Newsgroups help you solve many of the same problems that mailing lists are good for, but newsgroups have some additional advantages. Newsgroups are generally a bit more structured, so they are likely to be around longer. They are also easier to find, and more likely to have a moderator (person or program in charge, who keeps the group civil and on - track) Newsgroups often have a FAQ document. FAQ stands for Frequently asked Questions. In any newsgroup, there are usually a number of questions that are asked all the time. In order to avoid answering the same questions all the time, experienced members of the group post a FAQ with the most common questions and answers. If you ask a FAQ before reading the FAQ document, you are likely to get flamed.