RAS group reader

[Andy Smiel]

Could someone suggest a reader program for this forum?
I go to Glider Pilot Network to read this but it is not very convenient.
Thank you,

Andy

[vaughn[_3_]]

"Andy Smiel" > wrote in message
...
> Could someone suggest a reader program for this forum?

Some will sneer, but if you have a Windoze machine you probably already have
Outlook Express. It works for me.

Vaughn

[Andy Smiel]

I should have been more specific. I can use Thunderbird but can not set it
up to see this group.
So it is a question of how to program the reader to see RAS.

Thank you.

[sisu1a]

> So it is a question of how to program the reader to see RAS.

First try accessing it through googlegroups:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.aviation.soaring/topics?tsc=1
instead of indirectly though gliderpilot.net...

-Paul

ps. I don't even bother with a special reader, just whatever is built
into firefox or any other browser I've used seems to work just fine...

[John Smith]

sisu1a wrote:
>> So it is a question of how to program the reader to see RAS.
>
> First try accessing it through googlegroups:

No, don't!

Ask your Internet provider how to access its nntp-Server.

[Eric Greenwell[_4_]]

On 11/19/2010 12:06 PM, sisu1a wrote:
>> So it is a question of how to program the reader to see RAS.
>>
> First try accessing it through googlegroups:
> http://groups.google.com/group/rec.aviation.soaring/topics?tsc=1
> instead of indirectly though gliderpilot.net...
>
> -Paul
>
> ps. I don't even bother with a special reader, just whatever is built
> into firefox or any other browser I've used seems to work just fine...
>
If you are using a browser, you are not going directly to a usenet group.

I use Seamonkey, a browser/email/web page composer/etc suite based on
the same coding as Firefox and Thunderbird. It works fine for usenet
groups like ras, so I'd expect Thunderbird to also work just as well.

I use http://aioe.org/ to get my free usenet access, as my ISP dropped
support for it.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

[[email protected]]

On 11/19/2010 2:46 PM, Andy Smiel wrote:
> I should have been more specific. I can use Thunderbird but can not set it
> up to see this group.
> So it is a question of how to program the reader to see RAS.

Setting up Thunderbird to read newsgroups:
http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Creating+a+Newsgroup+Account

I use news.eternal-september.org to feed the Thunderbird news reader and
all the Usenet server account settings are contained in the registration
email or on the Technical information page of their website.
http://www.eternal-september.org/index.php?showpage=techinfo

Registration was free and the server use has been trouble free
http://www.eternal-september.org/RegisterNewsAccount.php?language=en

[Andy[_12_]]

On 11/19/2010 14:10, wrote:
> On 11/19/2010 2:46 PM, Andy Smiel wrote:
>> I should have been more specific. I can use Thunderbird but can not
>> set it
>> up to see this group.
>> So it is a question of how to program the reader to see RAS.
>
> Setting up Thunderbird to read newsgroups:
> http://support.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/kb/Creating+a+Newsgroup+Account
>
> I use news.eternal-september.org to feed the Thunderbird news reader and
> all the Usenet server account settings are contained in the registration
> email or on the Technical information page of their website.
> http://www.eternal-september.org/index.php?showpage=techinfo
>
> Registration was free and the server use has been trouble free
> http://www.eternal-september.org/RegisterNewsAccount.php?language=en
>
Thank you, that's what I was looking for as my isp doesn't provide
direct access.
Now Thunderbird works fine, accessing RAS just as I used to.

Andy

[Ramy]

On Nov 19, 12:16*pm, John Smith > wrote:
> sisu1a wrote:
> >> So it is a question of how to program the reader to see RAS.
>
> > First try accessing it through googlegroups:
>
> No, don't!
>
> Ask your Internet provider how to access its nntp-Server.

And why not, may I ask? I dumped newsreaders long ago and find
googlegroups to work just fine. You can easily see which threads has
new messages since you last check, and you can do it from any computer
with internet browser. I am not sure you can get the same
functionality (following from multiple computers) as easy with
newsreaders. So far, knock on wood, the level of spamming in RAS is
not enough to justify a newsreader just for that purpose.

Ramy

[John Smith]

Ramy wrote:
>>> First try accessing it through googlegroups:
>>
>> No, don't!
>>
>> Ask your Internet provider how to access its nntp-Server.
>
> And why not, may I ask? I dumped newsreaders long ago and find

Because, for example, users that post via Google Groups tend to not trim
the quoted text which makes following a thread a major nuisance. RAS is
a textbook example for this.

[Eric Greenwell[_4_]]

On 11/20/2010 1:56 AM, John Smith wrote:
> Ramy wrote:
>>>> First try accessing it through googlegroups:
>>>
>>> No, don't!
>>>
>>> Ask your Internet provider how to access its nntp-Server.
>>
>> And why not, may I ask? I dumped newsreaders long ago and find
>
> Because, for example, users that post via Google Groups tend to not
> trim the quoted text which makes following a thread a major nuisance.
> RAS is a textbook example for this.

