Get Each Post as It Appears with an RSS Feed

[edfrank]

ENTS,

Some of you have expressed a disappointment that you are not receiving each of the individual emails to the group as you were on the Google List. I want to tell you about a feature on the site that accomplishes much the same thing - a RSS Feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Essentially it sends out copies of things posted to the BBS.

If you want to try the RSS feeds. It is simple. I downloaded this program: ReadDemon (3 MB) from this site. http://www.newsgator.com/individuals/default.aspxIt is a free program. I then installed it and then clicked on the subscription tab and added this feed: http://www.ents-bbs.org/feed.php to subscribe to the ENTS RSS Feed.

Also on this page is a link to download, also free, NetNewsWire for Mac and iPhone platforms.

With these programs you will get copies of every message as they are posted (or at least as often as you set the feed to update.)

Ed Frank

[Don]

Ed-
I saw the RSS Feed option and thought it was going to the "bees' knees"...dutifully downloaded the utility suggested, followed the installation directions, and voila, I was getting RSS feeds in the Favorites (TOC-like section of the browser box) collumn...as I viewed them, they went away...for a day...now they remain, and only the second 25 are there...I went to properties, tried to effect change that would make RSS feed more like GoogleGroups daily read, but now everytime I click on ENTS in Microsoft Feeds column, I get XML-like script that is basically inactive...
What do you recommend?
Thanks,
Don

[edfrank]

Don,

I am not sure if there is anything wrong or not. Do you have Feed Demon installed?

The favorites have nothing to do with the RSS Feeds, it is just a copy of the favorites from Internet Explorer. I don't know what you are trying to do within the Favorites menu as I don't have a Microsoft Feeds column.

Do you have the subscriptions column showing? If not go the upper menu bar in Feed Demon - click on View - check the box that says Show Subscriptions. This will show the subscription window and you can click on the Eastern Native Tree Society BBS link to see what is there.


Under FeedDemon 3.1.0.20

In the window in the middle top - be sure Show All is selected from the menu. (where it say "Unread 0r Starred" in the photo in the first post.)

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This menu lets you decide which posts you want to show. You can choose other options but Show All - but I think that is the one you want.

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You can keep up to the last 2500 posts for up to 999 days, by adjusting the settings as follows:

Edit - Feed Properties - Updating - keep the most recent 2500 (that is the highest) and Keep items for 999 days

You would need to do the same for Edit - Folder Properties

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You can adjust how frequently it checks for new messages:

Edit - Feed Properties - Updating - Updating Frequency and set it to what you want.

You will need to set how often the desktop gives you a notice of new messages also:

Tools - Options -Options -Desktop Alert - (mark) As New Items are received

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You can check for new messages manually by clicking on the Update All Button (with green arrows)

rss4.JPG (12.19 KiB) Viewed 14058 times

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If you want to keep copies longer than that or more, you can subscribe to the Digest under User Control Panel (upper left) and go to the Digests tab, and subscribe.

[Don]

Ed-
The RSS Feed was close to what I wanted, but I've found I'm more pleased by 1)having taken the time to view all prior posts, and then 2) View Active Posts, the later of which is closer to the GoogleGroup experience that I was seeking.
Except now, they have this amazing infrastructure behind the scenes (all due to you!)...and you don't have to (and can't) delete them. Good job!

[edfrank]

NTS

I am currently using the feeds option from Windows Live Mail to get the RSS feeds from the BBS using the RSS link here: http://www.ents-bbs.org/feed.php I have the program set to check for new feeds every 15 minutes. It works fine. You get the posts almost as soon as they are posted. To respond to a post compose your message as you would with an email response, click the link in the header that says "view online." This will open up the post in your web browser. Click the Reply button in the post, and cut and paste the response you composed into the the BBS window that opens. Then click submit at the bottom of the composition window. It is a couple of more steps than just hitting the reply button on your email, but it is still simple and easy to do.

Ed

[Joe]

NTS

I am currently using the feeds option from Windows Live Mail to get the RSS feeds from the BBS using the RSS link here: http://www.ents-bbs.org/feed.php I have the program set to check for new feeds every 15 minutes. It works fine. You get the posts almost as soon as they are posted. To respond to a post compose your message as you would with an email response, click the link in the header that says "view online." This will open up the post in your web browser. Click the Reply button in the post, and cut and paste the response you composed into the the BBS window that opens. Then click submit at the bottom of the composition window. It is a couple of more steps than just hitting the reply button on your email, but it is still simple and easy to do.

Ed

Well, I have a better way, I think, to keep track of this BBS. I have a link on my desk top to "unread messsages": http://www.ents-bbs.org/search.php?sear ... nreadposts

.

So, each morning, or whenever, I click on that- then I just choose whichever look interesting. After reading what I want, I go to the main page of the board and click on "mark all messages read" or something like that. This method makes it very easy to keep track without getting 20 or more emails per day- or trying to search the entire BBS for new messages. I'm sure other methods have been discovered, but this method works perfect for me- I get to keep up with the entire board and it's ultra efficent of my time.
Joe

[Joe]

NTS

I am currently using the feeds option from Windows Live Mail to get the RSS feeds from the BBS using the RSS link here: http://www.ents-bbs.org/feed.php I have the program set to check for new feeds every 15 minutes. It works fine. You get the posts almost as soon as they are posted. To respond to a post compose your message as you would with an email response, click the link in the header that says "view online." This will open up the post in your web browser. Click the Reply button in the post, and cut and paste the response you composed into the the BBS window that opens. Then click submit at the bottom of the composition window. It is a couple of more steps than just hitting the reply button on your email, but it is still simple and easy to do.

Ed

Well, I have a better way, I think, to keep track of this BBS. I have a link on my desk top to "unread messsages": http://www.ents-bbs.org/search.php?sear ... nreadposts

So, each morning, or whenever, I click on that- then I just choose whichever look interesting. After reading what I want, I go to the main page of the board and click on "mark all messages read" or something like that. This method makes it very easy to keep track without getting 20 or more emails per day- or trying to search the entire BBS for new messages. I'm sure other methods have been discovered, but this method works perfect for me- I get to keep up with the entire board and it's ultra efficent of my time.
Joe

by the way, that link I gave actually works though you can't see it all as posted in that message- for some reason only Ed may know, the post only shows part of the full URL, yet it does work

[edfrank]

Joe,

I fixed the link in your original reply to display properly. For some reason the BBS only displays the relative location of internal links, even though it actually uses the entire url path for the link. I don't know why. Whenever I post a link I use the URL button from the buttons bar at the top to bracket the links with the codes. That way it displays the full path in the text of the message instead of a shortened version.

Joe that is a good tip if you do not want to have every message download to your computer.

Ed

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