Search engines are big on the Web; if you do anything more than random bouncing around, you're probably familiar with one or more of them. DejaNews is like them, but it lets you do intelligent searching not of the Web, but of Usenet newsgroups. Think of a newsgroup as a place you can send e-mail on a specific topic. Instead of going to a person, it goes to a central repository that anyone can read. For instance, if you're interested in true crime, you would want to check out alt.true-crime. Here you'll find discussions of late-breaking crime, historical crimes, what to do with criminals, book reviews, magazine critiques, etc. A travel buff can find information about domestic trips in rec.travel.usa-canada. Those interested in Native American cultures can look at alt.native and soc.culture.native. Someone wanting to see all the latest severe weather reports can browse ncar.weather.
There are tens of thousands of groups in existence. Groups are born, die and mutate. For instance, I was long active in rec.pets.cats, a group that has now split into several more focused groups. No matter what you're looking for, DejaNews can take care of you. From the main screen, you can search all the newsgroups for your topic of interest. This can get you a lot of spurious hits; you might be looking for information on the mysterious "Springheel Jack" who supposedly terrorized London in the middle and late 19th century. You'll also get a lot of hits about the musical group "Springheel Jack".
An alternative is to select "Interest Finder" which will take you to a screen that lets you type the subject you're interested in. Deja News will then suggest newsgroups that will have postings on that topic. This can help you focus better on what you're really after.
Let's try a test search: the topic will be "thylacine". A common name for this beast is "Tasmanian tiger". They are now thought to be extinct, but occasionally people report sightings, so they are of interest to a wide variety of people, including naturalists, Tasmanian historians and cryptozoologists. We'll search from the "Interest Finder", so we can home in on groups of most interest. What comes up are hits for the groups alt.music, alt.animals, alt.lifestyle.furry, talk.origins and alt.alien.visitors. You can eliminate alt.music, it's about an album called "Thylacine". Alt.animals has some fairly good hits; the quality in alt.lifestyle.furry is a bit less. I didn't look at the last two; in case you're wondering, some folks believe that thylacines are mystical for reasons I won't go into here.
As Mensans, you might be curious about whether there's a Mensa group. Yes, it's called rec.org.mensa. It's a place where curious non-members, members, Mensa haters, crackpots and neer-do-wells can talk (or often argue and "flame") about Mensa. NOTE: many in Mensa HATE this group; it is most certainly not official! Posts can be rude, vicious and/or profane, so be warned.
This brings up an important caveat about the Usenet. While the vast majority of posters are well-meaning, not all of these people know what they're talking about. View any offered advice critically. There are also obnoxious people that frequent the Usenet. If you begin to participate directly on the Usenet, the experience of many users is that the most effective tactic against rude, ignorant and/or obnoxious people is to IGNORE them. They want to make you mad. Don't give them the satisfaction.
DejaNews is a site to be experienced. Go take a look and indulge your curiosity.
CATBAR - Brain Candy 3 - DejaNews / Brian Rock / Sep 14 1997