jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) (09/19/88)
there is little need to speak harshly of a system and its users if
one is not willing to act in an equally harsh manner. to this end,
i have created a little shell script which seeks out portal postings
and cancels them.
i am posting it here to news.admin knowing that many of you will
be tempted to actually use it. it has been tested and it works
wonderfully. you should use it as well. just run this sucker
once a day, and your life will be relatively free of portal-people.
i suggest you run it in the morning. before you eat anything.
- john.
--------------------- cut here ---------------------
cd /usr/spool/news
if [ ! -f before ]
then
touch -am 0101000070 before
fi
touch now
find . -newer before -type f -print | \
gethead 'From: ' | grep -y portal | \
sed -e 's/:.*$//' | gethead 'Message-ID: ' | sed -e 's/.*-ID: //
s:^.*$:/usr/lib/news/inews -n control -c cancel & -d local:
s/[<>]/\\&/g' | sh
mv now before
--------------------- cut here as well ---------------
--
John F. Haugh II (jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US) HASA, "S" Division
"If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong."
-- Norm Schryerjfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) (09/19/88)
In article <6818@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) writes: >i have created a little shell script which seeks out portal postings >and cancels them. which requires the C program below ... [ or a grep command, either way ] -- gethead.c -- #include <stdio.h> main (argc, argv) int argc; char **argv; { char filename[BUFSIZ]; char line[BUFSIZ]; int i; FILE *fp; if (argc < 2) exit (1); i = strlen (argv[1]); while (gets (filename) != (char *) 0) { if ((fp = fopen (filename, "r")) == (FILE *) 0) continue; while (fgets (line, BUFSIZ, fp) == line) { if (strncmp (line, argv[1], i) == 0) { fprintf (stdout, "%s: %s", filename, line); break; } } fclose (fp); } } -- end of gethead.c -- -- John F. Haugh II (jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US) HASA, "S" Division "If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong." -- Norm Schryer
RWC102@PSUVM (R. W. F. Clark) (09/20/88)
In <6818@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>, jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) writes:
[Program to cancel all portal files deleted]
This is a very bad idea. In doing this, one destroys Patrick_Townson's
insightful and well-written articles, and prevents the responsible
portal users from posting. I suggest that the problem be handled
on an individual basis. If an admin receives immense complaints
concerning a particular user, they should remove that user.
This is likely to be much more difficult than simply cancelling
all the articles from a node, which is why I can understand that
Mr. Haugh wishes to implement in this fashion. However, censoring
users such as Patrick_Townson, Isaac_K_Rabinovitch, and even
John_Wasser_Thomason because of the depredations of perhaps
under ten imbeciles is unforgivable.
I objected to the removal of Eric Mading last year, sparking
an extensive debate on this topic. Though I stated explicitly
in my article that my point had nothing to do with First
Amendment rights, but with the perpetuation of an ill
precedent, there were still those who accused me of defending
First Amendment rights on the net.
If people are free to remove such a relatively inoffensive
poster as Wasser, or even a valuable poster such as
Patrick_Townson, then not even a site admin is safe
from arbitrary removal.
I hope you will not run this program.
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BITNET: RWC102@psuvm.BITNET R W F Clark/GFC Gang/Port Atherton