AOL has just notified us that it is cutting off newsgroup service,
thus:
"Please note: The AOL Newsgroup service, will be discontinued in early
2005. For members using AOL over a dial-up connection, you will no
longer be able to access Newsgroups. If you have a separate high-speed
connection, you can contct your broadband provider to see if they offer
Newsgroups. Newsgroup sservices can often be accesed through a third
party reader, such as Mozilla Thunderbird.
Alternatively, you can access Newsgroups via Google, etc."

I have a high-speed connection, but I have been using it only to get to
AOL, which, in spite of comments from others here, I have always liked
a lot. It gives exceptional service in many areas. E-mail in all of
its areas, excellent spyware for free, excellent Pop-up blocking, good
spam blocking, fast service, and REAL Customer Service where you can
actually talk to a human being. I started using it in Edition 3, and
it has improved steadily to the present 9.0 Edition.

The problem is, I don't like Yahoo, which is the broadband provider I
signed up for in order to get high speed AOL . And
http://groups.google.com can be slow (today the postings are 7 hours
late, and still waiting. ) Even when "groups.google" is working
faster, it isn't the same back-and-forth communication that you can get
presently . I checked Mozilla Thunderbird, and it seems unwieldy.
Any suggestions? PENMART--what do you suggest? I know you like AOL
too.
Nancree