Tucows is migrating from the use of mailing lists to a web/NNTP-based discussion system. This posting explains what's happening, when it will happen and how to switch from using the mailing lists to using our discussion forums.
Contents ========
1. What's Happening 2. When Will This Happen? 3. What You Need to Do 4. The Forums 5. How to Access the Discussion Forums Using Your Web Browser 6. How to Access the Discussion Forums Using an NNTP Newsreader 7. We Want Your Feedback
1. What's Happening ===================
We are planning to migrate our mailing lists (discuss-list, dev-list and bizops-list) over to our discussion system. The reasons for this migration are:
- It reduces the risk of spam and viruses to both our servers and your inbox.
- It makes it easier to follow the "thread" of a discussion topic.
You will be able to read and post messages to the forums either through your web browser or an NNTP newsreader (such as Microsoft Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird).
The discussion forums have already been enabled; we ask that you use them instead of the mailing lists.
2. When will this happen? =========================
The discussion forums will be active as of Monday, January 17th. The mailing lists will remain active until Monday, February 28th, after which they will no longer accept postings. The mailing list archives will remain online.
3. What You Need to Do ======================
You do not have to unsubscribe from the mailing lists. This will be automatically done for you.
You need to sign up for an account in the discussion forums*.
* NOTE: If you already use the Blogware discussion forums, you already have an account and do not need to sign up for one.
You can sign up for an account here:
http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/register.php
Once you have signed up for an account, you will be able to post messages to the dicussion forums.
* PLEASE NOTE: The username and password for discussion forums are TOTALLY SEPARATE from the username and password for your reseller acount!
4. The Forums =============
The mailing lists and the forums that will replace them are listed below:
- discuss-list will be replaced by tucows.services.opensrs.discuss (http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?40)
- dev-list will be replaced by tucows.services.opensrs.development (http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?41) | - bizops-list will be replaced by tucows.services.opensrs.marketplace (http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?42)
There are a number of other forums, including:
- tucows.services.blogware.general (General, non-technical discussion of the Blogware platform; http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?10)
- tucows.services.blogware.dev (Programmer/technical discussion of the Blogware platform; http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?9)
- tucows.services.platypus.general; (General discussion of the Platypus platform; http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?30)
Once you have an account, you may access any discussion forum you like.
5. How to Access the Discussion Forums Using Your Web Browser =============================================================
To access the forums using you web browser. use the URLs provided in the list above. For example: to look at the tucows.services.opensrs.discuss discussion forum, take your browser its URL, http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?40. You will be taken to a page holding the most recently posted discussions.
To read a topic of discussion, click on its name. All messages in that topic will appear in chronological order on the page. To reply to a particular message, click on its "Reply to this message" link.
6. How to Access the Discussion Forums Using an NNTP Newsreader ===============================================================
To access the forums using an NNTP newsreader (such as Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird), you will need to specify news.r.tucows.com as the news server and use your forum account's username and password.
6(a) Outlook Express --------------------
Setting up Outlook Express --------------------------
To set up your account in Outlook Express, go to the "Tools" menu and select "Accounts...". The "Internet Accounts" window will appear. Click the "Add" button and select "News..." from the menu that pops up. You will be taken through a series of windows, where you will provide information about your account.
When you are asked to provide the name of a News (NNTP) server, enter "news.r.tucows.com" and check the "My news server requires me to log in" checkbox.
When you are asked to provide an account name and password, enter the account name and password for you discussion forum account.
You will be prompted with an window that says "Would you like to download newsgroups from the news account you added?". Click the "Yes" button. You will be asked to wait for a moment while Outlook Express downloads the list of newsgroups. You will then be shown the "Newsgroup Subsciptions" window, which allows you to subscribe or unsubscribe to newsgroups.
To be able to see the contents of a discussion forum, you must subscribe to its newsgroup. To subscribe to a newsgroup, you can either:
- Click on its name in the list and then click the "Subscribe" button
- Double-click on its name in the list
Any newsgroup to which you are subscribed will have an icon to the left of its name (the icon looks like a pushpin holding down a piece of paper and a folder).
Select the newsgroup(s) to which you would like to subscribe and then click the "OK" button.
The newsgroups to which you have subscribed will appear in the left column of Outlook Express' main window.
Reading discussion forums in Outlook Express --------------------------------------------
To read a discussion forum, click on its icon in the left column of Outlook Express' main window. The list where you would normally see incoming emails will fill with the subject lines of posts made to the forum. Click on a post to read its contents.
6(b) Mozilla Thunderbird ------------------------
Setting Up Mozilla Thunderbird ------------------------------
To set up your account in Mozilla Thunderbird, go to the "Tools" menu and select "Account Settings...". The "Account Settings" window will appear. Click the "Add Acount..." button. The "Account Wizard" window will appear. Select "Newsgroup account" from the options presented, then click the "Next" button. You will be taken through a series of windows, where you will provide information about your account.
When you are asked to provide the name of a Newsgroup server, enter "news.r.tucows.com".
You can enter any name when prompted for a name by which you want to refer to the account; we recommend "Tucows Discussion Forums".
Once you have gone through the process, an icon for the discussion forums will appear in the left column of Thunderbird's main window.
To be able to see the contents of a discussion forum, you must subscribe to its newsgroup. To subscribe to a newsgroup, click the icon for the Tucows discussion forum in the left column of Thuderbird's main window. The right side of the window will fill with a list of icons; click "Manage newsgroup subscriptions".
You will be asked for a "username for news server access". Enter the user name for your discussion forum account, check the "Use Password Manager to remember this value" checkbox and click the "OK" button.
You will be asked to enter a "password for news server access". Enter the password for your discussion forum account. If you don't want to enter your password every time you want to check the discussion forum, check the "Use Password Manager to remember this password" checkbox. Click the "OK" button.
You will be shown the "Subscribe" window, which you can use to subscribe to newsgroups. The newsgroups are arranged in a hierarchy, so if you see nothing but the "tucows" folder, click on the "+" sign to its left to expand it. One of the folders that will appear is "tucows.services". Click on the "+" sign to its left to reveal a number of folders, including "tucows.services.opensrs". Clicking on the "+" sign to its left will reveal the newsgroups. Check the boxes corresponding to the newsgroups you would like to subscribe to and click the "OK" button.
Reading discussion forums in Mozilla Thunderbird ------------------------------------------------
To read a discussion forum, click on its icon in the left column of Mozilla Thunderbird's main window. The list where you would normally see incoming emails will fill with the subject lines of posts made to the forum. Click on a post to read its contents.
7. We Want Your Feedback ========================
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about the migration, you can let us know by:
- Posting a message to the discuss-list mailing list
- Posting a message to the tucows.services.opensrs.discuss forum (http://news.r.tucows.com/phorum/list.php?40)
- Sending email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
We look forward to hearing from you.
_________________________________________________ Joey deVilla - Tucows, Inc. - [EMAIL PROTECTED] TC/DC (Technical Community Development Coordinator) "Nerdy Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
