FLOSS Development NNTP server

If you want to be able to ask questions on a linux/floss mailing list,
but first want to get a feel for the subject matter of the newsgroup, and
don't want to play the "subscribe/get flooded/find answer/unsubscribe"
game, you can use the NNTP server at news.gmane.org.  It apparently is
a two-way gateway of a HUGE number of FLOSS development mailing lists.
The only authentication is that you have to respond to an e-mail when
you post (once for each group, or once for each article?).

pan, and probably other NNTP clients, can access it well.