rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting.vintage

rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting.vintage
Want to get online with the best place on the net for vintage Star Wars discussion? The place to be is the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting.vintage (rasscv).

Never heard of newsgroups? They've been around since the beginning of the internet, but many people, only accustomed to the world wide web, have never heard of them. They take about 15 minutes to set up on your computer, but once you're off and running, you'll find there is no better place for vintage Star Wars collecting discussion. This page will help you get onto the newsgroups.

The first thing you'll need is a newsgroups server (sometimes called a usenet server or an nntp server). To get this, contact you Internet Service Provider (ISP). In most cases, simply visit your ISPs web site and search for news server or nntp server. This name will be something like: news.brightdls.net. Jot this down, you'll need it later. If you can't find this information on your ISPs web page, call up tech support and they will be able to help you not only with the server name, but setting up your software (see below).

If your ISP does not support newsgroups, you can sign up for a free server at this web site: http://news.cis.dfn.de/

Next you need to set up your newsreader. Don't worry, you probably already have one installed. Most email programs, including Outlook and Netscape have embedded newsreaders. Here's a good page to show you how to set up your newsreader: http://news.cis.dfn.de/en/configuration/
Just make sure when you get the section on putting in the news server you use the name you got from your ISP, not the name shown on this web page.

Once this is all finished, just subscribe to rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting.vintage

You can also access the newsgroup from the web here here: Google Groups
But be warned that using Google Groups is very tedious and you'll loose some of the great advantages newsgroups have over web pages.

So, what are some of those advantages?

Fast access: The newsgroups aren't cluttered up with all the graphics of web forums. Let's face it, you're looking for discussion, not cute little icons. Why waste precious download time (especially if you're on a modem and not broadband) downloading a bunch of graphics that you don't really need.

Freedom of Speech: Many web forums are moderated, some lightly and some with a very heavy hand, even to the point of squelching free speech or criticizing of the moderators. What does moderation say to the forum members? It says, the moderators don't think we're intelligent enough to be able to govern ourselves, to deal with off-topic posts and trolls in our own manner. Rasscv on the other hand is a completely open forum. Anyone is free to say anything they want. This creates a freedom to expose bad dealers or ebayers, the freedom to criticize, the freedom to post off-topic banter with our friends, the freedom of speech.

Easier access. Newsgroups allow you to "mark" posts as read. Once a past is marked it will not appear on your screen again. This saves tons of time of sorting through posts you already read to find the new posts. The only thing that shows up on your screen are the new posts since the last time you checked the group. Sure, you can go back and bring up those old posts if you really need to see one of them again, but generally those old posts just clutter up the screen.

Archiving: Newsgroups posts are archived on Google Groups for all time, web forums posts often get deleted to save server space. This archiving is a great resource to go back even years earlier to check out a post on a specific topic that may be important again today. There is a ton of invaluable information about Star Wars collecting from the past on the newsgroup archive.

Redundancy: Becuase the newsgroup is distributed across the internet, if very seldom goes offline. Unlike a web page, which can easily have down time and therefore no forum access, newsgroups are always live. No frustrating weekends wanting to get in on Star Wars discussion, but being unable to because your favorite web forum is down.

History: The newsgroups have been around since the beginning of the internet. Rasscv was the only place to discuss vintage Star Wars back in the early days of the internet. The people posting there are the old-times, the most experienced collectors around - simply because they've been at it so long. If you are looking for valuable information from the best sources, rasscv is the place to get it.

If you need any assistance in joining rasscv, email me here: chris@12back.com