Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!intek01!mark
From: mark@intek01.UUCP (Mark McWiggins)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Finding a needle in a haystack (was: future public nets)
Message-ID: <377@intek01.UUCP>
Date: 24 Dec 88 21:16:09 GMT
References: <75@sopwith.UUCP>
Organization: Intek, Inc., Bellevue WA
Lines: 26

From article <75@sopwith.UUCP>, by snoopy@sopwith.UUCP (Snoopy):
> 
>                                     ... There is a lot of useful information
> in usenet, but it is often buried in garbage.  How much time do you want
> to spend skimming through articles hitting 'k' or 'n'?  KILL files help,
> but not enough.  Moderation sometimes helps, but often the moderator bends
> a group far too strongly in the direction of their own interests.

Have you tried the "vn" newsreader?  It presents a screenful of message
titles, and you just pick the ones you want.  It makes picking just a few
articles out of a huge batch about as quick as it can be.

There's an option in rn that gives somewhat the same ability; hit = and you
get a screenful of article titles with their numbers.  You then type in the
number to see the article.  Not as easy as vn, but it does work.

Vn has a few rough edges (especially with Xenix) and not as many bells and
whistles as rn, but it's still my favorite.  I don't know if Larry Wall is
continuing development on rn, but if he is I'd be surprised if his next
version didn't offer a vn-ish approach as an option.

-- 

Mark McWiggins			UUCP:		uunet!intek01!mark
DISCLAIMER: I could be wrong.	INTERNET:	intek01!mark@uunet.uu.net
						(206) 455-9935