Gravity newsreader - good anti-troll defences

No, this is not for you as you are not using Mozilla Thunderbird with HTML enabled. You can plonk me NOW or you can buy a new machine with Windows 10 pre-installed on which you can then install Thunderbird to read my posts.

Bad Guy here!
https://i.imgur.com/tawiy3c.jpg

--

With over 1.2 billion devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

Ken Blake wrote:
On 8/14/2020 10:09 AM, Johnny wrote:

On Fri, 14 Aug 2020 08:03:04 -0700
Ken Blake wrote:

I use Gravity (http://mpgravity.sourceforge.net/). It has a "bozo
bin"; when I right-click a post and add the author to the bozo bin,
I have it configured so all their posts are marked "read" (and so
are not seen) for 365 days.

Almost every newsreader has killfiling capability, even if it goes by
different names in different newsreaders. I use Thunderbird, and its
killfiling capability works fine.

As far as I know, Thunderbird won't filter on a phrase in the headers,


I agree. That's right, as far as I know.

No magic delimiter ?

It's a shame the various search-like features on TB were
developed piece-meal.

The Search Message accepts a phrase.

https://i.postimg.cc/cJPD2MTJ/tb-search-message.gif

Whereas the Message Filter, that was done by an external
contributor, who did the code, then walked away. Because it
would be utter madness maintaining a submission like that.
I would class the effort as a "fast prototyping" effort, that
could use another spin or two for refinement. The guy did good,
but it was still a first cut, and a regular TB developer
should have run with the ball from there.

https://i.postimg.cc/pdMHrQ3L/thunde...age-filter.gif

Maybe someone who tests every release of TB, would know
whether that's ever been touched since.

Paul

On 14/08/2020 12:30:47, Philip Herlihy wrote:
I'm surprised I still see so many indignant replies to trolls, or even posts
about specific trolls. Trolls just want attention, so any attention feeds
them.

I use Gravity (http://mpgravity.sourceforge.net/). It has a "bozo bin"; when
I right-click a post and add the author to the bozo bin, I have it
configured so all their posts are marked "read" (and so are not seen) for
365 days.

If a reply to a trolling thread appear, if the respondent is particularly
annoying they go in the bozo bin too, but in any case tapping 'I' (Ignore)
marks the entire thread plus any future replies as read - and so I don't see
them. That's really useful.

So don't be tempted to encourage these damaged people. See if you have
comparable facilities in your own newsreader, or, if not, try Gravity! It's
old-school (last stable version 2010!) but it works really well!

Gravity 3.0.8
https://www.grc.com/discussions.htm
scroll down the page to see the best newsreader for windows.

--
mick

Just like the Beatles said... All you need is LOVE.

LOVE is the ability to ignore a subthread (preferably with a single
keystroke or a single syllable voice command like "branch").

LOVE is all you need.

On 2020-08-14 5:22 p.m., mick wrote:
On 14/08/2020 12:30:47, Philip Herlihy wrote:
I'm surprised I still see so many indignant replies to trolls, or even
posts about specific trolls.* Trolls just want attention, so any
attention feeds them.

I use Gravity (http://mpgravity.sourceforge.net/).* It has a "bozo
bin"; when I* right-click a post and add the author to the bozo bin, I
have it configured so* all their posts are marked "read" (and so are
not seen) for 365 days.

If a reply to a trolling thread appear, if the respondent is
particularly annoying they go in the bozo bin too, but in any case
tapping 'I' (Ignore) marks the entire thread plus any future replies
as read - and so I don't see them.* That's really useful.

So don't be tempted to encourage these damaged people.* See if you
have comparable facilities in your own newsreader, or, if not, try
Gravity!* It's old-school (last stable version 2010!) but it works
really well!

Gravity 3.0.8
https://www.grc.com/discussions.htm
scroll down the page to see the best newsreader for windows.


To Mick or anyone else using Gravity, How do you increase the font size
in the article pane, Not the quoted text( I can change that) but the
regular message text?

Thanks, Rene

A good addition would be to automatically suppress replies to suppressed
(for whatever reason) posts. That way you would not see the
blacklisted
persons rambing directly or indirectly by responders referring to them
and/or quoting parts of such blacklisted posts.

Yes, that would be wonderful.

There are no newsgroup readers that do that ? Amazing. I would think it
would be a bit of a no-brainer.

