filtering is essential to detrollifying usenet

D <J@M> Sat, 01 Aug 2026 16:17:10 +0200
Newsgroups alt.comp.freeware
Organization Frell Anonymous Remailer
Message-ID <[email protected]>
    
because all new x-posts and generic article headers are automatically    
moved to the "junk" folder, and all kill-filed (blacklisted) overview  
headers are automatically moved to the "troll" folder, the newsreader    
will only display preapproved (whitelisted) articles in any newsgroup,  
so the "junk" folder should be browsed for new blacklist or whitelist    
entries, which over time with daily usage will have added hundreds of    
text strings automatically killfiling chronic chatbot (troll) aliases, 
culled subjects, rogue servers etc., but relatively few whitelistings,    
much depending on the newsgroups/hierarchies you may be subscribed to,    
newsserver retention, completeness, or sampling older usenet archives,    
thus temporarily disabling filters to retrieve a newsgroup's complete    
article count, then "apply scoring and actions on selected groups" as    
needed, which may have little to no effect on pre-1994 usenet content,
but after about "y2k", filtering is essential to detrollifying usenet    
   
this example filter works great in 40tude dialog, using actual header  
strings, and any newsreader can be easily set to automatically ignore    
all unapproved articles with "from *" or similar x-over header syntax:   
  
>[*]    
>-1 From *    
>!ignore From *    
>#    
>!setcolor(black;black),move(troll) From "troll001" "troll002" "troll..."    
>!setcolor(black;black),move(troll) From "troll121" "troll122" "troll..."    
>!setcolor(black;black),move(troll) From "troll241" "troll242" "troll..."  
>!setcolor(black;black),move(troll) From "troll361" "troll362" "troll..."   
>!setcolor(black;black),move(troll) From "troll481" "troll482" "troll..."    
># 
>!setcolor(black;black),move(troll) Subject "cull001" "cull002" "cull..."    
>!setcolor(black;black),move(troll) Message-ID "rogue001" "rogue002" ...    
>#   
>=!unsetwatchignore From "user001" "user002" "user003" "user..."    
>=+1 From "user001" "user002" "user003" "user004" "user..."   
>#    
>=!unsetwatchignore Subject "topic001" "topic002" "topic..."    
>=+1 Subject "topic001" "topic002" "topic003" "topic..."  
>#    
>=!unsetwatchignore Message-ID "@server001" "@server002" ...   
>=+1 Message-ID "@server001" "@server002" "@server003"...    
>#    
>!setcolor(navy;teal),move(junk) Xpost %>1    
>#  
>=+9999 From "self <name@server01>" "self <name@server02>" ...    
>=!unsetwatchignore,setcolor(red;yellow) From "self <name@server01>" ...   
>#    
>!setcolor(maroon;gray),move(junk) Score "-1"    
 
watching 40tude dialog's "status" window while retrieving new headers    
in selected groups, default log level 2 scrolls info and score/filter,   
for each newsgroup displays lo-hi server markers, and local hi marker,    
thus retrieving "up to" server hi subtract local hi number of headers, 
scoring shows complete message-ids, matching strings in header fields,    
with summary info, e.g. "added received headers to group/folder junk", 
"added received headers to group/folder news.software.nntp" etc., and    
total headers received/added for that session . . . fun to watch, and   
helps to clarify how usenet newsservers interact with your newsreader,    
while showing step-by-step how your score filter is affecting headers