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NNTP Patch



All,

Recently I have rekindled my interest in Usenet. After deciding which
groups I would like to follow, I set out to learn how to make Mutt talk
to my NNTP server. As I have always associated Usenet and email as
being very similar if not almost one in the same, I was very surprised
to find that Mutt does not natively support NNTP. Fortunately, a
seemingly well-rounded patch has been maintained (by Vsevolod Volkov)
for recent versions of Mutt to add NNTP functionality. 

Shortly after getting Mutt setup and finding it to be exactly what I was
looking for in a news reader, I set out to make sense of why it was
never made official. From what I can tell, this decision was made based
on sentiments that email and news don't belong together, something I
don't understand. Myself and many others feel that Mutt makes a great
news reader, benefiting from many of the same features that make Mutt a
great email client. It seems unfortunate for such divide over something
that can be turned into a compile time option; coveted by those who use
it, not noticed by those who don't. 

From what I've read in the list archives, there are a handful of others
who share my sentiment that Usenet reads like a mailing list and can be
treated that way. If I have missed anything or have made any unfair
generalizations/assumptions, please note them. I've written this post
because I would like to see Mutt support NNTP, and the topic seems to
have been left in a gray area.

Regards,
-- 
Travis Poppe                              |   ASCII Ribbon            /"\
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