Michael Snoyman wrote:
> == Quote from Lutger (lutger.blijdestijn@gmail.com)'s article
>> This newsgroup is just fine, it's the default web interface that sucks.
>> It is not 'really' a problem, since failing to use a good reader there
>> are web interfaces available now that do not suck, one has been mentioned.
>> But it IS a problem. I suspect there are a lot of people who (try) to
>> use the web interface. That a good reader is much better is not changing
>> that fact. The current one puts people off too much. 'PR-wise' I think
>> it makes quite a difference, and what is the effort of changing the
>> default web interface?
> 
> Some of us want to read these forums from work where we can't install our own
> reader and/or have a firewall blocking it from working. For us , a better web
> interface would be a huge enhancement and would allow us to join the community more.
> 
> Michael

Not to distract from the 'improve the web interface' discussion, but there's another non-web based alternative.  Assuming inbound email isn't blocked.. you could switch to the gatewayed mailing lists:

    http://lists.puremagic.com/mailman/listinfo

Later,
Brad

Michael Snoyman wrote:
> Some of us want to read these forums from work where we can't install our own
> reader and/or have a firewall blocking it from working. For us , a better web
> interface would be a huge enhancement and would allow us to join the community more.
> 
> Michael

Good point. You can already use this alternative: http://www.digitalmars.com/webnews/newsgroups.php?search_txt=&group=digitalmars.D

I'm pretty much a web noob, but isn't this simply a matter of changing a few links on the digital mars front page?

Michael Snoyman wrote:
<snip>
> Some of us want to read these forums from work where we can't install our own reader and/or have a firewall blocking it from working. For us , a better web interface would be a huge enhancement and would allow us to join the community more.

What kinds of companies stronghold their employees to this level?

The purpose I see in a web interface is for catching up on things while away from one's usual Internet connection, e.g. on a shared machine in a library or somewhere.

Stewart.

Stewart Gordon wrote:
> Michael Snoyman wrote:
> <snip>
>> Some of us want to read these forums from work where we can't install our own reader and/or have a firewall blocking it from working. For us , a better web interface would be a huge enhancement and would allow us to join the community more.
> 
> What kinds of companies stronghold their employees to this level?

Mine.  For whatever reason, it seems fairly common practice to block port 119.  Personally, I think it's somewhat ridiculous, as newsgroup access is very useful for software development, but whatever.  This is why I've come to like Google Groups.  It's not because I actually like the interface, but because I can access it from everywhere.

> The purpose I see in a web interface is for catching up on things while away from one's usual Internet connection, e.g. on a shared machine in a library or somewhere.

That too.


Sean

Sean Kelly wrote:
> Stewart Gordon wrote:
>> Michael Snoyman wrote:
>> <snip>
>>> Some of us want to read these forums from work where we can't install our own reader and/or have a firewall blocking it from working. For us , a better web interface would be a huge enhancement and would allow us to join the community more.
>>
>> What kinds of companies stronghold their employees to this level?
> 
> Mine.  For whatever reason, it seems fairly common practice to block port 119. 

Have you tried asking why they do this?

> Personally, I think it's somewhat ridiculous, as newsgroup access is very useful for software development, but whatever.
<snip>

Indeed, I imagine nearly every Internet technology was designed with some serious practical purpose in mind.  Probably too many people are too quick to dismiss such things as IRC, MSN Messenger and the like as mere toys.  If people are doing this with newsgroups now, this must be very bad news.  What next?

Stewart.

Stewart Gordon wrote:
> Sean Kelly wrote:
>> Stewart Gordon wrote:
>>> Michael Snoyman wrote:
>>> <snip>
>>>> Some of us want to read these forums from work where we can't install our own reader and/or have a firewall blocking it from working. For us , a better web interface would be a huge enhancement and would allow us to join the community more.
>>>
>>> What kinds of companies stronghold their employees to this level?
>>
>> Mine.  For whatever reason, it seems fairly common practice to block port 119. 
> 
> Have you tried asking why they do this?

No.  It's not worth the trouble. :-)


Sean

BCS wrote:
> Reply to Mark,
> 
>> Does anyone else use the Web interface to read this newsgroup?
>>
>> The old one was ok but the PHP News Reader is pretty worthless. In
>> fact I hardly ever visit this group because of that.
>>
>> Maybe just create a new D newsgroup under google groups which would
>> have way more capabilties.
>>
>> comp.lang.d  would be nice but it seems that it is really hard
>> these days to start a usenet group [of course comp.lang.deadlongago is
>> still out there.]
>>
> 
> As said before, the web client isn't the best way to access an NNTP newsgroups. I've been trying out JetBrains Omea Reader. (I kept having t-bird lose about 10K posts and then try to re-download them)

I'd like to find a newsreader that can save settings on the net somewhere.  The one and *only* thing I like about forums is that it remembers which articles I've read no matter where I am.  It would be nice if I could tell my newsreader to save its state to some web space via ssh.  Anyone know of a newsreader that can do that?

--bb