Today we will talk about the autoposting in general and the Auto-Post (and Auto-Thumbnail) feature of MyNews in detail. This chapter is interesting also for those who search for a free AutoPoster for Win95/98/NT. I hope that the comment "sorry, no thumbnails" will END soon :-)
This is an independent chapter - so it is again a little more "newbie-friendly" than some previous steps.
This chapter is important for all the AOLers!
They can post to two moderated newsgroup - even WITHOUT access to any other news-server (and later to much more)!
Whenever you send a message to the Usenet, then you
"Post" a message. Normally this is done manually with
your newsreader. You send messages, requests, comments.
If you attach a picture to a message, then more work is required.
You have to open some windows, select files, choose a posting
method...... a lot of clicks.
If you want to send a series of pictures, perhaps ten pictures,
then you have to do the same clicks ten times. This is
time-consuming and annoying. An "AutoPoster" sends a
bunch of pictures (or other binaries) for you automatically with
one - or a few - clicks. It is a separate program. Some are
payware (shareware), some are free.
If you send the same picture (or message) as an add to several
(or hundreds) of newsgroups or day by day, then you are spamming
!
If you send some (5-20) on-topic pics to one (or 2-4) group(s),
then you are a good contributor.
MyNews does NOT support spamming.
If you post 100-1000 pictures to a newsgroup, just because you
have a fast internet-conenction, then you are flooding a
newsgroup. Such behaviors is as bad as spamming. And it is
completely useless. Nobody can download all your messages. And if
a newsgroup is flooded by ten senders per day, then the group is
an evil!
MyNews does NOT support flooding. (floods are handled in special
MyNews-collection-groups)
MyNews has a 'built-in' automatic creation of thumbnail-sheets for JPEG-pictures. So when you auto-post 15 pictures with MyNews, then MyNews creates automatically an index-picture with small thumbnails of all these pictures. Those who are interested in your stuff can download the thumbnail-files and decide what to download - before they download.
And MyNews places the filename at the BEGIN of the
subject-line. So all newsreaders will display the filename even
if the display-window for the subject-line is small. And the
filesize is always included!
There is always a title for the thumbnail-survey-picture.
Actually just JPEG is supported for creating the
thumbnail-pics. GIF, BMP,PCX,PNG are not used.
You can post just up to 20 pictures. So flooding is difficult.
And especially automatic flooding is difficult.
But there are better payware-tools for flooding and spamming
available.
Large files are now splitted into pieces (multi-part) in the full
version!
MyNews is available in a free version. And actually the
registered version is also free (Registration required, but
free).
You can get it at these websites:
http://www.winews.net
http://www.i3w.com/mynews
http://www.infostar.de/mynews
The installation is fool-proof and very easy. Just execute the downloaded file.
Select the pictures you want to post to the newsgroup and move them (with the Windows Explorer) to the directory: c:\mynews\autopost
Then start MyNews (c:\mynews\mynews.exe) and click the button
"Post".
A dialog appears. Fill the data-fields with appropriate
information:
The text for the subject line. Describe what you post here.
Some newsgroups require or recommend a "Keyword" or
a "Signal" at the beginning of the subject-line. This
makes it easier for other neticens to find your posts in all the
rest. Normally the 'abbreviation' for the newsgroup is used here.
Examples:
ABMP-A: ABPEBmod
ABPEB ABPEAP
ABPFSF ABPEC.....
WARNING! Dont use the signal if your posts dont confirm with the newsgroup-rules/FAQ/charter. You will be punished !
MyNews will not post more pictures than the number entered
here. More than 20 is not possible. Five pics might be a good
start - until you are familiar with it.
If you have less pictures than this number in your
autopost-directory, then MyNews will post all pictures. This
number is a "maximum" limit.
Should be switched off. This is for advanced users who prepare their uploads for a longer time. Then the autopost-directory is divided into "day-directories" ( \mynews\autopost\19991014\*.jpg ).
Activate this checkbox if you want to create Thumbnail-Surveys
automatically.
(The full version allows a filename-prefix for the
thumbnail.files and a preset for the file-counter-part). The
unregistered version uses your server name.
This is usually your Email-address or any faked Email-address.
