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1.1     ! root        1: .\" Modified 9/29/85 by Matt Bishop ([email protected])
        !             2: .\" to work with the TROFF news document macros.
        !             3: .ds h0 "How to Read the Network News
        !             4: .ds h1
        !             5: .ds h2 %
        !             6: .ds f0 "\*(vr
        !             7: .ds f1
        !             8: .ds f2 "Spetember 22, 1986
        !             9: .de Qp                                 \" quoted command as hanging char
        !            10: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
        !            11: ..
        !            12: .de Qc                                 \" quoted command as hanging string
        !            13: .lp "\\f3<\\s-2\\$1\\s0>\\f1" \\$2
        !            14: ..
        !            15: .de Op                                 \" option as hanging string
        !            16: .lp "\\f3\\$1\\f1" \\$2
        !            17: ..
        !            18: .mt
        !            19: How to Read the Network News
        !            20: .au
        !            21: Mark R. Horton
        !            22: .ai
        !            23: AT&T Bell Laboratories
        !            24: Columbus, OH  43213
        !            25: .au
        !            26: Revised by Rick Adams for 2.11
        !            27: .bt
        !            28: .hu
        !            29: What is the Network News?
        !            30: .pg
        !            31: USENET (Users' Network)
        !            32: is a bulletin board shared among many
        !            33: computer systems around the world.
        !            34: USENET is a logical network,
        !            35: sitting on top of several physical networks,
        !            36: including
        !            37: .i UUCP ,
        !            38: .i BLICN ,
        !            39: .i BERKNET ,
        !            40: .i X.25 ,
        !            41: and the
        !            42: .i ARPANET .
        !            43: Sites on USENET include many universities,
        !            44: private companies, and research organizations.
        !            45: Most of the members of USENET are either
        !            46: university computer science departments
        !            47: or part of AT&T.
        !            48: Currently, there are over 50,000 participants at over 2,000 USENET sites in
        !            49: the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and Korea with more joining every day.
        !            50: Most are running the
        !            51: .ux
        !            52: operating system.
        !            53: .pg
        !            54: The network news,
        !            55: or simply
        !            56: .i netnews ,
        !            57: is the set of programs that provide access to the news
        !            58: and transfer it from one machine to the next.
        !            59: Netnews was originally written at Duke University
        !            60: and has been modified extensively by the University
        !            61: of California at Berkeley and others.
        !            62: Netnews allows articles to be posted for limited or very wide distribution.
        !            63: This document contains a list of newsgroups
        !            64: that were active at the time the document was written.
        !            65: It exists
        !            66: to assist you in determining which newsgroups you may
        !            67: want to subscribe to.
        !            68: When creating a new article,
        !            69: the level of distribution can be controlled
        !            70: by use of the
        !            71: .cf Distribution
        !            72: field.
        !            73: This will prevent notices of apartments for rent in New Jersey
        !            74: being broadcast to California
        !            75: (or even Europe).
        !            76: .pg
        !            77: Any user can post an article,
        !            78: which will be sent out to the network
        !            79: to be read by persons interested in that topic.
        !            80: You can specify which topics are of interest to you by putting them in a
        !            81: .i "subscription list" .
        !            82: Then,
        !            83: whenever you ask to read news,
        !            84: the news reading program will present all unread articles of interest.
        !            85: There are also facilities for browsing through old news,
        !            86: posting follow-up articles,
        !            87: and sending direct electronic mail replies to the author of an article.
        !            88: .pg
        !            89: This paper is a tutorial,
        !            90: aimed at the user who wants to read and possibly post news.
        !            91: The system administrator who must install the software
        !            92: should see the companion document
        !            93: .i "USENET Version B Installation" .
        !            94: .hu
        !            95: Why USENET?
        !            96: .pg
        !            97: USENET is useful in a number of ways.
        !            98: Someone wishing to announce a new program or product can reach a wide audience.
        !            99: A user can ask \*(lqDoes anyone have an
        !           100: .i x ?\*(rq
        !           101: and will usually get several responses within a day or two.
        !           102: Bug reports and their fixes can be made quickly available
        !           103: without the usual overhead of sending out mass mailings.
        !           104: Discussions involving many people at different locations
        !           105: can take place without having to get everyone together.
        !           106: .pg
        !           107: Another facility with similar capabilities to
        !           108: .i netnews
        !           109: is the
        !           110: .i "electronic mailing list" .
        !           111: A mailing list is a collection of electronic mailing addresses of users
        !           112: who are interested in a particular topic.
        !           113: By sending electronic mail to the list,
        !           114: all users on the list receive a copy of the article.
        !           115: While the mailing list facility is quite useful,
        !           116: USENET offers a number of advantages not present in mailing lists.
        !           117: Getting yourself on a mailing list is not always easy.
        !           118: You have to figure out who maintains the list and ask them to put you on it.
        !           119: Often these people are out of town or busy,
        !           120: and don't put you on the list for several days.
        !           121: Sometimes you have to send mail to the entire mailing list,
        !           122: hoping that one of the readers will tell you who maintains the list.
        !           123: Once you are on the list,
        !           124: you often find yourself in the middle of a discussion.
        !           125: Netnews keeps old articles around until they expire (usually about two weeks)
        !           126: so you can browse through old news to catch up on what you missed.
        !           127: Similarly,
        !           128: referring to an old article is easy,
        !           129: without having to keep a personal file of all old mail to the list.
        !           130: .pg
        !           131: Another advantage is appreciated by the other users of the system.
        !           132: There is less overhead in having only one copy of each message
        !           133: sent to each machine,
        !           134: rather than having separate copies sent
        !           135: to each of several users on the same machine.
        !           136: This cuts down on computer time to process the messages,
        !           137: and on-line costs for telephone calls to transfer messages
        !           138: from one machine to another (when phone lines are used).
        !           139: Another advantage is in the disk space consumed.
        !           140: When only one message is sent to each system,
        !           141: only one copy of the message is kept on disk.
        !           142: In a mailing list environment,
        !           143: each user has a copy in a mailbox.
        !           144: Of course, if the mailing list is small enough the overhead is less
        !           145: than an international newsgroup.
        !           146: .hu
        !           147: How do I Read News?
        !           148: .pg
        !           149: In the USENET jargon,
        !           150: interest topics are called
        !           151: .i newsgroups .
        !           152: A newsgroup list appears in a later section,
        !           153: current as this paper was written.
        !           154: You have your own
        !           155: .i "subscription list"
        !           156: of newsgroups to which you are said to
        !           157: .i subscribe .
        !           158: .pg
        !           159: The simplest way to read news is to type the command:
        !           160: .sd c
        !           161: readnews
        !           162: .ed
        !           163: Other possibilities include: a full-screen-oriented news reading program,
        !           164: .i vnews (1),
        !           165: (described in the Appendix,) the
        !           166: .i notesfile
        !           167: system, which can also be used for news (described in a separate paper,)
        !           168: and
        !           169: .i rn ,
        !           170: a very popular news reading program distributed separately from this package.
