# What the &#\*%$#@ Happened To Deja? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 13, 2001, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226 "2001-02-13T00:45:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![moodtobestewed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@moodtobestewed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moodtobestewed)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/21 "2001-02-15T15:40:34Z")
There’s a program out there that’ll do a sort of brute force search for free newsfeeds, but I cannot remember the name of it. Of course, many of the news servers you wind up connecting to don’t the specific newsgroup you might be looking for, but eventually with a little effort you can find just about anything (when I used it I wasn’t looking for anything illegal or immoral, IIRC, so YMMV 🙂 ). Also, here’s a page that might be of interest: [http://www.usenet.about.com/internet/usenet/cs/freeservers/index.htm](http://www.usenet.about.com/internet/usenet/cs/freeservers/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/22 "2001-02-15T16:23:40Z")
I personally will buy anyone a round of beer at the next Dopefest we’re both at if they take a bet with me that **handy** will not return to this thread to answer the inquiries of **SterlingNorth** and **David B** (see [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=59342) for why I believe this). ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/23 "2001-02-15T17:23:22Z")
Montfort hasn’t the courage to confront me face-to-face so he enjoys his little behind-the-back, back-stabbing-cowardly approach to handling misunderstandings. However, I appreciate the honor of people who confront me face-to-face. For Netscape to read newsgroups, try: [http://help.netscape.com/nuggies/](http://help.netscape.com/nuggies/) or [http://home.netscape.com/support/newsgroups.html](http://home.netscape.com/support/newsgroups.html) or To read: Communicator:newsgroups SterlingNorth: To see those FREE public newservers, select PREFERENCES, NEWSGROUP SERVERS & there they are! As For Internet Explorer, Ill get back to you on that; but it’s pretty simple. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/24 "2001-02-15T18:01:27Z")
For IE 5+ easy: First Select a newsreader, e.g. 1. Outlook Express, technically, believe it or not, OE is the newsreader for IE (Free, has a big READ NEWS button) or 2. Free Agent from [forteinc.com](http://forteinc.com) Etc. Then from Internet Explorer: TOOLS:MAIL&NEWS:READ NEWS (Be sure to Configure first to use whatever newsreader you choose from from step 1 & input a Public newserver, below) For a list of a few hundred Public Newservers, try: [http://www.newzbot.com/sorted-group-table.html](http://www.newzbot.com/sorted-group-table.html) For how to use Usenet, etc, try: [http://www.newzbot.com/](http://www.newzbot.com/) Viola! Any other questions? ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/25 "2001-02-15T20:01:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*Montfort hasn’t the courage to confront me face-to-face so he enjoys his little behind-the-back, back-stabbing-cowardly approach to handling misunderstandings. However, I appreciate the honor of people who confront me face-to-face. > \*\* How is offering an invitation to a separate thread considered “behind-the-back, back-stabbing-cowardly”? If a separate thread isn’t considered face-to-face, what is? Okay, I’m done in this thread. Sorry to hijack it, folks. **handy** , if you wish to reply to me, do it in an appropriate place, I have no further interest in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/26 "2001-02-15T21:06:15Z")
Just because they are public newsservers doesn’t mean they carry anything you are interested in. I looked at that list and tried a few, but they didn’t have any normal newsgroups at all. Not alt or rec heirarchy, etc… I miss Deja. ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/27 "2001-02-17T01:05:17Z")
I went to test [http://www.mailandnews.com](http://www.mailandnews.com) free News readers over on m.f.sd (It’s OK, a bit cumbersome and slow, but you get what you pay for.) Nut I noticed that the service is run by Supernews – of all people. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/28 "2001-02-17T03:19:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*(Be sure to Configure first to use whatever newsreader you choose from from step 1 & input a Public newserver, below) > > … > > Any other questions?\*\* Yeah… So…where’s this IE news **server** (ie, newsfeed) you were talking about…? You’ve just given pretty good instructions on how to use IE to open your newsreader, but you were supposed to be telling us about the news **server** s that Microsoft and Netscape supposedly provide. ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226/29 "2001-02-17T05:16:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > > SterlingNorth: To see those FREE public newservers, select PREFERENCES, NEWSGROUP SERVERS & there they are! > As For Internet Explorer, Ill get back to you on that; but it’s pretty simple. You’re not going to give Oprah a run for her money with instructions like that. Even after deciphering that little criptic koan, and after opening the _ **Preferences** _ dialog from the _ **Edit** _ menu, and going to \*_ **Mail and Newsgroup** _ category, I see absolutely no free newsgroup servers. **handy** , what special, magical version of Netscape, with all of these free newsgroups are you using. I know Netscapes 4.71 or 6.01 doesn’t have these. In fact I decided to do some freelance investigation in Netscape 6, just in case the magical incantation is hidden away from the user. I loaded up Netscape Messanger (the email and news reader.) From the _ **Edit** _ menu I jumped to _ **Mail/News Account Settings** _. Nothing about free news servers in there! I clicked on _ **New Account** _. I picked _ **Newsgroup Account** _. Now boys and girls, here’s the kicker. It did not give me a list of free public servers, nor even a list of private servers. No sir, all it did was (and pay very close attention, folks) _ask me for the name of a server provided **by my ISP!** _ So **handy** tell me, what did I do wrong? And before you answer, let me quote an actual Netscape 6 dialog box for you… > [@](#): > > The following information is needed before you can send mail [or USENET postings]. If you do not know the information requested, _please contact your system administrator or Internet Service Provider._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-happened-to-deja/54226.md?page=1)