I'm FF. I had to go through the gruesome process of accessing RSS
through a newsreader. This is why my nick (and possibly other things)
is now different. For now, until I get used to the new situation and
hopefully learn how to change my nick back to FF. Not that I need the
secrecy any more but I have grown fond of it.

Anyway, I want to say a few things about the forced change.
First, it definitely sucks. I know there are those of you who think
it's better this way, I disagree. It's uselessly complicated. Besides,
it has been rather difficult for me to set it up, and I'm a
professional. I'm sure others will find it prohibitively difficult.
With Google Groups it was reasonably simple. But whatever. I don't make
their policy and if they decided to dump it there's not much we can do.

Second, many thanks for the help I got from your posts, especially to
Blueshirt. I wouldn't have done it without your info, or at the very
least it would have taken me much longer and I would have probably
given up. Per his recommendation, I'm using Eternal September, with
newsreader XanaNews. Hopefully it works, and hopefully I can get learn
my way here quickly enough.

That said, nice hearing from you all again.

FF wrote:

> I'm FF. I had to go through the gruesome process of accessing RSS
> through a newsreader. This is why my nick (and possibly other things)
> is now different. For now, until I get used to the new situation and
> hopefully learn how to change my nick back to FF. Not that I need the
> secrecy any more but I have grown fond of it.
>
> Anyway, I want to say a few things about the forced change.
> First, it definitely sucks. I know there are those of you who think
> it's better this way, I disagree. It's uselessly complicated. Besides,
> it has been rather difficult for me to set it up, and I'm a
> professional. I'm sure others will find it prohibitively difficult.
> With Google Groups it was reasonably simple. But whatever. I don't
> make their policy and if they decided to dump it there's not much we
> can do.
>
> Second, many thanks for the help I got from your posts, especially to
> Blueshirt. I wouldn't have done it without your info, or at the very
> least it would have taken me much longer and I would have probably
> given up. Per his recommendation, I'm using Eternal September, with
> newsreader XanaNews. Hopefully it works, and hopefully I can get learn
> my way here quickly enough.
>
> That said, nice hearing from you all again.

What a surprise, it looks like my nick is still FF. I have no idea thow
this came about but i'm glad about it.

FF wrote:

> FF wrote:
>
> > I'm FF. I had to go through the gruesome process of accessing RSS
> > through a newsreader. This is why my nick (and possibly other
> > things) is now different. For now, until I get used to the new
> > situation and hopefully learn how to change my nick back to FF. Not
> > that I need the secrecy any more but I have grown fond of it.
> >
> > Anyway, I want to say a few things about the forced change.
> > First, it definitely sucks. I know there are those of you who think
> > it's better this way, I disagree. It's uselessly complicated.
> > Besides, it has been rather difficult for me to set it up, and I'm a
> > professional. I'm sure others will find it prohibitively difficult.
> > With Google Groups it was reasonably simple. But whatever. I don't
> > make their policy and if they decided to dump it there's not much we
> > can do.
> >
> > Second, many thanks for the help I got from your posts, especially
> > to Blueshirt. I wouldn't have done it without your info, or at the
> > very least it would have taken me much longer and I would have
> > probably given up. Per his recommendation, I'm using Eternal
> > September, with newsreader XanaNews. Hopefully it works, and
> > hopefully I can get learn my way here quickly enough.
> >
> > That said, nice hearing from you all again.
>
> What a surprise, it looks like my nick is still FF. I have no idea
> thow this came about but i'm glad about it.

Welcome back. I had an absolute nightmare trying to set up the
newsreader, being technophobic, as you're probably aware of if it's
Blueshirt's messages you read.

If you prefer a web-based way of accessing it, there's always novaBBS.
To be honest, probably the only reason I'm using xananews is because it
wouldn't have been worth all that hassle if I end up not using it. I
might go back to using novaBBS some time; I think I prefer that.

Just out of curiosity, what was your secretive new username?

FF wrote:

> I'm FF. I had to go through the gruesome process of accessing
> RSS through a newsreader. This is why my nick (and possibly
> other things) is now different. For now, until I get used to
> the new situation and hopefully learn how to change my nick
> back to FF. Not that I need the secrecy any more but I have
> grown fond of it.

Gruesome but successful!
> Anyway, I want to say a few things about the forced change.
> First, it definitely sucks. I know there are those of you who
> think it's better this way, I disagree. It's uselessly
> complicated. Besides, it has been rather difficult for me to
> set it up, and I'm a professional. I'm sure others will find
> it prohibitively difficult. With Google Groups it was
> reasonably simple. But whatever. I don't make their policy and
> if they decided to dump it there's not much we can do.

Well I personally prefer as newsreader but I've never used
Google Groups to access Usenet so I am just sticking to what I
know!
Obviously it was a big change for the Google Groups regulars.
But a couple of you have made it back so that's good.