        !           171: Each newsgroup to which you subscribe will be presented,
        !           172: one article at a time.
        !           173: As each article is presented,
        !           174: you will be shown the
        !           175: .i header
        !           176: (containing the name of the author,
        !           177: the subject,
        !           178: and the length of the article)
        !           179: and you will be asked if you want more.
        !           180: There are a number of possible choices you can make at this point.
        !           181: The three most common
        !           182: .qp y , (
        !           183: .qp n ,
        !           184: and
        !           185: .qp q )
        !           186: are suggested by the program.
        !           187: (To see a complete list of possible responses,
        !           188: type
        !           189: .qp ?
        !           190: for help.)
        !           191: You can type
        !           192: .qp y
        !           193: for \*(lqyes\*(rq
        !           194: (or simply hit
        !           195: .qc RETURN )
        !           196: and the rest of the message will be displayed.
        !           197: (If the message is long,
        !           198: it may stop before it runs off the top of the screen.
        !           199: Type
        !           200: .qc SPACE
        !           201: or
        !           202: .qc RETURN
        !           203: to see more of the message.
        !           204: Another choice you can make is
        !           205: .qp n
        !           206: for \*(lqno\*(rq.
        !           207: This means you are not interested in the message \-
        !           208: it will not be offered to you again.
        !           209: A third option is
        !           210: .qp q
        !           211: for \*(lqquit\*(rq.
        !           212: This causes a record to be made of which articles you read
        !           213: (or refused)
        !           214: and you will exit netnews.
        !           215: When you have read all the news,
        !           216: this happens automatically.
        !           217: The
        !           218: .qp q
        !           219: command is mainly useful if you are in a hurry
        !           220: and don't have time to read all the news right now.
        !           221: (Many users put a
        !           222: .i readnews (1)
        !           223: or
        !           224: .i checknews (1)
        !           225: command in their
        !           226: .i .profile
        !           227: or
        !           228: .i .login
        !           229: files so that they will see new news each time they log in.)
        !           230: .pg
        !           231: If you are reading news for the first time,
        !           232: you may find yourself swamped by the volume of unread news,
        !           233: especially if the default subscription is
        !           234: .ng all .
        !           235: Don't let this bother you.
        !           236: If you are getting newsgroups in which you have no interest,
        !           237: you can change your subscription list
        !           238: (see below).
        !           239: Also,
        !           240: bear in mind that what you see
        !           241: is probably at least two weeks' accumulation of news.
        !           242: If you want to just get rid of all old news and start anew,
        !           243: type
        !           244: .sd c
        !           245: readnews \-K \-n all
        !           246: .ed
        !           247: which will throw away all old news,
        !           248: recording that you have seen it all.
        !           249: Or,
        !           250: you can use the
        !           251: .qp K
        !           252: command to mark all articles in the current newsgroup as read.
        !           253: .pg
        !           254: Once you catch up with (or ignore) all the old news,
        !           255: the news will come in daily at a more manageable rate.
        !           256: (If the daily rate is still too much
        !           257: you may wish to unsubscribe to some of the higher volume, less useful newsgroups.)
        !           258: Finally,
        !           259: note that while an article is printing,
        !           260: you can hit
        !           261: your interrupt character
        !           262: (usually
        !           263: .qc CONTROL-C
        !           264: or
        !           265: .qc DELETE ),
        !           266: which will throw away the rest of the article.
        !           267: .pg
        !           268: Among the other commands you can type after seeing the header
        !           269: of an article are:
        !           270: .Qp x 13
        !           271: Exit
        !           272: .i readnews .
        !           273: This is different from
        !           274: .qp q
        !           275: in that the
        !           276: .qp q
        !           277: command
        !           278: will update the record of which articles you have read,
        !           279: but
        !           280: .qp x
        !           281: will pretend you never started
        !           282: .i readnews .
        !           283: .Qp N 13
        !           284: Go on to the next newsgroup.
        !           285: The remaining articles in the current newsgroup are considered
        !           286: .i unread ,
        !           287: and will be offered to you again the next time you read news.
        !           288: .Qp "s \f2file\fP" 13
        !           289: The article is saved in a disk file with the given name.
        !           290: In practice,
        !           291: what usually happens is that an article is printed,
        !           292: and then
        !           293: .i readnews
        !           294: goes on to print the header of the next article
        !           295: before you get a chance to type anything.
        !           296: So you usually want to write out the
        !           297: .i previous
        !           298: message
        !           299: (the last one you have read in full);
        !           300: in this case,
        !           301: use the form
        !           302: .qp s\-
        !           303: .i filename .
        !           304: .Qp e 13
        !           305: Erase the memory of having seen this article.
        !           306: It will be offered to you again next time,
        !           307: as though you had never seen it.
        !           308: The variation
        !           309: .qp e\-
        !           310: (erase  memory of the previously read article instead of
        !           311: the current article) is useful for checking follow-ups to see
        !           312: if anyone has already said what you wanted to say.
        !           313: .Qp r 13
        !           314: Reply to the author of the message.
        !           315: You will be placed in the editor,
        !           316: with a set of headers derived from the message you are replying to.
        !           317: Type in your message after the blank line.
        !           318: If you wish to edit the header list
        !           319: to add more recipients or send carbon copies,
        !           320: for instance,
        !           321: you can edit the header lines.
        !           322: Anyone listed on a line beginning with
        !           323: .hf To
        !           324: or
        !           325: .hf Cc
        !           326: will receive a copy of your reply.
        !           327: Note that the path used to receive a piece of news may not be the fastest
        !           328: way to reply by mail. If speed is important and you know a faster way,
        !           329: edit it in place of what the reply command supplied.
        !           330: A mail command will then be started up,
        !           331: addressed to the persons listed in the header.
        !           332: You are then returned to
        !           333: .i readnews .
        !           334: The case
        !           335: .qp r\-
        !           336: is also useful to reply to the previous message.
        !           337: Another variation on this is
        !           338: .qp rd\-
        !           339: which puts you in
        !           340: .b $MAILER
        !           341: (or
        !           342: .i mail (1)
        !           343: by default)
        !           344: to type in your reply directly.
        !           345: .Qp f 13
        !           346: Post a follow-up message to the same newsgroup.
        !           347: This posts an article on this newsgroup
        !           348: with the same title as the original article.
        !           349: Use common sense when posting follow-ups. (Read Matt Bishop's paper
        !           350: \*(lqHow to use USENET Effectively\*(rq for extended discussion of when
        !           351: and when not to post -- many follow-up articles should have just been replies.)
        !           352: You will be placed in the editor. Enter your message and exit.
        !           353: The case
        !           354: .qp f\-
        !           355: is also useful to follow up the previous message.
        !           356: In each case,
        !           357: the editor you are placed in will be
        !           358: .i vi (1)
        !           359: unless you set
        !           360: .b EDITOR
        !           361: (in your environment) to some other editor.
        !           362: You should enter the text of the follow-up after the blank line.
        !           363: .Qp + 13
        !           364: The article is skipped for now.
        !           365: The next time you read news,
        !           366: you will be offered this article again.
