Instructions for Reading Messages

HyperNews: Instructions: Reading Forums and Messages

A HyperNews "forum" or "base article" looks like a normal web page except for a few additional things. There may be several "messages" appended to the end and there are buttons to add a new message, change the display, etc. A "reply" is just another name for a message that has been added in reply to some other message. In HyperNews, a reply can be added to any specific message rather than only to the end of a discussion. Discussions of this form are also called "threads" and the collection of messages are called a "tree".

At the top of each message are several header lines describing the message: the title of the message, the name of the forum, the message it is a reply to (if not at the top level), the message that is a reply to, etc up to the top level, the date it was posted, and who wrote it. It looks like this:

Reverse order not possible yet

Forum: Instructions for Reading Messages
Re: Reverse Message Order
Date: 1996, May 03
From: Daniel LaLiberte <liberte@hypernews.org>

By the way, reversing the order is possible now. It is a configuration option that is visible to all users and applies to all forums at a site. But I urge you to instead consider subscribing so you can read new messages in your mail box in whatever order you prefer.

Otherwise, new messages are always added after the old messages on the same level, so they may be read in the natural order. This means that a top level message will be added at the very end, after all the current messages replying to the base article and their sub-replies. The newest of the new messages have a new icon of some kind to draw your attention.

Reading is usually open to the public - that's what people like about the web. However, reading can be closed to members-only for particular sites, in which case you will have to become a member first, and you may have to talk with the administrator of the site for that.

Outline and Inline

The tree of messages at the end of a HyperNews page are displayed in an outline which shows, by indentation, which messages are replies to which other messages. Only the titles, authors, and dates are shown for each message in the outline. If the replies go deeper than the outline depth (the default is 3), you will see a "..." where there would be more. You can click on one of the messages in the outline to see that message, and its message outline may then reveal some additional replies.

An abbreviation is used in the outline for the special case of a chain of replies - a single reply to a single reply, etc. Instead of indenting deeper and deeper, subsequent replies are displayed at the same level prefixed by the weird notation: "(_". Here is how that looks:

27. New response list format by Mike Overton, 1995, Jun 26

1. Indenting problems by Daniel M LaLiberte, 1995, Jun 12

(_ Alternate indenting method, 1995, Jul 05

(_ DL Indenting is OK in WebEx v1.03, 1996, Mar 12

You can change how deeply nested the outline is by selecting one of the controls after "Outline" on the "Messages" header line. You can select the depth of the outline by clicking on the Outline 1 , Outline 2 , or Outline 3 control. The All control displays all levels.

Instead of viewing the tree of messages in an outline and selecting each one you want to display, you can embed the messages inline by selecting one of the controls after "Inline" (this was called "Embed" in older versions). The bodies of inlined messages will be displayed sequentially in "digest" form after the message or base article they are in reply to. The control will turn off inlining (the default). The control will inline just one level of replies; there may be non-inlined replies to some of these replies which will be displayed in the usual outline form. The All control will inline all of the messages, leaving no outline. The title of each inlined message is a link to a page with only that message on it, so you can go there to reply to it or do other things with it.

Navigation

You can use one of several navigation buttons to simplify reading of neighboring messages. These controls are only available when reading messages within a forum, not at the level of the base article.

Next Message: Go to the next message which is replying to the same thing as this message, skipping over any replies to this message. If there is no next message, go to the next message one level up. (If you are at the last message in the forum, you will be returned to the base article.)
Previous Message: Go to the previous message which is replying to the same thing. If there is no previous message, just go up to the immediate parent. (Reading in reverse is not so useful, so this button has been disabled.)
Out (or Next Thread): Go to the next message one level up (out), skipping replies and other messages at the same level. (This button gets people confused, so it has been disabled.)
More (or Next-in-Thread): Go to the first reply to the message you are currently reading. If there is no reply, go to the next message at the same or higher level. So you can use this button to read every message in succession, but keep in mind that this is not necessarily the same order that the messages were written in.

Frames

If you are using a browser that can display frames (such as Netscape 2.0), you can try using HyperNews with frames by clicking on the "Frames" button on the bottom of the page. If you don't like it, you can turn it off by clicking on "No Frames" . With frames turned on, three frames will be displayed: a "base frame" in the upper left, an "outline frame" in the upper right, and a "message frame" in the bottom half. Clicking on a message in the outline will display it in the message frame.

