• Question about alpine use.

    From nospam@nospam@nospam.org to comp.mail.pine on Sat Dec 16 20:12:05 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    Hello alpiners,

    I've been a happy alpine user for some time now, and I wonder if any one
    of you has some tips & tricks to share?

    I have a few things I have not yet managed to figure out, so in case
    anyone here has managed to do so, I would very much appreciate a pointer
    in the right direction.

    So here it goes...

    * I experience a _slight_ freezing when I do a search in a local maildir folder, and then exit the folder and open a new folder (I suspect that it might depend on the de-select of the first folder, before entering the second). The freezing is about 0.5-1.5 seconds. When just entering a local maildir folder it is instantaneous. Another reason could perhaps be that I have enabled thread view, and the folder has about 3000 messages, so maybe
    the slight delay is that alpine sorts every time instead of "saving" the
    view?

    * Is it possible to see new messages in my incoming folder collections in
    the top bar so I would not have to go to the folder index screen to see
    new mail across all my incoming folders?

    * Also, is it possible, to be able to see unread messages in an archive folder? I move automatically mails from incoming folders to archive
    folders, but then I can no longer see nr of unread emails in the archive folders.

    * How do I search across multiple folders? Today I use notmuch from the terminal to search through them, but it would be nice to be able to do
    that from alpine.

    * Shortcuts. The ability to bind incoming folders to certain keys to be
    able to quickly go there with one press of a button. This I today solve
    either by typing "G" and then I enter the name <tab>, so already pretty
    quick. Another way is the rules patch that enables me to script sequences
    of key presses, so this is in principle already solveable.

    * News. Are there any ways to speed up reading news in alpine? It works
    fine, but when scrolling up or down, as well as when opening the news collection the first time, it does take a few seconds.

    * Aborting connections. Is there a way to quickly abort a connection?
    Today I have to wait for 60-90 seconds and then I get a question that asks
    me if I want to abort the connection.

    That's about it in terms of minor annoyances. Overall I'm very happy so
    just curious if anyone here on the list has developed any solutions to the problems above.

    Best regards,
    Daniel
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From William Unruh@unruh@invalid.ca to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 02:41:13 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-16, nospam@nospam.org <nospam@nospam.org> wrote:
    Hello alpiners,

    I've been a happy alpine user for some time now, and I wonder if any one
    of you has some tips & tricks to share?

    I have a few things I have not yet managed to figure out, so in case
    anyone here has managed to do so, I would very much appreciate a pointer
    in the right direction.

    So here it goes...

    * I experience a _slight_ freezing when I do a search in a local maildir folder, and then exit the folder and open a new folder (I suspect that it might depend on the de-select of the first folder, before entering the second). The freezing is about 0.5-1.5 seconds. When just entering a local maildir folder it is instantaneous. Another reason could perhaps be that I have enabled thread view, and the folder has about 3000 messages, so maybe the slight delay is that alpine sorts every time instead of "saving" the view?

    If you have 3000 messages in a "folder" then yes it will take a while
    both to open or to close, if you made any changes (eg deleted a
    message). It has to copy the file, in parts.

    * Is it possible to see new messages in my incoming folder collections in
    the top bar so I would not have to go to the folder index screen to see
    new mail across all my incoming folders?
    Is this what you want (from .pinerc)
    # List of incoming msg folders besides INBOX, e.g. ={host2}inbox, {host3}inbox # Syntax: optnl-label {optnl-imap-host-name}folder-path
    incoming-folders=


    * Also, is it possible, to be able to see unread messages in an archive folder? I move automatically mails from incoming folders to archive
    folders, but then I can no longer see nr of unread emails in the archive folders.
    Sure you can. If you save an unread message it is still unread in the
    folder saved to. (I am refering to .


    * How do I search across multiple folders? Today I use notmuch from the terminal to search through them, but it would be nice to be able to do
    that from alpine.

    * Shortcuts. The ability to bind incoming folders to certain keys to be
    able to quickly go there with one press of a button. This I today solve either by typing "G" and then I enter the name <tab>, so already pretty quick. Another way is the rules patch that enables me to script sequences
    of key presses, so this is in principle already solveable.

    * News. Are there any ways to speed up reading news in alpine? It works fine, but when scrolling up or down, as well as when opening the news collection the first time, it does take a few seconds.

