Xnews custom filters

[MajorLanGod]

How can I make a custom filter in Xnews permanent. Right now, I have to
invoke it every time I want to use it. There are a couple newsgroups that
are being swamped by encripted entries where the author name always starts
with three numerals. I have a custom filter to take care of them, but I
have to invoke it by hand every time. Is there a way to make it permanent
so that it is always run when I open a newsgroup. And yes, I have already
looked at the Xnews User Manual.

[Mike Dee]

Post by MajorLanGod
How can I make a custom filter in Xnews permanent. Right now, I
have to invoke it every time I want to use it. There are a couple
newsgroups that are being swamped by encripted entries where the
author name always starts with three numerals. I have a custom
filter to take care of them, but I have to invoke it by hand every
time. Is there a way to make it permanent so that it is always run
when I open a newsgroup. And yes, I have already looked at the
Xnews User Manual.

Instead of invoking Filter > Custom Filter [F9], use
Special > Edit Score File [Ctrl + E] which opens the score file in
Notepad. Hand-edit your scorefile there and save the changes.

When entering scores for all newsgroups, they go under [.]

When entering scores for a particular group they go under the groups
name. For example, this group and a kill score for an individual would
look like something this:

[^news\.software\.readers$]

Score: -9999
From: someone's name

You don't need to write a "From:" for each entry, you can pipe "|"
names across a single line, as in:

From: person 1|person 2|person 3|etc|etc|etc

Does the persons name always use the same 3 numbers? If not, use:

From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]name

In the fine Xnews manual, read the chapters 16 and 17. Especially
chapters 17 for more Regex info which will come in handy when editing
the score file by hand.

[Sn!pe]

--
dee

hi

[Mike Dee]

hi

Hello Sn!pe.

I'm glad to see you're still about in these difficult times.

Me, I'm hanging in there, mostly lurking, WRT usenet. Take care.

[Sn!pe]

Post by Mike Dee

hi

Hello Sn!pe.
I'm glad to see you're still about in these difficult times.
Me, I'm hanging in there, mostly lurking, WRT usenet. Take care.

It's nice to see that you're still here too, it must be more than
10 years since I last saw you. I don't know if you knew, but it
was you who shamed me into paying for MacSOUP when I first
switched to Macs and hadn't yet decided which 'reader to use.

Ancient history - what Usenet does best.

You take care too, Mike. <g>

[Mike Dee]

Post by Sn!pe

Post by Mike Dee

hi

Hello Sn!pe.
I'm glad to see you're still about in these difficult times.
Me, I'm hanging in there, mostly lurking, WRT usenet. Take care.

It's nice to see that you're still here too, it must be more than
10 years since I last saw you. I don't know if you knew, but it
was you who shamed me into paying for MacSOUP when I first
switched to Macs and hadn't yet decided which 'reader to use.
Ancient history - what Usenet does best.
You take care too, Mike. <g>

I've seen a few of your posts over those last years, I think mainly in
the brit Mac group.

Heh, I think I was taking a dig at the nags MacSoup used to put into
its headers. I wasn't trying to shame you, more commenting on the
humongous clocking up of nags that were in there ;-)

At least, that's what I hope I was doing. I'd hate to think that I may
have been net-nannying :-P

Tho' I'm glad to hear that you purchased MacSoup in the end. I didn't
know it was still being developed. I see you run it on some up-to-date
rig, so I guess it must be.

[Sn!pe]

Mike Dee <***@emteedee.invalid> wrote:

[...]

Post by Mike Dee
Tho' I'm glad to hear that you purchased MacSoup in the end. I didn't
know it was still being developed. I see you run it on some up-to-date
rig, so I guess it must be.

Unfortunately it's 32 bit and Stefan has already said that there
won't be a 64 bit version. I think he may have even made it
freeware now. I love my MacSOUP though, so I keep a Mojave VM
on my main Big Sur (64 bit only) machine just so I can continue
to use it.

There isn't much choice now for Mac text Newsreaders, although
Usenapp is coming along quite well. I do have T'bird of course,
but I don't rate that very highly.

[Mike Dee]

Post by Sn!pe
[...]

Post by Mike Dee
Tho' I'm glad to hear that you purchased MacSoup in the end. I
didn't know it was still being developed. I see you run it on
some up-to-date rig, so I guess it must be.

