Entering groups

[Slackrat]

I'm new to gnus and seem to be having a few problems

Firstly, if my groups are not 'permanently visible' I need to know how      
to make a particular group visible

Secondly, even  if a group is visible, it seems to be impossible to
get into the group to post an article or to send an email if there is
not already at least one post in the group

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

My emacs configuration file is at http://azurservers.com/gnus in case
any corrections might be necessaery in it

-- 
Regards,
Slackrat
Bill Henderson
[No _4Q_ for direct email]