On Wed, 24 May 2006 07:59:06 -0500, "Wolfgang" wrote in
:

... What's a "Big-8"?

A set of 8 newsgroup hierarchies all under one management (currently
news.announce.newgroups mods, potentially the Big-8 Management
Board).

http://www.big-8.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=history:big-8

rec.* is one of the eight hierarchies in the big-8.

Marty