    * Aborting connections. Is there a way to quickly abort a connection?
    Today I have to wait for 60-90 seconds and then I get a question that asks me if I want to abort the connection.


    What kind of connection?


    That's about it in terms of minor annoyances. Overall I'm very happy so
    just curious if anyone here on the list has developed any solutions to the problems above.

    Best regards,
    Daniel
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@nospam.org to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 11:08:06 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine


    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, William Unruh wrote:

    * I experience a _slight_ freezing when I do a search in a local maildir
    folder, and then exit the folder and open a new folder (I suspect that it
    might depend on the de-select of the first folder, before entering the
    second). The freezing is about 0.5-1.5 seconds. When just entering a local >> maildir folder it is instantaneous. Another reason could perhaps be that I >> have enabled thread view, and the folder has about 3000 messages, so maybe >> the slight delay is that alpine sorts every time instead of "saving" the
    view?

    If you have 3000 messages in a "folder" then yes it will take a while
    both to open or to close, if you made any changes (eg deleted a
    message). It has to copy the file, in parts.

    Thank you very much William, really appreciate your help and advice. =)
    I think the easiest solution is just to archive old messages to another
    folder and this problem will probably go away.

    * Is it possible to see new messages in my incoming folder collections in
    the top bar so I would not have to go to the folder index screen to see
    new mail across all my incoming folders?
    Is this what you want (from .pinerc)
    # List of incoming msg folders besides INBOX, e.g. ={host2}inbox, {host3}inbox
    # Syntax: optnl-label {optnl-imap-host-name}folder-path
    incoming-folders=

    Not quite. This I have, so I have about 5 incoming folders and I do see
    unread emails when I am in the incoming folders view, for each incoming
    folder. My thought was if it is possible to see a total of new messages
    in the top bar, right at the top of the screen, even if I am reading
    emails in one of my folders? Today, if I navigate inside one of my
    incoming folders, I no longer see if there is any new email in any other incoming folder.

    * Also, is it possible, to be able to see unread messages in an archive
    folder? I move automatically mails from incoming folders to archive
    folders, but then I can no longer see nr of unread emails in the archive
    folders.
    Sure you can. If you save an unread message it is still unread in the
    folder saved to. (I am refering to .

    Hmm, how do you enable that? In my archived email folders, I see new
    email inside the folder. But I do not see a total of new email in the
    main screen, only incoming folders show a counter with new emails, not
    the archived folders.

    * Aborting connections. Is there a way to quickly abort a connection?
    Today I have to wait for 60-90 seconds and then I get a question that asks >> me if I want to abort the connection.


    What kind of connection?

    It can be sometimes when I access IMAP folders remotely or NNTP. If the internet connection is slow, alpine can freeze for 60 to 90 seconds or
    so, before it wakes up and asks me "do you want to cancel connection".

    One last question. I'm new to news and I see that many users have their
    email as user@invalid.xx. Is this a standard? If so, I think I should change from my home cooked @nospam.org.

    Best regards,
    Daniel

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 13:32:30 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-16 20:12, nospam@nospam.org wrote:
    Hello alpiners,

    I've been a happy alpine user for some time now, and I wonder if any one
    of you has some tips & tricks to share?

    I have a few things I have not yet managed to figure out, so in case
    anyone here has managed to do so, I would very much appreciate a pointer
    in the right direction.

    So here it goes...

    * I experience a _slight_ freezing when I do a search in a local maildir folder, and then exit the folder and open a new folder (I suspect that
    it might depend on the de-select of the first folder, before entering
    the second). The freezing is about 0.5-1.5 seconds. When just entering a local maildir folder it is instantaneous. Another reason could perhaps
    be that I have enabled thread view, and the folder has about 3000
    messages, so maybe the slight delay is that alpine sorts every time
    instead of "saving" the view?

    Alpine doesn't cache what it downloads to disk, so it has to repeat the download before displaying. I think it has the last 3 folders in RAM.

    ...

    * News. Are there any ways to speed up reading news in alpine? It works fine, but when scrolling up or down, as well as when opening the news collection the first time, it does take a few seconds.

    There is no cache.


    * Aborting connections. Is there a way to quickly abort a connection?
    Today I have to wait for 60-90 seconds and then I get a question that
    asks me if I want to abort the connection.

