How to use a news group program on a PC or Mac

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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

How to use an Internet news group program on a PC or Mac

April 9, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   One of the best ways to get help is right under your nose. It's your keyboard.
   Open your news-reading software, type in the address of your Internet provider's news server and help yourself to a wealth of information on practically any topic you can imagine -- and some you probably never could imagine.
   News readers used to be esoteric programs that only certified nerds could figure out. But they're much easier to use now. I've raved about Agent, the Windows-based news reader from Forte (and about Free Agent, a free version of that program), but for the last year or so I've happily used Netscape Messenger to read news groups. In some ways, Netscape Messenger is the best all-purpose news reader I've ever seen. The fact that it's free and handles HTML messages perfectly is a big plus.
   News readers are programs that show you messages that have been posted in any of the message areas of the Usenet. Although we all know about the Internet, newcomers usually don't realize that a separate Big Daddy network has existed just as long as the Internet. It's the Usenet, for "user net." (Yes, somebody dropped the "R" in the name.)
   The Usenet has thousands of message areas, and each one can have thousands of separate messages. Messages on these news groups are just like messages anywhere else. Just like the e-mail you get, some of the messages on news groups have attachments and some of them are the junk in "junk mail." But when you are trying something new or searching desperately for help with a problem that doesn't seem to have a solution, you should waltz on over to the news groups and see if someone can give you a hand. Despite the name, news-reader programs let you do more than read postings. They give you a way to write and send messages to others on the news groups, too.
   Not all Internet service providers have news servers -- computers that store messages from news groups -- so if you're not sure that your ISP has a news server, go to the ISP's main Web page and see if the news server is mentioned. If not, call the ISP and ask.
   News groups are free. Don't be alarmed when your news reader software wants you to "subscribe" to a news group. It's just a term that means you're monitoring new messages and replies to old ones. Don't just read the messages by seeking out the news group. Subscribing is the only way your program can keep track of what you've already seen.
   A good news reader gives you many choices of how to read messages. Netscape Messenger seems more adaptable than most other free news readers, but if you already know how to use another one don't switch just because I like Netscape's method.
   Your news reader should let you read messages in various ways. I like the way Netscape Messenger lets me quickly switch to a threaded view, with replies to each topic nested under the original message. This is a much better way to read messages on a news group than reading them simply by date.
   In Netscape Messenger, pressing the T key skips the rest of the current topic thread so I can jump immediately to the next topic. (Check your software to see if it will do the same kind of thing. It probably will, but it might use another key.)
   I use keyboard shortcuts for everything I do in Netscape Messenger when reading news groups. I work very quickly that way. I avoid using the mouse because mouse clicks and drags slow everything down.
   Tell your news reader to get a complete list of groups from your news server, then search for ones you'd like to read. All good news readers let you search for certain words within the list of groups. When I'm following what's going on in Linux, for example, I search for "linux" and then subscribe to the ones that seem promising.
   Note that the search I am referring to is not a search within the messages. It's a search within the names of the groups. It's a good way to get started, but so far there is no substitute for common sense when you come across topics you're not familiar with. Start out with a few and see how they work before subscribing to a lot of groups.