[OT] - Kill Files

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?
Mine is very small. It is interesting that one entry has managed to kill
the same guy with three different names.

Mine is immense. It used to be much smaller but that was when I was
using Hamster, which has very flexible filtering. Agent is more of a
blunt instrument.

James Nicoll

2020-06-05 02:49:23 UTC

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?

Raises hand. Life is short, I have stuff to do.

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

Gary R. Schmidt

2020-06-05 03:02:49 UTC

Mine is huge, but I've been on Usenet for a long time, and it came
across to the peecee from rrn back in the longago, and I only add
things, I don't think I've ever removed a luser from it.

Cheers,
Gary B-)

--
Waiting for a new signature to suggest itself...

Titus G

2020-06-05 03:58:55 UTC

Post by Gary R. Schmidt

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to
delete messages before being subjected to them?
Mine is very small. It is interesting that one entry has managed to
kill the same guy with three different names.

As I am not online to usenet, I download messages in batches and suppose
that hardware is now so fast, that having to check every new post
against a huge list does not slow the process down. With Thunderbird,
you can elect to keep a log file to see what is being blocked and there
is an easy tickbox to enable or disable a filter. The only items that
have been in mine forever are such things as "Solutions Manual".

Dorothy J Heydt

2020-06-05 03:41:20 UTC

Mine is rather large; I just ran wc and found it's 126 lines.
Some list topics, others list posters.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

BCFD36

2020-06-05 07:46:09 UTC

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Mine is rather large; I just ran wc and found it's 126 lines.
Some list topics, others list posters.

As I said, the kill file itself is small. This is really the only
newsgroup I haunt and there just haven't been more than the few I just
didn't want to put up with. There are a couple of people that I think
are certified loonies, but I don't ban them.

I turned on the log file in 2015. I may not have known it was there. Of
the three actual people (although one has had 3 different "names", only
one is still active. There are are probably 30000 actual instances of
something being killed, but it is hard to get a good count because at
least one of the rules makes two different entries into the log for each
action.

I only use Thunderbird for usenet so I didn't have to set up any mail
filters.

--
Dave Scruggs
Captain, Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)
Sr. Software Engineer - Stellar Solutions (Probably Retired)

h***@gmail.com

2020-06-05 04:13:45 UTC

On my desktop machine I've got probably 18 years of accumulated killfile entries in agent (largely spammers and the bizarre like Starmaker, I rarely kill file genuine posters even if I disagree with them on everything) I'm almost always using the laptop to browse with google now though so it's not really in use

Jaimie Vandenbergh

2020-06-05 10:54:59 UTC

On my desktop machine I've got probably 18 years of accumulated killfile entries in agent

Agent has an "expire rule after [nn] days of disuse" option, which is useful
for thread titles particularly. Although shift-i is usually enough for those.

On the flip side, like an old address book it can be fun to look through a
long-lasting killfile and remember the comedy times.

Cheers - Jaimie

--
Beauty is only skin deep, but it turns out that you still need the bones and
gunk
-- j comeau, a softer world

pyotr filipivich

2020-06-14 16:17:40 UTC

On my desktop machine I've got probably 18 years of accumulated killfile entries in agent

Agent has an "expire rule after [nn] days of disuse" option, which is useful
for thread titles particularly. Although shift-i is usually enough for those.

Unfortunately, since June 2017 rollover date,, Agent's "expire
rule after [nn] days of disuse" option is now 0 {zero}. Set it to
what you want, it is saved as "in 0 days".

One way to clean up a kill file, just set the filter to expire in
{default} days ( 83 in my case) and as soon as I exit the edit window
"poof" it is gone.

--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

Jaimie Vandenbergh

2020-06-14 17:49:48 UTC

Post by pyotr filipivich

On my desktop machine I've got probably 18 years of accumulated killfile entries in agent

Agent has an "expire rule after [nn] days of disuse" option, which is useful
for thread titles particularly. Although shift-i is usually enough for those.

Unfortunately, since June 2017 rollover date,, Agent's "expire
rule after [nn] days of disuse" option is now 0 {zero}. Set it to
what you want, it is saved as "in 0 days".
One way to clean up a kill file, just set the filter to expire in
{default} days ( 83 in my case) and as soon as I exit the edit window
"poof" it is gone.

