From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

On 2025-05-20 10:04rC>a.m., D wrote:

for three decades and counting, all active newsgroups have been occupied by
the usenet troll farm (ever since "eternal september" opened the floodgates >in the mid-1990s) . . . fortunately, most newsreaders (dialog, tbird, etc.) >can use "ignore" flag [i] on sub-threads without ignoring the entire thread, >and scoring can be used on overview(xover) and non-overview message headers >with simple rules applied globally to all newsgroups (e.g. to demote/delete
cross-posted articles), and more specific rules custom-tailored for popular >newsgroups/hierarchies ... which can turn any active newsgroup into a ghost >town if your scoring rules simply delete offenders instead of demoting them, >as signal-to-noise ratios in popular newsgroups probably exceed hundreds to >one, and surely thousands to zero in forums involving politics and religion >which are swamped entirely by troll farm rhetoric, narrative and propaganda

but don't let that dissuade anyone serious about exercising free expression >from contributing their plain text articles anyway, especially since usenet >lurkers outnumber contributors by a wide margin and reliable usenet servers >typically retain their "spool" of articles for at least a year, some longer,
so that your lurking audience (silent majority of newsgroup subscribers and >visitors) might discover, download and perhaps read, whatever you've posted >before it, too, expires from whatever server(s) they may be connecting with >(and articles can be reposted, improved, edited, consolidated, posted again)

every usenet "faq" has advised newsgroup contributors to ignore trolls, and
to avoid responding to obvious trolls, and learn to spot troll conversation >or "trollversation" (/trol-ver-sa'shen/) that becomes apparent in newsgroup
threads that attract their sock puppets into feigning newsgroup discussions >intended solely to discourage substantive dialog from occurring under their >"big brother is watching you" watch; so be careful, it's a jungle out there

Good advice, thanks. I just discovered this news group and was happy to see
a healthy set of current message postings without too much spam.

One thing in particular that I noticed happening in other news groups that
are seemingly going well, is that all of a sudden someone will start
spamming messages into it for a large binary download. It's so annoying
because drowns out everything else.

Certain newsgroup servers will filter out this garbage, but others don't. I
noticed that the current Eternal September free news server is pretty good
at filtering out this kind of thing. But there's another news server I use
that doesn't.

It's sad that there are people and or bots out there that are designed to
disrupt various text news groups and flood them like this. It's a clear
sign of intentional malice in my opinion.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

On Tue, 08 Jul 2025 03:25:40 GMT, LV-426 <noreply@noreply.com> wrote:

On 2025-05-20 10:04?a.m., D wrote:

for three decades and counting, all active newsgroups have been occupied by
the usenet troll farm (ever since "eternal september" opened the floodgates >>in the mid-1990s) . . . fortunately, most newsreaders (dialog, tbird, etc.)
can use "ignore" flag [i] on sub-threads without ignoring the entire thread,
and scoring can be used on overview(xover) and non-overview message headers
with simple rules applied globally to all newsgroups (e.g. to demote/delete
cross-posted articles), and more specific rules custom-tailored for popular >>newsgroups/hierarchies ... which can turn any active newsgroup into a ghost >>town if your scoring rules simply delete offenders instead of demoting them, >>as signal-to-noise ratios in popular newsgroups probably exceed hundreds to >>one, and surely thousands to zero in forums involving politics and religion >>which are swamped entirely by troll farm rhetoric, narrative and propaganda

but don't let that dissuade anyone serious about exercising free expression >>from contributing their plain text articles anyway, especially since usenet >>lurkers outnumber contributors by a wide margin and reliable usenet servers >>typically retain their "spool" of articles for at least a year, some longer,
so that your lurking audience (silent majority of newsgroup subscribers and >>visitors) might discover, download and perhaps read, whatever you've posted
before it, too, expires from whatever server(s) they may be connecting with >>(and articles can be reposted, improved, edited, consolidated, posted again)

every usenet "faq" has advised newsgroup contributors to ignore trolls, and
to avoid responding to obvious trolls, and learn to spot troll conversation >>or "trollversation" (/trol-ver-sa'shen/) that becomes apparent in newsgroup
threads that attract their sock puppets into feigning newsgroup discussions >>intended solely to discourage substantive dialog from occurring under their >>"big brother is watching you" watch; so be careful, it's a jungle out there

Good advice, thanks. I just discovered this news group and was happy to see
a healthy set of current message postings without too much spam.

One thing in particular that I noticed happening in other news groups that
are seemingly going well, is that all of a sudden someone will start
spamming messages into it for a large binary download. It's so annoying because drowns out everything else.

