The L-Space Web
How do I read and post to AFP?
Subscribing
There are a number of ways to subscribe to AFP depending
on what sort of Internet access you have.
Alt.fan.pratchett is a newsgroup which
means it resides in that arm of the Internet that is collectively
known as Usenet. It is your ability (or lack thereof) to connect to
Usenet that determines the method you use to read and post to
the group.
- Method 1
- Your ISP (that's the company that provides your Internet
connection) provides a news server (usually called news.xxxxx.xxxx).
In this case, all you need to do is use a piece of software, known as
a news reader, to connect to the news server, download the names of all the newsgroups it carries
and see if AFP is amongst them. If it's missing, a polite request to your ISP's news administrator to add
alt.fan.pratchett to the server list may solve the problem.
When ready, you should be able to download all the available articles within the
group and read them offline. Your own articles can also be
composed offline, within your news software, and then sent when online in a similar
manner to email.
- Method 2
- You have suitable software but your ISP does not have a news server of its own.
There are some public, news servers out there that you can use instead. For example,
news.individual.net is a publically accessible news server but
you are required to register and pay a small annual fee (approx 10 euros).
You can find a list of public news
servers that carry AFP at Newzbot and you may also find the
Open Directory Project's Public News Servers category
useful.
- Method 3
- Due to restrictions on your system (you're accessing the
'Net at work or via college), you cannot download news groups onto
your machine to read offline. However, you do have web access.
In this situation, pop along to Google Groups,
select the 'alt.*' groups and locate alt.fan.pratchett.
You can now read all the posts in these groups online. If you want to
post to the groups, you'll need to register with Google but this is a
free, relatively painless, process. The only financial disadvantage is that you are now
forced to read and reply whilst online - so watch the phone bill!
When replying to posts, please note that Google Groups will automatically remove any
AFP specific tag at the front of the
Subject if it is followed by a space. For that reason, it is suggested
that you ensure that you do not leave any spaces between the tag and the Subject of your post or followup.
Windows News Software
- Thunderbird
- This combined email and newsreader client allows you the option to download all messages
from a given group, read them offline and
compose any followups or posts of your own. You must then re-connect to send any posts.
Download Thunderbird
- Free Agent
- This is a dedicated, free, offline news reader package
that is somewhat more compliant than OE. It doesn't have all the
bells and whistles of its commercial big brother, Agent, but it's still
a very good piece of software, very straightforward to setup and use,
and one that many AFP subscribers started with (and still use in many
cases).
Download Free Agent
- Gravity
- One step up from Free Agent but still free to download.
This is a fully functional news reader that has a couple of the nice
extras that Free Agent lacks. However, for the new user, the range
of options and configurability can be a little overwhelming, so might
be better left until later if you're not the type of person who likes
tinkering with software settings.
Download Gravity
- Outlook Express
- If you normally use OE for your email, then you can
also use it for reading and posting to newsgroups. Its advantage is
that it's almost certainly already on your system and only needs a
bit of extra configuring to get it up and running for newsgroups. Its
disadvantage is that, as a newsreader, it's not ideal and many of its
default settings are the exact opposite of the guidelines used within
Usenet (in fact, in one or two places, it's seriously broken).
However, some people are more than happy with OE as their news
reader and if you think you'd be one of them, then have a look
at elfin's OE Help Pages
for advice with setup and configuration.
Macintosh News Software
- Thunderbird
- This combined email and newsreader client allows you the option to download all messages
from a given group, read them offline and
compose any followups or posts of your own. You must then re-connect to send any posts.
Download Thunderbird
- MT-NewsWatcher
- This is a dedicated, free, offline news reader package that is somewhat
more compliant than browsers or an email program. It's probably the best
Mac-based tool. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a commercial
product, but it's still a very good piece of software, very
straightforward to setup and use.
Download MT-NewsWatcher. Note there is
also an OS 9 version available from this page.
- Entourage
- If you normally use MS Entourage for your email, then you can also use it
for reading and posting to newsgroups. Its advantage is that it's almost
certainly already on your system and only needs a bit of extra configuring
to get it up and running for newsgroups. Its disadvantage is that, as a
newsreader, it's not ideal and many of its default settings are the exact
opposite of the guidelines used within Usenet (in fact, in one or two
places, it's seriously broken). However, some people are more than happy
with Entourage as their news reader.
What Next?
For further information specific to AFP, we suggest:
For general information about Usenet, try the following resources:
- Beginners
- Imp's Usenet Guide
- Further Reading
- Usenet References
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