Lars and anyone else knowledgeable about nntp.el,

in nntp.el there are two ways to get the authinfo sent:

1) `nntp-handle-authinfo' -> `nntp-authinfo-function' (used in
`nntp-wait-for' and `nntp-async-trigger', uses `nntp-send-authinfo' by
default as the `nntp-authinfo-function')

2) `nntp-send-authinfo' used directly (used in `nntp-open-connection')

I think the unused choices for `nntp-authinfo-function'
(`nntp-send-nosy-authinfo', `nntp-send-authinfo-from-file') should be
removed (with whatever extra functionality they have moved to
`nntp-send-authinfo') and we should remove `nntp-authinfo-function'
itself.  We should also remove any dependency on netrc.el.

In addition the `auth-source-search' call should query for the virtual
server name too, use ":create t", pass `auth-source-creation-defaults'
and `auth-source-creation-prompts', and call the :save-function if the
login was successful.  This is all very similar to the way nnimap.el
does the query.

I'm attaching a patch to just add the "force" token to nntp.el and will
do more of the above if necessary.  Let me know.

Thanks
Ted