MKTG 498 Class Notes Page

Instructions for Posting
to News Groups Using
WinVN

Follow this link for information on the Netscape News reader.

To Post to the Course News Group using WinVN:
To post to the secure Newsgroup jmu.class.mktg498, you will need to use the WinVN newsreader. To post, do the following.

  1. Click the Start button, go to Programs, select Internet '96 and select WinVN I '96.
  2. Make sure the NNTP Server option says news.jmu.edu and the TCP port option says nntp
  3. Enter your username in the appropriate box (I would enter wrightnd if I were filling the box in) and then enter your current e-mail password.
  4. You will see a window that says "Request LIST from server?" Click "Yes."
  5. You will now see a New Newsgroups window. In the "Top Level Hierarchy" box, select JMU. If JMU is not listed, type it in. Then click OK.
  6. Scroll down until you see the News Group jmu.class.mktg498. Double click on jmu.class.mktg498 to open it.
  7. To read an article in the News Group, select an article and double click it. A new window will open with the message.
  8. To post an article to the News Group, go to the Articles menu and select New Article (or you can also press CTRL+L). A new window will open that is addressed to the MKTG 498c News Group. Hit the TAB key to move your cursor to the Subject field and type in the appropriate subject.
  9. Hit the TAB key two more times (or move the cursor with your mouse) to the field where you can write your message. Type in the appropriate message.
  10. To send the article to the News Group, go to the Post menu (on the New Article window) and select Send (or press CTRL+S).
  11. In a few moments your message will be posted to the News Group. To see the article, you will have to update your screen. Go to the Articles menu on the jmu.class.mktg498 window and select Update from Server. The article you sent in should now appear in the window.
  12. To exit, go to the Articles menu and select Exit (or click the X in the upper right hand corner). This will exit you from the jmu.class.mktg498 News Group. To exit from WinVN, go to the Network menu in the WinVN window and select Exit (or click the X in the upper right hand corner of the window).
  13. You will see an Exit WinVN window. Click on the Exit button, and you are out.

Go to In-class Exercise #1.

Remember, to post to the course News Group, you must use WinVN. This is a secure server, and Netscape won't be able to post to any JMU News Group. Note that Netscape will allow you to post to other, non-secured News Groups.

Netscape News Reader
Netscape has several advantages: it is fully integrated with the browser and e-mail package, and you can click on URL's and jump to the appropriate site. This is a very handy feature. My recommendation is to use WinVN to post to the course News Group, but use Netscape for all other News Groups.

To use the Netscape News Reader, do the following:

If you are using the ZSH Computer Lab, first do the following:

  1. Start Netscape. Then go to the Options menu and select Mail and News Preferences.
  2. Click on the Servers tab. In the Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server box, type in mail.jmu.edu
  3. In the Incoming Mail (POP3) Server box, type in mail.jmu.edu
  4. In the POP3 User Name field, enter you user name, the first half of your e-mail address (my e-mail address is wrightnd@jmu.edu and my user name is wrightnd, which is what I would enter in this box)
  5. Use the TAB key or the mouse and go to the News (NNTP) Server field and enter news.jmu.edu if it is not already there.
  6. Next, click on the Identity tab and fill in your personal information. Enter your name in the Your Name field. Also enter your full e-mail address in both the Your E-Mail and Reply-to Address. If you want, type in James Madison University in the Your Organization field.
  7. Click the OK button,

Now you are ready to launch the News Reader. If you are using a computer from your home, you do not need to set these preferences each time you launch Netscape. The computers in the lab automatically erase all changes to the default configuration each time it is use.

To launch the Netscape News Reader, do the following:

  1. In the main Netscape window, go to the Window menu item. Select Netscape News. A new window will open up that has three panes: a News Server pane, a Sender, Subject pane, and a blank pane.
  2. In the Netscape News window, go to the Options menu and select Show All Newsgroups. This should provide a list of available News Groups in the News Server pane. If it doesn't, then go to the Options menu again, select Show Active Newsgroups then go back to the Options menu and select the Show All Newsgroups item. Hopefully, you will now see the available News Groups in the News Server pane.
  3. Select the desired folder. For example, if you select the JMU News Group, the folder opens up and shows you all the JMU News Groups. Select jmu.class and open it up. Then select jmu.class.mktg498. You will now be in our course News Group. You should see a list of messages in the Sender, Subject pane, but nothing in the third pane.
  4. Using your cursor, select one of the messages. The content of the message should now appear in the third pane.
  5. Note that there is a red flag and a green diamond in the Sender, Subject pane. The green diamond means the article hasn't been read. If you read an article, you can click the dot under the green diamond and the article will revert to the unread state. The flag lets you identify important messages.
  6. To exit the Netscape News Reader, go to the File menu and select Close (or click the X in the upper right hand corner). If you select Exit, you will be exiting Netscape.

Return to the Top of the Page