Subject: Unsubscribe to all newsgroups

From: Donna or Andy <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 14:29:48 -0600

When I first set up my pine mailer to view newsgroups, it had 
automatically subscribed me to a kazillion groups, a zillion of which I 
have no interest in. How do I unsubscribe to them all quickly so I can 
then subscribe to the ones I want? It is so slow removing them one at a time.

Donna

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From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 08:59:12 +0000 (GMT)

Pine does not *automatically* subscribe you to any newsgroups (unless, of 
course, your local system administrator has *substantially* changed the 
Pine program :-)

However Pine *does* use the same ".newsrc" file that other newsreaders 
use.  It is quite possible that you have used some other newsreader in 
the past which has automatically subscribed you to all the groups.

In fact I know from experience that this can happen accidentally:

Whilst Pine is our preferred/recommended mailer and news reader here we 
also provide (unsupported) Tin.  When Tin starts up for the first time it 
sends a "list subscriptions" command to the news server for a list of the 
newsgroups to automatically subscribe you to.  Unfortunately if the news 
server does not support this command you get an error.  Tin ends up 
subscribing you to ALL the newsgroups.  Sigh.

Anyway, the easiest way to unsubscribe from *everything* is to delete the 
file called ".newsrc" in your login directory (I'm assuming you're using 
a UNIX system).

Don't worry if you can't see this file when you give an "ls" command (Unix
normally hides files whose names start with a ".");  give the command "ls
-a" to see *all* the files and you should then spot the ".newsrc" file. 

Mike Brudenell                                               <[email-masked]>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Computing Service, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD, UK
Phone: +44-(0)1904-433811  FAX: +44-(0)1904-432767

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From: Donna Vanderzalm <[email-masked]>
Date: 17 Mar 1995 16:16:34 GMT

> file called ".newsrc" in your login directory (I'm assuming you're using 

Yes, I am using a UNIX system, but is it OK to outright DELETE the file?
Is the file not required to have access to newsgroups? Is the file then
re-created? I know, lots of questions...i'm a curious George.

Here's one more question, how do I ensure that I have access to NEW
newsgroups each day (or however often...)? Are they added to my .newsrc
file? If so, how? Any answers to these questions would be much appreciated
as I'm trying to learn everything I can during my short stay on earth.

Thanx
Donna

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From: [email-masked] (Bob Brody)
Date: 17 Mar 1995 22:55:59 GMT

> re-created? I know, lots of questions...i'm a curious George.

Curiosity leads to experimentation.  You could rename (mv) .newsrc to, 
say, newsrc-save or some such, then see what happens when you start.  
Your original is still around, so you can breathe easy, and you'll then know 
for sure what happens.  Don't be afraid of your computer/software.  Make 
back ups and tinker.

Regards, Bob

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From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 1995 20:43:25 +0000 (GMT)

Sure, you can delete the ".newsrc" file; this will unsubsvribe you from 
all the newsgroups in one go.  When you use Pine to (A)dd a newsgroup 
(subscribe to it) the ".newsrc" file will get recreated containing just 
that/those newsgroups.

Some newsreaders automatically check for new newsgroups as they start 
up.  Pine does not do that at present (it may one day; anyone care to 
comment?).

Until then you either have to skim doen the whole list looking for 
anything new (not really practicable), or else use some other utility.

For example I've knocked up a little Perl script we'll be using here to 
check for new newsgroups.  I've also heard of something called 
"choosenews", but don't know anything else about it.

Mike Brudenell                                               <[email-masked]>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Computing Service, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD, UK
Phone: +44-(0)1904-433811  FAX: +44-(0)1904-433740

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From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 11:15:45 -0800 (PST)

> up.  Pine does not do that at present (it may one day; anyone care to 

This is IMHO, so take it with the usual rock of salt.  Your mileage may 
vary.  Void were restricted or prohibited.

The problem with the old rn-style behavior is that while it was fine when
there were only a few hundred newsgroups, it simply does not scale to
today's reality of thousands of newsgroups, with daily additions or
deletions which may number in the hundreds. 

rn was terribly annoying when it forced me to answer hundreds of questions
about did I want to subscribe to such-and-such a newsgroup at startup.  
And the only correct answer was "yes", then "unsubscribe", since 
answering no would only cause it to ask me about it again the next time I 
ran rn!  Then came the torture of having it remove newsgroups that were 
deleted (e.g. class-based newsgroups).

The behavior of making you identify the newsgroups you want to see, as 
opposed to making you identify the newsgroups you *don't* want to see, 
was at least in part based upon a reaction to rn's behavior.  
Similarly, non-existant newsgroups in .newsrc are ignored, instead of 
provoking error messages, again for the same reason.

Also, there were some technical considerations which led to the current 
behavior.

Then again, I only read about 20 or so newsgroups, and generally never
read a newsgroup unless I've been referred to it.  People who want to read
every single newsgroup may feel differently.

-- Mark --

DoD #0105, R90/6 pilot
FAX: (206) 685-4045 ICBM: N 47 39'35" W 122 18'39" (est.)

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From: T Chuck Hazzard <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 20:28:50 -0500

> then subscribe to the ones I want? It is so slow removing them one at a time.

Nuke your .newsrc file and recreate it with only those newsgroups you 
wish to subscribe to.

Enjoy...cHaz

T. Chuck Hazzard, JD		/Internet:	[email-masked]
Biddeford Internet		/Voice:		207.756.8770
120 Exchange St., Ste. 204	/Data:		207.756.8774
Portland, ME 04101		/Data:		207.286.1220
http://www.biddeford.com/~hazbro/

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From: [email-masked] (Al Castanoli)
Date: 26 Mar 1995 17:35:25 GMT

Mike Brudenell ([email-masked]) wrote:
: [...]
: Some newsreaders automatically check for new newsgroups as they start 
: up.  Pine does not do that at present (it may one day; anyone care to 
: comment?).
: [...]

Since you asked, I think it's an awful idea....whenever I'm testing out a 
new newsreader hack, it hangs up on "subscribe newsgroup alt.fan.foo" or 
some such (for we all know what a pain it is to run an ls -lt against 
the index of newsgroup files) until I go in and answer no to the 
question with my old newsreader (tin).

-- Al Castanoli | [email-masked]