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1.1     ! root        1: .\"    @(#)howto.mn    6.1 (Berkeley) 5/26/86
        !             2: .\"
        !             3: .\" Modified 9/29/85 by Matt Bishop ([email protected])
        !             4: .\" to work with the TROFF news document macros.
        !             5: .ds h0 "How to Read the Network News
        !             6: .ds h1
        !             7: .ds h2 USD:9-%
        !             8: .ds f0 "\*(vr
        !             9: .ds f1
        !            10: .ds f2 "February 26, 1986
        !            11: .de Qp                                 \" quoted command as hanging char
        !            12: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
        !            13: ..
        !            14: .de Qc                                 \" quoted command as hanging string
        !            15: .lp "\\f3<\\s-2\\$1\\s0>\\f1" \\$2
        !            16: ..
        !            17: .de Op                                 \" option as hanging string
        !            18: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
        !            19: ..
        !            20: .mt
        !            21: How to Read the Network News
        !            22: .au
        !            23: Mark R. Horton
        !            24: .ai
        !            25: AT&T Bell Laboratories
        !            26: Columbus, OH  43213
        !            27: .au
        !            28: Revised by Rick Adams for 2.10.3
        !            29: .bt
        !            30: .hu
        !            31: What is the Network News?
        !            32: .pg
        !            33: USENET (Users' Network)
        !            34: is a bulletin board shared among many
        !            35: computer systems around the world.
        !            36: USENET is a logical network,
        !            37: sitting on top of several physical networks,
        !            38: among them
        !            39: .i UUCP ,
        !            40: .i BLICN ,
        !            41: .i BERKNET ,
        !            42: .i X.25 ,
        !            43: and the
        !            44: .i ARPANET .
        !            45: Sites on USENET include many universities,
        !            46: private companies and research organizations.
        !            47: Most of the members of USENET are either
        !            48: university computer science departments
        !            49: or part of AT&T.
        !            50: Currently, there are over 2000 USENET sites in the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan 
        !            51: and Korea with more joining every day. Most are running the
        !            52: .ux
        !            53: operating system.
        !            54: .pg
        !            55: The network news,
        !            56: or simply
        !            57: .i netnews ,
        !            58: is the set of programs that provide access to the news
        !            59: and transfer it from one machine to the next.
        !            60: Netnews was originally written at Duke University
        !            61: and has been modified extensively by the University
        !            62: of California at Berkeley and others.
        !            63: Netnews allows articles to be posted for limited or very wide distribution.
        !            64: This document contains a list of newsgroups
        !            65: that were active at the time the document was written.
        !            66: It exists
        !            67: to assist you in determining which newsgroups you may
        !            68: want to subscribe to.
        !            69: When creating a new article,
        !            70: the level of distribution can be controlled
        !            71: by use of the
        !            72: .cf Distribution
        !            73: field.
        !            74: This will prevent notices of apartments for rent in New Jersey
        !            75: being broadcast to California
        !            76: (or even Europe).
        !            77: .pg
        !            78: Any user can post an article,
        !            79: which will be sent out to the network
        !            80: to be read by persons interested in that topic.
        !            81: You can specify which topics are of interest to you by putting them in a
        !            82: .i "subscription list" .
        !            83: Then,
        !            84: whenever you ask to read news,
        !            85: the news reading program will present all unread articles of interest.
        !            86: There are also facilities for browsing through old news,
        !            87: posting follow-up articles,
        !            88: and sending direct electronic mail replies to the author of an article.
        !            89: .pg
        !            90: This paper is a tutorial,
        !            91: aimed at the user who wants to read and possibly post news.
        !            92: The system administrator who must install the software
        !            93: should see the companion document
        !            94: .i "USENET Version B Installation" .
        !            95: .hu
        !            96: Why USENET?
        !            97: .pg
        !            98: USENET is useful in a number of ways.
        !            99: Someone wishing to announce a new program or product can reach a wide audience.
        !           100: A user can ask \*(lqDoes anyone have an
        !           101: .i x ?\*(rq
        !           102: and will usually get several responses within a day or two.
        !           103: Bug reports and their fixes can be made quickly available
        !           104: without the usual overhead of sending out mass mailings.
        !           105: Discussions involving many people at different locations
        !           106: can take place without having to get everyone together.
        !           107: .pg
        !           108: Another facility with similar capabilities to
        !           109: .i netnews
        !           110: is the
        !           111: .i "electronic mailing list" .
        !           112: A mailing list is a collection of electronic mailing addresses of users
        !           113: who are interested in a particular topic.
        !           114: By sending electronic mail to the list,
        !           115: all users on the list receive a copy of the article.
        !           116: While the mailing list facility is quite useful,
        !           117: USENET offers a number of advantages not present in mailing lists.
        !           118: Getting yourself on a mailing list is not always easy.
        !           119: You have to figure out who maintains the list and ask them to put you on it.
        !           120: Often these people are out of town or busy,
        !           121: and don't put you on the list for several days.
        !           122: Sometimes you have to send mail to the entire mailing list,
        !           123: hoping that one of the readers will tell you who maintains the list.
        !           124: Once you are on the list,
        !           125: you often find yourself in the middle of a discussion.
        !           126: Netnews keeps old articles around until they expire (usually about two weeks)
        !           127: so you can browse through old news to catch up on what you missed.
        !           128: Similarly,
        !           129: referring to an old article is easy,
        !           130: without having to keep a personal file of all old mail to the list.
        !           131: .pg
        !           132: Another advantage is appreciated by the other users of the system.
        !           133: There is less overhead in having only one copy of each message
        !           134: sent to each machine,
        !           135: rather than having separate copies sent
        !           136: to each of several users on the same machine.
        !           137: This cuts down on computer time to process the messages,
        !           138: and on-line costs for telephone calls to transfer messages
        !           139: from one machine to another (when phone lines are used).
        !           140: Another advantage is in the disk space consumed.
        !           141: When only one message is sent to each system,
        !           142: only one copy of the message is kept on disk.
        !           143: In a mailing list environment,
        !           144: each user has a copy in a mailbox.
        !           145: .hu
        !           146: How do I Read News?
        !           147: .pg
        !           148: In the USENET jargon,
        !           149: interest topics are called
        !           150: .i newsgroups .
        !           151: A newsgroup list appears in a later section,
        !           152: current as this paper was written.
        !           153: You have your own
        !           154: .i "subscription list"
        !           155: of newsgroups to which you are said to
        !           156: .i subscribe .
        !           157: .pg
        !           158: The simplest way to read news is to type the command:
        !           159: .sd c
        !           160: readnews
        !           161: .ed
        !           162: Other possibilities include: a full-screen-oriented news reading program,
        !           163: .i vnews (1),
        !           164: (described in the Appendix) and the
        !           165: .i notesfile
        !           166: system, which can also be used for news (described in a separate paper.)
        !           167: Each newsgroup to which you subscribe will be presented,
        !           168: one article at a time.
