FAQ Table of Contents

MY ISP DROPPED USENET! WHERE CAN I FIND REC.MUSIC.FILK?

last updated July 8, 2012
First off, you can try Google Groups. The interface is dismal, though, and one of the following independant newsgroup feeds would probably be easier to use. If you know of some others you'd like to recommend, please contact me.


HOW TO SIGN UP WITH ETERNAL SEPTEMBER AND READ REC.MUSIC.FILK AND OTHER NON-BINARY NEWSGROUPS FOR FREE

-- by Barry Gold

1. Go to http://www.eternal-september.org/

2. Click "User registration" in red on the left side.

3. Fill in your name. Use your email address and make up a username. Fill in the characters in the CAPTCHA (remember to capitalize letters), and then click "register".

4. Bring up your email reader if it's not already running. Wait for the email from eternal-september. This will have your initial password.

Step 5 is optional. If you're willing to write down the password that Eternal September sends you, skip to step 6.

        5a. Go back to the Eternal September webpage, and click "user settings" in red on the left side..

        5b. Enter your userid and password , then click "sign on."

        5c. Click "Change email address and password"

        5d. Type a new password (8+ alphanumeric characters) twice, and click "Change Password"

        5e. You will get a pop-up saying that your password has been changed. Click "OK"


The rest of the instructions are for Thunderbird. If you're not using Thunderbird and need help with your email reader's settings, you'll have to find someone else to help you with these next steps. [If anybody wants to write instructions for other email programs, please let me know. I use Gravity, myself, which is a dedicated newsgroup reader. KS]


6. In your Thunderbird window, click TOOLS and in its dropdown menu click "Account Settings".

This brings up a new dialog box..

7. Click "Account Actions" at the bottom of the left column, and choose "Add other account".

8. Choose "Newsgroup Account" and click "Next".

9. Fill in your name and your email address. Click "Next."

10. Fill in the newsgroup server: news.eternal-september.org, then click "Next."

11. Fill in the name you want to have Thunderbird's left-hand panel label your newsgroups: e.g., "News", then click "Next."

12. Make sure all the settings are correct, then click "Finish."

13. Still in the "Account Settings" dialog, make sure you are in "Server Settings" for your new account. Check a) "Check for new messages at startup"; b)"Check for new messages every ___ minutes" (you can change the default of 10 to something else if you like).; and c) "Always request authentication when connecting to this server".

14. Make sure the Server Type is "News Server (NNTP)", the Server name is

"news.eternal-september.org", and the port number is 119. Click "OK".

15. In the left hand pane of the news reader, right click the name of the new account, and choose "Subscribe".

16. You should now have the Subscribe dialog box. Click the "New Groups" tab.

Thunderbird will pop up a new dialog box that asks for your userid; give it the one you gave Eternal September. This new dialog box will have a check box labeled "Use password manager to remember my user name." Check it. Then click "OK."

17. Thunderbird will then pop up another dialog box that asks for your password; give it the one you gave Eternal September. This new dialog box will have a check box labeled "Use password manager to remember my user name." Check it. Then click "OK."

18. It will take awhile for Thunderbird to tell you what newsgroups Eternal September has.

19. After the newsgroups show up, you can search them or you can type a word in the "Show items that contain:" box, e.g., "filk". That will show just the newsgroups that contain that string. Check the boxes next to the groups you want to see. Then click "OK".

20. In a few minutes you should see the newsgroup names turn blue, indicating that they have new messages. Click on a newsgroup name to see the messages in that group.

21. If you are visiting an active group, there will probably be thousands of messages that you've already seen. You can use shift+C to mark all message read, or you can use "c" to mark things read up to a certain date (MM/DD/YYYY format, for instance August 18, 2012 would be 08/18/2012). I