On Mon, 1 May 2017 10:44:51 -0700 (PDT), Chris.B wrote:

On Monday, 1 May 2017 18:24:41 UTC+2, Bill wrote:
snip
If you manually set up Thunderbird for eternal september, you shouldn't
have much trouble gettting 40tude up and running. If you get stuck, I'm
willing to offer what assistance I can, and there's
news.software.readers. Include [Dialog] in your subject to alert people
that your interest is about that client.

The software is free and available here (the "offical"/authorized site
after the author pulled the plug on support for 40tude):

http://dialog.datalist.org/

At the risk of offending tenderized sensibilities there is always the option of using "Google Groups."
A glance at the forum's "website" will quickly inform the visitor whether any of his pet hates has posted and is to be ignored.
Cookies optional but useful for highlighting new content in bold.

I rapidly became sick of reading every s.a.a. post by mail so struggle to see the point of doing so.
If you add s.a.a. to your favourites/bookmarks it takes only a second to scan the forum "website" for anything remotely on topic.
Add [say] another [optional] second, or two, to verbally express dissatisfaction with the contents.
Close the tab and forget it until the next time your faulty sense of optimism is buoyed yet again.

Any fears that Google is monitoring your activities here should [surely] be extended to the NSA routinely scanning all email for "markers."
Who knows, under Trumpet@Twit, all virtual interest in science-based subjects may well make you a "mark" for future re-education.
The communists could do it all longhand, long before modern computers.
Surely Trumpet's jackbooted minions can do infinitely "better" with countless billions to spend on surveillance of the [presumed] innocent.

That's the nice thing about s.a.a. Nobody except we few are interested.
All references to astronomy and "the dark web" can be safely ignored on the grounds of light pollution. ;-)

USENET messages by mail? Never knew anyone to do that. It sounds like a
horrid way to access USENET.

You made a good point: there are people who would likely be better
served with the simple interface/easier access that google groups
offers.

There are other folk, for which google groups would not be practical:
People with many groups/large volumes of nntp traffic where rapid
filtering/processing of "junk" is an absolute necessity; people who (in
additon to USENET need to conned to private nntp servers; and so on.

--
Email address is a Spam trap.