So far, this should be obvious. What is not so obvious is that you can display any message in the base frame by clicking on the "New Base" button on the bottom of the message frame. This will move the message currently in the message frame into the base frame, leaving the message frame empty again, and the outline frame will show only replies to that message. Clicking on most other links in pages displayed within HyperNews frames should bring up a new window. (This is partly so that the frame history is not lost.)

Next-in-Thread

Next Message

Inline:

All

Outline:

All

2 Reverse Message Order , 1996, May 03

1 Reverse order not possible yet by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, May 03

3 Date on message listing. , 1996, May 03

2 Problem: how to make Database from Visual Basic 6.0 linking with Microsoft by ee, 2001, Mar 20
3 Problem: how to make Database from Visual Basic 6.0 linking with Microsoft by ee, 2001, Mar 20
4 Problem: Database by ee, 2001, Mar 20

4 Seeing only new messages , 1996, May 24

1 Use email notification by liberte, 1996, May 24

2 hypernews , 2000, Mar 05

1 Hallo und was geht nun by Markus, 2006, Jul 07

5 Get to top index in single click? by jnr, 1996, Jun 02

1 Click on the "Base" link by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Jun 03

6 Why did I get a little row of dots... , 1996, Jun 04

1 Because the discussion got "deep" by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Jun 04

7 Embedded and Outline Depth questions , 1996, Jun 20

8 Simplifying the interface by Yitna Firdyiwek, 1996, Jul 05

1 hnview.pl does it all by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Jul 05

9 Problems with file size , 1996, Jul 23

1 I should subdivide the forums by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Jul 23

10 Reverse the posts by Raja Shankar, 1996, Jul 30

11 How long does the "NEW" tag stay on? by Joost Houwen, 1996, Nov 12

1 Configurable time by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Nov 13

12 How can I find messages that no longer appear on screen? by S. Lam, 1996, Nov 21

1 Where did it go? by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Nov 22

Where are the old messages? by slam@axionet.com, 1996, Nov 22

Good question by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Nov 22

13 Should we add anchors to the body for direct hops to the responses section by John Wells, 1995, Jul 22

1 Named anchors added for next release by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Jul 22

1 Thanks! At your leisure I have a question r.e. $headertext variable in hnrc by john.wells@bea.doc.gov, 1995, Jul 22: ...

2 Add Visual Navigation , 1996, Jul 11

14 HyperNews hack to expose or hide the hierarchy with user driven policy? by Jeff Tuckey, 1995, Feb 08

15 A plea - multiple physical pages for a response tree! by Maurizio Codogno, 1995, Aug 30

1 Second! by abr@tiac.net, 1995, Sep 12

2nd 2nd by peter.sylvester@edelweb.fr, 1995, Oct 09

16 Navigation by Manfred Humphries, 1995, Jun 26

1 Going Back by melo@cs.uiuc.edu, 1995, Jun 26

1 Need to go to "Next" from indented responses by @ic_198_95_16_5.intellicorp.com, 1995, Jun 28: ...

2 I agree , 1996, Nov 13

3 I think we really mean "go back to the list of headers" by bobbyg12@msn.com, 1998, Jan 14

17 New response tree layout by Axel Boldt, 1995, Sep 12

1 Tree layout changes by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Sep 15

18 Embedding Responses within existing HTML file by Doug Dunlop, 1995, Sep 29

1 Turn the problem in another way by goudal@zola.labri.u-bordeaux.fr, 1995, Sep 29

1 Embedding and Wrapping by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Sep 29: ...

2 Mostly implmented by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Sep 29

1 Re: Mostly Implemented by dunlop@eol.ists.ca, 1995, Sep 29: ...

19 No "Next message" in response header by Nils Davis, 1995, Aug 30

1 I noticed that too by ben@wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu, 1995, Oct 06

Next and Previous will be rejoining us soon by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Oct 09

20 It would be nice to have "TOP" option , 1995, Nov 17

1 Lost without a "Top" option by jaf@tyrell.net, 1996, Jun 15

1 Implemented a HOME/Top option by haroon@wwwnoet.attmail.com, 1996, Jul 10: ...
2 A better implementation for Top/Home by haroon@wwwnoet.attmail.com, 1996, Jul 10: ...

