Date: Sun, 08 Dec 1996 20:56:23 +0100
From: Fredric
To: AGM mailing list
Subject: Re: We've been here before (READ THIS) 


Greebings AGMers! :)
Sorry to waste bandwidth and mailing this to all of you.
Don't reply to this unless you are sure you want to send a message
to a lot of persons.

The attack from alt.nuke.the.USA is getting quite terrible.

* NO REPSONSES
* LEARN TO (STUDY HEADERS)
* LEARN TO (USE FILTERS)

Please keep to the strategy of no response.
Not in email, not in posts.
And I think it is important not to mention how bothered and
upset we are about the situation in posts. 
That just makes them feel they are acheiving their goals.

> There exists in UseNet a group with the unassuming name 
> alt.syntax.tactical.
> ... Turns out, though, that this group is simply a
> clever tool for destroying other groups.

This is called trolling, and it is, sad to say, not limited to a 
single usegroup, it is a big problem. The troll faq, recreational
trolling, was even posted to AGM some months ago.

Please always study the line Newsgroups: in the header.
If you can't see the header, try to convince your newsreader to do so
in the settings.
If it contains more than alt.good.morning, it is a crosspost, and
most likely not worthy a followup.

My current list of reoccuring flamers is:
Tom = metalbag
  user@ix.netcom.com
Mark = Dr Filo Kevetch
  user@dfw.dfw.net
Dan = big.troll
  user@passport.ca
Tim 
  user@tiac.net
Scott = Otis 
  user@gte.net
Brian 
  user@eskimo.com
Ken 
  user@mail.ameritel.net

Don't read posts from these people, they have nothing to contribute.
Other posters from the same sites should be treated with skepsis.

The lines

NNTP-posting-host:
Path:
Sender:

can tell you if the post is fake.
NNTP-posting-host: is where the article first was posted. If this is
one of the sites above or completely different from the email address
it could be a false sender.
If the user fakes the From: line, much software adds a Sender: line with
the correct originator. Study this line.
Finally, Path: will tell you the route the post took to your computer. 
The format is:
 last computer!previous computer!previous computer!...!originating computer
If the last computer in the line is a computer in the domain of the known
flamers treat it suspicously.

If you see a flame post and you have the time (and dare to end up a bit
in the crossfire), don't hesitate to forward the post to
postmaster@ (after studying if it is a
possible forged address) and ask for them to drop
the flamers account. It won't work for many of them, they use small
sites, sometimes owned by them selves, but for some it will, and many
stupid people have lost their accounts for misbehaving on the net.

Filters:
In many unix based readers you can use the following filter
to eliminate all crossposts from alt.nuke.the.USA

/Newsgroups:.*alt.nuke.*/h:j

All between / and / is the search pattern.
.*  can be replaced with any number of characters
h   means look in header for this line.
:j  is the action which means junk it.

This line added to the filter will also dump all posts from metalbag:

/From:.*Tom Beam.*/h:j

add one line for each brainless person you see.
A single subject can be eliminated the same way:

/Subject:.*Make money fast.*/h:j

Read the manual for your software about filters. Ask friends.

Help emailing newsbies making the mistake of following up on
crossposts or replying to troll messages, explaining that this
is not from AGMers.

If the situation continues to get worse and worse, we might have to take 
temporarily refuge in some other newsgroup, like alt.good.news,
or alt.cows.moo.moo.moo, but nowhere it is safe from crossposts
and flames. And such a temporary switch would have to take place
without mentioning it in posts, only email, making it very difficult.

But we will of course never give up.

Hugs,

Fred

--- ---- ---- ---- ----

Help fight continental drift, use lots of tape.


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