diff --git a/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/lang/english.lang b/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/lang/english.lang
index deec96c..fa144e8 100644
--- a/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/lang/english.lang
+++ b/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/lang/english.lang
@@ -42,22 +42,22 @@ $text_post["name"]="Username:";
 $text_post["password"]="Password:";
 $text_post["email"]="Your E-Mail:";
 $text_post["missing_message"]="You must include a message to post.";
-$text_post["missing_email"]="You must include an email address.";
+$text_post["missing_email"]="You must include an e-mail address.";
 $text_post["missing_name"]="You must include a name or at least an alias.";
 $text_post["missing_subject"]="You must include a subject.";
 $text_post["button_post"]="Post Article";
 $text_post["remember"]="Remember name";
 $text_post["message"]="Message";
-$text_post["group_head"]="Compose article for ";
+$text_post["group_head"]="Compose a new post in ";
 $text_post["group_tail"]="";
 $text_post["followup_not_allowed"]="You aren't allowed to post to the groups:";
 $text_post["message_posted"]="Message posted";
 $text_post["message_posted2"]="The message was successfully posted.";
 $text_post["button_back"]="Back";
 $text_post["button_back2"]="to";
-$text_post["error_newsserver"]="The newsserver does not accept the message:";
+$text_post["error_newsserver"]="The Message Server rejected the message:";
 $text_post["error_readonly"]="The group is write protected";
-$text_post["error_wrong_email"]="The email adress is wrong";
+$text_post["error_wrong_email"]="Wrong e-mail address.";
 $text_post["wrote_prefix"]="";
 $text_post["wrote_suffix"]=" wrote:";
 $text_post["quote"]="Quote";
@@ -67,16 +67,16 @@ $text_post["captchainfo2"]='Enter the correct letters and numbers from the image
 
 
 $text_error["error:"]='<font color="red">Error:</font>';
-$text_error["connection_failed"]="The connection to the Newsserver failed";
+$text_error["connection_failed"]="The connection to the Message Server failed";
 $text_error["article_not_found"]="<p>The article doesn't exist.</p>";
 $text_error["read_access_denied"]="<p>No permission to read!</p>";
 $text_error["post_failed"]="Connection failed. Try to reload later.";
-$text_error["auth_error"]="Authentication at the Newsserver failed.";
+$text_error["auth_error"]="Authentication failed.";
 $text_error["spool_error"]="Error in spoolfile. Please reload.";
 
-$text_register["must_register_group"]="You have to be registered to have access to this newsgroup";
-$text_register["must_register_post"]="You have to be registrered to post to this newsgroup";
-$text_register["no_access_group"]="You don't have access to this newsgroup";
-$text_register["no_access_post"]="You are not allowed to post to this newsgroup";
+$text_register["must_register_group"]="You have to be registered to have access to this group.";
+$text_register["must_register_post"]="You have to be registrered to post to this group.";
+$text_register["no_access_group"]="You don't have access to this group.";
+$text_register["no_access_post"]="You are not allowed to post to this group.";
 
 ?>
diff --git a/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/newsportal.php b/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/newsportal.php
index d8e7d33..f6586a7 100644
--- a/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/newsportal.php
+++ b/Rocksolid_Light/rocksolid/newsportal.php
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ $CONFIG = include($config_file);
 function nntp_open($nserver=0,$nport=0) {
   global $text_error,$CONFIG;
   global $server,$port;
+
   // echo "<br>NNTP OPEN<br>";
   if(!isset($CONFIG['enable_nntp']) || $CONFIG['enable_nntp'] != true) {
     $CONFIG['server_auth_user'] = $CONFIG['remote_auth_user'];
@@ -52,6 +53,17 @@ function nntp_open($nserver=0,$nport=0) {
   if ($nserver==0) $nserver=$server;
   if ($nport==0) $nport=$port;
   $ns=@fsockopen($nserver,$nport);
+
+  // if the connection to the news server fails, inform the user and stop processing.
+  if ($ns == false)
+  {
+	echo '<center><p>' . $text_error["error:"] . " " . $text_error["connection_failed"] . '.</p>';
+	echo '<br>';
+	echo '<p>Please wait a few moments and try again. If you see the same error, notify the owner that their Message Server is offline.</p>';
+	echo '</center>';
+	exit(0);
+  }
+
   $weg=line_read($ns);  // kill the first line
   if (substr($weg,0,2) != "20") {
     echo "<p>".$text_error["error:"].$weg."</p>";