Navigating USENET Newsgroups

On this Page:

1. About Newsgroups:
   and specifically, the class newsgroup: su.class.music200
2. Reading News Via Netscape
3. Reading News Via Other Browsers: NewsWatcher and PINE
4. Other Newsgroup Recommendations
5. Class home page

Note: from within Netscape, these pages can be printed by choosing "Print" from the "File" menu.

About Newsgroups
(and specifically, the class newsgroup)

Usenet Newsgroups are like electronic bulletin boards: members post messages or notices for other members who can read them at their leisure. Members respond to messages by posting a reply to the group or e-mailing the author from within an electronic mail program. Messages in newsgroups are arranged thematically rather than chronologically: postings and replies to postings are grouped together in series called threads.

Stanford groups comprise a very small subset of the thousands of USENET newsgroups in operation. All USENET newsgroups begin with a suffix which denotes the major category under which their subject content falls. For example, science newsgroups will often begin with the suffix "sci" and alternative groups with the suffix "alt." Newsgroups falling under such major subject categories are generally available. As a member of the Stanford community, you also have access to newsgroups beginning with the prefix "su." These groups are operated from a Stanford server.

Our Class newsgroup, su.class.music200, is one of many class newsgroups operated from the Stanford server. It is an unmoderated newsgroup set up for:

• The quick posting of class information (assignment information, room changes, etc.)
• Consultation with the faculty about projects (questions and responses can be either sent to a specific instructor, or posted for the benefit of the entire group.)
• Discussion between students about research projects, problems and suggestions.

Reading News Via Netscape

Configuring Netscape to Read Stanford News: Since our newsgroup is only available to the Stanford community, you will need to configure your Netscape to read Stanford news, if someone has not already done so. To do so:

• Boot Netscape and go to "Preferences" under the "Options" Menu.

• In the "Preferences" box, find the section marked "news." In the blank labelled News RC Directory, write: nntp.stanford.edu. Press "OK."

Subscribing (and Unsubscribing!) to Newsgroups: To quickly and easily browse and post to a newsgroup, you need to subscribe to it. Netscape will store the name of the newsgroup, and you will just need to click on to read the group.

• Subscribing to our group: Within Netscape, click on the "Newsgroups" button or choose "Go to Newsgroups" from the "Directory" Menu. The first screen which appears is entitled "Subscribed Newsgroups." To subscribe to our class group, write su.class.music200 in the "subscribe to the newsgroup" box. The page will reload to include the newly added group. Double-click on the group to view messages.

• Finding and subscribing to other groups: Click on a button called "View all Newsgroups." located at the very bottom of the document. Netscape will return a list of the suffixes designating types of newsgroups. These suffixes link to lists of groups falling under the categories. You can browse the postings of newsgroups until you find one of interest. For example, the heading "su" links to a menu of Stanford newsgroups. Choosing "su.events" lets you browse that newsgroup. If you decide you would like to subscribe, press the "subscribed Newsgroups" button and write in the newsgroup name as you did with the class newsgroup.

• Navigating with Netscape Buttons: Netscape displays one set of buttons on newsgroup menus, and another when displaying individual postings.

  Newsgroup Menu Buttons:

  • Post New Article: Allows you to post an article to the entire group.
  • Mark All Articles Read: Marks all articles/messages read, and then returns to the newsgroup menu. If you choose the same group, read articles will not be displayed.
  • Show Read Articles/Hide Read Articles: If all articles are being shown, you can press the "Hide Read Articles." If only unread articles are displayed, you can press the "Show Read Articles" button for all articles to be displayed.
  • Unsubscribe:Returns you to list of subscribed newsgroups, after automatically unsubscribing you from the group.
  • Subscribed Newsgroups: Returns you to the list of subscribed newsgroups, where you can subscribe or unsubscribe to groups. (But makes no alterations. An easy way to subscribe to a group is to copy the title as displayed in the "location" box and then paste it in the blank for a subscription.)

