How do you read newsgroups ? Through the browser that got you to this page ? Or via a usenet newsgroup reader ? Either way, unless you have a free internet connection, every minute you spend reading costs you money. If you read for an hour your I.S.P. (Internet Service Provider) charges you an hour's charge.
Is there any way to reduce this cost ? Yes. By using an offline newsreader. If you have one of these then you can download messages. Disconnect from the internet and then read, or read and reply to messages. When you are finished you simply reconnect to the internet and send your message replies (if you have any).
How long downloads, or postings, take depend on on how fast your modem is, but a guide to the three options could generally be summarised as follows :
If you would like to do your reading of newsgroups off line and don't know what offline readers are available then you might consider the Forté site. They have two excellent offline readers. Their "free" one is called Free Agent and their commercial one is called Agent. The commercial version is the best in my opinion however you might like to use the free version first before you make your decision.
To get Free Agent click here
To find out how to get Agent, or to actually get it click here 
If you would like to have further questions about offline readers answered then you might like to look at :
The Forté people read the second newsgroup so queries are very well answered.
There are thousands of different lists one could join. Before joining an email list one should understand what they are. A list is created when a number of people want to talk about a common subject. It is similar to a newsgroup but different in that there is usually a single person who is a moderator. This means that all messages go via him/her.
Unlike newsgroups if a message is abusive, off topic or advertising, then the moderator would usually stop it being sent to other members on the list. Some people would say this is a form of "censorship", however many consider it results in a better, more interesting, discussion.
The main down side of lists is that the people on the list receive messages from everyone else via email. Some lists can result in subscribers getting a hundred, or more, emails a day. Even if one only gets a dozen messages a day it doesn't take long for them to mount up. Especially if one subscribes to more than one list and/or does not collect their email every day.
What is the solution ? Well, knowing what you are doing is a good help. Make sure you are totally clear about how you *unsubscribe* to a list. Ideally you would know this before subscribing, but if not you should be advised on this when your subscription is acknowledged. Be sure to keep this unsubscribe information where you can find it easily.
How do you read your email ? Through an email application like Eudora ? Did you know that you could read AND write messages AFTER you have closed your internet connection ? The saving in costs is similar to that detailed above for newsgroup messages.
How does one do this ? Well it depends which version of Eudora you have but with version 3.0.1 it is as simple as A,B,C.
(A) Go to the menu item Tools
(B) Select Options.
(C) Then go to the Checking Mail tab. Once there look in the "Check for mail every......" box. You should change this to 0 (nil) minutes. This will mean that you can now read your mail, and write your replies, off line (after downloading new mail).
The minor downside of this is that you now do not have Eudora checking your mailbox for mail automatically. You need to remember to go File then Check mail whenever you want to collect your mail. You will also see a new item under the file menu called Send Queued Messages. If this is black (not grey) then you will need to select it to get off accrued messages (when you are on-line).
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