Unfortunately it's 32 bit and Stefan has already said that there
won't be a 64 bit version. I think he may have even made it
freeware now. I love my MacSOUP though, so I keep a Mojave VM
on my main Big Sur (64 bit only) machine just so I can continue
to use it.
There isn't much choice now for Mac text Newsreaders, although
Usenapp is coming along quite well. I do have T'bird of course,
but I don't rate that very highly.

It's not looking good for MacSoup, Sn!pe :-(

I just checked out Stefan's MacSoup page:
<http://www.haller-berlin.de/macsoup/>

"MacSOUP was an NNTP newsreader for Mac that I developed in the
nineties. It is obsolete and no longer available."

Well I guess you won't have to worry about that rego nag any more ;-)

I'm in the same boat. Xnews is long dead. But it's still my favourite
news reader. I think I'll continue to use it for as long as there's a
PC that can it can run on...

[Sn!pe]

[N.B. Subject changed]

Post by Mike Dee

Post by Sn!pe
[...]

Post by Mike Dee
Tho' I'm glad to hear that you purchased MacSoup in the end. I
didn't know it was still being developed. I see you run it on
some up-to-date rig, so I guess it must be.

Unfortunately it's 32 bit and Stefan has already said that there
won't be a 64 bit version. I think he may have even made it
freeware now. I love my MacSOUP though, so I keep a Mojave VM
on my main Big Sur (64 bit only) machine just so I can continue
to use it.
There isn't much choice now for Mac text Newsreaders, although
Usenapp is coming along quite well. I do have T'bird of course,
but I don't rate that very highly.

It's not looking good for MacSoup, Sn!pe :-(
<http://www.haller-berlin.de/macsoup/>
"MacSOUP was an NNTP newsreader for Mac that I developed in the
nineties. It is obsolete and no longer available."
Well I guess you won't have to worry about that rego nag any more ;-)
I'm in the same boat. Xnews is long dead. But it's still my favourite
news reader. I think I'll continue to use it for as long as there's a
PC that can it can run on...

I recall that Blinky (RIP) was a major fan of Xnews. I did wrestle with
it for a while but in the end it didn't really do the business for me.

BTW, I do have several versions of MacSOUP here; I don't suppose Stefan
would mind too much if I [ahem] asked somebody to look after a security
copy for me... Run as an unregistered copy, it's still fully functional
apart from the nag counting the days. It does require Mac OS X 10.14
(Mojave) or earlier though. To be polite, I could even ask Stefan's
permission to share it.

[Mike Dee]

Post by Sn!pe
[N.B. Subject changed]

[...]

Post by Sn!pe
I recall that Blinky (RIP) was a major fan of Xnews. I did
wrestle with it for a while but in the end it didn't really do the
business for me.
BTW, I do have several versions of MacSOUP here; I don't suppose
Stefan would mind too much if I [ahem] asked somebody to look
after a security copy for me... Run as an unregistered copy, it's
still fully functional apart from the nag counting the days. It
does require Mac OS X 10.14 (Mojave) or earlier though. To be
polite, I could even ask Stefan's permission to share it.

Hi Sn!pe. Yes, old Blinky was a rock when it came to everything Xnews.
I still dearly miss him.

Your several versions of MacSoup could go up to
<http://macintoshgarden.org/>

They don't have a copy, so it would be a good addition there, and it
truly appears to be abandoned.

When I used usenet on Mac OS, I was a fan of John Norstad's
NewsWatcher, which he later open-sourced and a few spin-offs from that
emerged, the most successful and my favourite, was Simon Fraser's port,
MT-NewsWatcher.

I see the download site for MT-NewsWatcher and is still avilable:
<http://www.smfr.org/mtnw/>
But I don't think that it has been updated since Mac OS 10.5.x, so what
OS it may run on up to, I couldn't say.

Good to see it's still available for download, tho'.

[Conceited Jerk]

Post by Mike Dee
<http://www.smfr.org/mtnw/>
But I don't think that it has been updated since Mac OS 10.5.x, so what
OS it may run on up to, I couldn't say.
Good to see it's still available for download, tho'.

Sorry to jump in here.

