newsgroups can receive dozens or even hundreds of articles per day;
scoring rules can be used to automatically separate these articles
into categories: first, by analyzing common "xover" message header
fields then applying scores and actions to those affected articles;
second, by analyzing all header fields in articles which have been
downloaded and scoring them accordingly: e.g. from, subject, xpost,
message-id, injection-info, nntp-posting-host, references, x-abuse,
path, x-trace, x-face, x-no-archive, x-complaints-to, x-newsreader,
x-mailer, x-tor-router, x-spam-checker-version, xref, mime-version, x-orig-path, x-organisation, organization, originator, in-reply-to,
reply-to, cancel-lock, content-language, content-transfer-encoding, content-type, user-agent, followup-to, lines, x-dmca-notifications,
x-received, x-antivirus, x-antivirus-status, x-abuse-and-dmca-info, x-received-bytes, x-usenapp, x-complaints, x-postfilter, x-user-id,
x-ufhash, x-server-commands, x-usenet-provider, newsgroups, etc...
by downloading several hundred article headers in a busy newsgroup,
overview scoring rules can be tested; after retrieving the message
bodies, both overview and non-overview scoring rules are tested on
all message headers; cursory inspection of these retrieved article
headers can reveal headers and/or header field text strings unique
to certain newsservers that allow posting, including websites that
use backend nntp, and mail-to-news gateways popular with anonymous
remailer users...non-overview headers can be especially useful for
this; a clean "portable" install of 40tude dialog 2.0.15.41 is the
best place to begin (do not install to default x86 program folder):
https://www.barghahn-online.de/4td_faq/download.php https://www-barghahn--online-de.translate.goog/4td_faq/download.php?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
40tude Dialogue - Download >https://www.barghahn-online.de/4td_faq/download/4d2b38.exe >https://www.barghahn-online.de/4td_faq/download/dialog_41.zip
after setting up this program to work with one or more newsservers,
copy and paste the following, relatively simple example of scoring
rules into the "scoring and actions" window, "test expressions" to
validate scoring syntax then click ok; the wildcard [*] identifier
includes all newsgroups; try it on headers, then on message bodies:
[*]
# for scoring all headers, remailers, m2n
=+9999 From: "your <
unique@address.field>"
# mnemonic "self", me, ego, maximum score
=+1452 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*dizum}
# mnemonic "leonardo born", fri 14 april
=+1800 Header {^Injection\-Info: neodome}
# mnemonic "180", hemisphere, half round
#
# for scoring overview headers
# cross-posting is a darn nuisance
# demote cross-posts, darken color
-1111 Xpost %>1
!setcolor(silver;maroon) Xpost %>1
-1111 Xpost %>2
!setcolor(maroon;gray) Xpost %>2
-1111 Xpost %>3
!setcolor(gray;olive) Xpost %>3
-1111 Xpost %>4
!setcolor(olive;gray) Xpost %>4
-1111 Xpost %>5
!setcolor(navy;black) Xpost %>5
#
# for scoring non-overview headers
=-1000 Header {^X\-No\-Archive: yes}
# mnemonic "-1", hamster verwerfen
=-1001 Header {^X\-Trace: individual}
# mnemonic "1/1=1", solo, single, one
=-1005 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*corradoroberto}
# mnemonic "cat", gatto, leo, sunlight, 5th house
=-1119 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*alt119}
# mnemonic "119", nntp, port, contabo, brasil
=-1200 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*newshosting}
# mnemonic "n", nu, pisces, 12th house
=-1559 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*tweaknews}
# mnemonic "hotel des tournelles", pl. vosges
=-1782 Header {^Injection\-Info: paganini}
# mnemonic "paganini born", sunday 27 october
=-1789 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*usenet\-fr}
# mnemonic "paris", bastille, guillotin, robespierre
=-1865 Header {^Path: .*usenet.farm$}
# mnemonic "40 acres", mule, plantation
=-1907 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*thecubenet}
# mnemonic "cubism", cezanne d., braque, picasso
=-1952 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*supernews}
# mnemonic "superman", tv series, george reeves
=-1957 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*uzoreto}
# mnemonic "with", sputnik, vostok, baikonur
=-1978 Header {^X\-Complaints: .*ausics}
# mnemonic "aus", bbs, fido, dns reykjavik
=-1980 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*usenetserver}
# mnemonic "user's network", usenet, nntp server
=-1993 Header {^Injection\-Info: dont\-email}
=-1993 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*september}
# mnemonic "eternal september", never ending
=-2000 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*blocknews}
# mnemonic "mental block", mind, mercury, second heaven
=-3011 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*newsxs}
# mnemonic "s by s", step, side, same as, thoth, gemini
=-3142 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*easynews}
# mnemonic "3.142...", approx. of pi
=-4000 Header {^Injection\-Info: solani}
# mnemonic "4th", sol, sun, fourth heaven
=-4300 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*TheWorld}
# mnemonic "4/3", 4/3 pi r3, sphere, planet
=-5000 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*blueworld}
# mnemonic "blue", 5th primary color, roygbvm/uv
=-5005 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*usenet.ovh}
