O / M: "O" and "M" will appear next to each newsgroup title within a list, and denotes whether a newsgroup is open or moderated. Open groups automatically accept posted messages, while moderated groups require that messages be forwarded to a moderator for approval first. Once a moderator has approved a message, it will be posted through to their newsgroup. In this example, all of the listed newsgroups are classified as open.

549: This number is an approximation of the number of messages posted to a given newsgroup. A number of factors come into play when determining this value, including the daily posting traffic to a group, the expiration of older articles in a group, as well cancelled spam messages, which are not counted as posted messages.

alt.binaries.pictures.animals: This is a single newsgroup title, which appears within the example list referenced above. Each newsgroup title within the list appears as a link, and if you had an interest in accessing the messages within a particular newsgroup, you would simply click on that link within the list.