The Idiot's Guide to Killfiling Idiots

A simple tutorial on using killfiles to filter out undesirable newsgroup posts.

General Dicsussion on filtering and killfiles

This 'killfile' is simply a catch-all phrase for the filtering utilites that make all this possible.

This tutorial will cover the simplest case of filtering: deleting a poster by name or email address. For the sake of consistancy, I will use the following user name/address in all exapmles:

	HFriberg!  ,      [email protected]

In creating a filter, one can use either the name or the email address; both are not necessary. Although there are some subtle issues involved, it's mostly just a matter of preference. I prefer filtering by email addresses, and that's what I will use in these examples.

Some newsreaders (such as Forte Agent) are capable of far more sophisicated filtering, such as deleting non-binary messages from a binary group, or auto-downloading messages from certain authors. However, such filtering is highly newsreader specific and beyond the scope of this tutorial.

Detailed Instructions for various Newsreaders

Microsoft Outlook Express / Internet Explorer.

Netscape Navigator

Forte Agent (and free agent)

 

The Following newsreaders lack filtering ability

Filtering Add-ons

nfilter - a nntp proxy that enhances the filtering capabilities of any newsreader. For win95/NT only.