[comp.sources.d] How do you use nn?

jeffrey@algor2.UUCP (Jeffrey Kegler) (07/03/89)

I have gotten nn working on my system, and read news with it.  I still
have an operator mindspace problem.  I cannot figure out how to adopt
it to my usual newsreading style, which is to peck away at groups
(read a few articles, junk some more, then move on, coming back to
those I did not decide about later).  I am used to newsreaders (mainly
rn at this point) which will mark individual articles unread.

What is a typical user session with nn like?  Are you forced to
dispose of a newsgroup entirely, or leave it entirely untouched,
possibly having to wade through many articles you have already read
when you revisit?

nn is a very impressive effort.  At this point I find it to be like
the play Hamlet.  Clearly a brilliant effort, but otherwise completely
perplexing.  I feel I must be missing something.  Should I alter my
newsreading style?  Do I need to, in order to use nn?

-- 

Jeffrey Kegler, President, Algorists,
jeffrey@algor2.UU.NET or uunet!algor2!jeffrey
1762 Wainwright DR, Reston VA 22090

seindal@skinfaxe.diku.dk (Rene' Seindal) (07/03/89)

jeffrey@algor2.UUCP (Jeffrey Kegler) writes:

> I have gotten nn working on my system, and read news with it.  I still
> have an operator mindspace problem.  I cannot figure out how to adopt
> it to my usual newsreading style, which is to peck away at groups
> (read a few articles, junk some more, then move on, coming back to
> those I did not decide about later).  I am used to newsreaders (mainly
> rn at this point) which will mark individual articles unread.

This could be done in nn, if somebody cares to do it.  I know Kim Storm is
very open on this subject.

> What is a typical user session with nn like?  Are you forced to
> dispose of a newsgroup entirely, or leave it entirely untouched,
> possibly having to wade through many articles you have already read
> when you revisit?

I think most of us have made a group sequence in our init file, so we see the
most interesting newgroups first, and the read news the sequentially.

> nn is a very impressive effort.  At this point I find it to be like
> the play Hamlet.  Clearly a brilliant effort, but otherwise completely
> perplexing.  I feel I must be missing something.  Should I alter my
> newsreading style?  Do I need to, in order to use nn?

It is my impression that nn is very much targetted against reading the
different groups in a sequential fashion, with a customisable presention
sequence. 

If the normal case is that you want to return to a specific subject, you can
use the `x' and `s' options.

Rene' Seindal (seindal@diku.dk).

storm@texas.dk (Kim F. Storm) (07/04/89)

jeffrey@algor2.UUCP (Jeffrey Kegler) writes:


>What is a typical user session with nn like?  Are you forced to
>dispose of a newsgroup entirely, or leave it entirely untouched,
>possibly having to wade through many articles you have already read
>when you revisit?

In principle yes, but you can use the 'N' command to go to the next group,
and nn will remember how far you got selecting articles from the menu/
reading the articles you  have selected, and offer you to 'use old
selections' when you enter the group next time (or uses it silently if
you reenter it in the same invokation of nn).

>nn is a very impressive effort.  At this point I find it to be like
>the play Hamlet.  Clearly a brilliant effort, but otherwise completely
>perplexing.  I feel I must be missing something.  Should I alter my
>newsreading style?  Do I need to, in order to use nn?

Perhaps it is your reading style that is perplexing :-)
I don't think nn is very well suited for your reading style.  So either
you adapt to nn's linear style, or you stick to rn.

-- 
Kim F. Storm        storm@texas.dk        Tel +45 429 174 00
Texas Instruments, Marielundvej 46E, DK-2730 Herlev, Denmark
	  No news is good news, but nn is better!

storm@texas.dk (Kim F. Storm) (07/05/89)

nagel@paris.ics.uci.edu (Mark Nagel) writes:

>I think the problem here is not reading style, but posting style.
>It is of benefit to all to allow users to mark articles unread
>before blindly following-up to each article as they read it.  Right
>now, if you plan on following up to an article, but you wish to use
>the proper etiquette, you must write down the article subject (or
>remember it or something) and then hit '=' at the very end to
>re-find the article to follow-up to it.

Well, if that is you problem, then nn has a (partial) solution:

When you are reading an article which you MAY want to respond to if
nobody else has done that in a following article, use the `l' key.
This will keep the article selected on the menu and continue to the
next selected article.

When all the selected articles in the group has been read, nn will
show you the l'ed articles again, and now you can deside whether you
want to respond or not.

Of course, this will only work within a single invokation of nn, i.e.
you cannot mark the article for a later invokation of nn, but it is
still better than nothing.

To make l'ed (or L'ed?) articles survive to the next invokation of nn
is not possible at present, but it is on my to-do list.
-- 
Kim F. Storm        storm@texas.dk        Tel +45 429 174 00
Texas Instruments, Marielundvej 46E, DK-2730 Herlev, Denmark
	  No news is good news, but nn is better!