        !           367: .Qp \- 13
        !           368: Go back to the previous article.
        !           369: This toggles,
        !           370: so that two
        !           371: .qp \- 's
        !           372: get you the current article.
        !           373: .Qp b 13
        !           374: Back up one article in the current group.
        !           375: This is not necessarily the previous article.
        !           376: .Qp U 13
        !           377: Unsubscribe from this newsgroup.
        !           378: Your
        !           379: .i \&.newsrc (5)
        !           380: file will be edited to change the
        !           381: .qp :
        !           382: for that newsgroup to an
        !           383: .qp !
        !           384: preventing you from being shown that newsgroup again.
        !           385: .Qp ? 13
        !           386: If you type any unrecognized command,
        !           387: a summary of valid commands will be printed.
        !           388: .hu
        !           389: Changing your Subscription List
        !           390: .pg
        !           391: If you take no special action you will subscribe to a default subscription list.
        !           392: This default varies locally.
        !           393: To find out your local default,
        !           394: type
        !           395: .sd c
        !           396: readnews \-s
        !           397: .ed
        !           398: Typically this list will include all newsgroups ending in \*(lqgeneral\*(rq
        !           399: or \*(lqannounce\*(rq,
        !           400: such as
        !           401: .ng general ,
        !           402: and
        !           403: .ng news.announce .
        !           404: (As distributed,
        !           405: the default is
        !           406: .ng general\f1,\fPall.announce .
        !           407: Another popular default is
        !           408: .ng all .)
        !           409: You can change this by creating a file in your home directory named
        !           410: .i .newsrc
        !           411: which contains as its first line a line of the form:
        !           412: .sd c
        !           413: options \-n newsgroup,newsgroup,newsgroup ...
        !           414: .ed
        !           415: If your lines get too long,
        !           416: you can continue them on subsequent lines
        !           417: by beginning those lines with a space.
        !           418: (The netnews system will put extra lines in this file
        !           419: to record which articles you have read.
        !           420: You should ignore these lines unless you want to edit them.)
        !           421: For example,
        !           422: if you are creating a subscription list for the first time,
        !           423: and have already read news,
        !           424: you will find some text already in your
        !           425: .i .newsrc
        !           426: file,
        !           427: recording which articles you have read.
        !           428: You should put your
        !           429: .b options
        !           430: line before the first line of the file.)
        !           431: Thus,
        !           432: .sd c
        !           433: options \-n general,news.announce,comp.human-nets
        !           434: .ed
        !           435: will subscribe to those three newsgroups.
        !           436: .pg
        !           437: An
        !           438: .qp !
        !           439: can be used to exclude certain newsgroups and the word
        !           440: .ng all
        !           441: can be used as a wild card,
        !           442: representing any newsgroup.
        !           443: You can also use
        !           444: .ng all
        !           445: as a prefix or suffix to match a class of newsgroups.
        !           446: For example,
        !           447: .sd c
        !           448: options \-n all,!talk,!rec.humor,!all.unix
        !           449: .ed
        !           450: will result in a subscription to all newsgroups except for \*(lqtalk\*(rq group,
        !           451: jokes,
        !           452: and any
        !           453: .ux
        !           454: information.
        !           455: The metacharacter
        !           456: .qp .
        !           457: is like
        !           458: .qp /
        !           459: to the shell,
        !           460: and
        !           461: .ng all
        !           462: is like
        !           463: .qp * .
        !           464: .pg
        !           465: A simpler way to subscribe to news is to subscribe to
        !           466: .ng all ,
        !           467: and then use the
        !           468: .qp U
        !           469: .i readnews
        !           470: command to unsubscribe to newsgroups you don't want to read.
        !           471: This way you will see new newsgroups that are created,
        !           472: get a chance to evaluate them,
        !           473: and then unsubscribe to those that don't interest you.
        !           474: .pg
        !           475: The order of the newsgroups in your
        !           476: .i .newsrc
        !           477: (after the options line)
        !           478: is the order in which newsgroups will be shown.
        !           479: If you want something other than the default,
        !           480: move the lines around until you are satisfied with the order.
        !           481: Be careful to keep the options line as the first line in the file.
        !           482: .hu
        !           483: Submitting Articles
        !           484: .pg
        !           485: To submit a new news article type
        !           486: .sd c
        !           487: postnews
        !           488: .ed
        !           489: First,
        !           490: it will ask you if this is a follow-up to an article.
        !           491: Answer
        !           492: .b yes
        !           493: or
        !           494: .b no .
        !           495: If
        !           496: .b yes ,
        !           497: you really should have done an
        !           498: .qp f
        !           499: from
        !           500: .i readnews ,
        !           501: but it will try and figure out which article you are following up to.
        !           502: It will ask for the newsgroup in which you read the article
        !           503: and the article number.
        !           504: If you can't remember,
        !           505: go back to
        !           506: .i readnews
        !           507: and find out.
        !           508: It is important that discussions are kept together.
        !           509: It is very frustrating for someone to read a follow-up that says:
        !           510: \&\*(lqI agree.
        !           511: It's very dangerous to leave that program as distributed.\*(rq
        !           512: and not have any idea what the poster was referring to.
        !           513: .pg
        !           514: If you answer
        !           515: .b no ,
        !           516: .i postnews (1)
        !           517: will ask you for the subject of the new article.
        !           518: This should be as informative as possible.
        !           519: For example,
        !           520: .cf "'67 Porsche for sale in New Jersey"
        !           521: is much better than
        !           522: .cf "Car for sale"
        !           523: or even
        !           524: .cf "For sale" .
        !           525: It will then ask which newsgroups you want the article posted in.
        !           526: If you are unsure,
        !           527: type
        !           528: .qp ?
        !           529: instead of a specific newsgroup
        !           530: and it will show you the list of currently available groups.
        !           531: Then,
        !           532: you will be asked how far your article should be distributed.
        !           533: It is important to keep this as small as possible
        !           534: to accomplish the purpose of your article.
        !           535: Remember that many newsgroups are read in Europe,
        !           536: Australia,
        !           537: and Asia in addition to the United States and Canada.
        !           538: It does no good
        !           539: (to use the previous example)
        !           540: to post a
        !           541: .cf "Car for sale in New Jersey"
        !           542: article with a distribution of 
        !           543: .ng world .
        !           544: There is almost no chance that a person in Sweden or Korea
        !           545: would be interested in buying your car (even if it is a Porsche).
        !           546: It is a waste of money and computer resources
        !           547: to transmit the article that far.
        !           548: For this specific case,
        !           549: the appropriate distribution would be
        !           550: .ng nj
        !           551: or only in New Jersey.
        !           552: If there were no local distribution available,
        !           553: at least it should be confined to
        !           554: .ng usa .
        !           555: If you are unsure of the distributions available at your site,
        !           556: type
        !           557: .qp ?
        !           558: instead of a distribution
        !           559: and you will receive a list of distributions valid for your site.
        !           560: If the distribution is
        !           561: .ng world ,
        !           562: your article will be read (perhaps with disgust)
        !           563: by thousands of people around the world.
