MiserMail Usenet News Reader (beta)

About the MiserMail newsreader

MiserMail is an unthreaded newsreader which we consider superior due
to the changing nature of Usenet. However you can easily collapse a
list for a certain thread (or any poster, search, or Status flag in
header listings). This makes it easy to read threads, and easier to
read new messages, messages by preferred posters, or messages grouped
in other ways.

Header listings are cached, so that thousands of messages may be
included in listings without significant download time, even over a
dialup modem connection. Very old messages could still be missing. In
the unlikely case that you need to look up an old message, you can
change or override the default number of old messages to retrieve or
be cached. Alternatively, you can look up old messages at Google
Groups on the web.

You can type a short note to be displayed in the saved messages list
which will not change subjects in replies. A big convenience is to use
the "category" column to classify replies you are working on prior to
posting. There is also a method of reviewing long sequences of new
news messages from the keyboard without changing hand position.

This newsreader is designed to read and post in text newsgroups as
opposed to binary groups (e.g. picture groups, etc.).

Two-tier interface

As with email, the newsreader interface is extremely simplified for
beginners to do basic things. To use some of the advanced features
below, you will need to open a text file, add a key word or
instruction, then save the file.

Powerful filtering

This is a simple, bare-bones reader with the basic features most
people use for reading and posting. However it has powerful filtering
options that should enable you to filter any content you find
objectionable. You can filter by:

* Characters within email addresses or subjects. Instead of filtering,
these can also be shaded or highlighted in various colors. Highlighted
posters are also "whitelisted" (passed thru) the header filters.

* Content in headers including Organization, Newsreader, Posting host,
and Newsgroups. This allows you to filter nearly all posters who
change nics and posting addresses often. The newsgroup filter lets you
filter for the number of newsgroups, specify which group(s) can be
first in the header line (selectable per group), and white list
(bypass filter for) preferred newsgroups. This allows you to filter
groups of undesirable cross-posters.

* Characters within messages. This filter operates when you open a
message, allowing you to abort reading. The message is removed from
future listings.

* Number of lines in message

Features for Anonymity

You can use multiple news servers, and you can assign different
posting email addresses (which may be fictitious) to different
newsgroups. You can specify a different posting server, reply
introduction, signature, and various header information for each email
address. MiserMail will check your name at the bottom of messages to
prevent posting the wrong name in the wrong group.

Quick Review

Copy the following steps and paste them into any editor (like Notepad)
for printing. This is the shortest procedure to "do something" with
the newsreader. After following these steps to see that "it works,"
read topic "Setup - News, newsgroup reader" in Help for complete
instructions.

Read messages

1. Connect to the internet if you are not already connected.
2. Click the "News" tab in "File / Setup"
3. Type your news server name, username, and password in the "News
Connection" boxes.
4. Enter a newsgroup name (like alt.test) in the "Subscribed groups"
box.
5. Click the green + button to add the group to the list.
6. Type your posting email address in the "Default posting email
address" box.
7. Click "Done" to exit Setup.
8. Click the "Read newsgroups" toolbutton.
9. Click on the newsgroup name that you entered.
10. When the header list is displayed, click a line to open a message.
11. Click the "Read newsgroups" toolbutton again to exit the message.

Post a new message

1. Click the "Write new message" toolbutton.
2. In the "To" box, type two right carets followed by a newsgroup name
like: >>alt.test
3. Type a subject in the subject box.
4. Type the body of the message below the header boxes.
5. Click the "Send message" toolbutton to post the message.

Reply to a message

1. Open a message as in Step 10 above.
2. Click the "Reply to this message" toolbutton.
3. Add your reply text to the body of the message.
4. Click the "Send message" toolbutton to post the reply.

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