Frequently Asked Questions:
Internet Service
The CoreComm FAQ (list of Frequently Asked Questions) answers questions that are frequently asked of
CoreComm's technical support department.
Part Six: Questions About the USENET Newsgroups
6.01: Why can't I post to the news server?
There are several reasons you may not be able to post to the news server:
- You are using a "fake" E-Mail address which contains illegal symbols or is not in the standard Internet format
for E-Mail addresses. If you use your CoreComm E-Mail address or an address which is in the valid
Internet format, user@domain.com, you should be able to post.
- You are attempting to post an E-Mail message that contains a To: header. While To: headers are required for
E-Mail, they should not be used in a USENET post. Netscape's news program is notorious for adding a To: header
if you specify that a post should be sent to both a mail address and to a newsgroup. Set the message to only
be posted to the newsgroup, and it should post.
- You may be trying to post a message with an extremely incorrect time/date header. If your message is significantly
"in the future," caused by your clock and calendar being set on your computer incorrectly to a future date, your post
will not be accepted.
6.02: Why do I get a "502 You Have No Permission To Talk" error when I try to connect to the news server?
If you are getting this error message when trying to connect to the CoreComm news service, you can try to connect by using your full E-Mail address. To do this you must change your news server to news-radius.core.com. This will then ask you for a username and password. Use your full E-Mail address for your username (ex. johndoe@core.com) and your E-Mail password for your account as the password. Detailed instructions are available to configure several popular news readers via this method.
6.03: Can you carry a certain newsgroup on your news server?
CoreComm's news server will automatically add any newly created "alt" group, or groups in the major,
"big 8" hierarchy (rec, comp, misc, etc.) Chances are, if the group isn't listed, you should either reload the list
of groups in your news program. If it still isn't listed, wait a week or two: the group may not yet be widely
propagated yet. If, after waiting, the group is still not listed, you can mail support@core.com and inquire about it.
6.04: Where are Microsoft's newsgroups?
Microsoft's newsgroups can be read on Microsoft's own news server. Set your news reader to visit msnews.microsoft.com
to have access to those groups.
6.05: Why do multiple posts have parts missing?
There are several reasons why posts may seem "missing" from certain groups. The following outlines the reasons.
- Messages or parts of files may never have been posted.
- Parts or messages may have been cancelled ("deleted" from the USENET), possibly by someone who wishes to cause
disruptions on the newsgroup.
- When a message is posted, it must follow through a path of servers before it reaches ours. It is possible that
one of the key servers along the way has become saturated, too slow, or incapacitated by spam, and as such the
message was never passed on.
- Many news servers are not able to carry a large volume of news due to a massive posting by another USENET
user. As the amount of spam on alt groups on the USENET increases, this happens more and more.
- Messages are expired when they become 'old'. The message may have already arrived and been expired, and you
just didn't catch it soon enough.
You can always use DejaNews, an archive of news postings since 1995, to search for articles you may have missed.
DejaNews can be found at http://www.dejanews.com.
6.06: Why is reading news so slow in Netscape?
Most newsreaders establish a single connection to the news server it will retrieve articles from, and transfer all
information through that single connection. Netscape's newsreader, however, will attempt to establish a connection
for each article requested: resulting in slower access to news for yourself, and more work for our news server.
We recommend the Free Agent newsreader if you are using Windows:
it's available at no cost, and is reliable and quick. For the Macintosh, we recommend one
Newswatcher or one of it's variants.
6.07 Why do my posts take so long to show up in a newsgroup?
CoreComm "queues" incoming news postings: meaning that although the news posting is accepted by the news
server immediately, the news article is kept until the message can be posted by the news server. CoreComm
queues news articles because of the inconvenience customers would have of experiencing a wait of several minutes in
order to post if we were using a system that did not queue messages.
If your feel your message hasn't posted, do the following:
i
- Make sure you've marked all articles in the newsgroup as being unread. Your post may be in the appropriate group, but your newsreader isn't displaying it because it assumes that you've already 'read' it.
- Wait 24 hours. While most messages are posted shortly after they are accepted by the news server, there are other times in which posting is delayed considerably.
If you still do not see your post and have tried the above, simply try posting it again. If it still doesn't work,
write support@core.com with information on when the message was posted, what group the message was posted to, and
any errors or messages you may have received.