    Change the time so that you get the question earlier.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 13:41:21 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-17 11:08, nospam@nospam.org wrote:

    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, William Unruh wrote:


    One last question. I'm new to news and I see that many users have their
    email as user@invalid.xx. Is this a standard? If so, I think I should
    change
    from my home cooked @nospam.org.
    The standard is indeed @xx.invalid, not invalid.xx

    nospam.org is an existing domain, and you did not ask them for permission.

    cer@Telcontar:~> host nospam.org
    nospam.org has address 15.197.148.33
    nospam.org has address 3.33.130.190
    nospam.org mail is handled by 20 mailsec.protonmail.ch.
    nospam.org mail is handled by 10 mail.protonmail.ch.
    cer@Telcontar:~>


    The domain "invalid" is, on the other hand, reserved for creation of
    invalid domains, nobody can register it.


    cer@Telcontar:~> host invalid
    Host invalid not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
    cer@Telcontar:~> host es.invalid
    Host es.invalid not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
    cer@Telcontar:~>

    Notice that invalid.xx might get registered one day (that is, "xx" could
    be registered or get registered, then it is up to them to register "invalid.xx" or not.)
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Allodoxaphobia@trepidation@example.net to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 12:52:55 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 11:08:06 +0100, nospam@nospam.org wrote:

    One last question. I'm new to news and I see that many users have
    their email as user@invalid.xx. Is this a standard? If so, I think I
    should change from my home cooked @nospam.org.

    ... or better yet pesudo-name@example.com (or .... @example.net)
    That keeps the harvesters from sweeping up your real email addy on
    usenet for use in their email spam.
    Often "home cooked" domain names end up causing grief for actual
    domains that really do exist.

    Welcome to usenet, Daniel.
    Next you'll need to know how to filter out spam postings...

    Jonesy
    --
    Marvin L Jones | Marvin | W3DHJ.net | linux
    38.238N 104.547W | @ jonz.net | Jonesy | FreeBSD
    * Killfiling google & XXXXbanter.com: jonz.net/ng.htm
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@nospam.org to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 14:05:38 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine


    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    The standard is indeed @xx.invalid, not invalid.xx

    Ahh, got it! Thank you very much Carlos, then I will change it.

    Best regards,
    Daniel



    nospam.org is an existing domain, and you did not ask them for permission.

    cer@Telcontar:~> host nospam.org
    nospam.org has address 15.197.148.33
    nospam.org has address 3.33.130.190
    nospam.org mail is handled by 20 mailsec.protonmail.ch.
    nospam.org mail is handled by 10 mail.protonmail.ch.
    cer@Telcontar:~>


    The domain "invalid" is, on the other hand, reserved for creation of invalid domains, nobody can register it.


    cer@Telcontar:~> host invalid
    Host invalid not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
    cer@Telcontar:~> host es.invalid
    Host es.invalid not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
    cer@Telcontar:~>

    Notice that invalid.xx might get registered one day (that is, "xx" could be registered or get registered, then it is up to them to register "invalid.xx" or not.)


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@nospam.org to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 14:06:14 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine



    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    * Aborting connections. Is there a way to quickly abort a connection? Today >> I have to wait for 60-90 seconds and then I get a question that asks me if >> I want to abort the connection.

    Change the time so that you get the question earlier.


    Thank you Carlos, will do.

    Best regards,
    Daniel

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@nospam.org to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 14:09:26 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine


    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Allodoxaphobia wrote:

    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 11:08:06 +0100, nospam@nospam.org wrote:

    One last question. I'm new to news and I see that many users have
    their email as user@invalid.xx. Is this a standard? If so, I think I
    should change from my home cooked @nospam.org.

    ... or better yet pesudo-name@example.com (or .... @example.net)
    That keeps the harvesters from sweeping up your real email addy on
    usenet for use in their email spam.
    Often "home cooked" domain names end up causing grief for actual
    domains that really do exist.

    Thank you very much Jonesy, will adjust my config to reflect that.

    Welcome to usenet, Daniel.
    Next you'll need to know how to filter out spam postings...

    Good point! Would that be with regular alpine filters and rules? Do you
    have any tips, tricks or lists that you could share so that I can just
    copy your rules?

