Unfortunately Guru Ken is no longer with us, and perhaps Diane could corroborate, or add to this, but some of the features it has are, which
are enabled in setup:

Although I don't know how Goggle works/displays, but...

~ Each post in a specific thread is identified by a vertical line of a different color, whereas the most recent post shows without out the
color identifier line, making it very easy to scroll down through the
post to see any new comments.

~ Your own posts can be identified in a specific color in the list of
all the posts.

~ You could sort the list of posts by  Subject, From, Date...

~ The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in particular North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a supernatural
being of power and strength.

It is especially important and frequently depicted in the art, songs,
and oral histories of many Pacific Northwest Coast cultures, but is also
found in various forms among some peoples of the American Southwest,
East Coast of the United States, Great Lakes, and Great Plains. In
modern times it has achieved notoriety as a purported cryptid, similar
to creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.


--
Steve Mc

DNA to SBC to respond

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On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 14:25:57 -0800 (PST), Tom Vitale

Member of List Your Favorite Records

<vitaletom1@gmail.com> wrote:

Thunderbird is just a newgroup client, is it not? Doesn't it require a connection to a Usenet repository server?

Yes, but there might still be some Free Usenet servers that can
send/receive recent posts.
To review Thunderbird and/or Agent perhaps a friend will let you use
their server logon details temporarily :)

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On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 08:36:21 -0800, Steve Mc <stevemc209@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Unfortunately Guru Ken is no longer with us, and perhaps Diane could >corroborate, or add to this, but some of the features it has are, which
are enabled in setup:

Although I don't know how Goggle works/displays, but...

~ Each post in a specific thread is identified by a vertical line of a >different color, whereas the most recent post shows without out the
color identifier line, making it very easy to scroll down through the
post to see any new comments.

~ Your own posts can be identified in a specific color in the list of
all the posts.

I have the Thunderbird e-mail client, but I don't see any way to access newsgroups through that
program. Is there a separate program for Newsgroup access?

~ You could sort the list of posts by  Subject, From, Date...

~ The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in particular North American >indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a supernatural >being of power and strength.

It is especially important and frequently depicted in the art, songs,
and oral histories of many Pacific Northwest Coast cultures, but is also >found in various forms among some peoples of the American Southwest,
East Coast of the United States, Great Lakes, and Great Plains. In
modern times it has achieved notoriety as a purported cryptid, similar
to creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.

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On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:50:07 -0800, Rick Schubert <rns@san.rr.com> wrote:

I have the Thunderbird e-mail client, but I don't see any way to access newsgroups through that
program. Is there a separate program for Newsgroup access?

I figured it out. I was able to access newsgroups through that program. I had to create a
newsgroup account; then I was able to subscribe to newsgroups.

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On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 22:55:57 -0800, Rick Schubert <rns@san.rr.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:50:07 -0800, Rick Schubert <rns@san.rr.com> wrote:

I have the Thunderbird e-mail client, but I don't see any way to access newsgroups through that
program. Is there a separate program for Newsgroup access?

I figured it out. I was able to access newsgroups through that program. I had to create a
newsgroup account; then I was able to subscribe to newsgroups.

I've been using Thunderbird for email for years,
But don't you still have to have an account with a newsgroup server
such as newshosting.com so you have acess? It asks for the server
source when you set it up.

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On 16/12/2023 7:37 am, Bill B wrote:

On Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 1:56:10 AM UTC-5, Rick Schubert wrote:

On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:50:07 -0800, Rick Schubert

I have the Thunderbird e-mail client, but I don't see any way to access newsgroups through that
program. Is there a separate program for Newsgroup access?

I figured it out. I was able to access newsgroups through that program. I had to create a
newsgroup account; then I was able to subscribe to newsgroups.

Rick,

I'm at an impasse. What is the name I should use for the newsgroup server?

Bill, I'm writing to you using Thunderbird (v.102).

In Thunderbird I use a Free newsgroup server, a well-known long
established one called "Eternal-September".

Go here to set up your free account. You will then be emailed your
user-id and password:
https://www.eternal-september.org/RegisterNewsAccount.php

then configure your newsreader to access:
news.eternal-september.org
The port number is 119 (the default)

I cannot see anywhere to add the necessary user-id and password
but when I clicked on the account name on far left of main screen
(where you see postings from the newsgroup selected beneath the account
name) a box popped up asking for user-id and password.

(I will now return to Agent :)

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On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:13:59 -0800 (PST), Roger Ford <mariabus@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On Saturday 16 December 2023 at 06:56:10 UTC, Rick Schubert wrote:

On Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:50:07 -0800, Rick Schubert <r...@san.rr.com> wrote: >>

I have the Thunderbird e-mail client, but I don't see any way to access newsgroups through that
program. Is there a separate program for Newsgroup access?