        !           169: As each article is presented,
        !           170: you will be shown the
        !           171: .i header
        !           172: (containing the name of the author,
        !           173: the subject,
        !           174: and the length of the article)
        !           175: and you will be asked if you want more.
        !           176: There are a number of possible choices you can make at this point.
        !           177: The three most common
        !           178: .qp y , (
        !           179: .qp n ,
        !           180: and
        !           181: .qp q )
        !           182: are suggested by the program.
        !           183: (To see a complete list of possible responses,
        !           184: type
        !           185: .qp ?
        !           186: for help.)
        !           187: You can type
        !           188: .qp y
        !           189: for \*(lqyes\*(rq
        !           190: (or simply hit
        !           191: .qc RETURN )
        !           192: and the rest of the message will be displayed.
        !           193: (If the message is long,
        !           194: it may stop before it runs off the top of the screen.
        !           195: Type
        !           196: .qc SPACE
        !           197: or
        !           198: .qc RETURN
        !           199: to see more of the message.
        !           200: Another choice you can make is
        !           201: .qp n
        !           202: for \*(lqno\*(rq.
        !           203: This means you are not interested in the message \-
        !           204: it will not be offered to you again.
        !           205: A third option is
        !           206: .qp q
        !           207: for \*(lqquit\*(rq.
        !           208: This causes a record to be made of which articles you read
        !           209: (or refused)
        !           210: and you will exit netnews.
        !           211: When you have read all the news,
        !           212: this happens automatically.
        !           213: The
        !           214: .qp q
        !           215: command is mainly useful if you are in a hurry
        !           216: and don't have time to read all the news right now.
        !           217: (Many users put a
        !           218: .i readnews (1)
        !           219: or
        !           220: .i checknews (1)
        !           221: command in their
        !           222: .i .profile
        !           223: or
        !           224: .i .login
        !           225: files so that they will see new news each time they log in.)
        !           226: .pg
        !           227: If you are reading news for the first time,
        !           228: you may find yourself swamped by the volume of unread news,
        !           229: especially if the default subscription is
        !           230: .ng all .
        !           231: Don't let this bother you.
        !           232: If you are getting newsgroups in which you have no interest,
        !           233: you can change your subscription list
        !           234: (see below).
        !           235: Also,
        !           236: bear in mind that what you see
        !           237: is probably at least two weeks' accumulation of news.
        !           238: If you want to just get rid of all old news and start anew,
        !           239: type
        !           240: .sd c
        !           241: readnews \-p \-n all > /dev/null &
        !           242: .ed
        !           243: which will throw away all old news,
        !           244: recording that you have seen it all.
        !           245: (The
        !           246: .qp &
        !           247: puts it in the background;
        !           248: chances are that there is so much old news on your machine
        !           249: that you won't want to wait for it all.)
        !           250: Or,
        !           251: you can use the
        !           252: .qp K
        !           253: command to mark all articles in the current newsgroup as read.
        !           254: .pg
        !           255: Once you catch up with (or ignore) all the old news,
        !           256: the news will come in daily at a more manageable rate.
        !           257: (If the daily rate is still too much
        !           258: you may wish to unsubscribe to some of the higher volume, less useful newsgroups.)
        !           259: Finally,
        !           260: note that while an article is printing,
        !           261: you can hit
        !           262: your interrupt character
        !           263: (usually
        !           264: .qc CONTROL-C
        !           265: or
        !           266: .qc DELETE ),
        !           267: which will throw away the rest of the article.
        !           268: .pg
        !           269: Among the other commands you can type after seeing the header
        !           270: of an article are:
        !           271: .Qp x 13
        !           272: Exit
        !           273: .i readnews .
        !           274: This is different from
        !           275: .qp q
        !           276: in that the
        !           277: .qp q
        !           278: command
        !           279: will update the record of which articles you have read,
        !           280: but
        !           281: .qp x
        !           282: will pretend you never started
        !           283: .i readnews .
        !           284: .Qp N 13
        !           285: Go on to the next newsgroup.
        !           286: The remaining articles in the current newsgroup are considered
        !           287: .i unread ,
        !           288: and will be offered to you again the next time you read news.
        !           289: .Qp "s \f2file\fP" 13
        !           290: The article is saved in a disk file with the given name.
        !           291: In practice,
        !           292: what usually happens is that an article is printed,
        !           293: and then
        !           294: .i readnews
        !           295: goes on to print the header of the next article
        !           296: before you get a chance to type anything.
        !           297: So you usually want to write out the
        !           298: .i previous
        !           299: message
        !           300: (the last one you have read in full);
        !           301: in this case,
        !           302: use the form
        !           303: .qp s\-
        !           304: .i filename .
        !           305: .Qp e 13
        !           306: Erase the memory of having seen this article.
        !           307: It will be offered to you again next time,
        !           308: as though you had never seen it.
        !           309: The
        !           310: .qp e\-
        !           311: case variation (erase  memory of the previously read article instead of
        !           312: the current article)
        !           313: is useful for checking follow-ups to see
        !           314: if anyone has already said what you wanted to say.
        !           315: .Qp r 13
        !           316: Reply to the author of the message.
        !           317: You will be placed in the editor,
        !           318: with a set of headers derived from the message you are replying to.
        !           319: Type in your message after the blank line.
        !           320: If you wish to edit the header list
        !           321: to add more recipients or send carbon copies,
        !           322: for instance,
        !           323: you can edit the header lines.
        !           324: Anyone listed on a line beginning with
        !           325: .hf To
        !           326: or
        !           327: .hf Cc
        !           328: will receive a copy of your reply.
        !           329: Note that the path used to receive a piece of news may not be the fastest
        !           330: way to reply by mail. If speed is important and you know a faster way,
        !           331: edit it in place of what the reply command supplied.
        !           332: A mail command will then be started up,
        !           333: addressed to the persons listed in the header.
        !           334: You are then returned to
        !           335: .i readnews .
        !           336: The case
        !           337: .qp r\-
        !           338: is also useful to reply to the previous message.
        !           339: Another variation on this is
        !           340: .qp rd\-
        !           341: which puts you in
        !           342: .b $MAILER
        !           343: (or
        !           344: .i mail (1)
        !           345: by default)
        !           346: to type in your reply directly.
        !           347: .Qp f 13
        !           348: Post a follow-up message to the same newsgroup.
        !           349: This posts an article on this newsgroup
        !           350: with the same title as the original article.
        !           351: Use common sense when posting follow-ups. (Read Matt Bishop's paper
        !           352: \*(lqHow to use USENET Effectively\*(rq for extended discussion of when
        !           353: and when not to post -- many follow-up articles should have just been replies.)
        !           354: You will be placed in the editor. Enter your message and exit.
        !           355: The case
        !           356: .qp f\-
        !           357: is also useful to follow up the previous message.
        !           358: In each case,
        !           359: the editor you are placed in will be
        !           360: .i vi (1)
        !           361: unless you set
        !           362: .b EDITOR
        !           363: (in your environment) to some other editor.