I can tell you it doesn't run on Mac OS 10.13.6 (I've tried).
Unfortunately, I don't remember the specific reason (been a while). I
was using a Mac reader called Unison, which worked quite well if you can
tolerate the interface.

-CJ

[Lewis]

Post by Conceited Jerk

Post by Mike Dee
<http://www.smfr.org/mtnw/>
But I don't think that it has been updated since Mac OS 10.5.x, so what
OS it may run on up to, I couldn't say.
Good to see it's still available for download, tho'.

Sorry to jump in here.
I can tell you it doesn't run on Mac OS 10.13.6 (I've tried).
Unfortunately, I don't remember the specific reason (been a while). I
was using a Mac reader called Unison, which worked quite well if you can
tolerate the interface.

MTNW uses Open Transport, a technology introduced in the System 7 Macs
(System 7.5). It was never updated to use newer networking stacks and so
when Apple removed Open Transport and AppleTalk from macOS in 10.9
(2013) after being deprecated in 10.4 (2005), MTNW stopped working.

[Conceited Jerk]

Post by Lewis

Post by Conceited Jerk
Sorry to jump in here.
I can tell you it doesn't run on Mac OS 10.13.6 (I've tried).
Unfortunately, I don't remember the specific reason (been a while). I
was using a Mac reader called Unison, which worked quite well if you can
tolerate the interface.

MTNW uses Open Transport, a technology introduced in the System 7 Macs
(System 7.5). It was never updated to use newer networking stacks and so
when Apple removed Open Transport and AppleTalk from macOS in 10.9
(2013) after being deprecated in 10.4 (2005), MTNW stopped working.

That rings a bell, thanks.

-CJ

[Sn!pe]

Mike Dee <***@emteedee.invalid> wrote:

[...]

Post by Mike Dee
Your several versions of MacSoup could go up to
<http://macintoshgarden.org/>
They don't have a copy, so it would be a good addition there,
and it truly appears to be abandoned.

[...]

That's a nice idea, Mike, I'll look into it.

[andrew]

Post by Sn!pe
I recall that Blinky (RIP) was a major fan of Xnews. I did wrestle with
it for a while but in the end it didn't really do the business for me.

Blinky wrestled with slrn as well from time to time...

Andrew

[MajorLanGod]

Post by Mike Dee

Post by MajorLanGod
How can I make a custom filter in Xnews permanent. Right now, I
have to invoke it every time I want to use it. There are a couple
newsgroups that are being swamped by encripted entries where the
author name always starts with three numerals. I have a custom
filter to take care of them, but I have to invoke it by hand every
time. Is there a way to make it permanent so that it is always run
when I open a newsgroup. And yes, I have already looked at the
Xnews User Manual.

Instead of invoking Filter > Custom Filter [F9], use
Special > Edit Score File [Ctrl + E] which opens the score file in
Notepad. Hand-edit your scorefile there and save the changes.
When entering scores for all newsgroups, they go under [.]
When entering scores for a particular group they go under the groups
name. For example, this group and a kill score for an individual would
[^news\.software\.readers$]
Score: -9999
From: someone's name
You don't need to write a "From:" for each entry, you can pipe "|"
From: person 1|person 2|person 3|etc|etc|etc
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]name
In the fine Xnews manual, read the chapters 16 and 17. Especially
chapters 17 for more Regex info which will come in handy when editing
the score file by hand.

The problem is that there isn't a single author's name. There are many
names, the only common thing is that the first three characters are
numeric, with is what I based my regex on.

[Mike Dee]

Post by MajorLanGod

Post by Mike Dee
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]name
In the fine Xnews manual, read the chapters 16 and 17. Especially
chapters 17 for more Regex info which will come in handy when
editing the score file by hand.

The problem is that there isn't a single author's name. There are
many names, the only common thing is that the first three
characters are numeric, with is what I based my regex on.

Well, if the numbers remain the same then all you need are the 3
numbers

From: ^123

Replace 123 with the actual #'s. The ^ at the beginning, informs Xnews
the from name begins with those numbers. The name changes are of no
importance if the name always begins with those numbers. Xnews will
kill them on those numbers alone.

If the 3 numbers also change, ignore the name and use:

From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]

[MajorLanGod]

Post by Mike Dee

Post by MajorLanGod

Post by Mike Dee
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]name
In the fine Xnews manual, read the chapters 16 and 17. Especially
chapters 17 for more Regex info which will come in handy when
editing the score file by hand.