        !           564: .pg
        !           565: Then you will be placed in the editor.
        !           566: Enter the text of your article,
        !           567: after the blank line,
        !           568: and exit the editor.
        !           569: The article will be posted to the newsgroups specified.
        !           570: If you change your mind about the headers while you are still in the editor,
        !           571: you can edit them as well.
        !           572: Extra headers can also be added before the blank line.
        !           573: .hu
        !           574: Browsing through Old News
        !           575: .pg
        !           576: There are a number of command line options to the
        !           577: .i readnews
        !           578: command to help you find an old article you want to see again.
        !           579: The
        !           580: .op \-n
        !           581: .i newsgroups
        !           582: option restricts your search to certain newsgroups.
        !           583: The
        !           584: .op \-x
        !           585: option arranges to ignore the record of articles read,
        !           586: which is kept in your
        !           587: .i \&.newsrc
        !           588: file.
        !           589: This will cause all articles in all newsgroups to which you
        !           590: subscribe to be displayed,
        !           591: even those which you have already seen.
        !           592: It also causes
        !           593: .i readnews
        !           594: to not update the
        !           595: .i \&.newsrc
        !           596: file.
        !           597: The
        !           598: .op \-a
        !           599: .i date
        !           600: option asks for news received after the given
        !           601: .i date .
        !           602: Note that even with the
        !           603: .op \-a
        !           604: option, only articles you have not already seen will be printed,
        !           605: unless you combine it with the
        !           606: .op \-x
        !           607: option.
        !           608: (Articles are kept on file until they expire,
        !           609: typically after two weeks.)
        !           610: The
        !           611: .op \-t
        !           612: .i keywords
        !           613: option restricts the query to articles mentioning one of the
        !           614: .i keywords
        !           615: in the title of the article.
        !           616: Thus,
        !           617: the command
        !           618: .sd c
        !           619: readnews \-n comp.unix \-x \-a last thursday \-t setuid
        !           620: .ed
        !           621: asks for all articles in newsgroup
        !           622: .ng comp.unix
        !           623: since last Thursday about the setuid feature.
        !           624: (Be careful with the
        !           625: .op \-t
        !           626: option.
        !           627: The above example will not find articles about
        !           628: .cf suid ,
        !           629: nor will it find articles with no title or
        !           630: whose author did not use the word
        !           631: .cf setuid
        !           632: in the title.)
        !           633: .pg
        !           634: Other useful options include the
        !           635: .op \-l
        !           636: option (which lists only the headers of articles \-
        !           637: a useful form for browsing through lots of messages.)
        !           638: The
        !           639: .op \-p
        !           640: option prints the messages without asking for any input;
        !           641: this is similar to some older news programs on many
        !           642: .ux
        !           643: systems and is useful for directing output to a printer.
        !           644: The
        !           645: .op \-r
        !           646: option produces articles in reverse order,
        !           647: from newest to oldest.
        !           648: .hu
        !           649: User Interfaces
        !           650: .pg
        !           651: The
        !           652: .i "user interface"
        !           653: of a program is the view it presents to the user,
        !           654: that is,
        !           655: what it prints and what it allows you to type.
        !           656: .i Readnews
        !           657: has options allowing you to use different user interfaces.
        !           658: The interface described above is called the \*(lqmsgs\*(rq interface
        !           659: because it mimics the style of the Berkeley
        !           660: .i msgs (1)
        !           661: program.
        !           662: (This program,
        !           663: in turn,
        !           664: mimics a program at MIT of the same name.)
        !           665: The key element of the msgs interface is that after printing the header,
        !           666: you are asked if you want the rest of the message.
        !           667: .pg
        !           668: Another interface is available with the
        !           669: .op \-c
        !           670: option.
        !           671: In this case,
        !           672: the entire message is printed,
        !           673: header and body,
        !           674: and you are prompted at the end of the message.
        !           675: The command options are the same as the msgs interface,
        !           676: but it is usually not necessary to use the
        !           677: .qp \-
        !           678: suffix on the
        !           679: .qp r ,
        !           680: .qp s ,
        !           681: or
        !           682: .qp f
        !           683: commands.
        !           684: This interface is called the \*(lq/bin/mail\*(rq
        !           685: (pronounced \*(lqbin mail\*(lq)
        !           686: interface,
        !           687: because it mimics the
        !           688: .ux
        !           689: program of that name.
        !           690: .pg
        !           691: A third interface is the
        !           692: .i Mail (1)
        !           693: (pronounced \*(lqcap mail\*(rq) interface,
        !           694: available with the
        !           695: .op \-M
        !           696: option.
        !           697: This invokes the
        !           698: .i Mail
        !           699: program directly,
        !           700: and allows you to read news with the same commands as you read mail.
        !           701: (This interface may not work on your system \-
        !           702: it requires a special version of
        !           703: .i Mail
        !           704: with a
        !           705: .qp \-T
        !           706: option.)
        !           707: .pg
        !           708: A fourth interface, is the MH news/mail program from Rand.
        !           709: That program can be used directly to read network news.
        !           710: .pg
        !           711: A fifth interface,
        !           712: .i vnews ,
        !           713: which works well on display terminals, is described in the Appendix.
        !           714: .pg
        !           715: A sixth possibility is the 
        !           716: .i notesfile
        !           717: system, described in a separate paper.  It is also display-oriented.
        !           718: .pg
        !           719: A seventh interface is
        !           720: .i rn .
        !           721: It is quite powerful and reminiscent of the EMACS text editor.
        !           722: .pg
        !           723: An eighth possibility is to use your favorite mail system as an interface.
        !           724: There are a number of different mail reading programs, including
        !           725: .i /bin/mail (1),
        !           726: .i Mail ,
        !           727: .i msg (1),
        !           728: and MH.
        !           729: Any mail system with an option to specify an alternative mailbox
        !           730: can be used to read news.
        !           731: For example,
        !           732: to use
        !           733: .i Mail
        !           734: without the
        !           735: .qp \-M
        !           736: option,
        !           737: type
        !           738: .sd c
        !           739: readnews \-c "Mail \-f %"
        !           740: .ed
        !           741: The shell command in quotes is invoked as a child of
        !           742: .i readnews.
        !           743: The
        !           744: .qp \-f
        !           745: option to
        !           746: .i Mail
        !           747: names the alternative mailbox.
        !           748: .i Readnews
        !           749: will put the news in a temporary file,
        !           750: and give the name of this file to the mailer in place of the
        !           751: .qp % .
        !           752: There is an important difference when using this kind of interface.
        !           753: The mailers do not give any indication of which articles you read
        !           754: and which ones you skipped.
        !           755: .i Readnews
        !           756: will assume you read
        !           757: .i all
        !           758: the articles,
        !           759: even if you didn't,
        !           760: and mark them all read.
        !           761: By contrast,
        !           762: the
        !           763: .op \-M
        !           764: option uses the
        !           765: .op \-T
        !           766: option to
        !           767: .i Mail ,
        !           768: asking
        !           769: .i Mail
        !           770: to tell
        !           771: .i readnews
        !           772: which articles you read.
