why, why,why ?

No idea except perhaps that Google has deleted them. The group actually started in October 1997 as a result of a great deal of hard work by George Hendry. I note that I had some problems getting Eclipse to take the group so my first post was delayed until 17/11/1997. So we've been going 7+ years. Despite healthy growth the ratio of lurkers to posters remains high and comments at events suggest that a large number of enthusiasts take one look and run away. Why? One-post wonders are also high. Is the reason the same or different? ttfn Roland Craven nr Exeter Devon UK snipped-for-privacy@petternut.co.uk

Believe me, you're wrong.

John

Believe me, you're wrong. Get a good un though and they help you with the computer.

John

When you first subscribe to a group, you will be offerred (more or less) every post that you haven't read that your news-server has in its stores.

It sounds like your news server has a big store.

Simply claim that you have read the old posts.

Details vary from news reader to news reader.

BugBear

If you are using Outlook or Outlook Express you will see a bar above the main window with; subject, from, sent and size. Klick on the word "sent" and that will reverse the postings from ( oldest first ) to ( newest first).

Also worth mentioning, a decent news and mail reader like Agent or Eudora would be an improvement over OE which was never really designed for the job it is trying to do.

Peter

Peter, which of the two do you prefer? I have always used OE. I am always looking for beter programs when recomended. Thanks, Scott

We have used Agent for 6 years and like it very much:

There is a free version and a paid-for version, the current version of both is up to V2.0 but we stayed with V1.93 as we preferred the layout of the older one.

Eudora we had problems with, but a lot of users out there love it.

Outlook Express was an office tool that happened to be able to do email and news as well, and it failed pretty badly, especially with some of the more esoteric facilities such as multiple email accounts etc.

Peter

Regards, Scott.

With those oft-repeated and by now internationally known views on MS products I'm surprised you're still using Windows Peter. Its a far bigger pile of poo than OE. Time you made the switch to Linux I think :-) regards roland

If I had the time to play, I probably would have a look at Linux, there are certainly plenty of proponents of it on the web, but with twin networks runnings smoothly here and at work, the last thing I need now is a new set of software...

Peter

Exactly how I feel about OE. I know its crap but it does what I want without fuss or bother, and being told once a week that it is crap doesn't change that :-) ttfn Roland

I shall darken thy door no more....

Peter

-- Peter A Forbes Prepair Ltd, Luton, UK snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

I decided to give the Mozilla Firefox browser a try a few months ago, having used Opera for years. I've stuck with it, very pleased, & there are less (badly compiled) sites which it won't view properly than I was finding with Opera. There's an associated mail reader, Thunderbird, which I've also gone over to after years with Eudora. Again, I find it better, for my requirements, than what I had been using. Still using Agent for news groups, and happy with it.

Cheers Tim

Dutton Dry-Dock Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs Vintage diesel engine service