    Best regards,
    Daniel


    Jonesy

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 16:20:22 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-17 14:05, nospam@nospam.org wrote:

    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    The standard is indeed @xx.invalid, not invalid.xx

    Ahh, got it! Thank you very much Carlos, then I will change it.

    Best regards, Daniel

    Just don't use nospam@, there are a bunch using that name already :-D
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 16:26:33 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-17 14:06, nospam@nospam.org wrote:


    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    * Aborting connections. Is there a way to quickly abort a connection?
    Today I have to wait for 60-90 seconds and then I get a question that
    asks me if I want to abort the connection.

    Change the time so that you get the question earlier.


    Thank you Carlos, will do.

    Best regards, Daniel
    Oops. Should have said "timeout", not "time". My fingers are not as fast
    as my mind and they skip letters :-D
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 16:25:25 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-17 13:52, Allodoxaphobia wrote:
    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 11:08:06 +0100, nospam@nospam.org wrote:

    One last question. I'm new to news and I see that many users have
    their email as user@invalid.xx. Is this a standard? If so, I think I
    should change from my home cooked @nospam.org.

    ... or better yet pesudo-name@example.com (or .... @example.net)
    That keeps the harvesters from sweeping up your real email addy on
    usenet for use in their email spam.
    Often "home cooked" domain names end up causing grief for actual
    domains that really do exist.

    example.com does exist.

    cer@Telcontar:~> host example.com
    example.com has address 93.184.216.34
    example.com has IPv6 address 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
    example.com mail is handled by 0 .
    cer@Telcontar:~>

    so does example.net

    cer@Telcontar:~> host example.net
    example.net has address 93.184.216.34
    example.net has IPv6 address 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
    example.net mail is handled by 0 .
    cer@Telcontar:~>


    Welcome to usenet, Daniel.
    Next you'll need to know how to filter out spam postings...

    I don't think there are many mail address harvesters left on Usenet,
    though. Some people use their actual real addresses, and they are happy. Others use their real addresses modified in an easy to spot manner for a human.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@example.net to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 19:34:17 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine



    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    On 2023-12-17 13:52, Allodoxaphobia wrote:
    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 11:08:06 +0100, nospam@nospam.org wrote:

    One last question. I'm new to news and I see that many users have
    their email as user@invalid.xx. Is this a standard? If so, I think I
    should change from my home cooked @nospam.org.

    ... or better yet pesudo-name@example.com (or .... @example.net)
    That keeps the harvesters from sweeping up your real email addy on
    usenet for use in their email spam.
    Often "home cooked" domain names end up causing grief for actual
    domains that really do exist.

    example.com does exist.

    cer@Telcontar:~> host example.com
    example.com has address 93.184.216.34
    example.com has IPv6 address 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
    example.com mail is handled by 0 .
    cer@Telcontar:~>

    so does example.net

    cer@Telcontar:~> host example.net
    example.net has address 93.184.216.34
    example.net has IPv6 address 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
    example.net mail is handled by 0 .
    cer@Telcontar:~>

    Hello Carlos,

    I was curious and checked out the domain, and just for the benefit of
    anyone else reading this, it said if you navigate to the domain in your
    browser that:

    "Example Domains

    As described in RFC 2606 and RFC 6761, a number of domains such as
    example.com and example.org are maintained for documentation purposes.
    These domains may be used as illustrative examples in documents without
    prior coordination with us. They are not available for registration or transfer.

    We provide a web service on the example domain hosts to provide basic information on the purpose of the domain. These web services are
    provided as best effort, but are not designed to support production applications. While incidental traffic for incorrectly configured
    applications is expected, please do not design applications that require
    the example domains to have operating HTTP service."

    I had no idea about this, but now I know. =)

    Best regards,
    Daniel




    Welcome to usenet, Daniel.
    Next you'll need to know how to filter out spam postings...

    I don't think there are many mail address harvesters left on Usenet, though. Some people use their actual real addresses, and they are happy. Others use their real addresses modified in an easy to spot manner for a human.



    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@example.net to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 19:38:09 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine



    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    On 2023-12-17 14:06, nospam@nospam.org wrote:


    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    * Aborting connections. Is there a way to quickly abort a connection? >>>> Today I have to wait for 60-90 seconds and then I get a question that >>>> asks me if I want to abort the connection.

    Change the time so that you get the question earlier.


    Thank you Carlos, will do.