I figured it out. I was able to access newsgroups through that program. I had to create a
newsgroup account; then I was able to subscribe to newsgroups.

Well done Rick!

Is there any chance of a simple step-by-step guide that a 5 year old (that's me! :) could understand to installing from scratch a working newsgroup-connected version of Thunderbird?

1. Download Thunderbird from https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/download/, install and launch it.
2. Click on the 3 horizontal bars near the top right of the window
3. Click on New Account
4. Click on Newsgroup
5. Fill in the various fields
6. Click on the name of the news server on the left panel
7. Click Manage newsgroup subscriptions (Bill, this may be the step you are missing)
8. Enter rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s in the box that says "Show items that contain:"
9. Click Subscribe
10. Right-click on the name of the newsgroup on the left panel
11. Click on Get Messages

I was asked how many messages to download. I selected All messages, which resulted in over 250,000
messages dating back to 2003 being downloaded (I subscribe to giganews, which retains that many).

I'm not sure at what point you enter the password for your account, but I believe you are prompted
when it is needed.

Hope this helps.

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On 12/16/2023 2:48 PM, Rick Schubert wrote:

1. Download Thunderbird from https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/download/, install and launch it.
2. Click on the 3 horizontal bars near the top right of the window
3. Click on New Account
4. Click on Newsgroup
5. Fill in the various fields
6. Click on the name of the news server on the left panel
7. Click Manage newsgroup subscriptions (Bill, this may be the step you are missing)
8. Enter rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s in the box that says "Show items that contain:"
9. Click Subscribe
10. Right-click on the name of the newsgroup on the left panel
11. Click on Get Messages

I was asked how many messages to download. I selected All messages, which resulted in over 250,000
messages dating back to 2003 being downloaded (I subscribe to giganews, which retains that many).

I'm not sure at what point you enter the password for your account, but I believe you are prompted
when it is needed.

Hope this helps.

It sure did. I got a free month of Agent and it's only like $2.95 a
month after that. I don't like this format at all, but I guess beggars
can't be choosers at this point.

Rick, is there a quick way to delete all the span threads at once?

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On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 16:16:00 -0500, Bruce Grossbrg <SavoyBG@aol.com>
wrote:

On 12/16/2023 3:48 PM, Bill B wrote:

On Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 2:48:35?PM UTC-5, Rick Schubert wrote:

1. Download Thunderbird from https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/download/, install and launch it.
2. Click on the 3 horizontal bars near the top right of the window
3. Click on New Account
4. Click on Newsgroup
5. Fill in the various fields
6. Click on the name of the news server on the left panel
7. Click Manage newsgroup subscriptions (Bill, this may be the step you are missing)
8. Enter rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s in the box that says "Show items that contain:"
9. Click Subscribe
10. Right-click on the name of the newsgroup on the left panel
11. Click on Get Messages

I went through all these steps, but where I go wrong is your step 8. when I enter the group name, nothing appears in the select the newsgroups to subscribe to box. If I click subscribe, nothing happens.
Perhaps I have to subscribe to a service like Giga News, but that's $8.33 a month and I'd like to use a free server like Geoff's suggested news.eternal-september.org, which is what I am now using without success..

Get Agent. You get a month free and then it's just $2.95 a month
thereafter. I'm posting this from there now.

To be clear, you are using Thunderbird, with Agent merely as the
background server. Agent as a server is likely the equivalent of
Rick's Giganews, storing posts going back to 2003. It seems Bill
is having a problem inside Thunderbird, not with the server he has
chosen but with selecting "rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s".

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On 12/16/2023 3:48 PM, Bill B wrote:

On Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 2:48:35 PM UTC-5, Rick Schubert wrote:

1. Download Thunderbird from https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/download/, install and launch it.
2. Click on the 3 horizontal bars near the top right of the window
3. Click on New Account
4. Click on Newsgroup
5. Fill in the various fields
6. Click on the name of the news server on the left panel
7. Click Manage newsgroup subscriptions (Bill, this may be the step you are missing)
8. Enter rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s in the box that says "Show items that contain:"
9. Click Subscribe
10. Right-click on the name of the newsgroup on the left panel
11. Click on Get Messages

I went through all these steps, but where I go wrong is your step 8. when I enter the group name, nothing appears in the select the newsgroups to subscribe to box. If I click subscribe, nothing happens.
Perhaps I have to subscribe to a service like Giga News, but that's $8.33 a month and I'd like to use a free server like Geoff's suggested news.eternal-september.org, which is what I am now using without success..

