Re: OT: Why posting 100s of OTs is rude...

stiteler@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> In my initial rant regarding the speuwth (new word) of OTs on AGA,
> many replied that I should get a good news reader. Well, trying to do
> this and could use some constructive help. I searched the Google help
> on Google Groups, and read this:
>
> Can I use a newsreader (e.g., Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger) to
> access Google Groups?
> No. Google Groups provides web based access to Usenet. You cannot use
> a regular newsreader to access our service. You can, however, access
> Google Groups from any web browser.
>
> Somebody must have found a way to filter. How do you do it?

Filtering is impossible if you read Usenet via Google Groups AFAIK; but
it's easy if you get Usenet from a news server and read with a
newsreader.

Many ISPs offer Usenet on their own news servers, or via a third party
that provides Usenet service. There are also news servers (some free,
others require paid subscriptions) that accept individual users; the
one I use, Individual.net, is based in Germany and charges a very
reasonable $10 or so per year.

As for newsreader software, there are plenty of choices and you probably
have at least one newsreader on your computer right now. Outlook
Express is very usable, although it is also a prime target of malware
writers. I use Mozilla Firefox when I'm in Windows, and usually when
running Linux too -- although right now I'm using Knode. Most
newsreaders have filtering functions (some better than other, of
course) that let you ignore specific people or threads; I have several
people in my "killfile" right now. Several newsreaders also let you
download Usenet posts for offline reading, which you may find desirable
if you have a slow connection or just don't like to stay connected
full-time.

Google Groups is very useful as a way of searching the archives for
posts on specific topics. But for regular reading, a news server and
reader are much more convenient.

--
Walter Luffman Medina, TN USA
An equal opportunity annoyer
.

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