🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello again all,

  It looks like the gateway between the Graph-TI List and the internet
newsgroup is functional.  This means that most of you now have two ways to
access the information from the Graph-TI List.  First, the List will
continue to function as usual.  Second, an internet newsgroup has been
created (called bit.listserv.graph-ti) which is "gated" to the List.  All
posts to the List automatically appear on bit.listserv.graph-ti, and all
posts to bit.listserv.graph-ti automatically appear on the List.  You will
get EXACTLY the same information regardless of which option you choose.

  In most cases the newsgroup is preferable to the List and should be used.
There are several reasons for this.  First, news is stored independently
of email, and if you use the newsgroup, Graph-TI information will not
clutter up your mailbox.  Second, news is stored in a central location for
all users at a particular site, so if multiple users from the same site all
use the newsgroup rather than the List, they will save considerably disk
space on their system.  Third, news is designed for this sort of "posting"
setup more than email is; problems like post-to-author vs. post-to-list
will not occur if you use news.  Finally, every person who uses the
newgroup (rather than the List) saves our local ListServer one emailing per
post, which can really add up.  The Graph-TI List is quite large and
high-traffic, as lists go, and the local ListServer administrators are
getting a little nervous about the amount of time it takes their machine to
process our list.  It would be nice if we could reduce the number of people
it has to mail postings to by using the newsgroup instead.

  That said, I must emphasize that use of the newsgroup is NOT required.
Those who want to keep using the List may do so.  I suggest, however, that
all who have access to internet news begin using the newsgroup instead.  If
you choose to use the newsgroup, you should unsubscribe from the Graph-TI
List by sending "UNSUBSCRIBE GRAPH-TI" to
listserver@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu.  Make sure your news is working
properly before you unsubscribe from the List.

  The exact procedure for using news varies from machine to machine.  On
most unix systems with you can type "rn" (or possibly "trn") at the command
line, the same place you might type "elm" or "mail" or any other unix
command.  If you have not used newsgroups before, a short introduction will
follow.  You do not need to subscribe to any groups other than
bit.listserv.graph-ti if you don't want to.  When the introduction is over,
type "g bit.listserv.graph-ti" and subscribe to this group ("add it to your
.newsrc").  The above procedure will only be done once, the first time you
use news.  You will be told how many unread postings are in
bit.listserv.graph-ti, and you can press "y" to read them.  You can use "F"
to post a follow-up post (equivalent to posting to the Graph-TI List) or
"R" to reply to the author of the post through email.  You don't need to
memorize any of this, though; just remember that "h" always tells you what
your options are at any point.

  Other (non-unix) systems will have slightly different methods of reading
news, but the basic idea remains: subscribe to bit.listserv.graph-ti, and
read the messages in it.  News is no harder to work with than mail, and is
often easier.

  I hope this newsgroup solves some of the problems we have had with
traffic and disk space.  Please email me if you have any comments on this
or any other Graph-TI matter, or any questions about using internet news.

  -Greg Ferrar (gregt@math.ohio-state.edu)
   Graph-TI Guy