[fastforward]

I made a start with a PHP version of this, but as Gilby has already released a version, there's no point continuing it.

I feel more comfortable developing a Perl version anyway as I know a bit more about it that PHP.

So, if there is still interest, I will go back to developing the Perl version.

A few things I intend to do:

• Reduce the number of modules required
• Support for attachments (probably only incoming ones)
• Clean up of multipart posts from Outlook and Netscape readers
• More options to handle messages regardless of whether it's parent is present
• Better performance with less server load. This is especially a problem with mailing list archives that have to use the title for threading.
• Extra options to handle x-noarcharve posts such as deleting after a specified time period.
• Modularize the script to ease the transfer of moving over to vb 3 when it arrives. The threaded model of version 3 should make things a lot easier.

A few things I'd like to do if possible:

• Clean up the code in the control panel ( volunteers are welcome )
• Option to recieve posts via a mail gateway such as news2mail.com. This will eliminate the need for a usenet account and will mean no more worrying about message number tracking. The problem will be finding a way to post back to usenet.
• Option to retrieve headers only and automagically connect to usenet to retrieve the body when viewed. This will save a boat load of space, but obviously won't allow searching of bodies. This will require hacking the vB code substantially and may not be practical, so don't hold your breath.

If people are still interested in a Perl version and anyone has any requests, let me know here.

PS to bitbender: I have been running it on 2.2 on for several weeks with no problems so far.