Louis Kessler’s Behold Blog

Well, my frustration with the speed of Mailwasher prompted me to check out a few possible alternatives to handling spam. I saw a great review of Spam Inspector which integrates right into your e-mail client, works as a proxy between the server and the e-mail software (so no spam sneak through) and has one of the best Bayesian filters available giving it top accuracy once it completes its learning phase.

My main reason for trying others was to decrease the time it takes for me to get my e-mail. Alas, Spam Inspector (and the others I tried) were no faster at processing than Mailwasher. Process-wise, I really like Mailwasher and it does exactly what I want, so there’s no worth in changing and having to redo the filtering rules that I’ve developed over time for Mailwasher.

The SharpReader RSS reader is very nice and is very easy to use. It is set up very much like Outlook / Outlook Express and has the standard three pane interface: feed names on the left, item list at the top right, and the item content at the bottom right. The only concern is that I have to open Outlook Express to read my mail and newsgroups, and then SharpReader to open my new items. Why should I have to use two programs for this. Shouldn’t I be able to use one to do all three things?

Well, I found there is one solution currently available, and it is freeware open source as well. It is called nntp//rss and will enable someone to use their existing nntp newsgroup reader (in my case Outlook Express) to read and work with RSS channels. I had to download the whole Java Runtime Environment and install it (not a task for those with weak hearts) and then set up nntp//rss. It works nicely in Outlook Express, but I have 2 small complaints of it relative to SharpReader. The most important is that it is much less convenient for adding new feeds. With SharpReader, you can simply enter the url, or even drag and drop feeds to it. But feeds have to be manually added to a web-based administrative interface for nntp//rss that is outside the newsreader - very inconvenient. The other thing is that with nntprss, the image of the newsgroup doesn’t show. Starting up, SharpReader is fairly slow. Nntp//rss requires the Java Runtime environment to be going. On Windows 98, this can be setup as a startup program, but I really don’t want extra processes running in the background when they’re not needed.

For now, I think I’ll stick with SharpReader. I’m sure either Outlook Express will add its own RSS reader in the future, or maybe a 3rd party addin will be developed that might tweak away the inconveniences I mention.

Another unfinished item is my Behold forum. It has been sitting in my “unfinished work” pile since February. Researching RSS has led me to look at other Forums again and evaluate what I want. Also, it is possible to add an RSS feed to my Forum, maybe even every topic group in my forum, and make it as useable and accessible as possible.

Really, what I would like is to have my Forum as a newsgroup (i.e. an NNTP feed) which can be handled by Outlook Express and other e-mail/newsgroup readers very easily. I love the way the TRichview newsgroup works, and I check the e-mails there every day for the ones I haven’t yet seen. I could purchase the DNews program that TRichview uses, but there would be expense and work involved to get it set up. I’m not ready for that yet.

I have two alternatives: I can set up my newsgroups so that I am e-mailed every new message that is posted. That would include them easily in my daily routine of answering e-mails.

The second is to make an RSS feed for my Forum and then I can handle it in my RSS reader. This second method may be the way technology is headed. I’ll have to think about this.