        !           364: You should enter the text of the follow-up after the blank line.
        !           365: .Qp + 13
        !           366: The article is skipped for now.
        !           367: The next time you read news,
        !           368: you will be offered this article again.
        !           369: .Qp \- 13
        !           370: Go back to the previous article.
        !           371: This toggles,
        !           372: so that two
        !           373: .qp \- 's
        !           374: get you the current article.
        !           375: .Qp b 13
        !           376: Back up one article in the current group.
        !           377: This is not necessarily the previous article.
        !           378: .Qp U 13
        !           379: Unsubscribe from this newsgroup.
        !           380: Your
        !           381: .i \&.newsrc (5)
        !           382: file will be edited to change the
        !           383: .qp :
        !           384: for that newsgroup to an
        !           385: .qp !
        !           386: preventing you from being shown that newsgroup again.
        !           387: .Qp ? 13
        !           388: If you type any unrecognized command,
        !           389: a summary of valid commands will be printed.
        !           390: .hu
        !           391: Changing your Subscription List
        !           392: .pg
        !           393: If you take no special action you will subscribe to a default subscription list.
        !           394: This default varies locally.
        !           395: To find out your local default,
        !           396: type
        !           397: .sd c
        !           398: readnews \-s
        !           399: .ed
        !           400: Typically this list will include all newsgroups ending in \*(lqgeneral\*(rq,
        !           401: such as
        !           402: .ng general ,
        !           403: and
        !           404: .ng net.general .
        !           405: (As distributed,
        !           406: the default is
        !           407: .ng general\f1,\fPall.general .
        !           408: Another popular default is
        !           409: .ng all .)
        !           410: You can change this by creating a file in your home directory named
        !           411: .i .newsrc
        !           412: which contains as its first line a line of the form:
        !           413: .sd c
        !           414: options \-n newsgroup,newsgroup,newsgroup ...
        !           415: .ed
        !           416: If your lines get too long,
        !           417: you can continue them on subsequent lines
        !           418: by beginning those lines with a space.
        !           419: (The netnews system will put extra lines in this file
        !           420: to record which articles you have read.
        !           421: You should ignore these lines unless you want to edit them.)
        !           422: For example,
        !           423: if you are creating a subscription list for the first time,
        !           424: and have already read news,
        !           425: you will find some text already in your
        !           426: .i .newsrc
        !           427: file,
        !           428: recording which articles you have read.
        !           429: You should put your
        !           430: .b options
        !           431: line before the first line of the file.)
        !           432: Thus,
        !           433: .sd c
        !           434: options \-n general,net.general,mod.human-nets
        !           435: .ed
        !           436: will subscribe to those three newsgroups.
        !           437: .pg
        !           438: An
        !           439: .qp !
        !           440: can be used to exclude certain newsgroups and the word
        !           441: .ng all
        !           442: can be used as a wild card,
        !           443: representing any newsgroup.
        !           444: You can also use
        !           445: .ng all
        !           446: as a prefix or suffix to match a class of newsgroups.
        !           447: For example,
        !           448: .sd c
        !           449: options \-n all,!mod.all,!net.jokes,!all.unix-all
        !           450: .ed
        !           451: will result in a subscription to all newsgroups except for ARPANET news,
        !           452: jokes,
        !           453: and any
        !           454: .ux
        !           455: information.
        !           456: The metacharacter
        !           457: .qp .
        !           458: is like
        !           459: .qp /
        !           460: to the shell,
        !           461: and
        !           462: .ng all
        !           463: is like
        !           464: .qp * .
        !           465: .pg
        !           466: A simpler way to subscribe to news is to subscribe to
        !           467: .ng all ,
        !           468: and then use the
        !           469: .qp U
        !           470: .i readnews
        !           471: command to unsubscribe to newsgroups you don't want to read.
        !           472: This way you will see new newsgroups that are created,
        !           473: get a chance to evaluate them,
        !           474: and then unsubscribe to those that don't interest you.
        !           475: .pg
        !           476: The order of the newsgroups in your
        !           477: .i .newsrc
        !           478: (after the options line)
        !           479: is the order in which newsgroups will be shown.
        !           480: If you want something other than the default,
        !           481: move the lines around until you are satisfied with the order.
        !           482: Be careful to keep the options line as the first line in the file.
        !           483: .hu
        !           484: Submitting Articles
        !           485: .pg
        !           486: To submit a new news article type
        !           487: .sd c
        !           488: postnews
        !           489: .ed
        !           490: First,
        !           491: it will ask you if this is a follow-up to an article.
        !           492: Answer
        !           493: .b yes
        !           494: or
        !           495: .b no .
        !           496: If
        !           497: .b yes ,
        !           498: you really should have done an
        !           499: .qp f
        !           500: from
        !           501: .i readnews ,
        !           502: but it will try and figure out which article you are following up to.
        !           503: It will ask for the newsgroup in which you read the article
        !           504: and the article number.
        !           505: If you can't remember,
        !           506: go back to
        !           507: .i readnews
        !           508: and find out.
        !           509: It is important that discussions are kept together.
        !           510: It is very frustrating for someone to read a follow-up that says:
        !           511: \&\*(lqI agree.
        !           512: It's very dangerous to leave that program as distributed.\*(rq
        !           513: and not have any idea what the poster was referring to.
        !           514: .pg
        !           515: If you answer
        !           516: .b no ,
        !           517: .i postnews (1)
        !           518: will ask you for the subject of the new article.
        !           519: This should be as informative as possible.
        !           520: For example,
        !           521: .cf "'67 Porsche for sale in New Jersey"
        !           522: is much better than
        !           523: .cf "Car for sale"
        !           524: or even
        !           525: .cf "For sale" .
        !           526: It will then ask which newsgroups you want the article posted in.
        !           527: If you are unsure,
        !           528: type
        !           529: .qp ?
        !           530: instead of a specific newsgroup
        !           531: and it will show you the list of currently available groups.
        !           532: Then,
        !           533: you will be asked how far your article should be distributed.
        !           534: It is important to keep this as small as possible
        !           535: to accomplish the purpose of your article.
        !           536: Remember that many newsgroups are read in Europe,
        !           537: Australia,
        !           538: and Asia in addition to the United States and Canada.
        !           539: It does no good
        !           540: (to use the previous example)
        !           541: to post a
        !           542: .cf "Car for sale in New Jersey"
        !           543: article with a distribution of 
        !           544: .ng world .
        !           545: There is almost no chance that a person in Sweden or Korea
        !           546: would be interested in buying your car (even if it is a Porsche).
        !           547: It is a waste of money and computer resources
        !           548: to transmit the article that far.
        !           549: For this specific case,
        !           550: the appropriate distribution would be
        !           551: .ng nj
        !           552: or only in New Jersey.
        !           553: If there were no local distribution available,
        !           554: at least it should be confined to
        !           555: .ng usa .
