CS 99
Fundamental Programming Concepts
Summer 2000

Posting to the Newsgroup

News Readers
There are many news readers available for use, including the Big Two:
  • Microsoft Outlook (Express)
  • Netscape Communicator

However, the one provided by Bear Access is called WinVN. It's unfortunately not as easy to use as the other Two. So at home, you might try your hand at one of them. In lab, you'll probably have to use WinVN.

If you do choose to use one of the Two at home, you need to know that our news server at Cornell (called newsstand.cit.cornell.edu) requires you to authenticate with your NetID and password.

The rest of these instructions assume you are using WinVN.

 
News Floppy
First, if you're using WinVN in the lab, you'll need to make a news floppy to use with the news reader. There's an icon for this under News Readers in Bear Access.

 
Subscribe to the Newsgroup
You only have to do this when you first start using a new newsreader, or after you first make a floppy. Using WinVN:
  1. Go to the Group menu and choose Find. Enter cornell.class.cs099, and click OK.
  2. Select the group, go to the Group menu, and choose "Subscribe selected groups".
  3. Now, if you don't like clutter on your screen, you can make the rest of the groups disappear by choosing the 8th icon on the toolbar (View/hide unsubscribed groups).
  4. You can now open the newsgroup by double-clicking on its name.

 
Post to the Newsgroup
You can either post a new top-level message, or reply to someone else's message.

To post a new message:

  1. Go to the Articles menu and choose New Article.
  2. Fill out the article form
  3. When you're ready to post, go to the Post menu and choose Send.

To reply to an existing message (i.e., like in Lab 1)

  1. Open the message you want to reply to by double clicking on it.
  2. Go to the Respond menu, and choose Followup Article
  3. Fill out the form.
  4. When you're read to post, go to the Post menu and choose Send.