alt.* hierarchy

The alt.* hierarchy is a major class of <a href="/facts/Newsgroup/282rotmp">newsgroups</a> in <a href="/facts/Usenet/lYJWFBR6">Usenet</a>, containing all newsgroups whose name begins with "alt.", organized hierarchically. The alt.* hierarchy is not confined to newsgroups of any specific subject or type, although in practice more formally organized groups tend not to occur in alt.*. The alt.* hierarchy was created by <a href="/facts/John_Gilmore_(activist)/Pd6N8poT">John Gilmore</a> and <a href="/facts/Brian_Reid_(computer_scientist)/1dHJRrA7">Brian Reid</a>.
Unlike most of the other hierarchies, there is no centralized control of the hierarchy and anyone who is technically capable of creating a newsgroup can do so. In practice, however, most newsgroups follow an informal procedure involving a public discussion in alt.config before being created. This procedure is designed to help the potential creator better understand what factors contribute to a newsgroup's success.
It is up to each individual <a href="/facts/Usenet_newsgroup/282rotmp">news administrator</a> whether to add a new newsgroup, and some will not do so if the group has not been discussed in alt.config. As a result, groups that do not follow this procedure are usually not well-propagated. News group removal in theory occurs in much the same way as newsgroup creation, however as a matter of practice most news administrators do not remove newsgroups.

alt.* hierarchy open-in-new

alt.* hierarchy