The Usenet is divided into many thousands of newsgroups, which means groups of people who share the interest in a certain range of topics.
You are welcome to read all newsgroups that are available on your computer, using your newsreader program to select ("subscribe") newsgroups by their names and to read articles selected by their "subjects".
You can learn a lot about Usenet News by reading the newsgroups news.newusers.questions and news.announce.newusers.
You can learn a lot about a specific topic by reading the so-called "FAQ file" (frequently asked questions and answers) for that topic in the newsgroup news.answers or via WWW (INTAC or Ohio) or via FTP (MIT).
Most newsreader programs let you also send answers as private mail to the author of a Usenet article ("reply"). Please, do so whenever appropriate.
Most newsreader programs let you also publish questions ("post" or "write") and answers ("follow-up") such that they will be distributed to all members of a Usenet newsgroup all over the world. Please, so so with care and only if really necessary.
You are welcome to post test messages to the alt.test or misc.test newsgroups.
You are welcome to post questions about Usenet News to the news.newusers.questions newsgroup.
You are welcome to look for personal mail contacts in the soc.penpals newsgroup.
Once you have mastered the first steps and gained some experience, you are also welcome to post answers and to join discussions in these newsgroups and in the other topic-specific "advanced" newsgroups. If you plan to do so, however, it is advisable that you first read some hints and rules. I recommend my own article "Please, read this before posting" and some other hints in news.newusers.questions as well as everything you find in news.announce.newusers. A few rules and conventions are very helpful to avoid chaos and frustration among the millions of people interacting in the net community.
Thank you for joining the friendly and helpful world-wide Usenet community!