Certain newsgroup servers will filter out this garbage, but others don't. I
noticed that the current Eternal September free news server is pretty good
at filtering out this kind of thing. But there's another news server I use that doesn't.

It's sad that there are people and or bots out there that are designed to
disrupt various text news groups and flood them like this. It's a clear
sign of intentional malice in my opinion.

This guy has to be another troll. Nobody who uses Usenet could be so
ignorant about newsreaders and filtering.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

On 2025-07-08 12:14rC>a.m., cal@invalid.net wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jul 2025 03:25:40 GMT, LV-426 <nore ply@noreply.com> wrote:

This guy has to be another troll. Nobody who uses Usenet could be so >ignorant about newsreaders and filtering.

People like you who are quick to attack and insult legitimate posters, are
the primary reasons that more people aren't posting.

If that's all you can offer after what I posted, then obviously you are the
one who's the troll. Have another drink and shut the lights when you're
done....

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

On Tue, 08 Jul 2025 03:25:40 GMT, LV-426 <noreply@noreply.com> wrote:

On 2025-05-20 10:04?a.m., D wrote:

for three decades and counting, all active newsgroups have been occupied by >>the usenet troll farm (ever since "eternal september" opened the floodgates >>in the mid-1990s) . . . fortunately, most newsreaders (dialog, tbird, etc.) >>can use "ignore" flag [i] on sub-threads without ignoring the entire thread, >>and scoring can be used on overview(xover) and non-overview message headers >>with simple rules applied globally to all newsgroups (e.g. to demote/delete >>cross-posted articles), and more specific rules custom-tailored for popular >>newsgroups/hierarchies ... which can turn any active newsgroup into a ghost >>town if your scoring rules simply delete offenders instead of demoting them, >>as signal-to-noise ratios in popular newsgroups probably exceed hundreds to >>one, and surely thousands to zero in forums involving politics and religion >>which are swamped entirely by troll farm rhetoric, narrative and propaganda >>but don't let that dissuade anyone serious about exercising free expression >>from contributing their plain text articles anyway, especially since usenet >>lurkers outnumber contributors by a wide margin and reliable usenet servers >>typically retain their "spool" of articles for at least a year, some longer, >>so that your lurking audience (silent majority of newsgroup subscribers and >>visitors) might discover, download and perhaps read, whatever you've posted >>before it, too, expires from whatever server(s) they may be connecting with >>(and articles can be reposted, improved, edited, consolidated, posted again) >>every usenet "faq" has advised newsgroup contributors to ignore trolls, and >>to avoid responding to obvious trolls, and learn to spot troll conversation >>or "trollversation" (/trol-ver-sa'shen/) that becomes apparent in newsgroup >>threads that attract their sock puppets into feigning newsgroup discussions >>intended solely to discourage substantive dialog from occurring under their >>"big brother is watching you" watch; so be careful, it's a jungle out there

Good advice, thanks. I just discovered this news group and was happy to see
a healthy set of current message postings without too much spam.
One thing in particular that I noticed happening in other news groups that
are seemingly going well, is that all of a sudden someone will start
spamming messages into it for a large binary download. It's so annoying because drowns out everything else.
Certain newsgroup servers will filter out this garbage, but others don't. I
noticed that the current Eternal September free news server is pretty good
at filtering out this kind of thing. But there's another news server I use that doesn't.
It's sad that there are people and or bots out there that are designed to
disrupt various text news groups and flood them like this. It's a clear
sign of intentional malice in my opinion.

i'm only a retired hobbyist, jack of all trades, expert only in staying out
of trouble . . . but the consensus among veteran nntp server administrators seems to be mostly accommodating of the usual usenet troublemakers, sort of
a sacred cow to avoid the appearance of bias or censorship (some servers do issue nocems, cancels etc., but most servers don't bother with such trivia)
so it's been open season for the troll farm and other bad actors, lone wolf agitators, provacateurs, cross-posters, off-topic, rude, uncouth, ugly, and everything else they could possibly do to drag these unmoderated newsgroups down into the quagmire of mediocrity (comparable to television commercials), and as if their horrid militarized googlespam blitzkriegs weren't enough to shake usenet off its bedrock foundation, they seem more determined now than ever to finish what began around the time they shut down the penet remailer

fortunately, most usenet newsreaders have some filtering/scoring capability e.g. where overview (xover) headers include subject: "yenc", those binaries automatically get either the ignore[i] flag, or better yet delete[del], etc.

popular free expression has ever been unpopular with the status quo, dating back perhaps to paleolithic times, but certainly since prometheus stole the fire, materialists have owned and controlled the earth... it's their planet, and by now this whole solar system and beyond is lucrative, they own it all

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2