Until this is re-written, ignore any reference to the local newsgroup "local.abate.niagara". The mailing list DOES still exist as does alt.motorcycles.abate out in the wild.
ABATE of Niagara maintains both a mailing list and a local
newsgroup for information exchange between its members. We've also created a
Usenet newsgroup for ABATE groups all over the world.
Info on these items are below:
Information that pertains to both the mailing list and the local news group
Information about the Usenet Newsgroup alt.motorcycles.abate
Information that pertains to both the mailing list and the local news group
What's this mailing list for? The newsletter only comes out once a month so using the mailing list is a great way to get information out to people as soon as possible. You can exchange information about upcoming rides or makes plans to meet and have one at any time. Or just use it a s a way to keep in touch with others in the local ABATE. People don't interact if they're not at the meetings that are once a month so here's a way for them to be heard when they can't make it.
Both the local newsgroup and the mailing list have the same content (mirrored). The only difference is one of them is accessed using a newsreader program and the other one is read and written to by using email.
The choice is yours, personally I find using a newsreader program more efficient though in the case of low volume mailing lists, email is sometimes easier though a couple of "gotchas" do exist mainly the one concerning if you either change your email address or more confusing the one about if you receive your email from one address but try to send it using a different one. Yes I write in long sentences the same way I talk <G>.
Information about accessing the local newsgroup
There are two ways of accessing the newsgroup/mailing list using the newsreader method. One is to use a newsreader program that you are already familiar with (I use Agent so I know nothing about the others) and connect to the newsserver at abate.wolfcrews.com and then subscribe (or which ever term your newsreader uses) to local.abate.niagara. When you connect to the newsserver at abate.wolfcrews.com you'll see many different newsgroups including alt.motorcycles.abate (very poor feed at the moment so there's rarely anything there). Note now that you can NOT post any messages to any of these other newsgroups, only local.abate.niagara. Try http://groups.google.com or your local ISP or News Service for full access to these other groups.
The other way is clunky but works if you has no other choice. Use the following link to access the newsserver at abate.wolfcrews.com and you can read from all the newsgroups that I carry on my server and post to local.abate.niagara.
Information about accessing the local mailing list
The mailing list version is pretty straight forward. You subscribe to the mailing list, anything that anyone sends to the mailing list will go to everyone else on the mailing list. The messages that one would receive by way of the mailing list are the same messages that you would see in the newsgroup.
To subscribe just send an email to abate-niagara-request@abate-niagara.org and in the body of the message type "subscribe" without the quotes. You'll get a confirmation and you'll need to send one of them back to confirm. Instructions are in the messages. Clicking on the link above should fill this in for you and you can simply hit send. Do not include any other information in the message and be sure to send it from the same account that you want to receive the mailing list in.
Messages to be sent to the mailing list should be addressed to abate-niagara@abate-niagara.org
To unsubsribe use the same method as subscribing only use the command: "unsubscribe"
Four notes you should be aware of:
Information about the Usenet Newsgroup alt.motorcycles.abate
alt.motorcycles.abate is a Usenet Newsgroup that can be accessed all over the world. It is like the local newsgroup for ABATE Niagara but it is copied to all newsservers all over the world instead of staying right here. Because of all the places for things to get lost in the world, not all newsservers will get all messages that are sent to the newsgroup. A good example is right here in which the feed where I get my news gets very few of the article meant for the group. You could very well have better luck on the newsserver that you normally use.
So here we are again with the options of connecting to alt.motorcycles.abate. You can use your newsreader and connect to abate.wolfcrews.com, you can use your newsreader to connect to connect to your normally configured ISP, you can use a service like Google or you can use the local web based reader (worst choice). The links for these choices are below.
Connect to alt.motorcycles.abate using your own reader and your own preconfigured newsserver
Connect to the newsserver at abate.wolfcrews.com using your own reader
Info on the creation of alt.motorcycles.abate can be found here