Re: [Pan-users] Posting problem

[George Czerw]

On Sunday 23 November 2008 12:00:40 address@hidden wrote:
> Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:22:20 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Duncan <address@hidden>
> Subject: [Pan-users] Re: Posting problem
> To: address@hidden
> Message-ID: <address@hidden>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> "Travis" <address@hidden> posted
> address@hidden, excerpted below, on  Sat, 22
>
> Nov 2008 12:02:23 -0800:
> > From: "George Czerw" <address@hidden>
> > To: <address@hidden>
> > Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 11:31 AM
> >
> >> I am using Pan 0.133 on Mandriva 2009.0
> >>
> >> I recently had to change Usenet providers because Comcast stopped
> >> providing Giganews service in late October.  So I established an
> >> account with motzarella.
> >>
> >> I did not delete the groups that I had been subscribed to, but merely
> >> refreshed them after initially logging onto motzarella.
> >>
> >> Now, when I attempt to post to a group, I most frequently get the
> >> following error:
> >>
> >> 441 No valid newsgroups in "alt.os.linux.mandriva" (or whatever other
> >> group I want to post to).
> >>
> >> I have to save my post as a draft, close Pan and then reopen it, after
> >> which I can open my saved draft and post it.  I have to note that I
> >> never had this problem before switching Usenet services.
> >>
> >> Does anyone know why this is occurring and what I have to do to
> >> eliminate the problem?
> >
> > I don't know the answer but Duncan probably does, and he will ask you to
> > stop the HTML.
>
> You got it! =:^)  There's a reason pan doesn't do HTML.  Even if you
> can't respect it in ordinary mail, please respect it on the pan lists,
> which some of us participate on as groups, using pan.
>
> Walt's answer, refreshing the group list, might help, if the lists
> differ.  I'd do it anyway, just to eliminate that possibility.  However,
> since you can post to the same group later, that wouldn't appear to be
> the problem.  It appears that the server is sometimes forgetting the
> groups which it carries, thus returning errors for them, but remembering
> them at other times.  Unfortunately, this would be a server problem.  If
> that's correct, you'd get the same error if you setup new servers.
>
> Another possibility is that it might be only on certain cross-posted
> messages, where the server carries one or more of the groups posted to
> but not all of them.  In this case pan will warn you, but still allow you
> to post.  However, it should warn you regardless of when you post (so
> after the save/load draft process), so that doesn't quite seem to fit the
> described behavior either.
>
> --
> Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
> "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
> and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman
>

Neither refreshing nor unsubscribing/resubscribing seems to solve the problem.  
Only closing and re-opening Pan seems to temporarily resolve it.

If anyone has suggestions regarding any other free, reliable USENET servers 
that don't delay posting of articles, email me directly and let me know what 
they are.  I really like the way that Comcast simply cut-off access to Usenet 
because they no-longer wanted to pay for it, but did nothing about reducing my 
internet access rates after they did so!  Nice business model......

Thanks
George