Re: Annoying issue with group not showing new messages

[Bob Newell <bobnewell@bobnewell.net>]

dick.r.chiang@gmail.com writes:

> All good, sir, although I often wonder how non-lispers find their way to gnus,
> that most ornery of mail user agents ...

> Still, even in the 90s, gnus would have to be considered a highly niche
> offering with respect to mailx, pine, elm, or even
> emacs-based RMAIL.

Aloha,

I don't argue with any of what you say. Gnus is definitely
ornery and requires up-front and ongoing study and indeed
often a non-trivial amount of elisp-foo. I remember pine well;
yes, it was dead simple. Today mutt is not a lot more
complicated for basic use, which probably comprises 90% of use
cases.

But gnus can do /anything/ if you have the patience and are
willing to work at developing the necessary skills. This of
course just amplifies your statement about non-lispers (and
probably 99.99% of the world) not finding their way to Gnus.

So yes, it's a niche product (and in so saying I do /not/
intend to imply even the slightest trace of elitism). It's for
explorers and tinkerers who are willing to spend the time
required to make Gnus sing and dance and do amazing things.

Of course, there is a dark side. I don't believe any real Gnus
afficionado can say that they haven't spent time on Gnus that
could have been more profitably spent on other things. I know
I have, in spades. But the challenge is hard to resist. Hours
pass because I /know/ I can get Gnus to do x-y-z. And
eventually I succeed. Gnus will do x-y-z. Let's just hope that
x-y-z is something that I actually have a need for!

-- 
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i

- Via GNU/Linux/Emacs/Gnus/BBDB