        !           773: .hu
        !           774: Getting News when you Log In
        !           775: .pg
        !           776: Most users like to be told when they first log in if there is any news.
        !           777: This way they are reminded of news,
        !           778: but are not interrupted by it during the day.
        !           779: If you log in once in the morning,
        !           780: you can think of getting the news as reading the morning newspaper.
        !           781: It is common to put a
        !           782: .i checknews
        !           783: or
        !           784: .i readnews
        !           785: command in your
        !           786: .i .profile
        !           787: or
        !           788: .i .login
        !           789: file of commands that are executed when you log in.
        !           790: .pg
        !           791: Since there might not be any news,
        !           792: and since the
        !           793: .i readnews
        !           794: command goes to a considerable amount of work to find all unread news
        !           795: (assuming you are going to read it),
        !           796: there is another command,
        !           797: called
        !           798: .i checknews ,
        !           799: which tells you if there is any news.
        !           800: The
        !           801: .i checknews
        !           802: command is smaller and faster than
        !           803: .i readnews ,
        !           804: and was designed especially for a login file.
        !           805: There are also options to be silent if there is (or is not) news,
        !           806: and to start up
        !           807: .i readnews
        !           808: automatically if there is news.
        !           809: .pg
        !           810: The options to
        !           811: .i checknews
        !           812: are:
        !           813: .Op \-y 10
        !           814: Print \*(lqThere is news\*(rq if there is any unread news.
        !           815: .Op \-v 10
        !           816: If
        !           817: .op \-y
        !           818: is also given,
        !           819: instead of printing \*(lqThere is news\*(rq,
        !           820: prints \*(lqNews: \fInewsgroup\fP ...\*(rq
        !           821: giving the name of the first newsgroup containing unread news.
        !           822: If
        !           823: .ng general
        !           824: is the first newsgroup presented,
        !           825: this can be used to tell users whether the unread news is important.
        !           826: .Op \-n 10
        !           827: Print \*(lqNo news\*(rq if there is no unread news.
        !           828: .Op \-e 10
        !           829: If there is any unread news,
        !           830: start up
        !           831: .i readnews.
        !           832: Any additional arguments after the
        !           833: .op \-e
        !           834: will be passed to readnews.
        !           835: .pg
        !           836: Thus,
        !           837: .sd c
        !           838: checknews \-yn
        !           839: .ed
        !           840: tells you whether there is any unread news.
        !           841: .sd c
        !           842: checknews \-e \-M
        !           843: .ed
        !           844: starts up
        !           845: .i readnews
        !           846: with the
        !           847: .i Mail
        !           848: interface if there is news,
        !           849: and otherwise does nothing.
        !           850: .sd c
        !           851: checknews \-y
        !           852: .ed
        !           853: tells you if there is news,
        !           854: and is silent if there is no news.
        !           855: .hu
        !           856: Creating New Newsgroups
        !           857: .pg
        !           858: New newsgroups are proposed by the users and created by site administrators.
        !           859: To create a newsgroup,
        !           860: first make sure this is the right thing to do.
        !           861: Normally a suggestion is first posted to
        !           862: .ng news.groups\f1,\fPwhatever.relatedgroup
        !           863: for a world wide newsgroup
        !           864: .ng whatever.relatedgroup "" (
        !           865: should be the group which you are proposing to subdivide.)
        !           866: For example,
        !           867: to propose creating
        !           868: .ng rec.arts.tv.soaps ,
        !           869: post the original article to
        !           870: .ng rec.arts.tv\f1,\fPnews.groups ).
        !           871: Followups are made to
        !           872: .ng news.groups
        !           873: .i only .
        !           874: (You can force this by putting the line:
        !           875: .sd c
        !           876: Followup-To: news.groups
        !           877: .ed
        !           878: in the headers of your original posting).
        !           879: If it is established that there is general interest in such a group,
        !           880: and a name is agreed on,
        !           881: then ask your local netnews administrator to create the newsgroup.
        !           882: (It can actually be created by any netnews administrator anywhere on the net,
        !           883: within the scope of the newsgroup.)
        !           884: Once the newsgroup is created and the first article has been posted,
        !           885: the newsgroup is available for all interested persons to post to.
        !           886: .hu
        !           887: List of Newsgroups
        !           888: .pg
        !           889: This section lists the newsgroups that are currently active.
        !           890: It is intended to help you decide what you want to subscribe to.
        !           891: Note that the list is constantly changing.
        !           892: Note also that this list only describes those groups available
        !           893: on a network-wide basis. Since not all installations choose to receive all
        !           894: newsgroups, it is recommended that each installation edit the list of local
        !           895: newsgroups to be correct before distributing this document to their users.
        !           896: If this is not possible,
        !           897: a local appendix can be created.
        !           898: .hu 2
        !           899: Local
        !           900: .pg
        !           901: Local groups are kept on the current machine only.
        !           902: Local names can be identified by the lack of a prefix,
        !           903: that is, there are no periods in local newsgroup names.
        !           904: .lp general 10
        !           905: News to be read by everyone on the local machine.
        !           906: For example:
        !           907: \&\*(lqThe system will be down Monday morning for PM.\*(rq
        !           908: Or,
        !           909: \&\*(lqA new version of program
        !           910: .i x
        !           911: has been installed.\*(rq
        !           912: This newsgroup is usually mandatory \-
        !           913: you are required to subscribe to this newsgroup.
        !           914: (The list of mandatory newsgroups varies locally.)
        !           915: This requirement assures that important announcements reach all users.
        !           916: (Formerly
        !           917: .i msgs .)
        !           918: .hu 2
        !           919: Network Wide
        !           920: .pg
        !           921: These are the groups as of the last editing of this manual.
        !           922: The list is undoubtably already out of date.
        !           923: A current list can be obtained by typing
        !           924: .qp ?
        !           925: to the \*(lqNewsgroups? \*(rq prompt in postnews.
        !           926: .nf
        !           927: .ta \w'comp.protocols.appletalk     'u
        !           928: comp.ai        Artificial intelligence discussions.
        !           929: comp.ai.digest Arpanet Artificial Intelligence Digest. (Moderated)
        !           930: comp.arch      Computer architecture.
        !           931: comp.bugs.2bsd Reports of UNIX* version 2BSD related bugs.
        !           932: comp.bugs.4bsd Reports of UNIX version 4BSD related bugs.
        !           933: comp.bugs.misc General bug reports and fixes.
        !           934: comp.bugs.sys5 Reports of AT&T System 5 (and System 3) related bugs.
        !           935: comp.cog-eng   Cognitive engineering.
        !           936: comp.compilers Compiler construction, etc. (Moderated)
        !           937: comp.databases Database and data management issues and theory.
        !           938: comp.dcom.lans Local area network hardware and software.
        !           939: comp.dcom.modems       Data communications hardware and software.