Right - I followed up to LWE with a link to the manual fix:

https://alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified.narkive.com/vhHbQQjO/agent-filter-expiry-problem-fix#post1

Cheers - Jaimie

--
"Even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all"
-- Hypatia of Alexandria

J. Clarke

2020-06-14 18:14:32 UTC

On 14 Jun 2020 17:49:48 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by pyotr filipivich

On my desktop machine I've got probably 18 years of accumulated killfile entries in agent

Agent has an "expire rule after [nn] days of disuse" option, which is useful
for thread titles particularly. Although shift-i is usually enough for those.

Unfortunately, since June 2017 rollover date,, Agent's "expire
rule after [nn] days of disuse" option is now 0 {zero}. Set it to
what you want, it is saved as "in 0 days".
One way to clean up a kill file, just set the filter to expire in
{default} days ( 83 in my case) and as soon as I exit the edit window
"poof" it is gone.

https://alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified.narkive.com/vhHbQQjO/agent-filter-expiry-problem-fix#post1
Cheers - Jaimie

I think that the fact that we have to do this for problem that has
existed for three years is a pretty strong indicator that agent is
dead.

pyotr filipivich

2020-06-15 01:06:04 UTC

Post by J. Clarke
On 14 Jun 2020 17:49:48 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by pyotr filipivich

On my desktop machine I've got probably 18 years of accumulated killfile entries in agent

Agent has an "expire rule after [nn] days of disuse" option, which is useful
for thread titles particularly. Although shift-i is usually enough for those.

Unfortunately, since June 2017 rollover date,, Agent's "expire
rule after [nn] days of disuse" option is now 0 {zero}. Set it to
what you want, it is saved as "in 0 days".
One way to clean up a kill file, just set the filter to expire in
{default} days ( 83 in my case) and as soon as I exit the edit window
"poof" it is gone.

https://alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified.narkive.com/vhHbQQjO/agent-filter-expiry-problem-fix#post1
Cheers - Jaimie

I think that the fact that we have to do this for problem that has
existed for three years is a pretty strong indicator that agent is
dead.

Effectively, yes. At lest that feature. Sigh. I've too much
"installed user base" (my own) to want to switch, so ... some day Real
Soon Now, I intend to install that patch.

--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

David Johnston

2020-06-05 05:20:13 UTC

I have 24 entries featuring such things as "solutions", "physics",
"passport", "sex", "politics, "climate" and "Israel" And obviously
Starmaker and that other guy.

Scott Lurndal

2020-06-05 16:20:15 UTC

I've been on usenet since 1989 and have never used a kill file.

It's easy enough to filter the subjects/posters (at least with xrn) visually
and just not select messages from certain posters or threads. Particularly in the
last decade or so due to lower overall volume.

In any case, stopped clock and all, sometimes even the biggest idiot
says something interesting (if, perhaps, inadvertently).

Peter Trei

2020-06-05 18:15:57 UTC

I've been on usenet since 1989 and have never used a kill file.
It's easy enough to filter the subjects/posters (at least with xrn) visually
and just not select messages from certain posters or threads. Particularly in the
last decade or so due to lower overall volume.
In any case, stopped clock and all, sometimes even the biggest idiot
says something interesting (if, perhaps, inadvertently).

I'm also an oldtimer. I don't use one anymore, but used to filter spam with one.

This isn't like radio - I am not forced to read idiots, aNd just skip over them.

OTOH, I seem to be in a few other people's killfiles.

Pt

Robert Carnegie

2020-06-05 20:40:32 UTC

I've been on usenet since 1989 and have never used a kill file.
It's easy enough to filter the subjects/posters (at least with xrn) visually
and just not select messages from certain posters or threads. Particularly in the
last decade or so due to lower overall volume.
In any case, stopped clock and all, sometimes even the biggest idiot
says something interesting (if, perhaps, inadvertently).

There are a number of names that I always skip,
or mean to. But I'm using Google Groups, which
basically doesn't filter - I think it has been tried -
and I could end up reading a paragraph from someone
who theoretically is on my in-wetware "never read" list.

I can even reply to them. Still by my choice,
although not my Plan A.

David Johnston

2020-06-05 21:47:27 UTC

<shrug> I like to just hit "n" and go to the next message. Killfiles
make that more pleasant.

Magewolf

2020-06-06 17:53:16 UTC

I've been on usenet since 1989 and have never used a kill file.
It's easy enough to filter the subjects/posters (at least with xrn) visually
and just not select messages from certain posters or threads. Particularly in the
last decade or so due to lower overall volume.
In any case, stopped clock and all, sometimes even the biggest idiot
says something interesting (if, perhaps, inadvertently).