The problem is that there isn't a single author's name. There are
many names, the only common thing is that the first three
characters are numeric, with is what I based my regex on.

Well, if the numbers remain the same then all you need are the 3
numbers
From: ^123
Replace 123 with the actual #'s. The ^ at the beginning, informs Xnews
the from name begins with those numbers. The name changes are of no
importance if the name always begins with those numbers. Xnews will
kill them on those numbers alone.
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]

And where an I supposed to use this? If it is in the custom filter page,
I already have a regex that works. My question is rather than having to
enter the filter for every news group, is there a way I can create the
filter and have it be automatically applied to every news group I open?

[Mike Dee]

[...]

Post by MajorLanGod

Post by Mike Dee
Well, if the numbers remain the same then all you need are the 3
numbers
From: ^123
Replace 123 with the actual #'s. The ^ at the beginning, informs
Xnews the from name begins with those numbers. The name changes
are of no importance if the name always begins with those
numbers. Xnews will kill them on those numbers alone.
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]

And where an I supposed to use this? If it is in the custom filter
page, I already have a regex that works. My question is rather
than having to enter the filter for every news group, is there a
way I can create the filter and have it be automatically applied
to every news group I open?

Instead of using the "Custom Filter" or typing [F9], go instead to
"Special" menu and click "Edit Score File" or type [Ctrl + E]

This opens the score file in Notepad. Hand-edit your scorefile in
there and save the changes.

_When entering scores for ALL newsgroups_, they go under [.] in your
score file.

For example:

[.]
Score: -9999
From: ^123

Copy and paste the above into your score file, if that's all you
need. Change "123" to whatever the numbers are meant to be. If the
numbers are not constant but always in the form of
nnn+some-kind-of-name then use From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]

When entering scores for a particular group they go under the groups
name.

For example; this group you're reading and a kill score for that
individual would look like something this:

[^news\.software\.readers$]
Score: -9999
From: ^123

[MajorLanGod]

Post by Mike Dee
[...]

Post by MajorLanGod

Post by Mike Dee
Well, if the numbers remain the same then all you need are the 3
numbers
From: ^123
Replace 123 with the actual #'s. The ^ at the beginning, informs
Xnews the from name begins with those numbers. The name changes
are of no importance if the name always begins with those
numbers. Xnews will kill them on those numbers alone.
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]

And where an I supposed to use this? If it is in the custom filter
page, I already have a regex that works. My question is rather
than having to enter the filter for every news group, is there a
way I can create the filter and have it be automatically applied
to every news group I open?

Instead of using the "Custom Filter" or typing [F9], go instead to
"Special" menu and click "Edit Score File" or type [Ctrl + E]
This opens the score file in Notepad. Hand-edit your scorefile in
there and save the changes.
_When entering scores for ALL newsgroups_, they go under [.] in your
score file.
[.]
Score: -9999
From: ^123
Copy and paste the above into your score file, if that's all you
need. Change "123" to whatever the numbers are meant to be. If the
numbers are not constant but always in the form of
nnn+some-kind-of-name then use From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]
When entering scores for a particular group they go under the groups
name.
For example; this group you're reading and a kill score for that
[^news\.software\.readers$]
Score: -9999
From: ^123

You are missing the point. The numbers are not always 123. They can be
any three digit number in an apparent random order.

I have a filter that works, but it requires that I open 'Custom Filter',
check invert, check regedit and enter my regedit phrase, then activate.
It works, but it gets old doing it every day for several news groups. So,
once and for all, is there any way to get MY filter to invoke
automatically when I open a news group?

[Andy Rodemann]

Hallo zusammen,

Post by MajorLanGod

Post by Mike Dee
[...]

Post by MajorLanGod

Post by Mike Dee
Well, if the numbers remain the same then all you need are the 3
numbers
From: ^123
Replace 123 with the actual #'s. The ^ at the beginning, informs
Xnews the from name begins with those numbers. The name changes
are of no importance if the name always begins with those
numbers. Xnews will kill them on those numbers alone.
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]

Or you could use:
From: ^[0-9]{3}

Post by MajorLanGod

Post by Mike Dee

Post by MajorLanGod
And where an I supposed to use this? If it is in the custom filter
page, I already have a regex that works. My question is rather
than having to enter the filter for every news group, is there a
way I can create the filter and have it be automatically applied
to every news group I open?

