Catching up with Newsgoups
John C. Bunnell
This is well and good for FA users. How about those of us who stubbornly
cling to, say, Outlook Express (the MSIE newsreader)?
I know, I know. But I *like* Outlook Express....
--
= John C. Bunnell =
= JCBu...@sff.net =
-----
"I meant to do that." =all cats, at one time or another=
Jeffry Dwight wrote in message <357bf39a....@news.sff.net>...
>If your newsreader seems to be retrieving large numbers of "new" headers,
but
>not displaying an equal amount of new articles, then you need to "catch up"
>with the newsgroups.
>
>To fix the problem in FA: Highlight all of the groups, the pick
Online/Catch
>Up with Selected Groups. Presto, the non-existent new headers go away.
Jon Poisel
John C. Bunnell wrote in message <358a9...@news.sff.net>...
>This is well and good for FA users. How about those of us who stubbornly
>cling to, say, Outlook Express (the MSIE newsreader)?
>
>I know, I know. But I *like* Outlook Express....
Select the newsgroup(s) you want to "catch up" with, then choose Tools |
Download all. Choose "download all headers and messages", click OK, and away
you go!
HTH!
--
Pvt. Jon Biggun, Pikeman in service to HRM Elizabeth I's Royal Militia
High Priest to the Goddess of Love, Sharer of Spiraling Passion and
Unending Font of Emotional Fulfillment
NoddaLotta DingDong of Sarcastica, the I'm not Sleeping Majesty
Demi-nada of ... nada.
John C. Bunnell
Good try, but it isn't working. I've been running that sequence for a
couple of days now, and I keep seeing the same "phantom unread messages" no
matter how many times I do it. "Mark All As Read" doesn't even work,
presumably because there are no messages to be marked as unread, but the
pointers to various groups still show odd small numbers of unread messages
regardless.
Presumably what I need is some way to get the software to reset itself so
that the number of headers it *thinks* are there matches the number of
headers that really *is* there. But I'm not finding it. (I even tried
unsubscribing to all the affected newsgroups and then re-subscribing again.
Didn't help.)
--
= John C. Bunnell =
= JCBu...@sff.net =
-----
"I meant to do that." =all cats, at one time or another=
Jon Poisel wrote in message <358a9...@news.sff.net>...
Yog Sysop
Yog stirred in the depths when "John C. Bunnell"
<JCBu...@sff.net> uttered:
>Presumably what I need is some way to get the software to reset itself so
>that the number of headers it *thinks* are there matches the number of
>headers that really *is* there.
You could try posting your own informative, on-topic message to
the groups. After all, they're your favorites, and you should
say something thought-provoking.
--
James D. Macdonald
http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/
Modean Moon
If absolutely nothing else works, try posting a brief on-topic post in
the affected NG(s). Others will thank you, too. <G>
Modean
P.S. -- In some cases it may take more than one message to counter the
phantom spam headers. A provocative post might be best.
On Fri, 19 Jun 1998 12:04:56 -0700, "John C. Bunnell"
<JCBu...@sff.net> wrote:
>Good try, but it isn't working. I've been running that sequence for a
>couple of days now, and I keep seeing the same "phantom unread messages" no
>matter how many times I do it. "Mark All As Read" doesn't even work,
>presumably because there are no messages to be marked as unread, but the
>pointers to various groups still show odd small numbers of unread messages
>regardless.
>
>Presumably what I need is some way to get the software to reset itself so
>that the number of headers it *thinks* are there matches the number of
>headers that really *is* there. But I'm not finding it. (I even tried
>unsubscribing to all the affected newsgroups and then re-subscribing again.
>Didn't help.)
>
>
>--
> = John C. Bunnell =
> = JCBu...@sff.net =
> -----
> "I meant to do that." =all cats, at one time or another=
>
>Jon Poisel wrote in message <358a9...@news.sff.net>...
>
>>Select the newsgroup(s) you want to "catch up" with,
>>then choose Tools | Download all. Choose "download all
>>headers and messages", click OK, and away you go!
