Web-based refer article methods not working

[John Wiegley <jwiegley@gmail.com>]

I have my gnus-refer-article-method set as follows:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(current
 (nnir "LocalNews")
 (nnweb "gmane"
        (nnweb-type gmane))
 (nnweb "refer"
        (nnweb-type google)))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Now, "current" and "nnir" lookups work as expected.  But when I try to find
the parent of an article which I don't have in my Leafnode spool -- but which
I know for certain is either in Gmane or Google Groups -- it always fails.

The failure is pretty silent, too.  Here's what I'm seeing:

  1. I enter the group gnu.emacs.help using C-u RET, so that it reads in all
     the artcles I have.

  2. I press / w until all limits are popped.

  3. I press C-c C-s C-d to sort by date, and pick the oldest article which is
     a reply to something.  The message in question is
     "<mailman.758.1310969651.8699.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>", subject "Re:
     String replace with lisp code".

     This message has only one reference:
     "<CAGdT1gpvyig=M7Q--B0PqiA=gihHMmBH6_6EtrijENN13nKe1g@mail.gmail.com>".

  4. I type ^.  It says it's contacting Gmane.  No error is reported.

  5. It adds a message to my summary buffer that looks like this:

     R nil   nobody            (none)

     In the *Article* buffer, I still see the original message.

  6. What just happened?  It didn't find the message in Gmane, but didn't tell
     me that; it didn't try to use Google, and it's showing me the same
     message as before, just with a bogus message now added to my summary
     buffer.

  7. Then I edited gnus-refer-article-method to remove the gmane lookup, so
     it uses Google.  It still can't find the message.  Strangely, I can't
     lookup the referenced Message-Id via Google Groups Advanced Search
     either, although I can lookup the article that I do have, and see that it
     does have a parent in Google Groups.

So, I have yet to find a case where the nnweb lookup actually works.  Also,
using G w to make an nnweb group never works either, no matter whether I
select gmane or google, and no matter what I type in for the search string.

Thanks,
  John