Be sure to have the '@' inside this address. Some servers reject
posts without formal valid address. Example:
SilverBug@nospam.com (SilverBug)
The name in brackets is displayed by the newsreaders.
This is the name of the newsgroup into which you post. You can crosspost to a second group if you add a second group after a comma. If this is longer than the edit-field: Bad luck. Dont spam ;-)
The non-registered versions of MyNews will allow you JUST to post to the two moderated newsgroups. There I can be sure that you dont make nonsense! (Non-registered MyNews is _very_ defensive)
This is the directory where MyNews 'picks up' the pictures for
posting.
It can be changed only in the MYNEWS.INI - file
This is the News-Server where your pictures are posted.
The unregistered version posts ALWAYS directly to the
Moderation-News-Server for these two newsgroups. You cannot
change this setting.
The registered version allows you to change the settings, add a port-number and use Username and Password with the authentication-flag.
You can add up to 9 lines of comments for your posts.
These nine lines are posted as body with EVERY picture. They
should contain any text - requests for comments, greetings, .....
The FIRST line of the comments is the TITLE for the
thumbnail-picture!
You should ALWAYS SAVE your settings before you click OK !
You get the confirmation dialog-box and the settings appear
again.
The settings are stored to the file:
c:\mynews\autopost\!autopst.ini
Nothing is posted
Your webbrowser is started and a page from the manual is
displayed.
(Nothing is downloaded from the Internet. This is a modern
HTML-Help)
The Autopost is prepared. All pictures are read and encoded to local files. If thumbnail-creation is used, then the thumbnail-pic is generated.
After this you get the final dialog for confirmation:
"6 messages prepared for posting - Are you sure ?"
Now you MUST have a connection with the Internet. Else posting
will fail! Click to "OK" (or Cancel
finally).
If you Cancel, then the messages ares already on your local
server.
You can see them with "Groups - View local group".
Now MyNews will post your messages to the Usenet.
The progress can be watched in the SPY-Window.
If a red error-message appears, then MyNews stopped.
The text: "Sending: done." indicates that
all is sent out.
MyNews moves the pictures which has been posted from the
directory:
c:\mynews\autopost to the directory:
c:\mynews\autopost.ok
If an index-file has been generated, then it is also there.
Move the pictures back to your collection - or to your
"done"-folder.
MyNews will have TROUBLE if there is an old file with the same filename in the "autopost.OK" - folder ! So keep your "OK"-Folder clean.
If MyNews fails posting, then a lot of different mistakes can
be the reason.
The most popular reason is an error in contacting the server or
authentication (login). Then NOTHING was posted at all.
Or the transmission was disturbed. Then just a PART of the
pictures has been sent out. In this case you can check the
SPY-Window for the last SUBJECT-line. It indicates which messages
failed. You should repeat from THIS file (alphabetical order).
You can also check the last logfile
(c:\mynews\log\log####.txt) AFTER exiting MyNews for complete
results of the posts.
In rare cases (and elder versions) it might be necessary to delete the file: c:\mynews\server\upstream.txt AFTER exiting MyNews.
If you cannot find the reason, then contact me by EMail
(mynews@i3w.com) and send me the logfiles - or visit the
mynews.server.question newsgroup on the MyNews-network.
The registered version of MyNews supports multiple setups and splitting huge binary posts.
The unregistered version (tiny version) restricts access for
autoposting to the two moderated newsgroups (or later other
newsgroups which I promote with my work).
If you have entered a wrong community, then there is no need
to install MyNews again. Use "Config - Parameter
Setup. The first line in the SHARE-Tab is the community. You can
change it to:
MyNews or Pinup or Lycra or ....
The value for "Community" is stored in the
MYNEWS.INI-File.
If you are curious and want to see more of MyNews, then try to
click to the "Start"-Button. Then wait until messages
came in and click the GROUP-button. You will see messages from
the MyNews-network.
There you can get some alt. - groups from the Usenet and some
MyNews-Newsgroups.
The next chapter will be about "Expire and Delete" -
how to get rid of the masses of data on your harddisk.
Then the "step-by-step" tutorial is close to the end.
These chapters are not yet written. However the online manual is now finished and contains a LOT of additional stufffff....
Juergen, <InfStar>
All rights reserved. Document contains mistakes in spelling,
grammar and terms.