Monday, September 18, 2006
News Server Available
A new feature has been added to the website and can be accessed for free. You can now access the German Shorthaired Pointer news server by using a mail client capable of connecting to a news server or a news server client software. Depending on the how you are connecting here is the information you need to connect and send messages.
News server: news.silverblades.net
News Group available: rec.dogs.show.gsp
I will add other news groups if this becomes a popular feature.
Why use a news group?
The strenght in a news group comes from people you may or may not know posting or responding to messages within the news group. Basically it provides a focused audience on a specific subject. It also provides a threaded message stream that depending on the server will be available to new subscribers.
Lets assume someone is considering buying or selecting a GSP as a pet or show dog. I get questions from prospective caretakers all the time. I send them to a variety of sources to find information. Normally I would direct them to the GSPDOG.NET web site and tell them to look for the GSP.ORG link or the AKC.ORG links for information. A good source of additional information comes from all the other owners and breeders. With a single dedicated news group a prospective caretaker could go to the news group post a question and get advice from a variety of sources.
How do you join?
If you use a mail client like Outlook Express or Outlook that supports nntp or news services you simply tell it where to connect and what news sessions you would like to receive. You can connect right from e-mail and use it to communicate with the news server to send, respond and read news messages. The other option is download any of the free news readers available on the internet.
One of the other advantages unlike e-mail, news servers do not carry with them virus or worm risk. Malformed news messages are rejected by the server since they only move the text of the message and not executable code or scripts. The only exception as always are attachments and I never recommend opening attachments from anyone including people you know through any medium.
If this one becomes a popular tool I might add news groups for other breeds.
Pending 
