Thanks Dave. I'd think most of our societies have similar situations.
Knowledgeable people who just don't know how to work the internet to best
advantage.

If I may add my 2 cents, I think what stops people from using Usenet is
that you have to ask your ISP what their news server is. Which necessitates
yet another phone call to customer support, which takes time on hold...

But once set up I've always been amazed at the number of groups that exist.
When I started (12/95) there were a few thousand groups, like 5000 or so.
Now there are over 12,000 last time I looked. I only subscribe to one other
Usenet group - a mystery newsgroup, but I know there are ones on science
fiction, books in general, any rock star or celebrity you care to name,
engineering, universities. You name it. I've lurked in the one on growing
marijuana because they know so much about getting plants to bud under
lights. They are a skittish bunch, and if you aren't 'known' they don't
answer you. (They also know alot about computer privacy and encryption).
*G*

K

Speaking of ANOS, Tony Wakinson (Perth area) lurks here occasionally
"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
Kathy, I'll do that. I'm no expert though. It's just that when I mention
newsgroups at our society meetings I get lots of blank looks, with a few
who nod
understandingly. So I felt someone had to bite the bullet. Specially
since
most of them know far more about orchids than I (*not* false modesty), and
a
couple of them could be really helpful here on Aussie orchids if they
chose to
be involved. (Oops - I'm thinking of ANOS eligible plants especially, and
the
epiphytes/lithophytes in particular. I just realised what a slight the
previous
remark was to some of our Aussie contributors from down south.)

The article will be pretty basic - what usenet is & how it works from the
user
perspective; what's involved in selecting & accessing newsgroups; what's
involved in setting up a "typical" newsreader - if there's any such thing;
a bit
on netiquette.

On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 19:11:53 -0800, "K Barrett"
wrote:

Dave, send me a copy of the article when you get it done.

Please, please, please.

K Barrett


"unknown" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Dave Gillingham wrote:

I'm planning to write an article on the orchid newsgroups, & usenet in
general,
for our society newsletter. What newsreaders do you all like?
Dave Gillingham
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mtnewswatcher on a granny smith. does the job ok but has some weird
quirks--for instance, it has made the header list for this group (and
*only* this group) come out in, like, 1 point type. i i swear i didn't
touch any of the settings...

but hey it's free.

--j_a

Dave Gillingham
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