Sometimes I can't connect to the news server. Why?

The news server periodically runs a program called "expire" which removes old articles from the news spool. The final phase of the expire program rebuilds the "active file," the file containing the list of newsgroups and articles on the server. To prevent clients from getting an obsolete copy of the active file, the server refuses connections to it, normally for five to ten minutes. When the new active file is built, the server allows connections once again.

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