walt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> posted [EMAIL PROTECTED], excerpted below, on Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:51:23 +0000:
> Maybe someone (Duncan?) who knows the nntp protocol better than I do > could comment. Here is my telnet session with news.ecomstation.nl: > > CAPABILITIES > 500 Command not implemented. > > HELP > LIST [ACTIVE|NEWSGROUPS|DISTRIBUTIONS|SUBSCRIPTIONS|OVERVIEW.FMT| > ACTIVE.TIMES] [wildmat] > > LIST NEWSGROUPS > 503 No list of newsgroup descriptions available. > > Seems to me that the server is not in compliance with the nntp protocol. > This is from RFC 3977: > 5.2. CAPABILITIES > 5.2.1. Usage > This command is mandatory. > Syntax > CAPABILITIES [keyword] Not that this really pertains to the problem at hand, but since my name was mentioned... Frankly, you know that aspect of the protocol better than I do. True, I could look it up if actually needed, but I didn't know CAPABILITIES was even a command. That's arbitrary knowledge that I don't tend to store, unless it's something I work with enough to know from pure repetitive practice, or just happen to have it fresh in my mind from working with it. OTOH, it's possible I have a better gut level understanding of protocol basic functionality, such as why TCP/IP instead of UDP/IP was chosen as the underlying protocol to build upon and the nature of the TCP/IP connection, due simply to the way my long-term memory mapping functionality works. Arbitray facts such as command names and command line switches aren't retained because the don't map, while I'm /forced/ to groke the underlying functionality in ordered to make the necessary for retention logical connections to previously mapped information. I retrieve info the same way, the reason my posts (hmm, good case in point right here! =8^) tend toward the long and explanitory, since I can't retrieve one datum without dragging out all this stuff connected to it as well. That's one negative. The other is that since I /must/ create such a functional/causitive mapping in ordered to retain the concept, in the absence of correct information, I'll sometimes come to an incorrect conclusion and map that. That has proven embarassing on occasion. =8^( One positive, other than the obvious one of having what seems to be an "intuitive" (once mapped, it's often hard work attaining that so-called "intuition") grasp of the concepts, is that having retained the concepts, the rest is nearly always available in the manpage or with a google or etc. I do seem to find myself referring to manpages and the like far more often than I believe most would, for "the arbitraries", so it's a very good thing for me such references are available! =8^) Interesting thing, the mind, and how it works differently for different people! =8^) -- Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman _______________________________________________ Pan-users mailing list Pan-users@nongnu.org http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pan-users
