Newsgroups provide a valuable resource of information as well as being a great way of interacting with the rest of the online community. They act as a big online bulletin board, where people can post questions, ideas, information, pictures, files or anything else they wish to, in a public forum. Other users may then interact with these posts, either publicly or privately, by sending their own replies.

The Linknet news server provides access to over 30,000 newsgroups on almost every topic. Many groups are computer related, but there are also many devoted to music, genealogy, animals, gardening, cooking and an endless array of other interests. Some newsgroups allow people to ask questions and receive help, while others host ongoing debates.

Setting Up News

The Linknet installation CD automatically sets up access to newsgroups. You should have "news.linknet.com.au" on the left-hand of your Outlook Express window. If not, the instructions below will help you to set up news.

Outlook Express 6

1. Open Outlook Express as normal
2. Click the Tools menu and then select Accounts
3. Click the News tab
4. If you have any news accounts already configured, you should remove them unless you know you need them. To remove any unwanted accounts, select them one at a time and click Remove. Click Yes when asked if you are sure, then repeat the process for any other unwanted accounts
5. Click Add, then select News
6. Enter your name (this can be anything you like, eg. Bill Smith) and click Next
7. Enter your email address and click Next. We recommend that you do NOT use your real email address to avoid spam
8. Enter the News server: news.linknet.com.au and click Next
9. If you are using Outlook Express 5 or 6, skip to step 12
10. Enter a friendly name for the news server or just click Next to leave it as news.linknet.com.au
11. Choose a connection method (I will establish my Internet connection manually is probably best), then click Next
12. Click Finish
13. Click Close
14. You will be asked if you wish to download newsgroups from the server you added. Click Yes
15. Outlook Express will now download the list of groups. There are over 30,000 newsgroups, so the list will take about 5 - 10 minutes to download depending on the speed of your connection to Linknet

Mozilla Thunderbird

1. Open Thunderbird as normal
2. Go to the Tools menu and click on the Add Account button
3. This will open up the Account wizard window.On the first screen select News Group account then click Next.
4. On the next screen enter both your Name and Email address, then click Next.
5. On the next screen, enter the linknet news server - news.linknet.com.au and click on Next.
6. On the next screen, enter the account name and then click Next.
7. Once on the next screen, click on the finish button and you will have completed setting up a News Group account.

If you have problems setting up your newsgroups, email Support at support@linknet.com.au

Once you have set up your news account, you will be able to browse or search through the list of newsgroups and subscribe to any that sound interesting. Subscribing to a newsgroup simply means that you are choosing to view that newsgroup - it does not cost anything, and you may unsubscribe (ie. stop viewing the group) at any time.

Newsgroups may seem a little strange at first, as there are often some language styles that you may not be familiar with, and certain points of netiquette apply. It is often a good idea to first read through older posts to gain an understanding of how discussions unfold in a particular newsgroup for a few days before making a post to it yourself.

If you are a bit nervous about posting, you may like to post to linknet.general - most of the people that post there are friendly and will be able to give you a few tips. Good luck, and have fun!

Please note that abusing or harassing other people on newsgroups or by email is a breach of the Terms & Conditions of your account, and may result in your account being suspended. Please, do the right thing and make the Internet an enjoyable place for EVERYONE.