Yes, but I still got a few singe marks... don't care... :-)

DAS

To send an e-mail directly replace "spam" with "schmetterling"
---
"N. Miller" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:11:33 +0100, Dori A Schmetterling wrote:

"N. Miller" wrote in message
...

[...]

E.g.:

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.test.here

There are dozens all over the Usenet.

Interesting. I may even have spotted a poster I know from a motoring NG.

However, how would a layperson (or peasant) find one of these, and what
would be the point, since one is testing one's connection/subscription to
a
specific NG, not a test group?

While I have heard that a post to one NG on a given server will succeed,
while a post to another NG on the same server will fail, I have never
personally experienced same. In my experience, if a post makes it to a
test
group on a given server, it will make it to the target NG. Basically,
either
your connection to your server works, or doesn't work. If it works, the
posts will go through. I have not experienced group specific filters,
though
I have run into general filters, which will afflict all groups on a server
equally.

And lurking provides considerable experience. You get to watch the rank
newbies, like yourself, get flamed for doing something wrong, and you can
learn from the mistakes of others.

--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum