Alan Baker wrote:
Well...

It isn't, but it is.

Can someone who understands how this stuff works tell me why the
messages to RSAM only show up if I tell the server to load some
ridiculously large number of messages?

If I look at my groups window, it never shows any new messages for RSAM,
and if I tell it to load the newest 100 or so, the list of messages is
incomplete vs. telling it to load the newest 5000, at which point I get
a list of the actual newest messages.

What's going on?

Alan,
Who is your news server? I had trouble with my local ISP and RSAM, but
have no trouble at all with news.individual.net (formerly news.csi.de),
lots of folks here use them seemingly with good success.
VtSkier