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Occasionally, an Internet user needs a way to publish
information, ask questions, and trade files over the net without
having to create and publish a web page. Newsgroups use a
messaging system based on layers or "threads". Threads involves
multiple messages by 2 or more people.
Person A writes a message, person B reads it and replies in the
same manner as e-mail. The only difference in the back and
forth communication of Newsgroups and e-mail is that Newsgroups
are publicly accessible by everyone else on the net.
This sheet will cover five main topics of Newsgroups (also known
as UUNet and USENet), needed software, a few rules, how to set up
your computer, an official legal notice and getting started in a
newsgroup.
Needed Software:
There are several Newsreaders available on the market today. This
sheet will cover one of the best: FreeAgent from Forte.
FreeAgent supports several features that allow ease
of use and provides quality and stability in a dial-up
networking computer.
Free agent will:
- retrieve a list of available newsgroups and stores it, a BIG time saver.
- retrieve article headers, allowing you to browse the Subject:, To:, and
From: information before downloading the message or files
itself. This saves you from downloading messages of no interest to you.
- Compose messages both online and offline.
- You can mark a number of articles and download them while you are making
a cup of coffee.
- Uuencode and uudecode binary attachments such as ZIP files and images.
Encoding files is a way to send binary files into text so it can be
transferred on the Internet via Newsgroups and E-mail.
A Few Rules
The most important rule: although Newsgroups are a fantastic way to
trade files and information, never, EVER run an executable file you found
and downloaded from a newsgroup. There is absolutely no guaranty that the
file you are downloading is of any quality, virus-free, and not a computer
time bomb posted by some unfriendly user. You can use Newsgroups to collect
binary files such as audio (.au), wave (.wav), music (.mp3),
or graphics (.bmp, .gif, .jpg, etc) with no worry, as they pose no threat to your system.
When posting messages, keep the topic of the group in mind. When
individuals stray from topic, the newsgroup fills with unneeded content, and it encourages
others to add unwelcome content as well. There is no need to post off-topic messages, as
Netropolis hosts over 28,000 newsgroups, ranging from alt.binaries.music.makers.samples,
alt.religion.scientology, art.rock-n-roll.metal.heavy, microsoft.public.excel.datamap, and
even rec.pets.dogs.health.
Setting Up Your Computer
To install FreeAgent, click on the icon for the downloaded file,
FA32-xxx.EXE (where xxx indicates the version number).
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After the program is fully
installed, connect to Netropolis using your Dial-Up Networking icon. Once you are connected, run FreeAgent for the first time. You will receive
the setup dialog box (see figure 1).
Make sure and fill out all of the information. Your NNTP Server is
news.netropolis.net.
Likewise, your SMTP server is mail.netropolis.net.
Figure 1. FreeAgent setup |
After you have typed in your e-mail address and your name, you will
be given the opportunity to download the list of available user groups (see figure 2).
Select "Yes" and go make some coffee. This function will download the list of
names of the
| 28,000 supported newsgroups
will take, depending on your modem, a good while. The good thing is, after you download it
the first time, FreeAgent will never ask again. Figure 2.
FreeAgent Setup |
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The setup on your system is now complete! All we have
left now is …
A Special Legal Notice
Newsgroups sometimes contain questionable content.
Netropolis Communications is unable to monitor and moderate the millions of messages that
come from the news-groups each day. The fact that particular content appears in a message
does not guarantee in anyway its quality nor its legitimacy. Illegal content including
copyrighted software, copyrighted text, threatening or harassing messages, or illegal
forms of pornography that appear on a newsgroup are the soul responsibility of the person
that downloaded or uploaded the information (which typically, could be anyone, anywhere in
the world).
Getting Started in a Newsgroup:
Now that you have FreeAgent installed on your computer,
your next task is to find groups that include your interests. On the left hand screen of
the FreeAgent window,
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"All Groups" area
lists all areas available for message content. Browse up and
down until you fine a newsgroup with a title that interests you. Highlight the
group’s title and double click. You will be given several options, select
"Sample Message Headers."
Figure 3. All Groups Title Window |
After you download the 50 sample headers, they will be
listed in the right-hand window.
| The subject and the number of
lines of each message are listed. Select a message and press
your M key. This message is now ‘Marked" for later retrieval!
Figure 4. Downloaded Message Headers Window |
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You can also immediately download the message by double
clicking on the message header. The message itself will appear in the message window at
the bottom of the screen. The toolbar buttons at the top of the FreeAgent screen will show
you have to download "Marked" messages, search for references within headers,
skip to the next unread message, decode binary files, and reply to a message with a public
message or a private e-mail. |