I have a few but they are all over ten years old. Most of them are tied
to the unending Wheel of Time threads before the split.

Mike Van Pelt

2020-06-08 19:31:12 UTC

Post by Magewolf

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?

I have a few but they are all over ten years old. Most of them are tied
to the unending Wheel of Time threads before the split.

Heh.... Yeah, I used to have a bunch of "Wheel of Time"
rules in my kill file, too, but they went away long ago.

(Nothing against Jordan or his fans, other than not interested,
and unbelievably high volume.)

--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston

Default User

2020-06-05 19:37:19 UTC

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to
delete messages before being subjected to them?
Mine is very small. It is interesting that one entry has managed to
kill the same guy with three different names.

XanaNews has a few kill mechanisms. One is what is a more traditional
kill file, the call it the Bozo Bin, where you just click "Bozo Author"
to block that person. I think it uses email address.

The second is a thread or branch "ignore" function.

The third is a rule-based system that can be applied at the newsgroup
or account level. There's where you can block messages based on
keywords or crossposts, that sort of thing.

I used these a lot more when I was reading usenet more. Now I just peek
in here occasionally, so I haven't set up anything new lately other
than ignore a few threads.

Brian

Mike Van Pelt

2020-06-05 20:44:16 UTC

I don't use one on rec.arts.sf.* I use trn, so I get
a list of topics and names of posters, so I can select
just the ones I want to read, and "trim the tree" at
any point where the conversation becomes tedious.

I think I have just two kill file entries on other
groups: One, a local group, has one very high
volume poster who is quite literally schizophrenic,
posting lots of word salad with many ALL CAPS!!! and
EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!. Alas, some other people
on the group can't seem to resist poking the crazy
person. I probably should just unsubscribe; it used
to be an interesting newsgroup, but now, non-psycho
postings are few and far between. trn lets me do
full-text kill file searchs on the psycho's name, and
trim the reply tree at any mention.

On another, there's a regular who posts only off-topic
political screeds of the "haw haw haw u so stoopid!"
sort. (Alas, that group has mostly been consumed by
off-topic political screeds, but most post at least
something else sometimes, and other people are pretty
good about putting [OT] tags in their subjects.)

--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston

Lawrence Watt-Evans

2020-06-05 23:53:15 UTC

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?

I use 'em.

I tried to only use them for spam for a long time, but eventually
decided there were some people I just never wanted to read again.

Since returning after my seventeen-month hiatus I find I'm less
tolerant, and one regular I used to accept has been added to the
filter list.

--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
My latest novel is Stone Unturned: A Legend of Ethshar.
See http://www.ethshar.com/StoneUnturned.shtml

Joy Beeson

2020-06-07 03:03:37 UTC

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?

I never write a delete filter unless it's set to expire immediately
after running.

There are many posters who have the superpower of eliciting worthless
replies, so it's convenient to know that a subthread hangs from a post
that a filter has marked "read".

And there have been at least two occasions when I fished a post out of
the wastebasket. But I don't recall any wastebasket posts that I'd
have minded missing.

I've developed a hair-trigger killfile finger in my old age. Call
someone a moron even once and Phht! you were gone.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

David Johnston

2020-06-07 05:05:29 UTC

Post by Joy Beeson

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?

I never write a delete filter unless it's set to expire immediately
after running.
There are many posters who have the superpower of eliciting worthless
replies, so it's convenient to know that a subthread hangs from a post
that a filter has marked "read".
And there have been at least two occasions when I fished a post out of
the wastebasket. But I don't recall any wastebasket posts that I'd
have minded missing.
I've developed a hair-trigger killfile finger in my old age. Call
someone a moron even once and Phht! you were gone.

I find subject line and newgroup killfiles to be more useful

Jaimie Vandenbergh

2020-06-07 10:18:56 UTC

Post by Joy Beeson

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?

I never write a delete filter unless it's set to expire immediately
after running.
There are many posters who have the superpower of eliciting worthless
replies, so it's convenient to know that a subthread hangs from a post
that a filter has marked "read".
And there have been at least two occasions when I fished a post out of
the wastebasket. But I don't recall any wastebasket posts that I'd
have minded missing.
I've developed a hair-trigger killfile finger in my old age. Call
someone a moron even once and Phht! you were gone.

I can't recall if Agent 3.2 has "kill subthread" on shift-i, but for me it was
well worth the upgrade price.

