In article .com,
wrote:

Owen, I have WindowsXP and I'm on cable and use Internet Explorer.
Does that mean anything to you?

Kindasorta. I'm not on cable so don't really know how that service works
in any detail. Here's a link to Comcast's (our local cable service) FAQs
on newsgroups. Perhaps your provider has a similar page so that you can
find out if they offer newsgroup access and how to configure a
newsreader.

http://www.comcast.com/Support/Corp1/FAQ/Faq2_200_0.html

Folks on Windows seem to generally use Outlook Express. Being on a Mac,
I can't offer any suggestions for specific newsgroup readers for you. I
assume they all work similarly though - I start my reader program and it
automatically checks for new groups and then will retrieve the
information to display how many new messages are on the newsgroups I
"subscribe" to. Subscribing is just a term meaning, in this case, that
you want to follow and track the postings to specific groups (my ISP
carries 31,202 groups at last count) - there's no money involved. Once
it has determined that there are, say 50 new and unread messages in one
group; 725 in another; and 198 in the last, I double click the group I
want to read. My reader then downloads all the new and unread message
headers that have posted since I last checked in and downloaded the
group. I see all the subject lines and replies to each on one "page" and
it's then just a matter of skimming through the subjects and authors and
2x-clicking the new postings and replies that I'm interested in. The
message then opens in a new window and I navigate up or down the thread
using arrow keys or the keyboard commands. When I've read all that
interest me I mark the unread messages as "read" so they don't get
pulled the next time I check the groups - unless I just want to hold off
on reading something due to lack of time or energy, in which case I
leave it marked "unread" so that it reappears in a future visit.

When I want to reply to something I merely highlight the text I'm
addressing and hit the reply button/command and it automatically copies
and pastes the text into my reply. Making a new posting is very much
like composing and sending an email though it's all done through the
newsreader.

I think that's about the gist of it - there are a bunch of other
features to readers like filters and setting different "personalities"
to post under (for example I only use my real name here - in the other
groups I post semi-anonymously but it is traceable if someone wanted to
ID me). One can also choose to reply to the group or by private email or
both. It's all pretty simple and probably sounds more complicated than
it really is.

Reading the groups by way of a newsreader is much faster than going
through Google - there are no ads or graphics to download with each
message. The page of subjects is one long (or short) listing so there's
no navigating from one page of subjects and replies to the next. One of
the reasons I don't participate in other forums like Woodcentral or WoW
is the cumbersome navigation of subject and message threading along with
page reloading through my dial-up connection. Usenet through a
newsreader is no-frills messaging and nothing but messaging. Another
consideration is that, as I recall, Google doesn't carry any of the
binary groups and there are 2 woodworking related binary newsgroups that
I check.

Does all this help or just muddy the water?

--
Owen Lowe

Northwest Woodturners,
Cascade Woodturners,
Pacific Northwest Woodturning Guild
___
Safety Tip'o'th'week: Never grind aluminum and steel or iron on the same
machine or workstation - Thermite.
http://www.hanford.gov/lessons/sitell/ll01/2001-36.htm