ALL available newsgroups.


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## grue155 (May 29, 2008)

In terms of just sheer raw volume of traffic (both number of posts, and megabytes moved), you're looking at the alt.binaries.* hierarchy. A number of sites don't carry those groups simply because of the volume needing a connection that is just simply unaffordable. The Supernews folks used to have statistics on their site traffic volume, and binaries was one or two orders of magnitude more than everything else combined. That data point was as of about a year ago.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

If you're looking for a good and fast news server, Giganews beats the pants off Supernews for performance. :smile: I used to have Supernews, when I moved over to Giganews, I couldn't believe the difference!


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## grue155 (May 29, 2008)

Just FYI, Supernews was bought out by Giganews last year.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Doesn't surprise me, they didn't seem like they were a "healthy" service. :smile:


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