Scorefile
Encyclopedia
Some Usenet
newsreaders
, especially in the Unix
world, have tried to make it easier to find interesting postings and filter useless ones. To accomplish this, these newsreaders provide so-called scorefiles, which are sets of rules that, when triggered, alter the rating, or score, of a post. This is a refinement of the earlier kill file
mechanism, providing values indicating the relative "goodness" of an article rather than the kill file's simpler yes/no display rules. For example, any post by author "Donald Knuth
" might be automatically scored high, whereas one by "Script Kiddie
" might be scored lower. Sometimes more than one rule is triggered by an individual post, making an otherwise hidden post visible or vice versa. The scores can then be used to sort the posts or even to delete all posts below a certain threshold. Scorefiles generally use some form of regular expression
syntax and/or wildmat
s for pattern-matching.
In spite of their usefulness, scorefiles are an individual undertaking. Some users post their scorefiles regularly, but this is the exception: typically this data is not openly shared and collaborated
on.
Examples of popular newsreaders
that support scorefiles include 40tude Dialog
, gnus
, Pan
, Slrn
, tin
and XNews
; Claws Mail
is an e-mail client implementing scorefiles. Each client has its own variations of syntax for scoring, but the essentials remain the same. Questions about scorefiles are on-topic
in the newsgroup
news.software.readers.
[*] % This rule applies to all newsgroups
Score: -100 % The article's score is reduced by 100...
Subject: Make Money Fast % ...if the subject header contains this phrase
[news.admin.net-abuse-sightings] % This rule applies only in the specified newsgroup
Score: 200 % The article's score is increased by 200...
From: user@example\.com % ...if the From header contains this expression
The two rules would be combined to increase the score by 100 if both were triggered by the same posting.
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
newsreaders
News client
A newsreader is an application program that reads articles on Usenet . Newsreaders act as clients which connect to a news server, via the Network News Transfer Protocol , to download articles and post new articles...
, especially in the Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
world, have tried to make it easier to find interesting postings and filter useless ones. To accomplish this, these newsreaders provide so-called scorefiles, which are sets of rules that, when triggered, alter the rating, or score, of a post. This is a refinement of the earlier kill file
Kill file
A kill file is a per-user file used by some Usenet reading programs to discard summarily articles matching some unwanted patterns of subject, author, or other header lines.Thus to add a person to one's kill file is to arrange for that person to be ignored...
mechanism, providing values indicating the relative "goodness" of an article rather than the kill file's simpler yes/no display rules. For example, any post by author "Donald Knuth
Donald Knuth
Donald Ervin Knuth is a computer scientist and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.He is the author of the seminal multi-volume work The Art of Computer Programming. Knuth has been called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms...
" might be automatically scored high, whereas one by "Script Kiddie
Script kiddie
A script kiddie or skiddie, occasionally skid, script bunny, script kitty, script-running juvenile or similar, is a derogatory term used to describe those who use scripts or programs developed by others to attack computer systems and networks and deface websites.-Characteristics:In a Carnegie...
" might be scored lower. Sometimes more than one rule is triggered by an individual post, making an otherwise hidden post visible or vice versa. The scores can then be used to sort the posts or even to delete all posts below a certain threshold. Scorefiles generally use some form of regular expression
Regular expression
In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...
syntax and/or wildmat
Wildmat
wildmat is a pattern matching library developed by Rich Salz. Based on the wildcard syntax already used in the Bourne shell, wildmat provides a uniform mechanism for matching patterns across applications with simpler syntax than that typically offered by regular expressions...
s for pattern-matching.
In spite of their usefulness, scorefiles are an individual undertaking. Some users post their scorefiles regularly, but this is the exception: typically this data is not openly shared and collaborated
Collaboration
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
on.
Examples of popular newsreaders
News client
A newsreader is an application program that reads articles on Usenet . Newsreaders act as clients which connect to a news server, via the Network News Transfer Protocol , to download articles and post new articles...
that support scorefiles include 40tude Dialog
40tude Dialog
40tude Dialog is a newsreader and email client for Windows, written in Delphi. It is considered donationware and is free for personal use. Commercial users are required to pay a registration fee....
, gnus
Gnus
Gnus is a message reader running under GNU Emacs and XEmacs. It supports reading and composing both news and e-mail.Gnus blurs the distinction between news and e-mail, treating them both as "articles" that come from different sources. News articles are kept separate by group, and e-mail can be...
, Pan
Pan (newsreader)
Pan is a news client for multiple operating systems, developed by Charles Kerr and others. It supports offline reading, multiple servers, multiple connections, fast article header filtering and mass saving of multi-part attachments encoded in uuencode, yEnc and base64; images in common formats can...
, Slrn
Slrn
slrn is an open source text-based news client. It was originally developed for Unix-like operating systems, but is now available for many other operating systems, including Microsoft Windows....
, tin
Tin (newsreader)
tin is an open source text-based and threaded news client, used to read and post messages on the USENET global communications network.-History:...
and XNews
Xnews
Xnews is a freeware Usenet newsreader created by Luu Tran. It is written in Delphi, and it is 100% GNKSA 2.0 compliant. Some of its features were inspired by the program NewsXpress....
; Claws Mail
Claws Mail
Claws Mail is a free, GTK+-based, open source email and news client. It offers easy configuration and an abundance of features. It stores mail in the MH mailbox format and also the Mbox mailbox format via a plugin...
is an e-mail client implementing scorefiles. Each client has its own variations of syntax for scoring, but the essentials remain the same. Questions about scorefiles are on-topic
On-topic
In the context of mailing lists, discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, newsgroups, and wikis a contribution is off-topic if it is not within the bounds of the current discussion, and on-topic if it is....
in the newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
news.software.readers.
Example of an Slrn scorefile
% A percentage sign indicates that what follows is a comment.[*] % This rule applies to all newsgroups
Score: -100 % The article's score is reduced by 100...
Subject: Make Money Fast % ...if the subject header contains this phrase
[news.admin.net-abuse-sightings] % This rule applies only in the specified newsgroup
Score: 200 % The article's score is increased by 200...
From: user@example\.com % ...if the From header contains this expression
The two rules would be combined to increase the score by 100 if both were triggered by the same posting.