  Displayed Message Buttons:

  • Left Arrow: Displays previous article in current thread. (Messages all relating to one original posting.)
  • Right Arrow: Diplays the next article in the current thread.
  • Up Arrow: Displays the first article in the previous thread.
  • Down Arrow: Displays first article in the next thread.
  • Mark Thread Read: Marks all articles in current thread as read.
  • This Newsgroup: Displays the newsgroup menu.
  • Subscribed Newsgroups: Displays the list of newsgroup subscriptions.
  • Post Followup: Allows you to post a followup article for an entire newsgroup.
  • Mail and Post Reply: Allows you to mail a reply to an article author, and (if you don't erase the newsgroup's address) post a copy of that reply with the newsgroup.

Reading News Via other Browsers

NewsWatcher:

About NewsWatcher: NewsWatcher is a Mac Application designed specifically for accessing newsgroups. It is distributed gratis as public Software by John Norstad of Northwestern University. Because of its simpler browsing format (i.e., black and white display, commands through menu items rather than buttons), it can display newsgroups much faster than Netscape.

Obtaining NewsWatcher: To use NewsWatcher, you will need to download a copy of the program onto your harddrive. To obtain NewsWatcher for a machine on the Stanford network, follow these steps:

• Select the "Chooser" from the Apple Menu.
• Click on the "Appleshare" icon and choose "Tressidor" from among the displayed AppleTalk Zones.
• Choose "LAIR Academic Server" from the list of file servers.
• Register as a guest in the dialogue box which appears.
• Choose the "Catacombs" server. It should appear on your harddrive.
• Open up "Catacombs." Within the "Shared Applications" folder is a folder entitled "News_Readers." Drag the "NewsWatcher" folder from within it onto your harddrive.
• Once NewsWatcher has been copied to your harddrive, throw the "Catacombs" folder into the trash and return your Chooser settings to normal.

Using NewsWatcher: Using NewsWatcher is similar to browsing newsgroups in Netscape. As in Netscape, articles are grouped by subject rather than chronologically. To view a group, double-click on it. To view a specific article, also double-click. Respond or post new messages through Menu bar commands. From the menu bar as well, you can choose to display a full group list, recently posted groups, or just ones you subscribe to.

PINE

About PINE: PINE is an electronic mail program on the Leland UNIX systems, and can consequently be accessed on either a Macintosh or IBM. The latest version of Pine provides access to newsgroups as well as electronic mail.

Getting to PINE: To use PINE, telnet into either an elaine, adelbert, Cardinal, or amy workstation. After logging in, type "pine" at the machine prompt and pressing return.

Ex:)	elaine15:~>pine

Using PINE to browse Newsgroups:

• To subscribe to a newsgroup, choose the FOLDER LIST screen by pressing "L." Once inside the folder list, move the cursor down and select to see the expanded list of newsgroups. Initially, your folder will be empty. To subscribe to a newsgroup, press "A" (for Add) and enter the name of the group. For our class group, subscribe to

   su.class.music200

  To choose from the full group list, select and press return on the "To All Groups" key.

• To view a newsgroup, move the cursor to its title and press return. PINE will then display an index of all recent postings. From there, move the cursor to a message you would like to read and either hit return or press "v." The return from a message to the newsgroup index, press "i."

Other Newsgroup Recommendations

While most of the USENET newsgroups facilitate discussion about new and popular music, a growing number are being set up for the music research community. Some suggestions:

• news:bit.listserv.mla-l, the Music Library Association (MLA) newsgroup. The MLA is, in their words, "the professional organization in the United States devoted to music librarianship and to all aspects of music materials in libraries." In the newsgroup, members air questions and concerns that come up in music research.

• A lengthy list of moderated and unmoderated music newsgroups is available at: REC.MUSIC.INFO (http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/music/newsgroups/faq.html).