Hi diehard!
Tha answer is that it depends upon your news server. Your posts are
already available on some news servers - I use CIS.DFN (provided by
the Freie Universität Berlin) and my ISP provided susbscription to
Extra Newsguy.
Accessing alt.x-file.creative with Gravity, I was able to read all ten
parts with no problem. I also checked in the Google Groups archive -
they're in there now, though they may not have been when you posted
this question, thanks to the slow update frequency of the GG archive.
Looking at your headers, I see you're posting through Google Groups.
While Google Groups is the largest, most complete Usenet archive, it's
also the worst way to access Usenet if you're planning to be an active
poster. According to Google's own FAQ, there may be a delay of up to
12 hours from the time you post until the time what you've written
appears in the Google Groups archive:
"9 How often is the newsgroup archive updated?
The archive is currently updated several times per day. There may be a
delay of up to 12 hours between articles being posted to a news server
and those articles being searchable within Google's newsgroup search.
We realize this is less than ideal, and we hope to increase the
frequency of updates in the near future."
Google Groups Help
://www.google.com/googlegroups/help.html#updated
This doesn't mean that it will necessarily be 12 hours before *anyone*
can read your posts - they're propagated fairly quickly - it just
means that it can be 12 hours before people using Google Groups to
access Usenet can see them. Google Groups is terrific for Usenet
research and occasional posting, but very inefficient for active
posting.
Unlike web message boards, where posts are stored on a single server
or cluster of servers and can only be accessed using one specific URL,
Usenet operates in a completely different fashion. It's a distributed
network, meaning that posts are sent from each user to their home
server, then passed on from server to server ("propagated") until all
(or almost all) news servers have a copy:
"Newsgroups are decentralized, which means that the messages are not
maintained on a single server, but are replicated to hundreds of
servers around the world."
How Newsgroups Work
http://www.howstuffworks.com/newsgroup1.htm
There is a step by step explanation of how Usenet posts are propagated
here:
The Newsgroup Process
http://www.howstuffworks.com/newsgroup3.htm
Sometimes, posts get delayed or outright lost in the propagation
process, which can make carrying on a discussion interesting if this
happens often enough. In my years of Usenet crawling, I've seen many
examples of *responses* to a given post on my news provider arriving
hours or sometimes *days* before the original post, often making for
hilarious commentary on the nature of the Usenet system. When your
posts arrive on any other server all depends on how reliable your news
server is about propagation.
Let's get you fixed up with a better way of getting to Usenet. You
need a good news reader, to start. Long a favorite of mine, and now
completely free (I paid $40 for this thing back in the day!) is
MicroPlanet Gravity. It's fast, super-easy to configure and
customize, and makes news reading a snap:
Tom's Gravity Pages
http://gravity.tbates.org/
Also very good: Forte's Free Agent, and it's more functional Agent:
Free Agent and Agent
http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php
You can also access Usenet if you configure Outlook Express for news
reading - I would advise against this, however, unless you're prepared
to snuggle up to a bottle of Excedrin when the software mangles your
posts in the sending process. Stick with a dedicated news reader!
There are others to try here (but Gravity and Agent are the best):
Google query: [ newsreaders ]
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=newsreaders
Then you'll need a good news server. I like what we refer to as "The
German Server" in our newsgroup discussions - CIS.DFN from the Freie
Universität Berlin:
CIS.DFN
http://www.news.fu-berlin.de/
CIS.DFN is free to any who ask, but you do need to register for a user
name and password. They're awfully busy, so it can take up to 24
hours for them to send the information to you, but it's worth the
wait.
There are many other Usenet access services available - some free,
some at a cost. Ultimately, it takes a little "test driving" to
determine which is best for you, but if you plan only to access text
newsgroups, CIS.DFN should do the trick.
For other services available, a search on [ Usenet services ] pulled
up a long listing:
Google query: [ Usenet services ]
://www.google.com/search?q=Usenet%20services&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
Once you have your client and server picked out, configure your
newsreader, subscribe to the groups you're interested in, and you're
on your way! You may still occasionally experience delays between
sending time and the time posts actually show up in your newsgroup,
but with traditional access methods (non-web), the delay should be
only minutes instead of hours in most cases.
I hope you found this useful. If any part of my answer is unclear,
please don't hesitate to ask for clarification. I'd be glad to help
you out.
--Missy <--is a Usenet Junkie
Search terms: [ Usenet services ], [ newsreaders ], and relied on
firsthand experience. |
