Request for FAQ

Can folks recommend methods of posting / reading this news group? Google Groups is just useless and I can't find another site open to new users (yet).. Google would / could forward me the messages via email but I'm worried that that is going to flood me with spam. I'll try that for a bit and see how that goes.

Thank you,
Perry

 

The perceived wisdom is to read it with a newsreader. I use the
commercial "Agent" program by Forte, but you can get by with Outlook
Express (emphasis on the "Express", not just Outlook).

For a newsreader to work, you need a news server. Your ISP may offer a
free one, or other people may recommend free ones.

The problem with free newsservers is that people like the price, so it
gets overloaded. As a matter of principle, I never advertise the name
of the free newsserver that I use, because then it would become
overloaded...

You can find commercial newsservers that charge a small amount per
year.

 

Go to www.eternal-september.org and register. Then get a newsreader:
Thunderbird (www.mozilla.org/thunderbird), Agent
(www.forteinc.com/agent), or many others. Aim your newsreader at
news.eternal-september.org, and there you go.

 

And if you must use Outlook Express, which has been a nuisance for years
because of its many nasty bugs (development is has been discontinued since
Windows Vista in favor of Windows Mail), please follow the instructions at
<http://insideoe.com/> where you can see that the newest security fix was
released in 2006, more than 5 years ago (which might cause you to
reconsider).

Forté Agent has not had a stable release since November 2009, too.

By contrast, Mozilla Thunderbird is actively developed, and security fixes
are released according to the Mozilla schedule. Last I checked, Thunderbird
was lacking in its built-in filtering and crosspost-regonizing capabilities,
but there might be extensions to augment it with that by now.

For (Debian) GNU/Linux, KNode, which is provided by a KDE package, suffices
for me.


PointedEars