        !           940: comp.dcom.telecom      Telecommunications digest. (Moderated)
        !           941: comp.doc       Public-domain documentation. (Moderated)
        !           942: comp.doc.techreports   Announcements and lists of technical reports.(Moderated)
        !           943: comp.edu       Computer science education.
        !           944: comp.emacs     EMACS editors of different flavors.
        !           945: comp.graphics  Computer graphics, art, animation, image processing,
        !           946: comp.graphics.digest   Arpanet Digest on Computer Graphics. (Moderated)
        !           947: comp.lang.ada  The computer language Ada*.
        !           948: comp.lang.apl  The computer language APL.
        !           949: comp.lang.c    The computer language C.
        !           950: comp.lang.c++  The object-oriented computer language C++.
        !           951: comp.lang.forth        The computer language Forth.
        !           952: comp.lang.fortran      The computer language FORTRAN.
        !           953: comp.lang.lisp The computer language LISP.
        !           954: comp.lang.misc Other computer languages.
        !           955: comp.lang.modula2      The computer language Modula-2.
        !           956: comp.lang.pascal       The computer language Pascal.
        !           957: comp.lang.prolog       The computer language PROLOG.
        !           958: comp.lang.smalltalk    The computer language Smalltalk 80.
        !           959: comp.laser-printers    Laser printers, hardware and software. (Moderated)
        !           960: comp.lsi       Large scale integrated circuits.
        !           961: comp.mail.headers      Arpanet header-people mailnig list.
        !           962: comp.mail.maps Various maps, including UUCP maps. (Moderated)
        !           963: comp.mail.uucp Proposed uucp mail/network standards.
        !           964: comp.newprod   Announcements of new products (Moderated)
        !           965: comp.org.decus DEC* Users' Society newsgroup.
        !           966: comp.org.usenix        USENIX Association events and announcements.
        !           967: comp.os.cpm    The CP/M operating system.
        !           968: comp.os.eunice The SRI Eunice system.
        !           969: comp.os.os9    The os9 operating system. (Moderated)
        !           970: comp.os.vms    DEC's VMS Operating System      (Moderated)
        !           971: comp.periphs   Peripheral devices.
        !           972: comp.protocols File Transfer Protocol discussions.     (Moderated)
        !           973: comp.protocols.appletalk       Applebus hardware & software. (Moderated)
        !           974: comp.protocols.kermit  Information about the Kermit package.   (Moderated)
        !           975: comp.protocols.tcp-ip  TCP and IP network protocols.   (Moderated)
        !           976: comp.sources.amiga     Public Domain Software for the Amiga.   (Moderated)
        !           977: comp.sources.bugs      Bugs and fixes for comp.sources postings (Moderated)
        !           978: comp.sources.d Any discussion on comp.sources postings.
        !           979: comp.sources.games     Postings of recreational software       (Moderated)
        !           980: comp.sources.mac       Public Domain Software for the Macintosh (Moderated)
        !           981: comp.sources.unix      Public Domain Software for Unix systems (Moderated)
        !           982: comp.sources.wanted    Requests for software, termcap entries, etc.
        !           983: comp.std.c     C language standards    (Moderated)
        !           984: comp.std.internat      International standards
        !           985: comp.std.mumps The X11.1 committee on Mumps (Moderated)
        !           986: comp.std.unix  The P1003 committee on UNIX (Moderated)
        !           987: comp.sys.amiga Commodore Amiga computers -- info, uses, no programs.
        !           988: comp.sys.apollo        Apollo computer systems.        (Moderated)
        !           989: comp.sys.apple Apple computers.
        !           990: comp.sys.atari.8bit    8 bit Atari computers.
        !           991: comp.sys.atari.st      16 bit Atari computers.
        !           992: comp.sys.att   AT&T computers.
        !           993: comp.sys.cbm   Commodore computers.
        !           994: comp.sys.dec   DEC computers.
        !           995: comp.sys.hp    Hewlett/Packard computers
        !           996: comp.sys.ibm.pc        IBM personal computers.
        !           997: comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest Arpanet Digest on the IBM PC family.    (Moderated)
        !           998: comp.sys.intel Intel computers.
        !           999: comp.sys.m6809 Motorola 6809's.
        !          1000: comp.sys.m68k  Motorola 68000, 68010, 68020 based computers
        !          1001: comp.sys.m68k.digest   Arpanet Digest on 68000-based systems.  (Moderated)
        !          1002: comp.sys.mac   The Apple Macintosh & Lisa
        !          1003: comp.sys.mac.digest    Arpanet Digest on Apple Macintosh computers (Moderated)
        !          1004: comp.sys.masscomp      Masscomp computers.     (Moderated)
        !          1005: comp.sys.misc  Other types of computers.
        !          1006: comp.sys.nsc   National Semiconductor Computers and chips.
        !          1007: comp.sys.pyramid       Pyramid 90x computers.  (Moderated)
        !          1008: comp.sys.ridge Ridge 32 computers and ROS.     (Moderated)
        !          1009: comp.sys.sequent       Sequent systems, (esp. Balance 8000).   (Moderated)
        !          1010: comp.sys.sun   Sun "workstation" computers     (Moderated)
        !          1011: comp.sys.tandy Tandy/Radio Shack computers
        !          1012: comp.sys.ti    Texas Instruments computers.
        !          1013: comp.sys.workstations  Various workstation-type computers.     (Moderated)
        !          1014: comp.terminals All sorts of terminals.
        !          1015: comp.text      Text processing.
        !          1016: comp.unix      UNIX* features and bugs.        (Moderated)
        !          1017: comp.unix.questions    General questions on UNIX.
        !          1018: comp.unix.wizards      Expert discussions, bug reports, and fixes for UNIX.
        !          1019: misc.consumers Consumer interests, product reviews, etc.
        !          1020: misc.consumers.house   Owning and maintaining a house.
        !          1021: misc.invest    Investments and the handling of money.
        !          1022: misc.jobs      Job announcements, requests, etc.
        !          1023: misc.kids      Children, their behavior and activities.
        !          1024: misc.legal     Legalities and the ethics of law.
        !          1025: misc.misc      Various discussions too short-lived for other groups.
        !          1026: misc.psi       ESP,PSI, etc (Moderated)
        !          1027: misc.taxes     Tax laws and advice.
        !          1028: misc.test      Testing of network software. Very boring.
        !          1029: misc.wanted    Requests for things that are needed.
        !          1030: news.admin     Comments directed to news administrators.
        !          1031: news.announce  General announcements of interest to all. (Moderated)
        !          1032: news.announce.conferences Upcoming conferences (Moderated)
        !          1033: news.announce.newusers Explanatory postings for new users. (Moderated)
        !          1034: news.config    Postings of system down times and interruptions.
        !          1035: news.groups    Discussions and lists of newsgroups
        !          1036: news.lists     News-related statistics and lists       (Moderated)
        !          1037: news.misc      Discussions of USENET itself.
        !          1038: news.newsites  Postings of new site announcements.
        !          1039: news.software.b        B news software.
        !          1040: news.software.notes    Notesfile software from the Univ. of Illinois.