Instead of using the "Custom Filter" or typing [F9], go instead to
"Special" menu and click "Edit Score File" or type [Ctrl + E]
This opens the score file in Notepad. Hand-edit your scorefile in
there and save the changes.
_When entering scores for ALL newsgroups_, they go under [.] in your
score file.
[.]
Score: -9999
From: ^123
Copy and paste the above into your score file, if that's all you
need. Change "123" to whatever the numbers are meant to be. If the
numbers are not constant but always in the form of
nnn+some-kind-of-name then use From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]
When entering scores for a particular group they go under the groups
name.
For example; this group you're reading and a kill score for that
[^news\.software\.readers$]
Score: -9999
From: ^123

You are missing the point. The numbers are not always 123. They can
be any three digit number in an apparent random order.

Then use one of the regex given above.

Post by MajorLanGod
I have a filter that works, but it requires that I open 'Custom
Filter', check invert, check regedit and enter my regedit phrase,
then activate. It works, but it gets old doing it every day for
several news groups. So, once and for all, is there any way to get MY
filter to invoke automatically when I open a news group?

Apparently not, so scoring is the thing that would do what you want.

[MajorLanGod]

Post by Andy Rodemann

Post by MajorLanGod
You are missing the point. The numbers are not always 123. They can
be any three digit number in an apparent random order.

Then use one of the regex given above.

Post by MajorLanGod
I have a filter that works, but it requires that I open 'Custom
Filter', check invert, check regedit and enter my regedit phrase,
then activate. It works, but it gets old doing it every day for
several news groups. So, once and for all, is there any way to get MY
filter to invoke automatically when I open a news group?

Apparently not, so scoring is the thing that would do what you want.

So pretend I'm learning disabled, and tell me again how to set the score
file to handle ANY three digit number in the first three positions so
they don't show up on the screen. Please

[Nil]

Post by MajorLanGod
So pretend I'm learning disabled, and tell me again how to set the
score file to handle ANY three digit number in the first three
positions so they don't show up on the screen. Please

Hit the Ctrl-E to open your score.ini file, if you have one. Add a
recipe to the score file similar to this, then save and exit:


[name of your newsgroup, or "." for all newsgroups]
% kill known trolls
Score:: -9999
Expires: 2/28/2021
From: ^[0-9]{3}


Make sure you have Special | Enable Scoreing and Hard Kill enabled.
This will eliminate from view all posts from anybody who's From: line
starts with three numbers. You can also indicate an expiry date like
above, or eliminate the Expires line to keep it forever.

You can also hit the S key to interact with the score file with a
dialog box.

[MajorLanGod]

Post by Nil

Post by MajorLanGod
So pretend I'm learning disabled, and tell me again how to set the
score file to handle ANY three digit number in the first three
positions so they don't show up on the screen. Please

Hit the Ctrl-E to open your score.ini file, if you have one. Add a
[name of your newsgroup, or "." for all newsgroups]
% kill known trolls
Score:: -9999
Expires: 2/28/2021
From: ^[0-9]{3}
Make sure you have Special | Enable Scoreing and Hard Kill enabled.
This will eliminate from view all posts from anybody who's From: line
starts with three numbers. You can also indicate an expiry date like
above, or eliminate the Expires line to keep it forever.
You can also hit the S key to interact with the score file with a
dialog box.

I want to thank all of your for your help, and especially for your
patience while you tried to pound into my head how things work. I have
followed your suggetions, and everything is just the way I wanted it.
Thank you again.

[Mike Dee]

Post by MajorLanGod
You are missing the point. The numbers are not always 123. They
can be any three digit number in an apparent random order.

I really think that you are.

You do not need to use the Custom Filter

Edit the score file by hand.

As the numbers change, copy and paste into the score file:

[.]
Score: -9999
From: ^[0-9][0-9][0-9]

Or as Andy Rodemann suggests

From: ^[0-9]{3}

This has been offered to you on a plate since my first response and you
simply failed to get it.

Back to lurking for me. HTH