Using The Newsgroups



Newsgroup
CS100 will use the USENET newsgroup called cornell.class.cs100j.

Background
The CS100 Newsgroup gives students the chance to pose questions about  the technical content of  the course.  The CS100 staff closely monitor the newsgroup and try to offer timely answers. The principles of Academic Integrity apply to Newsgroup activity. So, for example, you must not post fragments of your non-working programming assignment code and ask for help. Instead, you should seek clarification of the underlying concepts, perhaps by  pointing to a lecture example or to a section assignment problem that you do not understand.

Help
I. On a Windows Platform:

    Use WinVN program in CIT labs. Otherwise, try Netscape:

  1. Start Netscape.
  2. Click on Communicator and select Newsgroups from the drop down menu. A newsgroup window should appear.
  3. Click on File and select Subscribe. On the window that appears, make sure the server is newsstand.cit.cornell.edu. If it is something else, click Add Server choose New Server (NNTP) and then type in the above server name.
  4. In the newsgroups that appear, double click on cornell and then on cornell.class. Then select the newsgroup cornell.class.cs100 by double clicking on it followed by OK. You are now subscribed to the newsgroup.
  5. The messages posted can be seen by double clicking on the newsgroup title. To post a message, right click on the newsgroup title and select New Message.
II. On the Macs in the Carpenter Lab:
  1. Double click on the hard drive icon, followed by Bear Access and MT-NewsWatcher.
  2. Double click on MT-NewsWatcher. Select Shared and create a folder on the desktop.
  3. Type in newsstand.cit.cornell.edu as the news server, and postoffice.mail.cornell.edu as the mail server.
  4. Fill in the blanks in the window that appears.
  5. After all the newsgroups appear, select cornell followed by cornell.class and cornell.class.cs100.
For further assistance, please ask the consultants in Carpenter Lab.

Advice
Since articles (posts) can expire (go away forever) and/or the news server is sometimes inaccessible, you should save important articles: email copies to yourself and/or save to your hardrive/floppy.