>
>
--
mm...@sff.net, http://www.sff.net/people/mmoon
obligatory brag sig:
OVERNIGHT HEIRESS, Silhouette Desire #1150, June 1998 (For a
glance at the cover: http://www.sff.net/people/mmoon/heiress.jpg
John C. Bunnell
<mmrpfl grzfl snrg>
I'm afraid the Great Old One underestimates the number of newsgroups
involved. But if I can't clear this up any other way I suppose I'll have to
consider it....
--
= John C. Bunnell =
= JCBu...@sff.net =
-----
"I meant to do that." =all cats, at one time or another=
Yog Sysop wrote in message <358ac41...@news.sff.net>...
John C. Bunnell
Hah. I think I've got it.
For other MSIE/Outlook Express users with this problem: Right-click on the
newsgroup in the newsgroup list. Click Properties in the menu you get.
Click the Local Files tab, then click the Reset button.
--
= John C. Bunnell =
= JCBu...@sff.net =
-----
"I meant to do that." =all cats, at one time or another=
John C. Bunnell wrote in message <358b3...@news.sff.net>...
John C. Bunnell
Well, so much for *that* theory. Failure again....
John C. Bunnell
I do *not* understand what my software thinks it's doing here. Let me give
you an example in specific:
I'm using Outlook Express, and have set SFF-Net's news server up as an
"Account" in OE. When I run "Download this Account" (i.e. the SFF-Net
newsgroups to which I'm subscribed), the SFF-Net Newsgroups screen (that
being what I've named this "account') displays the information that there
are 328 messages in the sff.bolthole newsgroup, 93 of which are unread.
If I then select sff.bolthole from the list, the status bar at the bottom of
the OE window will instantly blink as I get there, telling me that there are
now 235 messages, 0 unread. (The SFF-Net Newsgroups display will agree with
this.)
But the *next* time that I run "Download this Account", I'll get back the
"328/93" stats, and the same thing will happen all over again. And this has
happened *since* I've done a "Reset" on the newsgroup properties, which is
supposed to delete all the header and message files (like clearing one's
browser cache).
Bizarre.
Sharon
John C. Bunnell wrote:
>I do *not* understand what my software thinks it's
>doing here. Let me give
>you an example in specific:
Have you tried Rich's techie newsgroup? Perhaps someone there could
help...
sff.people.toymgr
Worth a try, they've always helped me with any problems I run across!
-Sharon
(Remove "don'tspam" to reply via e-mail)
http://www.interaccess.net/~cobi2/boltind.htm
Peter H. Granzeau
>Good try, but it isn't working. I've been running that sequence for a
>couple of days now, and I keep seeing the same "phantom unread messages" no
>matter how many times I do it. "Mark All As Read" doesn't even work,
>presumably because there are no messages to be marked as unread, but the
>pointers to various groups still show odd small numbers of unread messages
>regardless.
This is strange. I keep seeing people complain about these phantom
unread messages, yet, I never see any. I am using Agent, and when I
get new headers, I have it it automatically get bodies for them as
well--is that second pass the one that does away with the phantoms?
--
Pete
l...@gila.demon.co.uk
>--
>Pete
Perhaps Agent handles things differently from Free Agent? Or perhaps
you only subscribe to really popular newsgroups - the catch up also
happens when a new message is posted to the group.
Liz
Gary Cavender
On Sun, 21 Jun 1998 21:22:59 GMT, l...@gila.demon.co.uk wrote:
>Perhaps Agent handles things differently from Free Agent? Or perhaps
>you only subscribe to really popular newsgroups - the catch up also
>happens when a new message is posted to the group.
>
>Liz
>
The other possibility is that he doen't happen to subscribe to the
groups with the phantom messages. These messages usually occur
after someone has posted to a group and the post gets canceled.
There will apparently be a message there that will not load. These
will disappear after one of two things occurs .... either someone
posts a new message to the group or you "catch up" with the group.