        !           556: If you are unsure of the distributions available at your site,
        !           557: type
        !           558: .qp ?
        !           559: instead of a distribution
        !           560: and you will receive a list of distributions valid for your site.
        !           561: If the distribution is
        !           562: .ng world ,
        !           563: your article will be read (perhaps with disgust)
        !           564: by thousands of people around the world.
        !           565: .pg
        !           566: Then you will be placed in the editor.
        !           567: Enter the text of your article,
        !           568: after the blank line,
        !           569: and exit the editor.
        !           570: The article will be posted to the newsgroups specified.
        !           571: If you change your mind about the headers while you are still in the editor,
        !           572: you can edit them as well.
        !           573: Extra headers can also be added before the blank line.
        !           574: .hu
        !           575: Browsing through Old News
        !           576: .pg
        !           577: There are a number of command line options to the
        !           578: .i readnews
        !           579: command to help you find an old article you want to see again.
        !           580: The
        !           581: .op \-n
        !           582: .i newsgroups
        !           583: option restricts your search to certain newsgroups.
        !           584: The
        !           585: .op \-x
        !           586: option arranges to ignore the record of articles read,
        !           587: which is kept in your
        !           588: .i \&.newsrc
        !           589: file.
        !           590: This will cause all articles in all newsgroups to which you
        !           591: subscribe to be displayed,
        !           592: even those which you have already seen.
        !           593: It also causes
        !           594: .i readnews
        !           595: to not update the
        !           596: .i \&.newsrc
        !           597: file.
        !           598: The
        !           599: .op \-a
        !           600: .i date
        !           601: option asks for news received after the given
        !           602: .i date .
        !           603: Note that even with the
        !           604: .op \-a
        !           605: option, only articles you have not already seen will be printed,
        !           606: unless you combine it with the
        !           607: .op \-x
        !           608: option.
        !           609: (Articles are kept on file until they expire,
        !           610: typically after two weeks.)
        !           611: The
        !           612: .op \-t
        !           613: .i keywords
        !           614: option restricts the query to articles mentioning one of the
        !           615: .i keywords
        !           616: in the title of the article.
        !           617: Thus,
        !           618: the command
        !           619: .sd c
        !           620: readnews \-n net.unix \-x \-a last thursday \-t setuid
        !           621: .ed
        !           622: asks for all articles in newsgroup
        !           623: .ng net.unix
        !           624: since last Thursday about the setuid feature.
        !           625: (Be careful with the
        !           626: .op \-t
        !           627: option.
        !           628: The above example will not find articles about
        !           629: .cf suid ,
        !           630: nor will it find articles with no title or
        !           631: whose author did not use the word
        !           632: .cf setuid
        !           633: in the title.)
        !           634: .pg
        !           635: Other useful options include the
        !           636: .op \-l
        !           637: option (which lists only the headers of articles \-
        !           638: a useful form for browsing through lots of messages.)
        !           639: The
        !           640: .op \-p
        !           641: option prints the messages without asking for any input;
        !           642: this is similar to some older news programs on many
        !           643: .ux
        !           644: systems and is useful for directing output to a printer.
        !           645: The
        !           646: .op \-r
        !           647: option produces articles in reverse order,
        !           648: from newest to oldest.
        !           649: .hu
        !           650: User Interfaces
        !           651: .pg
        !           652: The
        !           653: .i "user interface"
        !           654: of a program is the view it presents to the user,
        !           655: that is,
        !           656: what it prints and what it allows you to type.
        !           657: .i Readnews
        !           658: has options allowing you to use different user interfaces.
        !           659: The interface described above is called the \*(lqmsgs\*(rq interface
        !           660: because it mimics the style of the Berkeley
        !           661: .i msgs (1)
        !           662: program.
        !           663: (This program,
        !           664: in turn,
        !           665: mimics a program at MIT of the same name.)
        !           666: The key element of the msgs interface is that after printing the header,
        !           667: you are asked if you want the rest of the message.
        !           668: .pg
        !           669: Another interface is available with the
        !           670: .op \-c
        !           671: option.
        !           672: In this case,
        !           673: the entire message is printed,
        !           674: header and body,
        !           675: and you are prompted at the end of the message.
        !           676: The command options are the same as the msgs interface,
        !           677: but it is usually not necessary to use the
        !           678: .qp \-
        !           679: suffix on the
        !           680: .qp r ,
        !           681: .qp s ,
        !           682: or
        !           683: .qp f
        !           684: commands.
        !           685: This interface is called the \*(lq/bin/mail\*(rq
        !           686: (pronounced \*(lqbin mail\*(lq)
        !           687: interface,
        !           688: because it mimics the
        !           689: .ux
        !           690: program of that name.
        !           691: .pg
        !           692: A third interface is the
        !           693: .i Mail (1)
        !           694: (pronounced \*(lqcap mail\*(rq) interface,
        !           695: available with the
        !           696: .op \-M
        !           697: option.
        !           698: This invokes the
        !           699: .i Mail
        !           700: program directly,
        !           701: and allows you to read news with the same commands as you read mail.
        !           702: (This interface may not work on your system \-
        !           703: it requires a special version of
        !           704: .i Mail
        !           705: with a
        !           706: .qp \-T
        !           707: option.)
        !           708: .pg
        !           709: A fourth interface, is the MH news/mail program from Rand.
        !           710: That program can be used directly to read network news.
        !           711: .pg
        !           712: A fifth interface,
        !           713: .i vnews ,
        !           714: which works well on display terminals, is described in the Appendix.
        !           715: .pg
        !           716: A sixth possibility is the 
        !           717: .i notesfile
        !           718: system, described in a separate paper.  It is also display-oriented.
        !           719: .pg
        !           720: A seventh possibility is to use your favorite mail system as an interface.
        !           721: There are a number of different mail reading programs, including
        !           722: .i /bin/mail (1),
        !           723: .i Mail ,
        !           724: .i msg (1),
        !           725: and MH.
        !           726: Any mail system with an option to specify an alternative mailbox
        !           727: can be used to read news.
        !           728: For example,
        !           729: to use
        !           730: .i Mail
        !           731: without the
        !           732: .qp \-M
        !           733: option,
        !           734: type
        !           735: .sd c
        !           736: readnews \-c "Mail \-f %"
        !           737: .ed
        !           738: The shell command in quotes is invoked as a child of
        !           739: .i readnews.
        !           740: The
        !           741: .qp \-f
        !           742: option to
        !           743: .i Mail
        !           744: names the alternative mailbox.
        !           745: .i Readnews
        !           746: will put the news in a temporary file,
        !           747: and give the name of this file to the mailer in place of the
        !           748: .qp % .
        !           749: There is an important difference when using this kind of interface.
        !           750: The mailers do not give any indication of which articles you read
        !           751: and which ones you skipped.
        !           752: .i Readnews
        !           753: will assume you read
        !           754: .i all
        !           755: the articles,
        !           756: even if you didn't,
        !           757: and mark them all read.