21 Reversing Threads? by Randy Cosby, 1995, Dec 30

1 Other solutions possible too by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Dec 30

1 Another alternative.... by jap@tc.cornell.edu, 1996, Jan 02: ...
2 Solution to annoynace from oldest-first order of responses by aphor@bradley.edu, 1996, Jun 04: ...

22 Reading the responses by Jeff Shepherd, 1994, Sep 02

1 So *THAT'S* why you can specify text/html by @macshep.trg.saic.com, 1994, Sep 02

1 Invitation to join the Online Writing Collaboration Project http://esol-owc.net by owcp@hotmail.com, 2002, Oct 19

2 Second the siblings link idea by Robert Sum, 1994, Sep 07

3 Threading through the responses by Daniel LaLiberte, 1994, Sep 07

1 netscape news by @x11srv.edvz.uni-klu.ac.at, 1995, Jan 17: ...

23 Suggestion: Ways to increase readability. , 1995, Jul 19

1 Working on it by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Jul 25

(Moved) You may want to look at this... by webmaster@arc.cmu.edu, 1995, Aug 08

24 Unfair!:A theme in the end of the tree has not the same inportance like the root theme. by Iasson Salkitzoglou, 1995, Aug 30

25 How configurable is HyperNews? by Steve Herman, 1995, Aug 30

1 Not configurable enough yet by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Aug 31

Untitled by herman@u.washington.edu, 1995, Aug 31

26 Order of view in HyperNews by Kwang Han TAN, 1996, Jan 17

27 New response list format by Mike Overton, 1995, Jun 26

1 Indenting problems by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Jun 12

Alternate indenting method , 1995, Jul 05

DL Indenting is OK in WebEx v1.03 , 1996, Mar 12

28 Transfer Interrupted by @firewall.deere.com, 1995, Jul 07

1 The hypernews/test.html page is very long by liberte@hypernews.org, 1995, Jul 08

29 more suggestions , 1995, Dec 05

30 means of "expiring" responses? by Christopher Kolar, 1996, Mar 03

2 No expiration yet - reorganization instead by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Mar 04

31 "Chained" responses by Martin Huntley, 1996, Mar 03

1 Chaining is supposed to be a convenience by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Mar 04

2 Thought it was a bug by cls@truffula.sj.ca.us, 1997, Jan 05

32 Missing Responses to Group by Craig W. Cadwallader, 1996, Mar 12

1 OS bug and maybe HyperNews bug by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Mar 15

33 If you have it one way... by Jeff Heinen, 1996, Mar 18

1 How about no Previous-Response? by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Mar 19

34 Graceful Divergence by Daniel LaLiberte, 1996, Mar 19

35 How to monitor flow... by Cory West, 1995, Jan 10

1 Request for active feedback on this issue by jw@digimark.net, 1995, Feb 24

2 I agree by @gwmsmith.earthlink.net, 1995, Mar 10

4 Please elaborate... by yitna@virginia.edu, 1996, Apr 04

36 To make only 2 levels of heirarchy?? , 1995, Jul 21

1 Replies at the same level are replies to the same thing by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Aug 08

37 Problems with icons by Eigil Krogh Sornsen, 1996, Apr 18

1 Make sure you install the icons by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Aug 08

38 Why is GMT used as the default time? by John Long, 1996, May 02

1 GMT is easy by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Aug 08

39 Inability to preview , 1996, Jun 04

1 Is it a loop? by benedetr@economia.unibo.it, 1999, Feb 20

40 using cookies to show read/unread messages by Eric Lofland, 1996, Aug 29

1 Me want more cookies by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Aug 30

Cookies should be Cookies, not data repository by stevek@io360.com, 1996, Sep 03

41 How about adding inline links, footnotes or marginalia? by Sanford Morton, 1996, Sep 09

1 Difficult to do, but quite powerful by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Sep 09

42 What does -> mean? , 1996, Sep 15

1 -> is an abbreviation for indenting by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Sep 16

