15
Newsgroups and News
Subscribing to Newsgroups and Retrieving News
In this chapter you will learn:
t	How to subscribe to newsgroups.
t	How to check for news.
t	How to open and read news articles.
t	How to display and hide newsgroups in the folder tree.
t	How to create and modify news folders.
t	How to post to a newsgroup.
t	How to reply to an author.
t	How to manage and store news articles.
Getting Starting
A newsgroup is a collection of articles on a specific topic. Articles can be newspaper articles, scholarly papers, general information, messages to the group, or someone's response to an earlier article. 

For some examples of newsgroups and more information, see "Usenet: Internet News and Newsgroups" on page 92.
If you have learned how to create, send, retrieve and read mail with QMC you already know 90% of what you need to know in order to subscribe to newsgroups and retrieve news. The news-related operations use most of the same commands and steps as the mail-related operations. There are only a few more steps to take, which are described in this chapter.
To read newsgroup news, you must:
t	Subscribe to an existing newsgroup.
t	Retrieve articles within that newsgroup from the server.
t	Open the articles you download.

 You should also create your own folders within the News folder in order to organize your newsgroup subscriptions, but you do not need to create these folders to get started. This is explained in "Creating New News Folders" on page 172.
Subscribing to a Newsgroup
There are currently more than 10,000 newsgroups, and new ones are added every day. You can subscribe to any number of newsgroups that interest you and then download articles within that newsgroup, as long as you have enough disk space. Subscribing simply means selecting a newsgroup and placing it on a list of newsgroups that QMC will check for you on a regular basis. Within QMC, newsgroups you subscribe to display on the tree in the News branch, and have a distinctive icon to differentiate them from folders.

Figure 67: News Branch with Folders and Newsgroups
Obviously, you would not want QMC to automatically check and download articles from all 10,000 newsgroups on a regular basis. Subscribing offers you the opportunity to choose newsgroups which interest you. You cannot read news until you subscribe to a newsgroup, but QMC does start you out by including a few newsgroups in the News branch of the tree. You can use these to get started, or subscribe to others right away.
To subscribe to a newsgroup, you will have to find out which newsgroups are available on the news server (or servers) to which you have access; news servers only carry a portion of the available news groups. The first time you subscribe you will spend a little extra time to download the list of newsgroups.
To subscribe to a newsgroup:
1	Click the News folder.
2	Pull down the Folder menu and select Newsgroups.
The Newsgroup dialog box opens and you can select the newsgroup to add. The Table below explains the options in this dialog box.

Figure 68: Newsgroup Dialog Box
The Newsgroups dialog box contains these options:
News Server
Lists the available news servers.
Add
Opens the Add News Server dialog box where you can enter the name of a news server to add to your list.
Delete
Removes the selected news server from the list.
Newsgroups
Lists newsgroups you can subscribe to on the selected news server.
Subscribe
Adds the selected Newsgroup to the tree.
Retrieve List/Update List
Refreshes the list of newsgroups on the selected News Server.
Show Tree/Hide Tree
Shows or hides the News branch of the tree and the options below.
News Folder
The selected newsgroup is added to the highlighted folder. You can select any folder in the tree.
Unsubscribe
Removes the selected newsgroup from the folder tree.
3	Select a server from the News Server drop down list.
The first time you open this dialog box, you will have to retrieve the list of newsgroups on the selected news server. There is no other way to know which news groups are available.
4		If this is the first time you have subscribed to newsgroups on this server, click Retrieve List to display the list of the server's newsgroups. If you have subscribed to newsgroups on this server before, skip this step.

There may be hundreds or even thousands of newsgroups on the news server, so it is possible that retrieving the list may take several minutes.
5	When the list is retrieved, click a newsgroup in the Newsgroup list box, then click Subscribe. Begin typing the name of any newsgroup to scroll the list to that name. You may have to guess that a particular news group will be interesting by its name. Later, you can remove the group if you find you are not interested in it. 