But yes, I know. I should have made the changes to enable that behaviour
long ago.

It's a good idea for some but I hope it would be optional. I frequently
have to remove all evidence of a troll before using their post to reply
to someone within the troll's post. All because the intended author's
post is not available for direct reply.

In article , lable says...

Philip,


Does any newsreader offer this?

Offer what ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Your suggestion!

" A good addition would be to automatically suppress replies to suppressed
(for whatever reason) posts. That way you would not see the blacklisted
persons rambing directly or indirectly by responders referring to them
and/or quoting parts of such blacklisted posts.
"

--

Phil, London

In article , says...

On 14/08/2020 12:30:47, Philip Herlihy wrote:
I'm surprised I still see so many indignant replies to trolls, or even posts
about specific trolls. Trolls just want attention, so any attention feeds
them.

I use Gravity (http://mpgravity.sourceforge.net/). It has a "bozo bin"; when
I right-click a post and add the author to the bozo bin, I have it
configured so all their posts are marked "read" (and so are not seen) for
365 days.

If a reply to a trolling thread appear, if the respondent is particularly
annoying they go in the bozo bin too, but in any case tapping 'I' (Ignore)
marks the entire thread plus any future replies as read - and so I don't see
them. That's really useful.

So don't be tempted to encourage these damaged people. See if you have
comparable facilities in your own newsreader, or, if not, try Gravity! It's
old-school (last stable version 2010!) but it works really well!

Gravity 3.0.8
https://www.grc.com/discussions.htm
scroll down the page to see the best newsreader for windows.

Golly! That'll be worth a look.

--

Phil, London

In article , says...

On 2020-08-14 5:22 p.m., mick wrote:
On 14/08/2020 12:30:47, Philip Herlihy wrote:
I'm surprised I still see so many indignant replies to trolls, or even
posts about specific trolls.* Trolls just want attention, so any
attention feeds them.

I use Gravity (http://mpgravity.sourceforge.net/).* It has a "bozo
bin"; when I* right-click a post and add the author to the bozo bin, I
have it configured so* all their posts are marked "read" (and so are
not seen) for 365 days.

If a reply to a trolling thread appear, if the respondent is
particularly annoying they go in the bozo bin too, but in any case
tapping 'I' (Ignore) marks the entire thread plus any future replies
as read - and so I don't see them.* That's really useful.

So don't be tempted to encourage these damaged people.* See if you
have comparable facilities in your own newsreader, or, if not, try
Gravity!* It's old-school (last stable version 2010!) but it works
really well!

Gravity 3.0.8
https://www.grc.com/discussions.htm
scroll down the page to see the best newsreader for windows.


To Mick or anyone else using Gravity, How do you increase the font size
in the article pane, Not the quoted text( I can change that) but the
regular message text?

Thanks, Rene

I'd never played with that before! Tools menu, then Global Options.
The Article Layout tab gives a vast array of configuration options, including
different fonts, colours, etc for every component of a post.

The "Fonts" tab gives similar for the other panes.

--

Phil, London

kelown,

It's a good idea for some but I hope it would be optional.

Why ? What is wrong with marking a response to a suppressed post as
suppressed too (and making it disappear when a certain "view filter" is
choosen) ?

Than again, under OE6 none of the flags has any influence on being able to
reply to a post.

I frequently have to remove all evidence of a troll before using their
post to reply to someone within the troll's post. All because the intended
author's post is not available for direct reply.

I agree. /That/ would be, if not configurable, rather stupid. I would
probably drop the newsreader for it.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

Philip,

Does any newsreader offer this?

Offer what ?

Your suggestion!

" A good addition would be to automatically suppress replies to suppressed
(for whatever reason) posts.

Yes, my 20 year old OE6 does that. You mean that in 20 years no other
newsgroup reader copied that behaviour ? Blimy !

That way you would not see the blacklisted persons rambing
directly or indirectly by responders referring to them and/or
quoting parts of such blacklisted posts.

Alas, the standard OE6-es response to a post of a killfiled person is to
actually delete the message - which ofcourse means that there is no
"suppressed" stated to inherit. :-(

But as I'm a bit of a hobby programmer I tinkered something together which
fixed that (not deleting the killfiled persons message, but just marking it
as suppressed).