43 Can I TURN OFF the numbers on the left side? , 1996, Sep 21

1 No numbers yes, bullets no by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Sep 21

44 Reversal of thread ordering by Ryan Smith-Roberts, 1996, Oct 09

45 Retaining the outline depth by Luu Tran, 1996, Oct 20

1 It was supposed to by liberte@hypernews.org, 1996, Oct 21

46 How can forms work for MSIE 3.0 and Netscape? by Kalan, 1996, Oct 23

47 Fabian Magnusson mulatto breakdancer from malmoe/Sweden by Fab, 1996, Dec 06

48 Is it possibile to download �Trees� and �Threads� to read offline? by David, 1996, Dec 13

49 In Line Messages in R&J , 1996, Dec 13

50 Outline & Inline Confusing , 1997, Jan 08

1 Error results would be confusing by liberte@hypernews.org, 1997, Jan 08

2 netscape , 1999, Oct 14

51 Confused , 1997, Feb 11

1 Not all chat rooms alike by liberte@hypernews.org, 1997, Feb 11

52 Watch whom you reply to! , 1997, Mar 03

1 Outline and Inline by liberte@hypernews.org, 1997, Mar 05

53 Outline depth weirdness by Russ Hunt, 1997, Mar 26

54 Sort messages (different pages) by date posted (ie. user selects message date range) by Haralds Jass, 1997, Apr 01

55 The order of posting messages by Benjamin Kahn, 1997, Mar 29

1 Alternative orders possible by liberte@hypernews.org, 1997, Apr 02

56 Urgent: Reading replies by Susan, 1997, May 02

1 Re: Urgent: Reading Replies by canniff@ncsa.uiuc.edu, 1997, May 05

59 Reverse Order -- revisited by Judith Nicholls, 1997, Aug 18

1 Consider the purpose of reading on-line. by liberte@hypernews.org, 1997, Aug 19

2 Reverse Order and other features ReReVisited by pshareck@ix.netcom.com, 1998, Apr 14

1 See $reverseMessages in hnrc by liberte@emancholl.pair.com, 1998, Apr 15

60 creating messages and retrieving them , 1997, Oct 21

1 You may need to force a reload to bypass caching. by dlaliberte@gte.com, 1997, Oct 21

62 Some messages say 'Transfer Interrupted...' by Aravindan, 1997, Oct 21

1 Caching of interrupted pages? by liberte@hypernews.org, 1998, Oct 09

64 Going to base message by walter, 1998, Jan 25

1 Click on "Forum" link, or use browser Back button by liberte@hypernews.org, 1998, Jan 25

65 Search/Downloading by David Strausberg, 1996, Nov 20

66 Word Wrapping doesn't work. Printouts are unreadable. by Larry Cross, 1996, Dec 26

67 THE WHOLE OUTLINE , 1997, Mar 25

68 Message time incorrect by Steve Kelleher, 1997, Jun 11

69 Problem with message can't be read by Greg Myers, 1997, Sep 06

70 Bizarre frame behaviour by Clyde Smith-Stubbs, 1997, Oct 14

72 the words go off the page! ! aghhhhhhhhhh! by ErinBurdett, 1998, Apr 16

1 How interesting!!!!! , 1999, Nov 03

73 Using patches to speed loading by Paul A. Clayton, 1998, Jun 04

1 Patchs relative to what? Client side saving is security issue. by liberte@emancholl.pair.com, 1998, Jun 04

1 Patches to file of set time by Paul A. Clayton, 1998, Jun 11
2 Naming files/directories in NNTP model by Paul A. Clayton, 1998, Jun 23

74 Move add message and preview message to client by Paul A. Clayton, 1998, Jun 04

1 JavaScript is the way to go by liberte@emancholl.pair.com, 1998, Jun 04
Could JavaScript also format the navigation buttons? , 1998, Jun 08

75 XML Again by Paul A. Clayton, 1998, Jun 04

76 Getting the number of threads by Srinivas Annam, 1998, Aug 05

1 Here are the scripts to count the threads/messages by webmaster@return2india.com, 1998, Nov 08

77 Untitled by Jacques Brignon, 1998, Nov 10

84 Problem getting out of a message text, back to the forum <m> , 1999, Oct 29

85 Problem when I read a message by Jose Luis Ponce, 1999, Nov 04

88 Message numbering by Eric P., 2000, Feb 24

90 No search? by Sandy, 2000, Jun 23

1 Everyone needs searching by liberte@hypernews.org, 2000, Jun 24

96 Can�t read messages by Adriana Carvallo, 2001, Mar 21

97 help please!!!!!!!!! , 2001, Apr 26

101 Apache configuration , 2001, May 04

103 research fotr french student by R�my , 2002, Mar 03

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