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CONFIGURING PINE TO READ USENET NEWS
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When we first began offering Usenet News to our subscribers we 
reconfigured the Pine mail program so it could also be used as a Usenet 
News reader.  This caused two problems:

o Sometimes Pine would take a long time to build its folder list. 
  When Pine is configured to read news the "L" command lists news
  folders as well as the usual mail folders, whether or not you
  actually use Pine to read Usenet News.  As part of the process, 
  Pine queries the news server (news.abs.net, in our case).  If the news 
  server is slow to respond, then Pine takes a long time to build its 
  folder list.
o The folks at ABSNet report that the load on their news server due to 
  BCPL access is far greater than expected.  At least part of the problem 
  is caused by Pine querying the news server every time a user hits "L" to 
  view his/her folder list.
 
In response to these problems we have removed the news option from the
systemwide Pine configuration.  You may still use Pine to read Usenet
News, but you will need to make one simple change in your personal Pine
configuration file.  Here's how: 
 
o Start Pine.
o At Pine's main menu, press "S" (setup), then "C" (configuration).
o When the configuration screen appears, use your arrow keys to move
  the highlight bar to the line that looks like this:
 
  nntp-server            = <No Value Set>
 
o Press "A" (add value)
o At the "Enter the value to be added" prompt, type "news.abs.net" 
  (without the quotes) and press Enter or Return.  The line should now look
  like this:
 
  nntp-server            = news.abs.net

o Press "E" to exit configuration mode.
o Press "Q" to quit Pine.
o Back at your UNIX shell prompt ($), restart Pine to initialize the
  modified settings.
 
If you re-enter Pine's configuration mode after restarting, you will see a
line that looks like this: 
 
  news-collections       = <No Value Set: using *{news.abs.net/nntp}[]>
 
This line is configured automatically by Pine based on your entry in the 
"nntp-server" line.  DO NOT edit this line!
 
This change will allow people to use Pine for reading Usenet News if they 
want to, without adversely effecting people who use Pine only for reading 
e-mail.