Your problem may be the same as mine: I'm using the newsreader
functionality built in to my email program, which is adequate for my
purposes, but doesn't to hide most of the quoted text like GG does.

I just used Google Groups to start a reply to ras, and I think I see the
problem: the Google *Reply* box shows only the last 15 lines of the
quoted text with the entry cursor positioned just below it. This
effectively hides what can be 100's of lines of quoted text from the
writer, and they also don't see these 100's of lines when they use
Google to read the postings (Google automatically hides it), so they
remain oblivious to the situation. And if they've always used a Google
Groups to read ras, how could they be expected to know what's happening?

Now that I understand the situation better, I promise to stop nagging
people that don't trim their posts.

Newsreaders were the only choice when I started a long time ago, and
when the browser based choice became available, it was impractical when
using dial-up, and especially so when traveling - no wi-fi, no mobile
broadband, no dial-up in the motorhome. Now, broadband at home and while
traveling make the choice of a newsreader or browser reading a preference.

I will continue to use my email program for newsgroups out of habit and
convenience, but GG seems good enough that I might like it just as well.
Because my usenet source doesn't archive more than a few months, I
already use GG for finding old posts (a rare need).


--

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz

[sisu1a]

>Google Groups tend to not trim the quoted text which makes following a thread a major nuisance.

That doesn't sound like a googlegroups problem as much as a rookie
poster problem... I use googlegroups but I also manually trim my
posts. Like Ramy, I too access it from different computers all over so
it makes for a really convenient universal interface and the spam is
easy enough to ignore thus far. With googlegoups though, I have to
switch the main page to display 'Topic List' and NOT leave it on
'Topic Summary' which it defaults to or else it's basically unusable.

-Paul

[Ramy]

On Nov 20, 1:56*am, John Smith > wrote:
> Ramy wrote:
> >>> First try accessing it through googlegroups:
>
> >> No, don't!
>
> >> Ask your Internet provider how to access its nntp-Server.
>
> > And why not, may I ask? I dumped newsreaders long ago and find
>
> Because, for example, users that post via Google Groups tend to not trim
> the quoted text which makes following a thread a major nuisance. RAS is
> a textbook example for this.

True. I forgot to add that Google group also doing better job on
hiding quoted text.
One more reason to prefer google groups.

Ramy

[Eric Greenwell[_4_]]

On 11/20/2010 7:52 AM, sisu1a wrote:
>> Google Groups tend to not trim the quoted text which makes following a thread a major nuisance.
>
> That doesn't sound like a googlegroups problem as much as a rookie
> poster problem... I use googlegroups but I also manually trim my
> posts. Like Ramy, I too access it from different computers all over so
> it makes for a really convenient universal interface and the spam is
> easy enough to ignore thus far. With googlegoups though, I have to
> switch the main page to display 'Topic List' and NOT leave it on
> 'Topic Summary' which it defaults to or else it's basically unusable.

I'm attempting to use Google Groups as easily as I can use my news
reader, but I can't find a way to do a couple of things:

Is there a way to prevent Google Groups from showing you a thread
(discussion) you don't want to see anymore?

Is there a way to hide postings I've read, or highlight postings I
haven't read?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

[Ramy]

On Nov 20, 9:27*am, Eric Greenwell > wrote:
> On 11/20/2010 7:52 AM, sisu1a wrote:
>
> >> Google Groups tend to not trim the quoted text which makes following a thread a major nuisance.
>
> > That doesn't sound like a googlegroups problem as much as a rookie
> > poster problem... I use googlegroups but I also manually trim my
> > posts. Like Ramy, I too access it from different computers all over so
> > it makes for a really convenient universal interface and the spam is
> > easy enough to ignore thus far. With googlegoups though, I have to
> > switch the main page to display 'Topic List' and NOT leave it on
> > 'Topic Summary' which it defaults to or else it's basically unusable.
>
> I'm attempting to use Google Groups as easily as I can use my news
> reader, but I can't find a way to do a couple of things:
>
> Is there a way to prevent Google Groups from showing you a thread
> (discussion) you don't want to see anymore?
>
> Is there a way to hide postings I've read, or highlight postings I
> haven't read?
>
> --
> Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
> email me)

I am not sure. I just set my preference in such a way that it always
showing me which threads has new posts since I last read them. And
they always show on top. I find this sufficient. I can access it from
my home, work, iPhone (right now) etc. I think most people don't
realize how powerful it is.

Ramy

[cernauta]

On Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:22:17 -0700, Andy > wrote:

>Thank you, that's what I was looking for as my isp doesn't provide
>direct access.
>Now Thunderbird works fine, accessing RAS just as I used to.

for the same reasons, I use http://www.x-privat.org/ and have had a
perfect service and no problems.


aldo