        !          1041: news.stargate  Satellite transmission of news.
        !          1042: news.sysadmin  Comments directed to system administrators.
        !          1043: rec.arts.books Books of all genres, shapes, and sizes.
        !          1044: rec.arts.comics        The funnies, old and new.
        !          1045: rec.arts.drwho Dr. Who.
        !          1046: rec.arts.misc  Other arts related topics.
        !          1047: rec.arts.movies        Reviews and discussions of movies.
        !          1048: rec.arts.poems Poetry.
        !          1049: rec.arts.sf-lovers     Science fiction lovers' newsgroup.
        !          1050: rec.arts.startrek      Star Trek, the TV show and the movies.
        !          1051: rec.arts.tv    The boob tube, its history, and past and current shows.
        !          1052: rec.arts.tv.soaps      Postings about TV soap operas.
        !          1053: rec.audio      High fidelity audio.
        !          1054: rec.autos      Automobiles, automotive products and laws.
        !          1055: rec.autos.tech Technical aspects of automobiles, et. al.
        !          1056: rec.aviation   Aviation rules, means, and methods.
        !          1057: rec.bicycles   Bicycles, related products and laws.
        !          1058: rec.birds      Hobbyists interested in bird watching.
        !          1059: rec.boats      Hobbyists interested in boating.
        !          1060: rec.food.cooking       Food, cooking, cookbooks, and recipes.
        !          1061: rec.food.drink Wines and spirits.
        !          1062: rec.food.recipes       A "distributed cookbook" of recipes.    (Moderated)
        !          1063: rec.food.veg   Vegetarians.
        !          1064: rec.games.board        Board games.
        !          1065: rec.games.bridge       Hobbyists interested in bridge.
        !          1066: rec.games.chess        Chess & computer chess.
        !          1067: rec.games.empire       The computer game Empire.
        !          1068: rec.games.frp  Fantasy Role Playing games.
        !          1069: rec.games.go   Go.
        !          1070: rec.games.hack The computer game Hack.
        !          1071: rec.games.misc Other games and computer games.
        !          1072: rec.games.pbm  Play by Mail games.
        !          1073: rec.games.rogue        The computer game Rogue.
        !          1074: rec.games.trivia       Trivia.
        !          1075: rec.games.video        Video games.
        !          1076: rec.gardens    Gardening, methods and results.
        !          1077: rec.guns       Firearms        (Moderated)
        !          1078: rec.ham-radio  Amateur Radio practices, contests, events, rules, etc.
        !          1079: rec.ham-radio.packet   Packet radio setups.
        !          1080: rec.humor      Jokes and the like. May be somewhat offensive.
        !          1081: rec.humor.d    The content of net.jokes articles
        !          1082: rec.mag        Magazine summaries, tables of contents, etc.
        !          1083: rec.mag.otherrealms    A science fiction and fantasy "magazine". (Moderated)
        !          1084: rec.misc       Other Recreational/participant sports.
        !          1085: rec.motorcycles        Motorcycles and related products and laws.
        !          1086: rec.music      Reviews and discussion of things musical (Moderated)
        !          1087: rec.music.classical    Classical music.
        !          1088: rec.music.folk Folks discussing folk music of various sorts
        !          1089: rec.music.gaffa        Kate Bush lovers. (Moderated)
        !          1090: rec.music.gdead        A group for (Grateful) Dead-heads
        !          1091: rec.music.misc Other music related topics.
        !          1092: rec.music.synth        Synthesizers and computer music
        !          1093: rec.nude       Hobbyists interested in naturist/nudist activities.
        !          1094: rec.pets       Pets, pet care, and household animals in general.
        !          1095: rec.photo      Hobbyists interested in photography.
        !          1096: rec.puzzles    Puzzles, problems, and quizzes.
        !          1097: rec.railroad   Real and model train fans' newsgroup.
        !          1098: rec.scuba      Hobbyists interested in SCUBA diving.
        !          1099: rec.skiing     Hobbyists interested in skiing.
        !          1100: rec.sport.baseball     Professional baseball.
        !          1101: rec.sport.basketball   Professional basketball.
        !          1102: rec.sport.football     Professional football.
        !          1103: rec.sport.hockey       Professional hockey.
        !          1104: rec.sport.misc Other spectator sports.
        !          1105: rec.travel     Traveling all over the world.
        !          1106: rec.video      Video and video components.
        !          1107: rec.woodworking        Hobbyists interested in woodworking.
        !          1108: sci.astro      Astronomy discussions and information.
        !          1109: sci.bio        Biology and related sciences.
        !          1110: sci.crypt      Different methods of data en/decryption.
        !          1111: sci.electronics        Electronic design developments, ideas, and components.
        !          1112: sci.lang       Natural languages.
        !          1113: sci.math       Mathematical discussions and puzzles.
        !          1114: sci.math.stat  Statistics discussion.
        !          1115: sci.math.symbolic      Symbolic algebra discussion.
        !          1116: sci.med        Medicine and its related products and regulations.
        !          1117: sci.misc       General purpose scientific discussions.
        !          1118: sci.physics    Physical laws, properties, etc.
        !          1119: sci.research   Research and computer research.
        !          1120: sci.space      Space, space programs, space related research, etc.
        !          1121: sci.space.shuttle      The space shuttle and the STS program.
        !          1122: soc.college    College, college activities, campus life, etc.
        !          1123: soc.comp       Computers and Society (Moderated)
        !          1124: soc.culture.african    Africa & things African
        !          1125: soc.culture.celtic     Celtics culture.
        !          1126: soc.culture.greek      Greeks culture.
        !          1127: soc.culture.indian     India & things Indian
        !          1128: soc.culture.jewish     Information and discussion about Judaism.
        !          1129: soc.human-nets Computer aided communications digest.   (Moderated)
        !          1130: soc.misc       Other Social topics
        !          1131: soc.motss      Issues pertaining to homosexuality.
        !          1132: soc.net-people Announcements, requests, etc. about people on the net.
        !          1133: soc.risks      Risks to the public from computers (Moderated)
        !          1134: soc.roots      Genealogical matters.
        !          1135: soc.singles    Newsgroup for single people, their activities, etc.
        !          1136: soc.women      Women's rights, discrimination, etc.
        !          1137: talk.abortion  Abortion.
        !          1138: talk.origins   Evolution versus creationism (sometimes hot!).
        !          1139: talk.philosophy        Philosophical discussions (Moderated)
        !          1140: talk.philosophy.misc   Philosophical discussions.
        !          1141: talk.philosophy.tech   Philosphy and technology (Moderated)
        !          1142: talk.politics  Political problems, systems, solutions. (Moderated)
        !          1143: talk.politics.arms-d   Arms discussion digest. (Moderated)
        !          1144: talk.politics.misc     Political discussions. Could get hot.
        !          1145: talk.politics.theory   Theory of politics and political systems.
        !          1146: talk.religion.christian        The form and nature of Christianity (Moderated)
        !          1147: talk.religion.misc     Religious, ethical, and moral implications of actions.
