How to send newsgroup link

How do I send a link to the rec.crafts.jewelry newsgroup
to a friend on earthlink dialup using Outlook Express so
that she can just click on the link and be asked to subscribe
to the newsgroup. That would be easier for me than trying
to explain to her how to set up an account manually.
Thanks,
Janice

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 18:27:06 -0800, in hõ "Dick M." wrote:

How do I send a link to the rec.crafts.jewelry newsgroup
to a friend on earthlink dialup using Outlook Express so
that she can just click on the link and be asked to subscribe
to the newsgroup. That would be easier for me than trying
to explain to her how to set up an account manually.
Thanks,
Janice

Hi Janice.

First, there's a bit of confusion on your part as to what subscribing to a newsgroup is
all about.

the newsgroups are always available from your news server already. If you have an ISP
account, you can read newsgroups without setting up any other account.

But you have to tell your own software that you wish to read a particular group. That
process is called subscribing. Once you do that, your software will know to download
messages for the group. Your friend does not need to ask anyone to be subscribed, and
in fact, sending that sort of message will do nothing, since nobody else can do it for
her. Newsgroups are not like email mail lists, where once you send a subscribe request,
the message start pouring in via email. Once you set it up, it can look similar, but
all the setup is done on a users own computer, without messages being sent to subscribe.

What she needs to do is simply start Outlook Express, or whatever news reader she is
using, then from the "Tools" drop down menu, select the "accounts" item. In the
resulting window, she can click "news", which will show any news servers she's already
set up for. If there is one, nothing else is needed for that part. If none are shown,
she needs to add a news server, which will be one specified by her ISP, usually, though
one can also access independed news servers by paying them a subscription fee. Most
people simply set up their ISP's news server for access, a simple process once she's
found the correct server name from her ISP.

Once Outlook has been set up with the name of the news server, again from the Tools
drop down menu, select the "newsgroups" item. That brings up a new small window. In
it, if she's never read newsgroups before, she'll need to click the "reset list" option,
which downloads from her news server a list of all available newsgroups on her server.
Depending on her connection speed, that can take several seconds, or several minutes, as
the list contains several tens of thousands of newsgroup names. Once she sees a list of
group names, she can type the word "jewelry" into the search window just above the list
of group names, which is perhaps quicker than scrolling through the long list to find
rec.crafts.jewelry. A search for just that one word generally returns only this
newsgroup plus, sometimes, pdaxs.ads.jewelry. Once she sees the group name in the list,
select it, and click the "subscribe" button. Close that window.

The normal top level "page" in outlook gives one the choice of reading email, reading
newsgroups, or managing contact info. Some people set up outlook so it automatically
starts in email. If that's so, then clicking the top shaded bar with the folder name
one is looking at, will bring up a list of folders on the left. clicking the top item,
"outlook express" brings you to that home page, from which you'd click "read news", or
from that folder list, if you remember it, you can click the name of the news server to
take you to a list of just the newsgroups you've subscribed to, or one can also just
from that folder list, directly click the newsgroup name.

In any case, once you're at the newsgroup screen, click the "syncronize newsgroup" item
from the tools menu, which allows the option to download messages for the group, or just
headers if you wish (good for dialup connections where you may not wish to read all
messages). From the general folder list, if one clicks the news server name, the
resulting page is a list of all subscribed newsgroups along with some option check
boxes, which one can use to set syncronization settings, so that you won't have to
manually select it next time. here, and in "syncronization settings" from the tools
menu, one can set one's computer to automatically download all new messages when outlook
express is started.

Once you've waded through all the above stuff, you're pretty much set up. It looks
complex, but that's mostly because I type long messages to answer simple questions...
(grin). It will actually take only about a minute, other than the bit about downloading
the list of newsgroups from the server. on a dial up connection.

Now, if all that is still too complex (hey, don't retype it. Just send her a copy of my
message...) one can always go to Google.com's web site, and find rec.crafts.jewelry
there. As with any other news server, you need not subscribe or request access, but
with Google, you do have to click your way through some menus to get to the newsgroup.
Also, warn her that Google's organization makes it very easy to read messages from five
years ago, and not realize they are old history. So she should pay attention to the
message's dates before replying. Google does have the nice feature of presenting the
group via a web based interface, so one does not need to learn or set up new software.

