getting started again was:Re: Python Emacs (was Re: The <word>.<word>.<word> rule)

["Eric S. Johansson" <esj@harvee.billerica.ma.us>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kai Großjohann" <Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE>
To: "Eric S. Johansson" <esj@harvee.billerica.ma.us>
Cc: "François Pinard" <pinard@iro.umontreal.ca>; <ding@gnus.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2000 5:17 AM
Subject: Re: Python Emacs (was Re: The <word>.<word>.<word> rule)


> "Eric S. Johansson" <esj@harvee.billerica.ma.us> writes:
>
> > A case in point is Gnus.  I'm very impressed at its power but using
> > it to read IMAP e-mail is sufficiently difficult that I've given up
> > and gone back to outlook (or pine on heavy virus days).  One of
> > these days when I have a week to spare, I'll go back to using it as
> > my newsreader.  For now, tin is sufficiently simple that I can do
> > what I want without needing to spend a lot of time learning.
>
> Have you ever used Gnus for reading mail before?  Maybe you only have
> a small problem which is easy to help you with.  What was the problem
> you saw when using Gnus for IMAP mail?
>
> Getting the configuration right is a bit of a problem, but that's a
> one-time-only event, and we can help you with that.

I had never used gnus before trying pnews even though I am a long time emacs
user (since version 17).  I must admit that I miss the simplicity of rmail
but enjoy the freedom that IMAP gives me.

You are right that most of the problems I have seem to be configuration
problems.  If I remember correctly, I was seeing things like conflicts with
programming-by-voice tools, seeing my IMAP folders listed two and three
times in the same buffer, I couldn't get messages marked for deletion,
expiration/expunge, and draft buffers to work.  I haven't even begun to
experiment with directing e-mail messages to other folders.

from past learning experiences, I believe part of my failure to use guns
successfully was due to the fact I haven't been able to sit with the
concepts that Gnus uses and really understand them.  In contrast, every
other IMAP based mail client I've used (except mahogany which is excused
because it still not very mature) has been a two-hour learning experience to
get everything working the way I want ranging from synchronizing with all
the mailboxes to filtering to URL launching.

I love emacs, I would love to build a grammar to drive gnus from speech
recognition and added to my current emacs grammar (FYI, I'm partially
handicapped (rsi) and need to use speech recognition for most computer use).
I just need to be able to get my head around all of the concepts so that I
can write the grammar.

I'm perfectly willing to play the role of an idiot user and make the whole
process of learning very transparent so that the documentation and
instructions on how to get started can be improved.  Is this something
people on the list are willing to do?

--- eric (village idiot in training)