Using Netscapes Newsreader

In Netscape 4.0 and later, you can view the list of all newsgroups your host system carries and post and read messages by going to Communicator/Collabra Discussion Groups. Click on the Subscribe button and it should begin downloading the full list of all newsgroups carried by your Internet provider. If not, you may need to put the name of your "News server" into the preferences settings. If you are unsure, ask your ISP what the address of your newsserver is.

Once you have the full list of newsgroups you can go through it looking for a newsgroup or newsgroups to which you want to subscribe. Looking at the entire list would take quite a bit of time. You can speed up the process by searching for keywords that fit your interest. Also, you can start by looking for topics in just one of the major categories such as "rec.*" if you are interested in "recreation" topics. Once you find a newsgroup to which you would like to subscribe, you will usually have a pull-down menu item or a button or box that you need to click on to subscribe. In Netscape 4.0, click the Subscribe button near the top right of the newsgroups window. A check next to a newsgroup name means you're subscribed to that group.

Once you subscribe to a newsgroup double click on it where it appears in the listing under your news server's name to enter. Normally it will take a couple seconds to download the subject headers from the messages, although how long it actually takes depends on the number of messages in the group. Once the list of messages appear, you can click on a message to read it. Usually messages appear fairly quickly, although like the listing of messages, if it is large it will take longer to download.

As with other features of electronic networks, there is a certain protocol that users are expected to follow when they use NetNews. This protocol and other important bits of information about UseNet (the public newsgroup structure shared by most Internet hosts) are contained in a few specific newsgroups. It is highly recommend that you subscribe to (and read) the following newsgroups. The first two should be read by all new users. news.announce.newusers news.newusers.questions news.announce.important (should be read regularly) news.answers

After reading some messages you may want to send a message of your own, either as a response to a message you read or an entirely new message. To send a new message choose your "New Msg" button. You will need to enter a subject and then the text of your message, similar to sending an email message. When sending a response, you have four choices. Most important of these are the option to send a private reply only to the person who originally sent the message by choosing the "Reply to Sender", or you can send a public follow up message to the newsgroup by choosing the "Reply to Group" option. As with messages to a mailing list, you can never be sure how many people or exactly who might just read your message, so give some thought to your contribution.

Below is a image showing Netscape 4.0's newsreader screen showing the new message and reply buttons.

If you are using a newsreader other than Netscape, you will need to locate the equivalent buttons or menu items. You can also retrieve a number of different newsreaders or find helpful guides to several of the most popular ones at:

http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Software/Usenet/

If after reading a message you would like to save it permanently as a file on your hard disk or on a floppy, go to File/Save As, and choose a directory or folder and filename as you do in most other programs.

Activity:
1. Using Netscape or another browser or newsreader, view one or more newsgroups of potential interest. You should know how to perform the following tasks:
a. Read new articles/items and follow up articles/items.
b. Respond to any message with either a follow up article/item or with a follow up private email message.
c. Post a new article/item to create a new discussion thread.

2. If you are working with a group, post a message to your group about your impressions of the newsgroup(s) you've explored and your degree of success navigating newsgroups and message threads. Could the newsgroup be beneficial for teachers or students?