        !           758: By contrast,
        !           759: the
        !           760: .op \-M
        !           761: option uses the
        !           762: .op \-T
        !           763: option to
        !           764: .i Mail ,
        !           765: asking
        !           766: .i Mail
        !           767: to tell
        !           768: .i readnews
        !           769: which articles you read.
        !           770: .hu
        !           771: Getting News when you Log In
        !           772: .pg
        !           773: Most users like to be told when they first log in if there is any news.
        !           774: This way they are reminded of news,
        !           775: but are not interrupted by it during the day.
        !           776: If you log in once in the morning,
        !           777: you can think of getting the news as reading the morning newspaper.
        !           778: It is common to put a
        !           779: .i checknews
        !           780: or
        !           781: .i readnews
        !           782: command in your
        !           783: .i .profile
        !           784: or
        !           785: .i .login
        !           786: file of commands that are executed when you log in.
        !           787: .pg
        !           788: Since there might not be any news,
        !           789: and since the
        !           790: .i readnews
        !           791: command goes to a considerable amount of work to find all unread news
        !           792: (assuming you are going to read it),
        !           793: there is another command,
        !           794: called
        !           795: .i checknews ,
        !           796: which tells you if there is any news.
        !           797: The
        !           798: .i checknews
        !           799: command is smaller and faster than
        !           800: .i readnews ,
        !           801: and was designed especially for a login file.
        !           802: There are also options to be silent if there is (or is not) news,
        !           803: and to start up
        !           804: .i readnews
        !           805: automatically if there is news.
        !           806: .pg
        !           807: The options to
        !           808: .i checknews
        !           809: are:
        !           810: .Op \-y 10
        !           811: Print \*(lqThere is news\*(rq if there is any unread news.
        !           812: .Op \-v 10
        !           813: If
        !           814: .op \-y
        !           815: is also given,
        !           816: instead of printing \*(lqThere is news\*(rq,
        !           817: prints \*(lqNews: \fInewsgroup\fP ...\*(rq
        !           818: giving the name of the first newsgroup containing unread news.
        !           819: If
        !           820: .ng general
        !           821: is the first newsgroup presented,
        !           822: this can be used to tell users whether the unread news is important.
        !           823: .Op \-n 10
        !           824: Print \*(lqNo news\*(rq if there is no unread news.
        !           825: .Op \-e 10
        !           826: If there is any unread news,
        !           827: start up
        !           828: .i readnews.
        !           829: Any additional arguments after the
        !           830: .op \-e
        !           831: will be passed to readnews.
        !           832: .pg
        !           833: Thus,
        !           834: .sd c
        !           835: checknews \-yn
        !           836: .ed
        !           837: tells you whether there is any unread news.
        !           838: .sd c
        !           839: checknews \-e \-M
        !           840: .ed
        !           841: starts up
        !           842: .i readnews
        !           843: with the
        !           844: .i Mail
        !           845: interface if there is news,
        !           846: and otherwise does nothing.
        !           847: .sd c
        !           848: checknews \-y
        !           849: .ed
        !           850: tells you if there is news,
        !           851: and is silent if there is no news.
        !           852: .hu
        !           853: Creating New Newsgroups
        !           854: .pg
        !           855: New newsgroups are proposed by the users and created by site administrators.
        !           856: To create a newsgroup,
        !           857: first make sure this is the right thing to do.
        !           858: Normally a suggestion is first posted to
        !           859: .ng net.news.group\f1,\fPnet.relatedgroup
        !           860: for a net newsgroup
        !           861: .ng net.relatedgroup "" (
        !           862: should be the group which you are proposing to subdivide.)
        !           863: For example,
        !           864: to propose creating
        !           865: .ng net.tv.soaps ,
        !           866: post
        !           867: the original article to
        !           868: .ng net.tv\f1,\fPnet.news.group ).
        !           869: Followups are made to
        !           870: .ng net.news.group
        !           871: .i only .
        !           872: (You can force this by putting the line:
        !           873: .sd c
        !           874: Followup-To: net.news.group
        !           875: .ed
        !           876: in the headers of your original posting).
        !           877: If it is established that there is general interest in such a group,
        !           878: and a name is agreed on,
        !           879: then ask your local netnews administrator to create the newsgroup.
        !           880: (It can actually be created by any netnews administrator anywhere on the net,
        !           881: within the scope of the newsgroup.)
        !           882: Once the newsgroup is created and the first article has been posted,
        !           883: the newsgroup is available for all interested persons to post to.
        !           884: .hu
        !           885: List of Newsgroups
        !           886: .pg
        !           887: This section lists the newsgroups that are currently active.
        !           888: It is intended to help you decide what you want to subscribe to.
        !           889: Note that the list is constantly changing.
        !           890: Note also that this list only describes those groups available
        !           891: on a network-wide basis. Since not all installations choose to receive all
        !           892: newsgroups, it is recommended that each installation edit the list of local
        !           893: newsgroups to be correct before distributing this document to their users.
        !           894: If this is not possible,
        !           895: a local appendix can be created.
        !           896: .hu 2
        !           897: Local
        !           898: .pg
        !           899: Local groups are kept on the current machine only.
        !           900: Local names can be identified by the lack of a prefix,
        !           901: that is, there are no periods in local newsgroup names.
        !           902: .lp general 10
        !           903: News to be read by everyone on the local machine.
        !           904: For example:
        !           905: \&\*(lqThe system will be down Monday morning for PM.\*(rq
        !           906: Or,
        !           907: \&\*(lqA new version of program
        !           908: .i x
        !           909: has been installed.\*(rq
        !           910: This newsgroup is usually mandatory \-
        !           911: you are required to subscribe to this newsgroup.
        !           912: (The list of mandatory newsgroups varies locally.)
        !           913: This requirement assures that important announcements reach all users.
        !           914: (Formerly
        !           915: .i msgs .)
        !           916: .hu 2
        !           917: Network Wide
        !           918: .pg
        !           919: These are the groups as of the last editing of this manual.
        !           920: The list is undoubtably already out of date.
        !           921: A current list can be obtained by typing
        !           922: .qp ?
        !           923: to the \*(lqNewsgroups? \*(rq prompt in postnews.
        !           924: .nf
        !           925: .ta 2.5i
        !           926: net.abortion   All sorts of discussions on abortion.
        !           927: net.ai Artificial intelligence discussions.
        !           928: net.analog     Analog design developments, ideas, and components.
        !           929: net.announce   Moderated, general announcements of interest to all.
        !           930: net.announce.newusers  Moderated, explanatory postings for new users.
        !           931: net.announce.arpa-internet     Announcements from the Arpa world.
        !           932: net.arch       Computer architecture.
        !           933: net.astro      Astronomy discussions and information.
        !           934: net.astro.expert       Discussion by experts in astronomy.
        !           935: net.audio      High fidelity audio.
        !           936: net.auto       Automobiles, automotive products and laws.