If you know the exact name of the newsgroup, you can type it in the Newsgroup text box.
6		Repeat this step to subscribe to additional newsgroups.
7	Click Close in the Subscribe to Newsgroup dialog box.
The newsgroups you subscribed to will be added to the News branch in the selected folder.

You can also subscribe to a newsgroup using a pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
Checking News
Once you have subscribed to newsgroups, you will want to check those newsgroups for new articles, and if there are any, download them to your computer. You can check a single newsgroup, all newsgroups you have organized within one folder, or all the newsgroups you have subscribed to. 
To manually check for news:
1	On the folder tree, click the newsgroup you want to check or click any folder on the News branch to retrieve news for all newsgroups in that folder.
2	Choose Check Selected News from the Connect menu or choose Check All News from the Connect menu to check all newsgroups at once.
Quarterdeck Message Center establishes an Internet connection and downloads new articles (articles you have not previously downloaded) from selected newsgroups. When the process is complete, a message box displays with the number of new articles. New articles within the selected newsgroups are then shown in the message list.
Reading News
When you highlight a newsgroup in the folder tree the list of articles in that newsgroup displays in the message list on the right. The list contains:
t	New articles which you have recently downloaded (see the previous section).
t	Articles you have retrieved before but not read.
t	Articles you have retrieved and read but not deleted. Once you read articles, they display in a non-bold font in the list.

Figure 69: Newsgroup Articles
To read any article:
1	Double click the message line for that article to open the Message window if the full body of the article has been retrieved, or select the article and pull down the Message menu and select Open. 

If only the article header has been downloaded and you are offline, this will mark the article for retrieval the next time you are online.

See "Downloading News Headers" on page 169 for information on downloading only news headers.
2	Choose Next or Previous on the toolbar or from the Message menu to read the next or previous article in the list.

Once you retrieve articles, the procedures for reading them, displaying attachments and deleting them are identical to those for e-mail messages.

 For more information, refer to Chapter 12 on page 119.
Downloading News Headers
You may find that you spend time downloading news articles, only to discover you have downloaded many articles in which you have no interest. If this is the case, you may find it beneficial to download only news headers, which take little time to download, instead of entire articles.
If you retrieve only the news article headers, you can browse through the headers in the message list area of the mailbox and determine which articles you want to read. If you are online, you can immediately download the full message and read it.
To download only message headers when you check for news:
1	Pull down the Tools menu and select Preferences.
The Preferences dialog box displays.
2	Click the News tab.
The news-related options display on this tab.

Figure 70: Preferences Dialog - News Tab
3	Select Retrieve Only Headers when Checking News.
4	Click OK.
To download an article when only the header has been retrieved:
 u 	Click the Mark button, or double click the message in the message list or highlight the message you want to retrieve and choose Mark for Retrieval from the Message menu.
The body of the article is downloaded the next time you check news in that folder.
To immediately retrieve the articles you have marked:
 u 	Pull down the Connect menu and select Retrieve Marked.

You can also retrieve a marked message using its pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
Displaying and Hiding Newsgroups in the Folder Tree
You can hide the display of individual newsgroups you subscribe to on the tree, in order to maintain a less cluttered tree display. You do not need to display newsgroups to check news. You can organize newsgroups into common folders and check news by selecting a folder. When newsgroups are not displayed, the articles for all the newsgroups in each folder display together within the folder, instead of within the individual newsgroups.
To prevent newsgroups from displaying in the folder tree:
 u 	Pull down the View menu and select Show Newsgroups to deselect it or click the - button to the left of the News folder.
When Show Newsgroups is not checked, only the folders which contain the newsgroups are displayed, even if the folder tree is fully expanded.
You can reverse the process to display newsgroups in the tree at any time.
To display newsgroups in the folder tree:
 u 	Pull down the View menu and select Show Newsgroups to select it or click the + button to the left of the News folder.
Show Newsgroups is checked. Each individual newsgroup displays in the folder tree when the tree is expanded.