(At the time. Now that Agent appears to be moribund, perhaps not)

Cheers - Jaimie

--
Sent from my Atari 400

Dorothy J Heydt

2020-06-07 14:53:55 UTC

Post by Joy Beeson

Post by BCFD36
Just out of curiosity, who out there uses kill files or rules to delete
messages before being subjected to them?

I never write a delete filter unless it's set to expire immediately
after running.
There are many posters who have the superpower of eliciting worthless
replies, so it's convenient to know that a subthread hangs from a post
that a filter has marked "read".
And there have been at least two occasions when I fished a post out of
the wastebasket. But I don't recall any wastebasket posts that I'd
have minded missing.
I've developed a hair-trigger killfile finger in my old age. Call
someone a moron even once and Phht! you were gone.

I'm a LIT-tle more tolerant than that, but not much.

I tend to killfile topics rather than names (though I have ten or
twenty names in my file, most of whom don't post here any more
anyway). This works adequately for my purposes, since once a
topic gets down and dirty it seldom if ever recovers.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

Bice

2020-06-08 16:46:18 UTC

I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm still using Free Agent which hasn't been
supported in decades and doesn't include a kill file. However, years
ago I found a program called NewsProxy that runs alongside Free Agent
and works as a kill file, filtering posts from the newsfeed before
they even get to Free Agent. Sadly, several months ago NewsProxy
stopped working for rec.arts.sf.written. I have no idea why - it
still works great for every other newsgroup I read, but blows up when
trying to download headers for r.a.sf.w.

So for this group (and only this one), I have to connect directly to
the newsserver and download every header, then manually look at the
name and subject and decide which ones to just mark read without
downloading. There's about a half-dozen or so posters who I generally
just skip. Interestingly, they often reply to each other, making it
easy for me to mark 10-15 posts in a row as read.

-- Bob, still working on reading the entire Vorkosigan saga in
internal chronological order, currently on Komarr

Thomas Koenig

2020-06-08 17:42:44 UTC

I use killfiles on some people, few here, more on another newsgroup,
where I find that some people's comments have an unhealthy effect
on my blood pressure. If there's anything worth discussing,
I can follow up on what other people have replied (but usually,
there isn't).

Plus, of course, there is a global entry for "solution manual".

Default User

2020-06-08 20:25:08 UTC

Post by Bice
I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm still using Free Agent which hasn't been
supported in decades and doesn't include a kill file.

There are number of free newsreaders, at least for Windows.

Brian

David Johnston

2020-06-09 04:34:03 UTC

Post by Bice
I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm still using Free Agent which hasn't been
supported in decades and doesn't include a kill file.

There are number of free newsreaders, at least for Windows.

Free Agent was really good though. I never would have switched to
Thunderbird if I hadn't tragically lost the computer that had my copy of
it.

h***@gmail.com

2020-06-09 05:21:57 UTC

Post by Bice
I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm still using Free Agent which hasn't been
supported in decades and doesn't include a kill file.

There are number of free newsreaders, at least for Windows.

Free Agent was really good though. I never would have switched to
Thunderbird if I hadn't tragically lost the computer that had my copy of
it.

Yeah, I used Free Agent for a long time until a particularly annoying spam hit got me to upgrade to the paid version

Lawrence Watt-Evans

2020-06-09 05:46:45 UTC

On Mon, 8 Jun 2020 22:34:03 -0600, David Johnston

Post by Bice
I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm still using Free Agent which hasn't been
supported in decades and doesn't include a kill file.

There are number of free newsreaders, at least for Windows.

Free Agent was really good though. I never would have switched to
Thunderbird if I hadn't tragically lost the computer that had my copy of
it.

I actually shelled out for Agent, and have it backed up on four
different computers and several external hard drives. Oh, and I think
I have it on CD somewhere, too.

I do not intend to ever replace Agent.

--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
My latest novel is Stone Unturned: A Legend of Ethshar.
See http://www.ethshar.com/StoneUnturned.shtml

Jaimie Vandenbergh

2020-06-10 18:12:03 UTC

On 9 Jun 2020 at 06:46:45 BST, "Lawrence Watt-Evans"

Post by Lawrence Watt-Evans
On Mon, 8 Jun 2020 22:34:03 -0600, David Johnston

Post by Bice
I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm still using Free Agent which hasn't been
supported in decades and doesn't include a kill file.

There are number of free newsreaders, at least for Windows.

Free Agent was really good though. I never would have switched to
Thunderbird if I hadn't tragically lost the computer that had my copy of
it.