    Best regards, Daniel
    Oops. Should have said "timeout", not "time". My fingers are not as fast as my mind and they skip letters :-D

    No worries, found it! =)

    Another question... when it comes to keeping track of the messages of
    usenet I can either select

    [ ] News Approximates New Status

    or leave it unchecked.

    If I select it, all messages are marked as new every time I reload the newsgroup, _except_ if I delete one message. Then all messages earlier
    than that message are not marked as new. But it is a bit weird that I
    have to delete a message in order to mark the older ones as not new.

    If I leave it unchecked on the other hand, no messages are marked as
    new, so I only have the date and time to go on and nothing else.

    Is there a way to mark all messages as read, and then get _only_ the new
    ones marked as new, just like in my imap mailbox?

    Best regards,
    Daniel

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 20:28:53 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-17 19:34, D wrote:


    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:

    On 2023-12-17 13:52, Allodoxaphobia wrote:
    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 11:08:06 +0100, nospam@nospam.org wrote:

    One last question. I'm new to news and I see that many users have
    their email as user@invalid.xx. Is this a standard? If so, I think I
    should change from my home cooked @nospam.org.

    ... or better yet pesudo-name@example.com-a (or .... @example.net)
    That keeps the harvesters from sweeping up your real email addy on
    usenet for use in their email spam.
    Often "home cooked" domain names end up causing grief for actual
    domains that really do exist.

    example.com does exist.

    cer@Telcontar:~> host example.com
    example.com has address 93.184.216.34
    example.com has IPv6 address 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
    example.com mail is handled by 0 .
    cer@Telcontar:~>

    so does example.net

    cer@Telcontar:~> host example.net
    example.net has address 93.184.216.34
    example.net has IPv6 address 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
    example.net mail is handled by 0 .
    cer@Telcontar:~>

    Hello Carlos,

    I was curious and checked out the domain, and just for the benefit of
    anyone else reading this, it said if you navigate to the domain in your browser that:

    "Example Domains

    As described in RFC 2606 and RFC 6761, a number of domains such as example.com and example.org are maintained for documentation purposes.
    These domains may be used as illustrative examples in documents without
    prior coordination with us. They are not available for registration or transfer.

    We provide a web service on the example domain hosts to provide basic information on the purpose of the domain. These web services are
    provided as best effort, but are not designed to support production applications. While incidental traffic for incorrectly configured applications is expected, please do not design applications that require
    the example domains to have operating HTTP service."

    I had no idea about this, but now I know. =)

    The thing is, as the domain resolves, alpine or any client might try (if asked) to send an email there. I don't know if they also run a mail
    server, so the result varies.

    But a post to @somewhere.invalid invariably fails instantly.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 20:12:25 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

    . . .

    Another question... when it comes to keeping track of the messages of
    usenet I can either select

    [ ] News Approximates New Status

    or leave it unchecked.

    If I select it, all messages are marked as new every time I reload the >newsgroup, _except_ if I delete one message. Then all messages earlier
    than that message are not marked as new. But it is a bit weird that I
    have to delete a message in order to mark the older ones as not new.

    If I leave it unchecked on the other hand, no messages are marked as
    new, so I only have the date and time to go on and nothing else.

    Is there a way to mark all messages as read, and then get _only_ the new
    ones marked as new, just like in my imap mailbox?

    No.

    It cannot work like alpine's presentation of a mailbox or folder of archived mail messages because there is no concept of articles newly received on
    the News server since your last Usenet session without checking the Date headers.

    There is no concept of articles that are "new" or "not new", only
    articles that are "read" or "unread".

    The original pine was a Mail client. It became a newsreader later. I
    never cared for pine as a newsreader because it wasn't a threading
    newsreader. Threading was added much later. I think Eduardo was the
    programmer who wrote the code. Also, while I like the layout of the
    index screen for Mail messages, I don't care for it for News articles.

    fwiw, I use pine/alpine newsrc file naming convention, which is
    convenient to allow the user to become a user on multiple News servers.

    Because original pine didn't begin life as a newsreader, it used the
    newsrc file format to keep track of News articles. The intent was to
    allow UWash students to migrate to pine from the newsreaders they were
    already using if they cared to.

    I have no idea which newsreader originated the newsrc file format.
    Perhaps it was nn.

