Choose meaningful subjects for posts [was: Re: newb ?]

[Grant Edwards]

On 2005-11-18, Micah Elliott <mde at micah.elliott.name> wrote:
> On Nov 18, skip at pobox.com wrote:
>>     Grant> Obligatory aside: I'm completely baffled why anybody would choose
>>     Grant> the mailing list format over Usenet.  I don't even read mailing
>>     Grant> lists via mailing lists.  I recommend gmane.org's NNTP server for
>>     Grant> all your mailing list needs.
>> 
>> For the same reason I don't like web forums as a means of
>> communication.  I would much rather operate in an
>> interrupt-driven mode than have to remember to poll some
>> external service to get my daily helping of information.
>
> Agreed!

If I allowed news posts to interrupt me, I'd never get anything
done.  I limit e-mail to things that really do require fairly
immediate attention.

> I notice that a lot of people post here from google.

Ick! Posting to usenet from google.  Nasty.

> I did it too before I discovered the mailing list, which I now
> use because I haven't found a news reader that I like nearly
> as much as mutt.

There is an NNTP patch to allow you to use mutt to read Usenet
via an NNTP server.

Mutt users who don't do that seem to like slrn -- it has a very
similar look and feel.  One thing significant difference is
slrn's scoring facilities: there's nothing similar in mutt.

> It's quite nice to combine email and news into one.

I actually prefer to keep them separate.  for me, e-mail is for
stuff that "needs attention", and news is more of a background
thing that I glance through while waiting for a test to finish
or a make to complete.

> If you have any suggestions for console-based newsreaders, I'm
> all ears.

slrn is the definitive choice -- especially for a mutt user. :)

> I have tried to setup "tin" in the past but the voluminosity
> of its documentation made me give up.

I used tin for a couple years back in the early 90's, but I
find slrn much more efficient.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  My pants just went to
                                  at               high school in the Carlsbad
                               visi.com            Caverns!!!