I'm trying to use www.eternal-september.org to get messages from the newsgroup

That is a web server to be used with a web browser. It has the information how to access the news server: https://www.eternal-september.org/index.php?showpage=techinfo

Thanks for replying - but your reponse doesn't really help me.

First: I had Thunderbird setup as I noted in my original post - and that setup worked fine.

Second: I can't see where the eternal-september site has (or could have) any info on how to setup Thunderbird (or any similar product) for my purposes. I would expect the instructions for setting up a newsgroup in Thunderbird, to come from Thunderbird.

I'm very unsophisitcated in this area, but I know I had this setup and working in Thunderbird before - and I didn't use the eternal-september web site to do it (I would never have thought to go there).

I need the individual steps necessary to set this up in Thunderbird.

[And I'd still like to know how to get rid of my email account in Thunderbird.]

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/creating-newsgroup-account

And I'd still like to know how to get rid of my email account in Thunderbird.

If you're certain there is no mail to be kept in the old account it can be deleted.

Press Alt or F10 in case the menu bar is hidden. From the main menu bar: Tools - Account Settings Select the account to be deleted in the left pane. Select 'Remove Account' from the 'Account Action' drop-down menu at the bottom.

It would help if you provided more info than that you aren't getting anywhere. I presume you have made some progress. I will share something often overlooked: you need to tick in server settings to always request authentication. Otherwise, the server will not let you select a newsgroup. Here are the basics: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/creating-newsgroup-account the server name and port will be from the newsgroup website.

I have some work to do on this, which I'll start tomorrow.

In the meantime, can you tell me how to keep the Menu row visible: everytime I click anything in Thunderbird, the Menu row goes missing?

Make sure you have ticked it on: View>toolbars and tick 'menu bar' - that should do it.

I deleted the Newsgroup account I had previously tried to setup in Thunderbird.

Then I followed the instructions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/creating-newsgroup-account [Thank you for that link.]

I used the "Newsgroup name", news.eternal-september.org

When I right-click the Newsgroup name in the Thunderbird Folders column and select Subscribe, I do not see any of the newsgroup names I expect/need.

There are only a few newsgroups displayed and all the newsgroups displayed start with "eternal-september ....". None of them are the newsgroup I want.

I need a list of the newsgroups that begin with "alt.comp ...." (I believe those are "usenet" newsgroups) - specifically I want to subscribe to alt.comp.software.quicken (as I recall the name).

Any ideas?

Deleted

The solution is in my earlier response. You need to authorize authentication. See my earlier post.

I have read that link multiple times. I don't see anywhere in that link that mentions "authorize authentication".

And as I recreated the newsgroup account, I followed the steps in the link carefully: I did not see any mention of "authorize authentication" during the process.

When I look at Server Settings, I do not see "authorize authentication". I do see "Always REQUEST authentication when connecting to this server". Is that the option I need to check?

What exactly does that do? Do I have to be involved in that authentication, "when connecting"?

This quote from my earlier response: " I will share something often overlooked: you need to tick in server settings to always request authentication. Otherwise, the server will not let you select a newsgroup. " The setting is in 'server settings' for the account.

I tested setting "always request authentication"; it did not help.

I am still unable to get the option to subscribe to any of the alt.comp.software newsgroups. All the "newsgroups" that are displayed for my to choose begin with "eternal-september ...", and none of those choices provide the actual newsgroup that I'm looking for.

That setting is to force the server to check your password. All I can further suggest is to be sure you use port 119 and have security set to NONE.

" ... be sure you use port 119 and have security set to NONE.

Both were set that way.

What makes this doubly frustrating is that I had Thunderbird working fine with the newsgroup of my choice until one day Thunderbird just went south. Displayed the same newsgroup name twice in the left column - and would not display any posts (read or unread) no matter which of the two entries was selected.

During this process of trying to re-setup Thunderbird, I think I deleted the first newsgroup account I created and started over. I'd like to try starting over yet again, but I cannot figure out how to delete the (second) newsgroup account I have already created.

Any thoughts?

- highlight the account name in 'account settings pane - then, slightly lower is 'Account Actions' menu. click that and select to remove account

FWIW: I think I have it working now.

What follows is strictly from memory, and I made multiple attempts to get the account working, so I can't guarantee my memory is perfect here.

I suspect that when I first checked the box to "always request authentication" and tried to finish the setup, I was asked for the eternal-september user-id and password ... and I think I entered something incorrectly then. But I continued on with the setup.

When I experienced my problem of not being offerred any of the alt.comp newsgroups, I tried to get Thunderbird to ask me to enter the eternal-september user-id/password again, but never could get the chance to enter those credentials again.

After deleting the account and setting it up again this time, I was very careful to enter the correct credentials for eternal-september; and that allowed me to see the alt.comp .... newsgroups, and to select the one I want.

Thanks for sticking with me and helping me get Thunderbird working for me.

I'm glad to hear that it went well. And, I also have an account at same server and I remember having the same difficulty. My error had been that I wasn't ticking the box for authentication checking and that proved to be the key to being prompted for desired newsgroup.  :)

I wish that Thunderbird would provide the option to re-enter the news server User-id/Password (without having to delete the account and set it up again).

I think that would have saved me a ton of time.