gnus: The Server is Down
1.2 The Server is Down
======================
If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
without a native select method if that server can’t be contacted. This
will happen whether the server doesn’t actually exist (i.e., you have
given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
groups, you’ll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
buffer. But, hey, that’s your problem. Blllrph!
If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to
read your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
‘gnus-no-server’ command to start Gnus. That might come in handy if
you’re in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
your primary server—instead, it will just activate all groups on level 1
and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
levels.) Also 
Group Levels.
Info Catalog
gnus: Finding the News
gnus: Starting Up
gnus: Slave Gnusae