On Sat, 30 Apr 2005 08:48:36 +0900, Rona Y. wrote:

> Or perhaps not so small for some...
>
> I am one of the (likely) few people here who actually has to pay to download
> Usenet. In Japan, telephone calls are not free and are charged in three
> minute increments. For some reason, Usenet is only available through
> relatively slow dial-up ISPs, so I have to pay telephone charges each time I
> download.

First, get yourself a different newsreader! (For instance) Agent will
let you download headers only, you can trim them > then get the
bodies. It also lets you know how large each message is, so you can
trim headers according to size. After that, you can do all of your
reading/replying off line and send your replies as a group when you go
back online.

Secondly, you don't have to be held hostage by a dial-up ISP just
because you want to read Usenet. There are free and pay news servers
that you can subscribe to, which are accessible via broadband. If you
need any suggestions, we've discussed that matter in the not so
distant past... just ask!

HTH
sf