Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!rochester!cornell!biar!trebor
From: trebor@biar.UUCP (Robert J Woodhead)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: What newsreaders are there out there?
Keywords: news rn newsreaders software
Message-ID: <698@biar.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jun 89 05:09:28 GMT
Organization: Biar Games, Inc.
Lines: 43

Having puttered around the net for the last couple of months, I have become
more and more dissatisfied with the newsreading software I am using (rn).
I've been thinking about the capabilities I'd like in newsreading software,
and was wondering if anything that does the following is available.

If it isn't, then I'd like to get the information required to write my own
reader (and if this comes about, your suggestions).

My wish list (version 1.0) :

	1) To be able to easily read messages by thread (References) order
	   rather than sequential order.  In particular, to be able to go
	   and read subsequent messages that reference this one, and read
	   messages referenced by the current message.

	2) To be able to specify that I am not interested in following a
	   particular thread anymore.

	3) To be able to see a summary of the active threads (eg: display
	   threads with unread messages, rather than just the messages
	   themselves.

	4) To be able to flexibly sift through the messages for messages
	   I want to see (such as any message that contains my name or
	   site...) and don't want to see (by particular persons, for
	   example.)  rn can do this now, but it's clumsy.

	5) To extend 4) to newsgroups I don't subscribe to, so that my
	   newsreader can tell me ``hey boss, you might want to read
	   this.''

Of course, 2) 4) and 5) are all related and can be implemented by a fairly
simple internal file containing instructions that either direct the news-
reader to accept or reject an article based on certain criteria.

So, does something like this exist?  And if not, is it worth the time to
write it?  And if so, is it ok to modify a newsreader like ``rn'' to provide
these functions?

-- 
(^;-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-;^)
Robert J Woodhead, Biar Games, Inc.   !uunet!biar!trebor | trebor@biar.UUCP
  ``I can read your mind - right now, you're thinking I'm full of it...''