But, now you know what you are looking for it should be a lot easier to find
a newsgroup reader with such a "unwanted poster and responders thereto"
defense. :-)

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

R.Wieser wrote:
Ken,

A good addition would be to automatically suppress replies to suppressed
(for whatever reason) posts. That way you would not see the
blacklisted
persons rambing directly or indirectly by responders referring to them
and/or quoting parts of such blacklisted posts.

Yes, that would be wonderful.

There are no newsgroup readers that do that ? Amazing. I would think it
would be a bit of a no-brainer.

It does exist. Thunderbird at the very least can do it if you set it to
ignore subthreads by killfiled posters.

On 8/14/2020 3:22 PM, mick wrote:
On 14/08/2020 12:30:47, Philip Herlihy wrote:
I'm surprised I still see so many indignant replies to trolls, or even posts
about specific trolls. Trolls just want attention, so any attention feeds
them.

I use Gravity (http://mpgravity.sourceforge.net/). It has a "bozo bin"; when
I right-click a post and add the author to the bozo bin, I have it
configured so all their posts are marked "read" (and so are not seen) for
365 days.

If a reply to a trolling thread appear, if the respondent is particularly
annoying they go in the bozo bin too, but in any case tapping 'I' (Ignore)
marks the entire thread plus any future replies as read - and so I don't see
them. That's really useful.

So don't be tempted to encourage these damaged people. See if you have
comparable facilities in your own newsreader, or, if not, try Gravity! It's
old-school (last stable version 2010!) but it works really well!

Gravity 3.0.8
https://www.grc.com/discussions.htm
scroll down the page to see the best newsreader for windows.



As with all categories of software, what's best for one person isn't
necessarily best for everyone. It depends on how you work and what your
preferences are. For example, for a browser some people prefer Chrome
because of its speed. To me speed is hardly important and I greatly
prefer FireFox to Chrome because of its User Interface.

I use and prefer Thunderbird to Gravity. If you prefer Gravity, that's
fine. I tried it a while ago and decided to stay with Thunderbird. I've
tried almost all the well-known newsreaders. Don't ask me what I didn't
like about any of them; I don't remember


--
Ken

On 8/15/2020 8:05 AM, Chris wrote:
R.Wieser wrote:
Ken,

A good addition would be to automatically suppress replies to suppressed
(for whatever reason) posts. That way you would not see the
blacklisted
persons rambing directly or indirectly by responders referring to them
and/or quoting parts of such blacklisted posts.

Yes, that would be wonderful.

There are no newsgroup readers that do that ? Amazing. I would think it
would be a bit of a no-brainer.

It does exist. Thunderbird at the very least can do it if you set it to
ignore subthreads by killfiled posters.



Thank you. I just looked for that setting and couldn't find it. Can you
point me to it?


--
Ken

On 15/08/2020 04:17:53, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
On 2020-08-14 5:22 p.m., mick wrote:
On 14/08/2020 12:30:47, Philip Herlihy wrote:
I'm surprised I still see so many indignant replies to trolls, or even
posts about specific trolls.* Trolls just want attention, so any attention
feeds them.

I use Gravity (http://mpgravity.sourceforge.net/).* It has a "bozo bin";
when I* right-click a post and add the author to the bozo bin, I have it
configured so* all their posts are marked "read" (and so are not seen) for
365 days.

If a reply to a trolling thread appear, if the respondent is particularly
annoying they go in the bozo bin too, but in any case tapping 'I' (Ignore)
marks the entire thread plus any future replies as read - and so I don't
see them.* That's really useful.

So don't be tempted to encourage these damaged people.* See if you have
comparable facilities in your own newsreader, or, if not, try Gravity!*
It's old-school (last stable version 2010!) but it works really well!

Gravity 3.0.8
https://www.grc.com/discussions.htm
scroll down the page to see the best newsreader for windows.


To Mick or anyone else using Gravity, How do you increase the font size in
the article pane, Not the quoted text( I can change that) but the regular
message text?

Thanks, Rene

I haven't used Gravity for quite a few years. I much prefer MesNews
which is very similar.

As an aside:
Since Microplanet ceased producing Gravity the Gallery function has
been eliminated from the later 3.0 versions. You can get the Gallery
function working again by extracting the gallery.exe file from version
2.6 and adding it to the Gravity program folder in any of the latest
versions.
You can also download the same file from my Google Drive using this
link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QAQ...ew?usp=sharing

--
mick