Gary
-----------------------------------------------
http://localsonly.wilmington.net/garycave/
Please remove words in caps from email to reply
-----------------------------------------------
Cecil Rose
p...@exis.net (Peter H. Granzeau) wrote:
>On Fri, 19 Jun 1998 12:04:56 -0700, "John C. Bunnell"
><JCBu...@sff.net> wrote:
>>Good try, but it isn't working. I've been running that sequence for a
>>couple of days now, and I keep seeing the same "phantom unread messages" no
>>matter how many times I do it. "Mark All As Read" doesn't even work,
>>presumably because there are no messages to be marked as unread, but the
>>pointers to various groups still show odd small numbers of unread messages
>>regardless.
>This is strange. I keep seeing people complain about these phantom
>unread messages, yet, I never see any. I am using Agent, and when I
>get new headers, I have it it automatically get bodies for them as
>well--is that second pass the one that does away with the phantoms?
Dunno, but same here, with Free Agent.
____________________________________________________________
Cecil Rose <ala...@earthlink.net>
Earthlink address temporarily hors d' combat
but you can try cr...@mail.dot.state.nc.us
Cary, North Carolina
Member: Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Critters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melisa
p...@exis.net (Peter H. Granzeau) wrote:
>This is strange. I keep seeing people complain about these phantom
>unread messages, yet, I never see any. I am using Agent, and when I
>get new headers, I have it it automatically get bodies for them as
>well--is that second pass the one that does away with the phantoms?
Likely you're just not noticing it. I use Agent, and it does indeed
perceive the phantom headers. But since I tell it to go retrieve all
messages in subscribed groups and then I do something else (like read
my mail) while it's downloading them, I'm never aware of the phantoms
till others complain.
Even then I have to watch pretty closely, or download messages one
group at a time, to notice.
Maybe the people who are most troubled by it are working with modems
even slower than mine, so the extra time it takes to say there's a
header and then not pick up a message makes a real difference.
--
Melisa Michaels
SFWA Webmaster tired of noble elves?
http://www.sfwa.org/
http://www.sff.net/people/melisa/ ...read COLD IRON!
Yog Sysop
Pete -- do you look on the lower left-hand side, on the status
bar, while Agent is reading headers, and see the momentary
flicker of "1 new header in sff.discuss.cons" and so on, then
discover that the group doesn't, in fact, have one new header?
Yog stirred in the depths when p...@exis.net (Peter H. Granzeau)
uttered:
>This is strange. I keep seeing people complain about these phantom
>unread messages, yet, I never see any. I am using Agent, and when I
>get new headers, I have it it automatically get bodies for them as
>well--is that second pass the one that does away with the phantoms?
Peter H. Granzeau
On Sun, 21 Jun 1998 21:22:59 GMT, l...@gila.demon.co.uk wrote:
>>This is strange. I keep seeing people complain about these phantom
>>unread messages, yet, I never see any. I am using Agent, and when I
>>get new headers, I have it it automatically get bodies for them as
>>well--is that second pass the one that does away with the phantoms?
>
>Perhaps Agent handles things differently from Free Agent? Or perhaps
>you only subscribe to really popular newsgroups - the catch up also
>happens when a new message is posted to the group.
Maybe, but at least 3/4 of the newsgroups I subscribe to have no new
messages in them each day.
--
Pete
Peter H. Granzeau
On Mon, 22 Jun 1998 11:19:31 GMT, y...@sff.net (Yog Sysop) wrote:
>Pete -- do you look on the lower left-hand side, on the status
>bar, while Agent is reading headers, and see the momentary
>flicker of "1 new header in sff.discuss.cons" and so on, then
>discover that the group doesn't, in fact, have one new header?
Ah. Maybe. It certainly doesn't bother me! Not to the point of
noticing, at any rate. I do handle sff.net differently than regular
usenet newsgroups; I certainly don't want to try to download 500 new
messages a day in each, there, I only subscribe to 5 newsgroups, and
probably don't mark and read more then 5 to 10 threads. I would never
have the problem there, regardless, would I?
--
Pete