        !           937: net.auto.tech  Technical aspects of automobiles, et. al.
        !           938: net.aviation   Aviation rules, means, and methods.
        !           939: net.bicycle    Bicycles, related products and laws.
        !           940: net.bio        Biology and related sciences.
        !           941: net.books      Books of all \fIgenres\fP, shapes, and sizes.
        !           942: net.bugs       General bug reports and fixes.
        !           943: net.bugs.2bsd  Reports of UNIX* version 2BSD related bugs.
        !           944: net.bugs.4bsd  Reports of UNIX version 4BSD related bugs.
        !           945: net.bugs.usg   Reports of USG (System III, V, etc.) bugs.
        !           946: net.bugs.uucp  Reports of UUCP related bugs.
        !           947: net.bugs.v7    Reports of UNIX V7 related bugs.
        !           948: net.cog-eng    Cognitive engineering.
        !           949: net.college    College, college activities, campus life, etc.
        !           950: net.columbia   The space shuttle and the STS program.
        !           951: net.comics     The funnies, old and new.
        !           952: net.consumers  Consumer interests, product reviews, etc.
        !           953: net.cooks      Food, cooking, cookbooks, and recipes.
        !           954: net.crypt      Different methods of data en/decryption.
        !           955: net.cse        Computer science education.
        !           956: net.cycle      Motorcycles and related products and laws.
        !           957: net.database   Database and data management issues and theory.
        !           958: net.dcom       Data communications hardware and software.
        !           959: net.decus      DEC* Users' Society newsgroup.
        !           960: net.emacs      EMACS editors of different flavors.
        !           961: net.eunice     The SRI Eunice system.
        !           962: net.followup   Followups to articles in net.general.
        !           963: net.games      Games and computer games.
        !           964: net.games.board        Discussion and hints on board games.
        !           965: net.games.chess        Chess & computer chess.
        !           966: net.games.emp  Discussion and hints about Empire.
        !           967: net.games.frp  Discussion about Fantasy Role Playing games.
        !           968: net.games.go   Discussion about Go.
        !           969: net.games.hack Discussion, hints, etc. about the Hack game.
        !           970: net.games.pbm  Discussion about Play by Mail games.
        !           971: net.games.rogue        Discussion and hints about Rogue.
        !           972: net.games.trivia       Discussion about trivia.
        !           973: net.games.video        Discussion about video games.
        !           974: net.garden     Gardening, methods and results.
        !           975: net.general    *Important* and timely announcements of interest to all.
        !           976: net.graphics   Computer graphics, art, animation, image processing.
        !           977: net.ham-radio  Amateur Radio practices, contests, events, rules, etc.
        !           978: net.ham-radio.packet   Discussion about packet radio setups.
        !           979: net.info-terms All sorts of terminals.
        !           980: net.internat   Discussion about international standards
        !           981: net.invest     Investments and the handling of money.
        !           982: net.jobs       Job announcements, requests, etc.
        !           983: net.jokes      Jokes and the like.  May be somewhat offensive.
        !           984: net.jokes.d    Discussions on the content of net.jokes articles
        !           985: net.kids       Children, their behavior and activities.
        !           986: net.lan        Local area network hardware and software.
        !           987: net.lang       Different computer languages.
        !           988: net.lang.ada   Discussion about Ada*.
        !           989: net.lang.apl   Discussion about APL.
        !           990: net.lang.c     Discussion about C.
        !           991: net.lang.f77   Discussion about FORTRAN.
        !           992: net.lang.forth Discussion about Forth.
        !           993: net.lang.lisp  Discussion about LISP.
        !           994: net.lang.mod2  Discussion about Modula-2.
        !           995: net.lang.pascal        Discussion about Pascal.
        !           996: net.lang.prolog        Discussion about PROLOG.
        !           997: net.lang.st80  Discussion about Smalltalk 80.
        !           998: net.legal      Legalities and the ethics of law.
        !           999: net.lsi        Large scale integrated circuits.
        !          1000: net.mag        Magazine summaries, tables of contents, etc.
        !          1001: net.mail       Proposed new mail/network standards.
        !          1002: net.mail.headers       Gatewayed from the ARPA header-people list.
        !          1003: net.math       Mathematical discussions and puzzles.
        !          1004: net.math.stat  Statistics discussion.
        !          1005: net.math.symbolic      Symbolic algebra discussion.
        !          1006: net.med        Medicine and its related products and regulations.
        !          1007: net.micro      Micro computers of all kinds.
        !          1008: net.micro.16k  National Semiconductor 32000 series chips
        !          1009: net.micro.6809 Discussion about 6809's.
        !          1010: net.micro.68k  Discussion about 68k's.
        !          1011: net.micro.apple        Discussion about Apple micros.
        !          1012: net.micro.amiga        Talk about the new Amiga micro.
        !          1013: net.micro.atari        Discussion about Atari micros.
        !          1014: net.micro.att  Discussions about AT&T microcomputers .
        !          1015: net.micro.cbm  Discussion about Commodore micros.
        !          1016: net.micro.cpm  Discussion about the CP/M operating system.
        !          1017: net.micro.hp   Discussion about Hewlett/Packard's.
        !          1018: net.micro.mac  Material about the Apple Macintosh & Lisa.
        !          1019: net.micro.pc   Discussion about IBM personal computers.
        !          1020: net.micro.ti   Discussion about Texas Instruments.
        !          1021: net.micro.trs-80       Discussion about TRS-80's.
        !          1022: net.misc       Various discussions too short-lived for other groups.
        !          1023: net.motss      Issues pertaining to homosexuality.
        !          1024: net.movies     Reviews and discussions of movies.
        !          1025: net.music      Music lovers' group.
        !          1026: net.music.classical    Discussion about classical music.
        !          1027: net.music.folk Folks discussing folk music of various sorts.
        !          1028: net.music.gdead        A group for (Grateful) Dead-heads.
        !          1029: net.music.synth        Synthesizers and computer music.
        !          1030: net.net-people Announcements, requests, etc. about people on the net.
        !          1031: net.news       Discussions of USENET itself.
        !          1032: net.news.adm   Comments directed to news administrators.
        !          1033: net.news.b     Discussion about B news software.
        !          1034: net.news.config        Postings of system down times and interruptions.
        !          1035: net.news.group Discussions and lists of newsgroups
        !          1036: net.news.newsite       Postings of new site announcements.
        !          1037: net.news.notes Notesfile software from the Univ. of Illinois.
        !          1038: net.news.sa    Comments directed to system administrators.
        !          1039: net.news.stargate      Discussion about satellite transmission of news.
        !          1040: net.nlang      Natural languages, cultures, heritages, etc.
        !          1041: net.nlang.africa       Discussions about Africa & things African.
        !          1042: net.nlang.celts        Group about Celtics.
        !          1043: net.nlang.greek        Group about Greeks.
        !          1044: net.nlang.india        Group for discussion about India & things Indian
        !          1045: net.origins    Evolution versus creationism (sometimes hot!).
