How do I use Usenet the way it was originally intended?

[bbhaag]

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys. I really appreciate it. I've tried many of the programs suggested so far and have been unsuccessful in my attempts at replying to a discussion. I've been able to successfully post so that gives me hope that I am getting close.
Why is posting a binary(yenc) so easy but replying to someones post(text) so difficult...sigh. I'll keep trying though and if I find something that works I will report back.

[PastTense]

Why don't you tell us what specific programs you have tried and the details of error messages...?

[SonsOfLiberty]

Thanks for the advice to far. I really appreciate it. I think I need to clarify a few things though. I use Highwinds to gain access to Usenet. So using my ISPs nntp or a free service is not really necessary. Google Groups is a big no. Google started out nice enough but they are one of the biggest privacy offenders on the web now.
What I'm looking for is a program that can read the articles in a group and then the ability to respond to them. I downloaded Grabbit the other night and successfully replied to a discussion but it left this awful plug in my post. See below...puke

--------------= Posted using GrabIt =----------------
------= Binary Usenet downloading made easy =---------
-= Get GrabIt for free from http://www.shemes.com/ =-

I want a program that can read the article and then the ability to reply to it with ease and no plugs for the program I'm using.
Does this even exist anymore or is it a thing of the past?

Some Linux based ones do this, and if I wanted "to" I can ( with Newsleecher ) make posts/reply to posts on usenet, but only through headers and there "supersearch tool" both which are pay for, but I bought it years ago, so I keep neither current, once you pay for the software you can use it as long as you like. So I'm assuming this is what your looking for, but not exactly "free"

Newsleecher is a good group/reader downloader, new articles etc etc.

Or if yo want one setup like email to read groups, and see what's new, you can just use good ol' thunderbird.

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird

[whitesnow]

I would use Forte's Agent. You could use the Free Agent version as well. After ver 4 you also then could use NZB files but I realise thats not what you wanted it for.
When I used to post in news groups it was very easy to post text messages with it. I haven't done it for a few years though and I stopped using my ISP's news service because it would show your IP. ISP now no longer carrys binary groups so I use Easynews and Usenetserver and both hide your IP address if thats important to you.