If you find you do prefer web gateway access to Usenet, NovaBBS
seems to be making some headway and I think Ray at
eternal-september is working on his own interface... so stay
tuned.
> Second, many thanks for the help I got from your posts,
> especially to Blueshirt. I wouldn't have done it without your
> info, or at the very least it would have taken me much longer
> and I would have probably given up. Per his recommendation,
> I'm using Eternal September, with newsreader XanaNews.
> Hopefully it works, and hopefully I can get learn my way here
> quickly enough.

You're welcome... XanaNews is a simple newsreader in the big
scheme of things. Basic enough and does the job. Once you get
used to it you might prefer a newsreader upgrade of some sort,
but it was easier for me to recommend something that I actually
use, that way if anyone did need advice I could help them out.

> That said, nice hearing from you all again.

Welcome back!

Mark wrote:
>
> Just out of curiosity, what was your secretive new username?

You got it slightly wrong. It's not my new username that was secretive.
FF at begin was a secretive nick, as older users know. It didn't have
anything to do with my real name which is Vlad (a romanian name).

Blueshirt wrote:
>
> You're welcome... XanaNews is a simple newsreader in the big
> scheme of things. Basic enough and does the job. Once you get
> used to it you might prefer a newsreader upgrade of some sort,

Nah, I don't think so. Now it works, so as long as it does I'll just
use it. That's how I always do. :)

> but it was easier for me to recommend something that I actually
> use, that way if anyone did need advice I could help them out.

You certainly did. It seems that the best Net info I found on the
subject was actually the old RSS discussion. I even found a page that
said there is no such thing as free Usenet access. Luckily I remembered
reading here otherwise and came back and followed your advice.

BTW, do you know how I can get somebody out of the so-called Bozo bin
(whatever that is) ? I put myself accidentally there when I was trying
to find my way around things. I can't access the help, even though
there seems to be one but it doesn't work, at least at my place. And
the info on the Net is practically 0.

FF wrote:
>
> BTW, do you know how I can get somebody out of the so-called
> Bozo bin (whatever that is) ? I put myself accidentally there
> when I was trying to find my way around things. I can't access
> the help, even though there seems to be one but it doesn't
> work, at least at my place. And the info on the Net is
> practically 0.

At the top, above the toolbar...

Click 'Tools' -> In the box that opens, scroll down to
'Options', click that -> On the left panel select 'Bozo Bin' ->
Select the email address of the relevant person -> Hit the
'Delete' button below that box -> Then the 'Apply' button right
at the bottom.

Blueshirt wrote:

> FF wrote:
> >
> > BTW, do you know how I can get somebody out of the so-called
> > Bozo bin (whatever that is) ? I put myself accidentally there
> > when I was trying to find my way around things. I can't access
> > the help, even though there seems to be one but it doesn't
> > work, at least at my place. And the info on the Net is
> > practically 0.
>
> At the top, above the toolbar...
>
> Click 'Tools' -> In the box that opens, scroll down to
> 'Options', click that -> On the left panel select 'Bozo Bin' ->
> Select the email address of the relevant person -> Hit the
> 'Delete' button below that box -> Then the 'Apply' button right
> at the bottom.

Thanks. But it looks like it's not needed, because I actually had
removed myself by pressing the Bozo button once more (as it's obvious
it should work). The reason I thought I was still a bozo is that I saw
the threads started by me in yellow (all messages, not just mine). I
guess that's an error, as obviously they aren't ignored since I'm not a
bozo any more, I can see them and reply to them. Anyway, I changed the
color to brown so now it's not a problem any more.

FF wrote:
>
> Thanks. But it looks like it's not needed, because I actually
> had removed myself by pressing the Bozo button once more (as
> it's obvious it should work). The reason I thought I was still
> a bozo is that I saw the threads started by me in yellow (all
> messages, not just mine). I guess that's an error, as
> obviously they aren't ignored since I'm not a bozo any more, I
> can see them and reply to them. Anyway, I changed the color to
> brown so now it's not a problem any more.

The fact that you know how to change the colour of messages
already is a good sign...

Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you!

Blueshirt wrote:

> FF wrote:
> >
> > Thanks. But it looks like it's not needed, because I actually
> > had removed myself by pressing the Bozo button once more (as
> > it's obvious it should work). The reason I thought I was still
> > a bozo is that I saw the threads started by me in yellow (all
> > messages, not just mine). I guess that's an error, as
> > obviously they aren't ignored since I'm not a bozo any more, I
> > can see them and reply to them. Anyway, I changed the color to
> > brown so now it's not a problem any more.
>
> The fact that you know how to change the colour of messages
> already is a good sign...
>
> Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you!

:) As I said, I'm not a computer newbie. Actually I'm a programmer
myself. But the info around these things was very scarce. Luckily I had
good one from your old thread. Anyway, now it looks like things are
back under control, more or less.