Get Agent. You get a month free and then it's just $2.95 a month
thereafter. I'm posting this from there now.

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On 12/16/2023 4:41 PM, RWC wrote:

On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 16:16:00 -0500, Bruce Grossbrg <SavoyBG@aol.com>
wrote:

On 12/16/2023 3:48 PM, Bill B wrote:

On Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 2:48:35?PM UTC-5, Rick Schubert wrote: >>>

1. Download Thunderbird from https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/download/, install and launch it.
2. Click on the 3 horizontal bars near the top right of the window
3. Click on New Account
4. Click on Newsgroup
5. Fill in the various fields
6. Click on the name of the news server on the left panel
7. Click Manage newsgroup subscriptions (Bill, this may be the step you are missing)
8. Enter rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s in the box that says "Show items that contain:"
9. Click Subscribe
10. Right-click on the name of the newsgroup on the left panel
11. Click on Get Messages

I went through all these steps, but where I go wrong is your step 8. when I enter the group name, nothing appears in the select the newsgroups to subscribe to box. If I click subscribe, nothing happens.
Perhaps I have to subscribe to a service like Giga News, but that's $8.33 a month and I'd like to use a free server like Geoff's suggested news.eternal-september.org, which is what I am now using without success..

Get Agent. You get a month free and then it's just $2.95 a month
thereafter. I'm posting this from there now.

To be clear, you are using Thunderbird, with Agent merely as the
background server. Agent as a server is likely the equivalent of
Rick's Giganews, storing posts going back to 2003. It seems Bill
is having a problem inside Thunderbird, not with the server he has
chosen but with selecting "rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s".

Bill, has the Newsreader, but not the Usenet subscription. That's all I
have from Agent is their Usenet subscription. That's why it's just 2.99
a month for 20 GB. Most people need it to download music and TV shows
that are posted. I just need it for here and maybe for the Beatles group.

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On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 12:48:30 -0800 (PST), Bill B <bbug2@optonline.net>
wrote:

On Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 2:48:35?PM UTC-5, Rick Schubert wrote:

7. Click Manage newsgroup subscriptions (Bill, this may be the step you are missing)
8. Enter rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s in the box that says "Show items that contain:"
9. Click Subscribe
10. Right-click on the name of the newsgroup on the left panel
11. Click on Get Messages

I went through all these steps, but where I go wrong is your step 8. when I enter the group name, nothing appears in the select the newsgroups to subscribe to box. If I click subscribe, nothing happens.
Perhaps I have to subscribe to a service like Giga News, but that's $8.33 a month and I'd like to use a free server like Geoff's suggested news.eternal-september.org, which is what I am now using without success..

Bill, inside Thunderbird I've just added
"rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1960s"
and, like for "1950s", got posts going back to 2014.

These are the steps to take:

1. On main screen (as I call it) right-click on the
blue account name that has been set up with server
news.eternal-september.org - I've named my account
"Free Usenet Server" - and select Subscribe

2. In large dialog box that pops up there's a box for
"Show items that contain"
in this box enter: 1950s

3. rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s
should then be listed
(if not, perhaps you haven't previously entered/established
user-id and password for the eternal-september server
because the list of newsgroups does come from the server)

4. tick the box to the right of "rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s"

5. click the blue OK button at bottom of dialog box

6. you should be back at the main screen
right-click on "r.m.r-p-r.1950s" under the blue account name for
the server and select Get Messages

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On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:46:45 -0500, Bruce Grossbrg <SavoyBG@aol.com>
wrote:

Rick, is there a quick way to delete all the span threads at once?

Rick might have a better way, but if I can butt in,
this is how Geoff would do it:

left-click the first one
shift-left-click the last one
if there are some legitimate posts inside this group shaded blue,
they can be individually excluded with ctrl-left-click
right-click on the blue selection and choose Delete Selected Messages
or just press D

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On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:25:16 -0800 (PST), Bill B <bbug2@optonline.net>
wrote:

3. rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s
should then be listed

It isn't, even if I enter the full group name.

(if not, perhaps you haven't previously entered/established
user-id and password for the eternal-september server
because the list of newsgroups does come from the server)

I haven't and I have not been prompted to do so. How do I do so?

just for starters

Bill, are these the settings you have for your eternal-september
account (on my system, called Free Usenet Server): https://RWC-0.tinytake.com/media/1582688?filename=1702771890526_TB+Free+Server+Settings.png

this shows my eternal-september account on main screen,
named (can be anything) Free Usenet Server: https://RWC-0.tinytake.com/media/158268c?filename=1702772258856_TinyTake16-12-2023-07-17-12.png

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On Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:25:16 -0800 (PST), Bill B <bbug2@optonline.net>
wrote:

2. In large dialog box that pops up there's a box for
"Show items that contain"
in this box enter: 1950s

Done.

3. rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s
should then be listed

It isn't, even if I enter the full group name.

(if not, perhaps you haven't previously entered/established
user-id and password for the eternal-september server
because the list of newsgroups does come from the server)

I haven't and I have not been prompted to do so. How do I do so?

On main screen, right-click on your account name for server (next to
a blue globe icon) and select Get Messages (even though you have not
yet selected any newsgroups). Hopefully a box will
pop up asking for the id and password that was emailed to you.

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On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 12:06:51 -0800 (PST), Roger Ford <mariabus@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

Thanks Rick

My newsreader server before was eternal-september. I have my user id and password. So will it work with Thunderbird?

Yes

I will follow the above and try installing tomorrow

Again many thanks !!

Let's see if you can beat Bill to get Thunderbird working, Roger.

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RWC wrote:

On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 12:06:51 -0800 (PST), Roger Ford <mariabus@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

Thanks Rick

My newsreader server before was eternal-september. I have my user id and password. So will it work with Thunderbird?

Yes

I will follow the above and try installing tomorrow

Again many thanks !!

Let's see if you can beat Bill to get Thunderbird working, Roger.

He shouldn't waste his time. Just get Nova.

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Roger, try this Nova thing. I even see that you can quote. There's a button to click on at the bottom of the post to quote.

https://www.novabbs.com/arts/thread.php?group=rec.music.rock-pop-r%2Bb.1950s

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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RWC wrote:

On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 12:06:51 -0800 (PST), Roger Ford <mariabus@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

Thanks Rick

My newsreader server before was eternal-september. I have my user id and password. So will it work with Thunderbird?

Yes

I will follow the above and try installing tomorrow

Again many thanks !!

Let's see if you can beat Bill to get Thunderbird working, Roger.

If you're trying eternal-september.org and not seeing groups in the list, it's most likely because you need to log in. Groups won't appear if not logged in. There should be a checkbox in the account settings to always log in, or log in required or
something like that, then 'Refresh' the groups list.

Here's a list of free news servers:
https://sybershock.com/#usenet

--
Retro Guy

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I already signed up for Nova on General Zod's recommendation and Will Dockery's assurance that it was safe. I then uninstalled Thunderbird, but want to thank Geoff and Rick for their efforts to get it to work for me.

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On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 21:03:16 +0000, savoybg@aol.com (Bruce) wrote:

RWC wrote:

On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 12:06:51 -0800 (PST), Roger Ford
<mariabus@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

Thanks Rick

My newsreader server before was eternal-september. I have my user id and password. So will it work with Thunderbird?

Yes

I will follow the above and try installing tomorrow

Again many thanks !!

Let's see if you can beat Bill to get Thunderbird working, Roger.

He shouldn't waste his time. Just get Nova.

Yes, it's early days but Nova does seem to be the easy and good
solution for ex-Google Group users.

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On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 21:53:51 +0000, bbug1@optonline.net (bbug1) wrote:

I already signed up for Nova on General Zod's recommendation and Will Dockery's assurance that it was safe.
I then uninstalled Thunderbird, but want to thank Geoff and Rick for their efforts to get it to work for me.

Thanks for letting us know, Bill, and thanks for your appreciation of
our efforts.

btw, I don't know what General Zod did to hide his, but your private
email, Bill, used for registration, can be read by Agent as background
data to your Nova messages.

This might not concern you, Bill, one iota, but I'm just letting folk
know about this potential privacy issue.

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Rog, don't waste your time. This Nova is fine and easy to use.

https://www.novabbs.com/arts/thread.php?group=rec.music.rock-pop-r%2Bb.1950s

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Geoff wrote:
btw, I don't know what General Zod did to hide his, but your private
email, Bill, used for registration, can be read by Agent as background
data to your Nova messages.

It does concern me, but I can't figure how to block it. Are Nova preferences shown somewhere?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Mon, 18 Dec 2023 10:36:51 +0000, bbug1 wrote:

Geoff wrote:
btw, I don't know what General Zod did to hide his, but your private
email, Bill, used for registration, can be read by Agent as background
data to your Nova messages.

It does concern me, but I can't figure how to block it. Are Nova
preferences shown somewhere?

General Zod created his account a looong time ago, before email addresses
were required. There is no user setting related to email.

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