Message from AOL re: Discontinuing Newsgroups

This is the message that pops up when I access alt.fashion now:
Please Note: The AOL Newsgroup service will be discontinued in early 2005.
For members using AOL over a dial–up connection, you will no longer be able to
access Newsgroups. If you have a separate high–speed connection, you can
contact your broadband provider to see if they offer Newsgroups. Newsgroup
services can often be accessed through a third party reader, such as Mozilla
Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/).
Alternatively, you can access Newsgroups via Google at
http://groups.google.com/.
We apologize for this inconvenience.

Am reading and posting from google now, and I'm not so sure google is
picking up posts as readily as AOL did. The most recent post I see
right now, at 5:08, is one posted at 12:09, 5 hours ago. I'm sure
someone has posted something since then. Is there a big delay in
google picking up posts?
Linda

"Linda" <figa...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1106604686.312514.57...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Linda,
I know you probably won't see this for awhile, but Google advertised it
could take up to 12 hours for posts to appear (that was before their recent
re–configuration).
Jamie

On 24 Jan 2005 14:11:26 –0800, "Linda" <figa...@aol.com> coughed
and sputtered, and managed to choke out these words:
yep. it's something like three to six hours. i posted from
google very briefly. still do, occasionally.
honestly, i'm certain that you could find another ISP and still
be able to retain the 'figaro6' part of your email address.
david
––
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/derbarbier/
http://www.cafepress.com/derbarbier
http://shops.half.com/derbarbier
ten tod labolgcbs ta reibrabred

Thanks, Jamie! I guess it's not as bad as I thought – I see my post is
time–stamped 2:11, and I posted at 5:11, so I guess it's a time zone
thing for the most part. I checked via google to see if my post was
there 20 minutes or so after I posted it, and it wasn't. With AOL the
posts showed up right away. So the performance looks like it's not as
good as AOL's was, but not as bad as I thought this afternoon.
Linda

David, my ISP is actually roadrunner, AOL just sits on top of it as an
interface. I'm not partial to the figaro6 part of my email address,
but rather the email address as a whole. Like a home phone number, so
many people and businesses have it that it would be a major hassle to
switch. As much as some people like to bash AOL, it had a very, very
nice newsreader utility. This newsreader on google is awkward. I
haven't been reading af on a regular basis for some time now, but when
I do, I'd like to be able to refresh and get current posts, and get
*only* the posts I haven't already read. This doesn't seem possible
with google, although I haven't spent much time with it to figure out
it's nuances. What do you use now to read af and post? Is it free?
I'm already paying Brighthouse and AOL, don't want to pay another
business just to read af. Thanks!
Linda

Linda wrote:
I believe it is possible to pay AOL a small fee to keep your AOL
address active for mail forwarding purposes, that would give your more
time to switch to another e–mail address.
The AOL popup mentions Thunderbird, correct? It's a very good mail
and news client and it's the one I use on my Playstation 2 Linux kit.
What you'll do is download it and then set it up to use your broadband
ISP's news server. You'll want to set up the broadband ISP's mail too.
It's easy.
http://www.nidelven–it.no/articles/introduction_to_thunderbird
Veronica
––
Makeup, it takes believing in. Like a magic carpet, it's belief that
makes it fly. Otherwise, it's just a rug.
If you believe in it, makeup has a magic all it's own.
Of course, makeup is only dime–store magic. But it works well enough,
when it's used properly.",
the makeup artist, from the book Sooner or Later, based on the 1978 TV
movie of the same name.

On 25 Jan 2005 01:30:35 –0800, "Linda" <figa...@aol.com> coughed
and sputtered, and managed to choke out these words:
Free Agent is, in fact, free. i use Forte Agent (it's something
like $30). http://www.forteinc.com/agent/index.php
HTH!
david
––
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/derbarbier/
http://www.cafepress.com/derbarbier
http://shops.half.com/derbarbier
ten tod labolgcbs ta reibrabred

Thanks, David and Veronica. I'm going to stick with google for awhile
to see if I get used to it. If I can't, I'll check out Free Agent and
some of the others that have been suggested.
Linda