# mnemonic "rho", roubaix, robaais, fifth heaven
=-5555 Header {^Injection\-Info: reader[\d].panix}
# mnemonic "fear", panic, anxious, nervous, self, mars
=-6000 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*abavia}
# mnemonic "matre", mamme, mulierem, virago, virgo
=-6666 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*newsdemon}
# mnemonic "666", demonic, diabolos, number of man
=-6667 Header {^Path: .*news.dfncis.de}
# mnemonic "third part", mutable, siva
=-7000 Header {^Injection\-Info: i2pn2}
# mnemonic "7th house", libra, fulcrum, rocksolid
=-8000 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*astraweb}
# mnemonic "8th", aster, starry night, eighth heaven
=-8080 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*usenet\-news}
# mnemonic "8080", port, ddllc, va, nl, s. farm
=-9000 Header {^X\-Usenet\-Provider: .*giganews}
# mnemonic "10^9", 1,000,000,000
=-9009 Header {^X\-Complaints\-To: .*usenetexpress}
# mnemonic "ex", out, beyond, afar, hermit, neptune
=-9876 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*chmurka}
# mnemonic "cloud", vapor, shade, gloom, worry
=-9999 Header {^Injection\-Info: .*googlegroups}
# mnemonic "goo", spam, thick, viscous, the blob
cross-posted articles are increasingly darkened in the header list
"subject (name)" column, and likewise demoted in the "score/status" column...rescoring cross-posted articles after downloading message
bodies does not remove these assigned foreground/background colors
unless otherwise specified in (non-overview header) scoring syntax;
because "xpost" is an overview header, there's no need to download
cross-posted article bodies, leaving this to the user's discretion;
some cross-posted articles might be interesting, but most are spam
and troll farm babble...best to ignore these "regulars" altogether;
(respond only to other articles when the reply may benefit readers)
it is recommended to never cross-post, not even when responding to
a cross-posted article, but post any replies only to the newsgroup
where you found that article; if any other cross-posted newsgroups
might benefit from that reply, post those separately, one group at
a time; if forwarding to newsgroup(s) not listed in the cross-post,
use "fw:" instead of "re:" in the "subject" header when convenient;
overview header scoring rules can also be useful where "message-id"
plaintext strings match the corresponding newsserver's domain name;
similar rules can be assigned to the "references" header, to match
articles posted as replies to articles which contain that server's
domain name in either its "message-id" and/or "references" headers;
an easy way to test this by adding the following two rules to your
overview headers scoring syntax, then download headers in any busy
newsgroups from a server with at least one or more years retention:
=-9999 Message-ID: "googlegroups"
=-9998 References: "googlegroups"
because so many newsgroups were flooded by google servers over the
years, it's probable that no matter what unmoderated newsgroup you
may be testing, many hundreds or possibly thousands of red "-9999"
and "-9998" scores will appear in the score column, depending upon
the server's longevity and also retention of googlegroups articles;
in the years leading up to their demise, google's militarized spam
flood intensified dramatically; many newsgroups received more than
eighty percent (80%) grossly off-topic spam floods before gg's end
in february of 2024, so automatically demoting these bazillions of
archived remnants to the bottom of the scoring heap helps to clean
up any newsgroup fast, again, without any need to download article
bodies; just above the header list in the expandable panel, if you
filter by score "<" less than "-9997", then select all and save to
to an arbitrary file name, a message will appear "0 articles saved
(because) 'x' articles have no bodies and were ignored"; typically
the ratio of "google" in message-id/references is about six to one;
most newsservers <subscribe news:alt.free.newsservers> carry about
thirty-five thousand or more unmoderated newsgroups, most of which
are inactive, but hundreds of newsgroups are active or very active;
always attracting sincere contributors and insincere troublemakers,
hence the burgeoning newsgroup thread where discussions can remain
on-topic branch off into tangents, and unrelated, off-topic jabber; discriminating users set "ignore" flags [i] on unwanted follow-ups
which propagates to subsequent replies without ignoring the entire
thread; this works best with default or selected group options set
to purge messages only after a specified number days; "keep" flags
[k] on ignored articles serve to prevent follow-ups from intrusion indefinitely; similarly, "watch" flags [w] propagate to follow-ups
but also retrieve message bodies unless these default settings are
disabled in general settings > misc > setting watch flag retrieves
body; also, watch/ignore works on subthreads may also be unchecked;
set foreground color on "references" header to identify follow-ups:
!setcolor(maroon;white) References: "<"
# mnemonic "reply", follow-up, forward
for the sake of simplicity, scoring on more specific, ephemeral or
volatile overview header entries, especially "from", and "subject",
has been avoided (with one exception, "from" your usenet identity);
experienced users may employ more sophisticated scoring strategies
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)