    The newsrc file format has no concept of flags that alpine uses to mark
    Mail messages. It maintains a list of newsgroups that the user has
    subscribed to, one line each. On each line is a range of article
    numbers used by the News server. These are articles that the user has
    read, that is, gotten to the end of the article without marking it as
    unread.

    That's how other newsreaders that use the newsrc file work. In pine and
    alpine, the user marks the article as "read" with D Delete, but this is
    a misnomer as the user cannot delete the article from the News server
    and pine/alpine can pull it up again if the user looks for it.

    The newsrc file has no concept of "new" and "not new", only "read" and "unread". Any article number not in the range of article numbers is
    "unread".

    [x] News Approximates New displays a New indication of any News article
    newer than the last article the user marked as read with the D key. This
    state cannot be maintained between sessions by updating the newsrc file because, again, the newsrc file format has no concept of "new" and "not
    new".

    I don't know if this is done with article number or the timestamp in the
    Date header, but "greater than the article number of the highest
    numbered article marked read" is probably simpler to program.

    My suggestion to you, when using alpine as a newsreader, given the
    limitations of the newsrc file, is to ignore New entirely as it's not a
    flag that can be stored in the newsrc file and the state isn't preserved between sessions. Instead, select articles that are newer than a certain
    date.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@example.net to comp.mail.pine on Sun Dec 17 22:38:34 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine



    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

    No.

    It cannot work like alpine's presentation of a mailbox or folder of archived mail messages because there is no concept of articles newly received on
    the News server since your last Usenet session without checking the Date headers.
    ...
    My suggestion to you, when using alpine as a newsreader, given the limitations of the newsrc file, is to ignore New entirely as it's not a
    flag that can be stored in the newsrc file and the state isn't preserved between sessions. Instead, select articles that are newer than a certain date.


    Thank you very much for the in depth information Adam, that will help me
    avoid a lot of trying and tinkering.

    Best regards,
    Daniel

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to comp.mail.pine on Mon Dec 18 13:46:07 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On 2023-12-17 19:38, D wrote:
    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2023-12-17 14:06, nospam@nospam.org wrote:
    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Carlos E.R. wrote:


    Another question... when it comes to keeping track of the messages of
    usenet I can either select

    [ ]-a News Approximates New Status

    or leave it unchecked.

    If I select it, all messages are marked as new every time I reload the newsgroup, _except_ if I delete one message. Then all messages earlier
    than that message are not marked as new. But it is a bit weird that I
    have to delete a message in order to mark the older ones as not new.

    If I leave it unchecked on the other hand, no messages are marked as
    new, so I only have the date and time to go on and nothing else.

    Is there a way to mark all messages as read, and then get _only_ the new
    ones marked as new, just like in my imap mailbox?

    No. That's why I do not use Alpine for news, I use Thunderbird instead.

    Adam explains the technical reasons.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Allodoxaphobia@trepidation@example.net to comp.mail.pine on Mon Dec 18 14:42:58 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine

    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023 14:09:26 +0100, nospam@nospam.org wrote:
    On Sun, 17 Dec 2023, Allodoxaphobia wrote:

    <- snip ->

    Welcome to usenet, Daniel.
    Next you'll need to know how to filter out spam postings...

    Good point! Would that be with regular alpine filters and rules? Do
    you have any tips, tricks or lists that you could share so that I can
    just copy your rules?

    Myself, I use alpine only for email.
    So, I can't help you with alpine fitering.

    For usenet I use slrn.

    Been using pine/alpine and slrn for over 30 years.

    HNY
    Jonesy
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@example.net to comp.mail.pine on Mon Dec 18 16:14:11 2023
    From Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine


    On Mon, 18 Dec 2023, Allodoxaphobia wrote:

    Myself, I use alpine only for email.
    So, I can't help you with alpine fitering.

    For usenet I use slrn.

    Been using pine/alpine and slrn for over 30 years.

    Hello Jonesy, that's a good point. Perhaps alpine is not the best tool
    for news. For email I have to say that I like way, way more than
    thunderbird which was my old go to client for about 20 years or so.

    When it comes to news, do you have any recommendations when it comes to
    good groups?

    Some are empty, some are full of spam, but it does seem like here and
    there, there are good quality groups. The trick is just to find them. ;)

    Best regards,
    Daniel
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2