        !          1046: net.periphs    Peripheral devices.
        !          1047: net.pets       Pets, pet care, and household animals in general.
        !          1048: net.philosophy Philosophical discussions.
        !          1049: net.physics    Physical laws, properties, etc.
        !          1050: net.poems      For the posting of poems.
        !          1051: net.politics   Political discussions.  Could get hot.
        !          1052: net.politics.theory    Theory of politics and political systems.
        !          1053: net.puzzle     Puzzles, problems, and quizzes.
        !          1054: net.railroad   Real and model train fans' newsgroup.
        !          1055: net.rec        Recreational/participant sports.
        !          1056: net.rec.birds  Hobbyists interested in bird watching.
        !          1057: net.rec.boat   Hobbyists interested in boating.
        !          1058: net.rec.bridge Hobbyists interested in bridge.
        !          1059: net.rec.nude   Hobbyists interested in naturist/nudist activities.
        !          1060: net.rec.photo  Hobbyists interested in photography.
        !          1061: net.rec.scuba  Hobbyists interested in SCUBA diving.
        !          1062: net.rec.ski    Hobbyists interested in skiing.
        !          1063: net.rec.skydive        Hobbyists interested in skydiving.
        !          1064: net.rec.wood   Hobbyists interested in woodworking.
        !          1065: net.religion   Religious, ethical, and moral implications of actions.
        !          1066: net.religion.christian Discussion about form and nature of Christianity
        !          1067: net.religion.jewish    Information and discussion about Judaism.
        !          1068: net.research   Research and computer research.
        !          1069: net.roots      Genealogical matters.
        !          1070: net.rumor      For the posting of rumors.
        !          1071: net.sci        General purpose scientific discussions.
        !          1072: net.sf-lovers  Science fiction lovers' newsgroup.
        !          1073: net.singles    Newsgroup for single people, their activities, etc.
        !          1074: net.social     Like net.singles, but for everyone.
        !          1075: net.sources    For the posting of software packages & documentation.
        !          1076: net.sources.bugs       For bug fixes and features discussion.
        !          1077: net.sources.games      Postings of recreational software.
        !          1078: net.sources.mac        Software for the Apple Macintosh.
        !          1079: net.space      Space, space programs, space related research, etc.
        !          1080: net.sport      Spectator sports.
        !          1081: net.sport.baseball     Discussion about baseball.
        !          1082: net.sport.football     Discussion about football.
        !          1083: net.sport.hockey       Discussion about hockey.
        !          1084: net.sport.hoops        Discussion about basketball.
        !          1085: net.startrek   Star Trek, the TV show and the movies.
        !          1086: net.suicide    Suicide, laws, ethics, and its causes and effects (!).
        !          1087: net.taxes      Tax laws and advice.
        !          1088: net.test       For testing of network software.  Very boring.
        !          1089: net.text       Text processing.
        !          1090: net.travel     Traveling all over the world.
        !          1091: net.tv The boob tube, its history, and past and current shows.
        !          1092: net.tv.drwho   Discussion about Dr. Who.
        !          1093: net.tv.soaps   Postings about soap operas.
        !          1094: net.unix       UNIX neophytes group.
        !          1095: net.unix-wizards       Discussions, bug reports, and fixes on and for UNIX.
        !          1096: net.usenix     USENIX Association events and announcements.
        !          1097: net.veg        Vegetarians.
        !          1098: net.video      Video and video components.
        !          1099: net.wanted     Requests for things that are needed.
        !          1100: net.wanted.sources     Requests for software, termcap entries, etc.
        !          1101: net.wines      Wines and spirits.
        !          1102: net.wobegon    "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show discussion.
        !          1103: net.women      Women's rights, discrimination, etc.
        !          1104: net.works      Assorted workstations.
        !          1105: mod.ai Discussions about Artificial Intelligence
        !          1106: mod.compilers  Discussion about compiler construction, theory, etc.
        !          1107: mod.computers  Discussion about various computers and related.
        !          1108: mod.computers.apollo   Apollo computer systems.
        !          1109: mod.computers.ibm-pc   The IBM PC, PC-XT, and PC-AT.
        !          1110: mod.computers.laser-printers   Laser printers, hardware and software.
        !          1111: mod.computers.macintosh        Apple Macintosh micros.
        !          1112: mod.computers.pyramid  Pyramid 90x computers.
        !          1113: mod.computers.ridge    Ridge 32 computers and ROS.
        !          1114: mod.computers.sequent  Sequent systems, (esp. Balance 8000).
        !          1115: mod.computers.sun      Sun "workstation" computers
        !          1116: mod.computers.vax      DEC's VAX* line of computers & VMS.
        !          1117: mod.computers.workstations     Various workstation-type computers.
        !          1118: mod.graphics   Graphics software, hardware, theory, etc.
        !          1119: mod.human-nets Computer aided communications digest.
        !          1120: mod.legal      Discussions of computers and the law.
        !          1121: mod.map        Various maps, including UUCP maps.
        !          1122: mod.motss      Moderated newsgroup on gay issues and topics.
        !          1123: mod.movies     Moderated reviews and discussion of movies.
        !          1124: mod.music      Moderated reviews and discussion of things musical.
        !          1125: mod.newprod    Announcements of new products of interest to readers.
        !          1126: mod.newslists  Postings of news-related statistics and lists.
        !          1127: mod.os Disussions about operating systems and related areas.
        !          1128: mod.os.os9     Discussions about the os9 operating system.
        !          1129: mod.os.unix    Moderated discussion of Unix* features and bugs.
        !          1130: mod.politics   Discussions on political problems, systems, solutions.
        !          1131: mod.politics.arms-d    Arms discussion digest.
        !          1132: mod.protocols  Various forms and types of FTP protocol discussions.
        !          1133: mod.protocols.appletalk        Applebus hardware & software discussion.
        !          1134: mod.protocols.kermit   Information about the Kermit package.
        !          1135: mod.protocols.tcp-ip   TCP and IP network protocols.
        !          1136: mod.rec        Discussions on pastimes (not currently active).
        !          1137: mod.rec.guns   Discussions about firearms.
        !          1138: mod.recipes    A "distributed cookbook" of screened recipes.
        !          1139: mod.risks      Risks to the public from computers & users.
        !          1140: mod.sources    Moderated postings of public-domain sources.
        !          1141: mod.sources.doc        Archived public-domain documentation.
        !          1142: mod.std        Moderated discussion about various standards.
        !          1143: mod.std.c      Discussion about C language standards.
        !          1144: mod.std.mumps  Discussion for the X11.1 committee on Mumps.
        !          1145: mod.std.unix   Discussion for the P1003 committee on Unix.
        !          1146: mod.techreports        Announcements and lists of technical reports.
        !          1147: mod.telecom    Telecommunications digest.
        !          1148: mod.test       Testing of moderated newsgroups -- no moderator.