And if you, or she, would prefer a true email based mail list, then consider subscribing
to the orchid mail list, which can be found via the www.ganoksin.com web site. The
Orchid forum is by far the busiest and most active jewelry discussion forum on the
internet, with several dozens os new messages per day, (often more than fifty a day).
Rec.crafts.jewelry by contrast, is a public domain usenet newsgroup rather than an owned
mail list, and though considerably older, entertains usually less than a dozen new
messages a day, often considerably less. Both forums are moderated, with a resulting
time delay between when one sends a message and when it becomes available for viewing
The moderating of rec.crafts.jewelry is looser, primarily to eliminate advertisements,
spam, and flame wars. Orchid is more thoroughly moderated, with message formatting and
often a bit more active editing at the moderator's discretion. Both have available
archives, with the Orchid archives being on the ganoksin web site, and
rec.crafts.jewelry being archived on Google.

I hope the above answers the question. Feel free to contact me here in the group or via
email with any further questions or assitance requirements.

Peter Rowe
moderator
rec.crafts.jewelry

Dick M. wrote:

How do I send a link to the rec.crafts.jewelry newsgroup
to a friend on earthlink dialup using Outlook Express so
that she can just click on the link and be asked to subscribe
to the newsgroup. That would be easier for me than trying
to explain to her how to set up an account manually.
Thanks,
Janice

news:rec.crafts.jewelry
....works on KNode on Earthlink. Can't say for sure about Outlook Express.
--
mbstevens
http://www.mbstevens.com

If you know they have Usenet access (they would with Earthlink) and have an
account a short news link could be used. If the group exists on their news
server's downloaded groups list it will open the group.

Example:
news:rec.crafts.jewelry

Dick M. wrote:
How do I send a link to the rec.crafts.jewelry newsgroup
to a friend on earthlink dialup using Outlook Express so
that she can just click on the link and be asked to subscribe
to the newsgroup. That would be easier for me than trying
to explain to her how to set up an account manually.
Thanks,
Janice


That's not how it works. She has to actively subscribe to a news group she
wants to participate in. You cannot send a "link" to newsgroups, like you can
send a URL in an email and then just click on that. You will just have to
explain it to her, or have her go to Google and go to groups, without
subscribing, if she just wants to read the group.

If you want her to do it the easy way (which I don't recommend) then don't have
her subscribe to a news group via her ISP and with a news reader, but tell her
to go to Google. Click on "Groups", then enter the search term
"rec.crafts.jewelry". Then click "Search Groups". Voila. If she wants to
post, she will have to subscribe which she can do from that page. Just click on
"Subscribe to this group".

I'm sure Peter will tell you the same thing in a day or so in about 12 more
paragraphs.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

On , in @õ Abrasha wrote:

I'm sure Peter will tell you the same thing in a day or so in about 12 more
paragraphs.

Hey! I resemble that comment...

Actually, took me 11 paragraphs total, not 12 more... But that most likely means I
should have broken some of them up into two or more paragraphs, right?

Peter

Dick M. wrote:
How do I send a link to the rec.crafts.jewelry newsgroup
to a friend on earthlink dialup using Outlook Express so
that she can just click on the link and be asked to subscribe
to the newsgroup. That would be easier for me than trying
to explain to her how to set up an account manually.
Thanks,
Janice

I think that the easiest way would be to send your friend web links
that you copy from the URL (address) line of your browser. As mentioned
here, Google provides the web interface for Usenet groups. You may copy
the links when browsing via google's interface. For example:
1. This link will take you to groups registration in google.
https://www.google.com/accounts/NewA...ta.google.com/
2. A direct link to this group (rec.crafts.jewelry)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.crafts.jewelry
3. Link to this particular thread
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...8a1a146ea0e412
Sarit.

Sarit Wolfus - Silver, Gold and Gemstones, handcrafted jewelry
http://sarit-jewelry.com