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{{lowercase|alt.* hierarchy}}
The '''''alt.*'' hierarchy''' is a major class of [[newsgroup]]s in [[Usenet]], 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 [[John Gilmore (activist)|John Gilmore]] and [[Brian Reid (computer scientist)|Brian Reid]].
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 [[news administrator]] 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.
==Origin==
The birth of the ''alt.*'' hierarchy is tied to a drastic transformation of the Usenet, the [[Great Renaming]] of 1987. The "backbone carriers", or the [[backbone cabal]] as they have been referred to by some users of the [[Usenet]], were vital hubs in the distribution chain of most of the newsgroup postings. Their effort to change the way newsgroups are organized led to objections from some vocal Usenet users.
In particular, the creation of the ''talk.*'' hierarchy for discussions of controversial or sensitive issues by the renaming did not go well. The ''alt.*'' hierarchy was suggested as an alternative to ''talk.*'' by Brian Reid.<ref>[http://www.livinginternet.com/u/ui_alt.htm Alt Hierarchy History - Brian Reid, Usenet Newsgroups, Backbone Administrators<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> It would be a [[digital network|network]] without the backbones, thereby free from backbones' influences on creating or not creating a new newsgroup. The first newsgroup on alt hierarchy was his ''alt.gourmand''.
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