        !          1148: talk.rumors    For the posting of rumors.
        !          1149: .fi
        !          1150: .bp
        !          1151: .hu
        !          1152: Appendix \- How to use vnews
        !          1153: .hu 2 
        !          1154: Overview
        !          1155: .pg
        !          1156: .i Vnews
        !          1157: is a program for reading USENET news.
        !          1158: It is based on
        !          1159: .i readnews
        !          1160: but has a CRT-oriented (full screen) user interface.
        !          1161: The command line options are identical.
        !          1162: The list of available commands is quite similar,
        !          1163: although since
        !          1164: .i vnews
        !          1165: is a
        !          1166: .i visual
        !          1167: interface,
        !          1168: most
        !          1169: .i vnews
        !          1170: commands do not have to be terminated by a newline.
        !          1171: .pg
        !          1172: .i Vnews
        !          1173: uses all but the last two lines of the screen to display the current article.
        !          1174: The next to the last line is the secondary prompt line,
        !          1175: and is used to input string arguments to commands.
        !          1176: The last line contains several fields.
        !          1177: The first field is the prompt field.
        !          1178: If
        !          1179: .i vnews
        !          1180: is at the end of an article,
        !          1181: the prompt is
        !          1182: .cf next? ;
        !          1183: otherwise the prompt is
        !          1184: .cf more? .
        !          1185: The second field is the newsgroup field,
        !          1186: which displays the current newsgroup,
        !          1187: the number of the current article,
        !          1188: and the number of the last article in the newsgroup.
        !          1189: The third field contains the current time,
        !          1190: and the last field contains the word
        !          1191: .cf mail
        !          1192: if you have mail.
        !          1193: When you receive new mail,
        !          1194: the bell on the terminal is rung and the word
        !          1195: .cf MAIL
        !          1196: appears in capital letters for 30 seconds.
        !          1197: .hu 2
        !          1198: Commands
        !          1199: .pg
        !          1200: Most of the
        !          1201: .i readnews
        !          1202: commands have
        !          1203: .i vnews
        !          1204: counterparts and vice versa.
        !          1205: Some differences are:
        !          1206: .si
        !          1207: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1208: It lacks a \*(lqdigest\*(rq command (to deal specially with collections
        !          1209: of articles bundled together).
        !          1210: This would be nice to have,
        !          1211: but it does not seem to be a major deficiency
        !          1212: since you can move around in the digest with
        !          1213: .i vnews
        !          1214: commands.
        !          1215: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1216: To get to the previous group,
        !          1217: use the
        !          1218: .qp N
        !          1219: command with a
        !          1220: .qp \-
        !          1221: argument.
        !          1222: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1223: .i Vnews
        !          1224: has commands for moving around in the article which
        !          1225: .i readnews
        !          1226: does not have since they aren't applicable.
        !          1227: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1228: It has a \*(lqparent\*(rq command which will go to the article
        !          1229: that the current article is a follow-up to,
        !          1230: and a \*(lqwrite\*(rq
        !          1231: command that writes out the body of an article without the header.
        !          1232: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1233: You can refer to the current article from the shell or
        !          1234: while writing a follow-up as
        !          1235: .b $A .
        !          1236: .lp \(bu 5
        !          1237: The \*(lqdecrypt\*(rq command (for decoding possibly offensive
        !          1238: material) always does
        !          1239: .i rot13
        !          1240: which seems to be the default standard but the
        !          1241: .i readnews
        !          1242: version of it occasionally gets confused.
        !          1243: .ei
        !          1244: .hu 2
        !          1245: Commands that differ from
        !          1246: .bi readnews
        !          1247: .pg
        !          1248: Each
        !          1249: .i vnews
        !          1250: command may be preceded by a
        !          1251: .i count .
        !          1252: Some commands use the count; others ignore it.
        !          1253: If
        !          1254: .i count
        !          1255: is omitted,
        !          1256: it defaults to one.
        !          1257: Some commands prompt for an argument
        !          1258: on the second line from the bottom of the screen.
        !          1259: Standard
        !          1260: .ux
        !          1261: erase and kill processing is done on this argument.
        !          1262: The argument is terminated by a return.
        !          1263: An interrupt
        !          1264: .qc DELETE "" (
        !          1265: or
        !          1266: .qc BREAK )
        !          1267: gets you out of any partially entered command. 
        !          1268: .Qc CR
        !          1269: A carriage return prints more of the current article,
        !          1270: or goes on to the next article if you are at the end of the current article.
        !          1271: A
        !          1272: .qc SPACE
        !          1273: is equivalent to
        !          1274: .qc CR .
        !          1275: .Qc CONTROL-B
        !          1276: Go backwards
        !          1277: .i count
        !          1278: pages.
        !          1279: .Qc CONTROL-F
        !          1280: Go forward
        !          1281: .i count
        !          1282: pages.
        !          1283: .Qc CONTROL-D
        !          1284: Go forwards half a page.
        !          1285: .Qc CONTROL-U
        !          1286: Go backwards half a page.
        !          1287: .Qc CONTROL-N
        !          1288: Go forwards
        !          1289: .i count
        !          1290: lines.
        !          1291: .Qc CONTROL-Z
        !          1292: Go backwards
        !          1293: .i count
        !          1294: lines.
        !          1295: .Qc CONTROL-L
        !          1296: Redraw the screen.
        !          1297: .qc CONTROL-L
        !          1298: may be typed at any time.
        !          1299: .Qp b
        !          1300: Back up one article in the current group.
        !          1301: .Qp l
        !          1302: Redisplay the article after you have sent a follow-up or reply.
        !          1303: .Qp n
        !          1304: Move on to the next item in a digest.
        !          1305: .qp \*(lq\&.\*(rq
        !          1306: is equivalent to
        !          1307: .qp n .
        !          1308: This is convenient if your terminal has a keypad.
        !          1309: .Qp p
        !          1310: Show the parent article
        !          1311: (the article that the current article is a follow-up to).
        !          1312: This doesn't work if the current article was posted by A-news or notesfiles.
        !          1313: To switch between the current and parent articles,
        !          1314: use the
        !          1315: .qp \-
        !          1316: command.
        !          1317: Unfortunately,
        !          1318: if you use several
        !          1319: .qp p
        !          1320: commands
        !          1321: to trace the discussion back further,
        !          1322: there is no command to return to the original level.
        !          1323: .Qp ug
        !          1324: Unsubscribe to the current group.
        !          1325: This is a two character command to ensure that it is not typed accidentally
        !          1326: and to leave room for other types of unsubscribes
        !          1327: .i e\f1.\fPg ., (
        !          1328: unsubscribe to discussion).
        !          1329: .Qp v
        !          1330: Print the current version of the news software.
        !          1331: .Qp D
        !          1332: Decrypts a joke.
        !          1333: It only handles
        !          1334: .pa rot13
        !          1335: jokes.
        !          1336: The
        !          1337: .qp D
        !          1338: command is a toggle;
        !          1339: typing another
        !          1340: .qp D
        !          1341: re-encrypts the joke.

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