See "Expanding and Collapsing the Folder Tree" on page 136.
To check news when newsgroups are not displayed:
1	Click any folder on the News branch.
2	Pull down the Connect menu and select Check Selected News.

You can also check selected news using a pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
Creating New News Folders
You can create new folders in the News branch of the tree in order to store and organize newsgroup subscriptions and articles.
To create a new folder in the News branch:
1	In the News branch of the tree, click the folder in which you want the new folder placed.
2	Pull down the Folder menu and select New.
The New News Folder dialog box displays. The options are described in the table that follows Figure 71 on page 172.

Figure 71: New News Folder Dialog Box
Folder Name
Lets you enter a name for the new folder. The name may be up to 64 characters long. The folder will be added to the tree within the currently selected folder.
Newsgroup Subscriptions 
Shows the list of newsgroups which will be included in the folder. Use the Newsgroups, Properties and Delete buttons to create this list.
Newsgroups 
Opens the Subscribe to Newsgroup dialog box, where you can select newsgroups to add to the new folder.
Properties 
Opens the Newsgroup Properties dialog box where you can change the server that QMC will check for the selected newsgroup, or change the number of the last article read.
Delete 
Removes the selected newsgroup from the list.
3	Enter a name for the folder in the Folder Name text box. 
The folder will be added to the tree within the currently selected folder.

When you add a folder to the News branch of the tree, you can also subscribe to newsgroups so that the articles from those newsgroups will be placed in the new folder. Steps 4 through 7 tell you how.
4	Click the Newsgroups button.
The Newsgroups dialog box displays.
5	Click a newsgroup in the Newsgroups list box, then click Subscribe. Scroll the list to see all the newsgroups on the server.
6	Repeat step 5 as many times as you like to subscribe to additional newsgroups.
7	Click Close in the Subscribe to Newsgroup dialog box.
The newsgroup you subscribed to is added to the News branch in the selected folder.
8	Click OK in the New News Folder dialog box.
The new folder is added beneath the current folder and contains any newsgroups you selected.

You can also create a new news folder using a pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
Modifying a News Folder
You can change the name of a folder you have created on the News branch of the tree and easily add or delete newsgroup subscriptions within a folder.
To rename a News folder:
1	Select the folder in the folder tree.
2	Pull down the Folder menu and select Properties.
The Folder Properties dialog box opens.

Figure 72: Folder Properties Dialog Box
3	Delete the current name from the Folder Name text box, then type the new folder name.
If the selected folder is on the News branch of the tree, you can also modify the list of newsgroup subscriptions with the Newsgroup, Properties or Delete options.
4	Click OK.

You can also modify a folder using its pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
Modifying a Newsgroup Subscription
If you have access to more than one news server, you may want to retrieve articles from a newsgroup you currently subscribe to on a different news server. For example, if one news server becomes unavailable, you can check another news server for existing newsgroup subscriptions.
To modify a newsgroup subscription:
1	Select the newsgroup in the folder tree.
2	Pull down the Folder menu and select Properties.
The Newsgroup Properties dialog box opens. See the table following Figure 73 for more information on these options.

Figure 73: Newsgroup Properties Dialog Box

Newsgroup 
The name of the newsgroup selected in the folder tree.
News Server
The name of the server you want QMC to connect to when it checks for new articles in the newsgroup.
Last Retrieved Message 
The number of the last message or message header that you downloaded.
First message
The first message in the newsgroup available on the server.
Last message
The last message in the newsgroup available on the server.
Reset
Changes the number in the Last Retrieved Message box to 0 (zero), so all messages in the newsgroup can be downloaded, even if they have previously been downloaded.
3	Select a different server from the News Server dropdown list. so QMC will check this alternate server when it retrieves articles.
4	Enter a different number in the Last Retrieved Message text box to begin downloading messages from a different starting number in order to bypass earlier messages and download only recent messages.
5	Click OK.