I ran a Windows virtual machine on my Macs specifically for Agent for fifteen
years. It's six years and one pretty major time-dependent bug in filter
expiry* since Agent was last updated, and Mark who wrote 99% of it no longer
works for Forte so I don't ever expect an update.

On the other hand, Usenet servers won't change - that spec hasn't moved since
2009 and that was barely changed from 1994. Largely adding better controls for
character encoding usage, which clients have, in turn, largely ignored. As we
rediscover here every time someone tries anything other than ASCII.

* After some day in 2017, filters with "expire after 'xx' days" set would
expire and self-delete on next use. y2k type problem.

Cheers - Jaimie

--
"The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by infinity is
to contemplate the extent of human stupidity." -- Voltaire

Lawrence Watt-Evans

2020-06-11 04:13:26 UTC

On 10 Jun 2020 18:12:03 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
On 9 Jun 2020 at 06:46:45 BST, "Lawrence Watt-Evans"

Post by Lawrence Watt-Evans
On Mon, 8 Jun 2020 22:34:03 -0600, David Johnston

Post by Bice
I'm a cheap SOB, so I'm still using Free Agent which hasn't been
supported in decades and doesn't include a kill file.

There are number of free newsreaders, at least for Windows.

Free Agent was really good though. I never would have switched to
Thunderbird if I hadn't tragically lost the computer that had my copy of
it.

I ran a Windows virtual machine on my Macs specifically for Agent for fifteen
years. It's six years and one pretty major time-dependent bug in filter
expiry* since Agent was last updated, and Mark who wrote 99% of it no longer
works for Forte so I don't ever expect an update.
On the other hand, Usenet servers won't change - that spec hasn't moved since
2009 and that was barely changed from 1994. Largely adding better controls for
character encoding usage, which clients have, in turn, largely ignored. As we
rediscover here every time someone tries anything other than ASCII.
* After some day in 2017, filters with "expire after 'xx' days" set would
expire and self-delete on next use. y2k type problem.

Oh, is THAT what's been happening to my filters? Good to know.

--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com
My latest novel is Stone Unturned: A Legend of Ethshar.
See http://www.ethshar.com/StoneUnturned.shtml

Jaimie Vandenbergh

2020-06-11 11:48:19 UTC

On 11 Jun 2020 at 05:13:26 BST, "Lawrence Watt-Evans"

Post by Lawrence Watt-Evans
On 10 Jun 2020 18:12:03 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh

Post by Jaimie Vandenbergh
On 9 Jun 2020 at 06:46:45 BST, "Lawrence Watt-Evans"

Post by Lawrence Watt-Evans
I do not intend to ever replace Agent.

Oh, is THAT what's been happening to my filters? Good to know.

There is a fix, if you feel handy with a hex editor! Well, a bandaid really as
it just shifts the date window to end in 2039 when the problem will recur.
Probably not a major worry...

It's not much trouble, and just take a copy of your agent.exe file before you
do it so there's no pain in restoring if you mess up.

Full instructions at

https://alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.modified.narkive.com/vhHbQQjO/agent-filter-expiry-problem-fix#post1

Cheers - Jaimie

--
Sent from my Sinclair ZX-81

h***@gmail.com

2020-06-09 05:21:11 UTC

Post by Bice

How large is your archive for r.a.sf.w compared with other groups?
It might just be that it's too big for the program to handle nicely

Bice

2020-06-09 11:36:56 UTC

Post by Bice
Sadly, several months ago NewsProxy
stopped working for rec.arts.sf.written. I have no idea why - it
still works great for every other newsgroup I read, but blows up when
trying to download headers for r.a.sf.w.

How large is your archive for r.a.sf.w compared with other groups?
It might just be that it's too big for the program to handle nicely

I think that's probably the cause - r.a.sf.w gets orders of magnitude
more messages than any other group I read, and Eternal September's
archive goes back almost eight years. Free Agent is showing 65,535
unread messages for the group because that's all the higher it can
count. That same number has been sitting next to r.a.sf.w since I
first subscribed to the group.

-- Bob

Default User

2020-06-09 23:49:36 UTC

Post by Bice
I think that's probably the cause - r.a.sf.w gets orders of magnitude
more messages than any other group I read, and Eternal September's
archive goes back almost eight years. Free Agent is showing 65,535
unread messages for the group because that's all the higher it can
count. That same number has been sitting next to r.a.sf.w since I
first subscribed to the group.

XanaNews shows a total of 241621 messages for RASW.

Brian

Lynn McGuire

2020-06-10 21:49:48 UTC