        !          1149: mod.vlsi       Very large scale integrated circuits.
        !          1150: .fi
        !          1151: .bp
        !          1152: .hu
        !          1153: Appendix \- How to use vnews
        !          1154: .hu 2 
        !          1155: Overview
        !          1156: .pg
        !          1157: .i Vnews
        !          1158: is a program for reading USENET news.
        !          1159: It is based on
        !          1160: .i readnews
        !          1161: but has a CRT-oriented (full screen) user interface.
        !          1162: The command line options are identical.
        !          1163: The list of available commands is quite similar,
        !          1164: although since
        !          1165: .i vnews
        !          1166: is a
        !          1167: .i visual
        !          1168: interface,
        !          1169: most
        !          1170: .i vnews
        !          1171: commands do not have to be terminated by a newline.
        !          1172: .pg
        !          1173: .i Vnews
        !          1174: uses all but the last two lines of the screen to display the current article.
        !          1175: The next to the last line is the secondary prompt line,
        !          1176: and is used to input string arguments to commands.
        !          1177: The last line contains several fields.
        !          1178: The first field is the prompt field.
        !          1179: If
        !          1180: .i vnews
        !          1181: is at the end of an article,
        !          1182: the prompt is
        !          1183: .cf next? ;
        !          1184: otherwise the prompt is
        !          1185: .cf more? .
        !          1186: The second field is the newsgroup field,
        !          1187: which displays the current newsgroup,
        !          1188: the number of the current article,
        !          1189: and the number of the last article in the newsgroup.
        !          1190: The third field contains the current time,
        !          1191: and the last field contains the word
        !          1192: .cf mail
        !          1193: if you have mail.
        !          1194: When you receive new mail,
        !          1195: the bell on the terminal is rung and the word
        !          1196: .cf MAIL
        !          1197: appears in capital letters for 30 seconds.
        !          1198: .hu 2
        !          1199: Commands
        !          1200: .pg
        !          1201: Most of the
        !          1202: .i readnews
        !          1203: commands have
        !          1204: .i vnews
        !          1205: counterparts and vice versa.
        !          1206: Some differences are:
        !          1207: .si
        !          1208: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1209: It lacks a \*(lqdigest\*(rq command (to deal specially with collections
        !          1210: of articles bundled together).
        !          1211: This would be nice to have,
        !          1212: but it does not seem to be a major deficiency
        !          1213: since you can move around in the digest with
        !          1214: .i vnews
        !          1215: commands.
        !          1216: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1217: To get to the previous group,
        !          1218: use the
        !          1219: .qp N
        !          1220: command with a
        !          1221: .qp \-
        !          1222: argument.
        !          1223: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1224: .i Vnews
        !          1225: has commands for moving around in the article which
        !          1226: .i readnews
        !          1227: does not have since they aren't applicable.
        !          1228: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1229: It has a \*(lqparent\*(rq command which will go to the article
        !          1230: that the current article is a follow-up to,
        !          1231: and a \*(lqwrite\*(rq
        !          1232: command that writes out the body of an article without the header.
        !          1233: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1234: You can refer to the current article from the shell or
        !          1235: while writing a follow-up as
        !          1236: .b $A .
        !          1237: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1238: The \*(lqdecrypt\*(rq command (for decoding possibly offensive
        !          1239: material) always does
        !          1240: .i rot13
        !          1241: which seems to be the default standard but the
        !          1242: .i readnews
        !          1243: version of it occasionally gets confused.
        !          1244: .ei
        !          1245: .hu 2
        !          1246: Commands that differ from
        !          1247: .bi readnews
        !          1248: .pg
        !          1249: Each
        !          1250: .i vnews
        !          1251: command may be preceded by a
        !          1252: .i count .
        !          1253: Some commands use the count; others ignore it.
        !          1254: If
        !          1255: .i count
        !          1256: is omitted,
        !          1257: it defaults to one.
        !          1258: Some commands prompt for an argument
        !          1259: on the second line from the bottom of the screen.
        !          1260: Standard
        !          1261: .ux
        !          1262: erase and kill processing is done on this argument.
        !          1263: The argument is terminated by a return.
        !          1264: An interrupt
        !          1265: .qc DELETE "" (
        !          1266: or
        !          1267: .qc BREAK )
        !          1268: gets you out of any partially entered command. 
        !          1269: .Qc CR
        !          1270: A carriage return prints more of the current article,
        !          1271: or goes on to the next article if you are at the end of the current article.
        !          1272: A
        !          1273: .qc SPACE
        !          1274: is equivalent to
        !          1275: .qc CR .
        !          1276: .Qc CONTROL-B
        !          1277: Go backwards
        !          1278: .i count
        !          1279: pages.
        !          1280: .Qc CONTROL-F
        !          1281: Go forward
        !          1282: .i count
        !          1283: pages.
        !          1284: .Qc CONTROL-D
        !          1285: Go forwards half a page.
        !          1286: .Qc CONTROL-U
        !          1287: Go backwards half a page.
        !          1288: .Qc CONTROL-N
        !          1289: Go forwards
        !          1290: .i count
        !          1291: lines.
        !          1292: .Qc CONTROL-Z
        !          1293: Go backwards
        !          1294: .i count
        !          1295: lines.
        !          1296: .Qc CONTROL-L
        !          1297: Redraw the screen.
        !          1298: .qc CONTROL-L
        !          1299: may be typed at any time.
        !          1300: .Qp b
        !          1301: Back up one article in the current group.
        !          1302: .Qp l
        !          1303: Redisplay the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
        !          1304: .Qp n
        !          1305: Move on to the next item in a digest.
        !          1306: .qp \*(lq\&.\*(rq
        !          1307: is equivalent to
        !          1308: .qp n .
        !          1309: This is convenient if your terminal has a keypad.
        !          1310: .Qp p
        !          1311: Show the parent article
        !          1312: (the article that the current article is a follow-up to).
        !          1313: This doesn't work if the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles.
        !          1314: To switch between the current and parent articles,
        !          1315: use the
        !          1316: .qp \-
        !          1317: command.
        !          1318: Unfortunately,
        !          1319: if you use several
        !          1320: .qp p
        !          1321: commands
        !          1322: to trace the discussion back further,
        !          1323: there is no command to return to the original level.
        !          1324: .Qp ug
        !          1325: Unsubscribe to the current group.
        !          1326: This is a two character command to ensure that it is not typed accidentally
        !          1327: and to leave room for other types of unsubscribes
        !          1328: .i e\f1.\fPg ., (
        !          1329: unsubscribe to discussion).
        !          1330: .Qp v
        !          1331: Print the current version of the news software.
        !          1332: .Qp D
        !          1333: Decrypts a joke.
        !          1334: It only handles
        !          1335: .pa rot13
        !          1336: jokes.
        !          1337: The
        !          1338: .qp D
        !          1339: command is a toggle;
        !          1340: typing another
        !          1341: .qp D
        !          1342: re-encrypts the joke.

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