 You can also modify a subscription using a pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
Updating a Newsgroup List
Newsgroups and news servers are constantly changing. If it has been a while since you first subscribed to newsgroups on a particular server there may be additional groups on that server. You may wish to display the most recent list of newsgroups on the server before choosing one or more newsgroups to subscribe to so you can see the most recent list of available newsgroups.
To update the list of newsgroups on a server at any time:
1	Click any folder in the News branch of the tree.
2	Pull down the Folder Menu and select Newsgroups.
The Newsgroups dialog box opens.

Figure 74: Newsgroups Dialog Box
3	Click Update List to update the list in the list box.
4	Select either of the options in the dialog box.
5	Once you have updated the list, you can double click any newsgroup in the list to add it to the current folder.
6	Click Close to close the dialog box.
Posting to a Newsgroup
To post your own article or message to a newsgroup, use the same steps you would use to compose a message.
To post to a newsgroup:
1	Click the Compose button on the toolbar or pull down the Message menu and select Compose. 
The New Message window opens.

The fields in this window were described in Table 3 on page 108.

Figure 75: New Message Window
2	Click the Address Book button, then click the Newsgroups tab to bring it forward.
3	Highlight any newsgroup in the list and click the To button, then click Close.
If you know the exact name of the newsgroup, you can also begin typing it in the To text box. If it is in your newsgroup database, QMC will complete the newsgroup name for you.
4	Click in the Subject text box, then type the subject of your message.
5	Click below in the message area (the large blank area in the bottom half of the window) and type the body of your message. QMC supports most standard Windows editing keys.
6	When you finish typing the message, click the Send button or pull down the Message menu and select Send.
The New Message window closes and the message is placed in the Outbox folder. The message is not sent from the Outbox until you choose one of the Send commands from the Connect menu, unless you are already online.
7	Pull down the Connect menu and select Send Messages.
This message and any other messages previously created and in the Outbox are sent.
Replying to an Author
Sometimes you may want to send a private message directly to the author of an article, instead of posting the message publicly to the newsgroup. You can reply to the author of an article in the same way as you reply to a message.
To reply to an author when the Message window is open:
1	Click the Reply button on the toolbar or pull down the Message menu and select Reply.
The Reply dialog box displays so you can specify options for this message.

Figure 76: Reply Dialog Box
2	Click Reply to Poster to select it and click Reply to Newsgroups to deselect it if it is selected.
The New Message window opens and the author's name and address are automatically placed in the recipient list. The Subject field is also filled in.
3	Click in the message area and type your message.
4	Click the Send button or pull down the Message menu and select Send.
The New Message window closes and the message is placed in the Outbox folder.

You can also reply to an article using its pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
Managing and Storing Articles
Since all articles are initially placed in the newsgroup from which they were retrieved, you may want to move some of them to another folder you have created for certain categories of articles. You can move selected articles to another folder, using the same techniques you use for moving messages. In fact, the procedures for copying, deleting and saving newsgroup messages as files are identical to those for e-mail messages.

If you have only downloaded message headers, you cannot move or copy headers to another folder.
To move one or more articles:
1	Select all the articles to be moved in the message list.

 See "Selecting Messages" on page 137 for steps to select multiple messages.
2	Pull down the Message menu and select Move.
The Move Message dialog box displays. 

Figure 77: Move Message Dialog Box
3	Enter the destination in the Destination Folder text box, or use the mouse pointer to click the destination in the folder tree.
4	Choose OK.
To move articles with drag and drop:
1	Select one or more articles in the message list.
2	Press and hold the mouse button over one of the selected article's icons. Then continue holding down the mouse button while you move the mouse pointer to a folder.
A confirmation dialog box displays during a move operation if you have the Confirm on Drag and Drop Copy/Move message option checked in the Preferences dialog box, Confirmation tab.
3	Choose Yes.

You can also move an article using its pop-up menu; for information see the online help.
