john@frog.UUCP (John Woods) (07/01/85)
There has been some discussion about trying to contain the net.flame problem
by having postnews refuse to cross-post to all.all and net.flame. It turns
out that it is trivial to modify 2.10.2 postnews.c to do this. Toward the
end of postnews.c, it checks whether you are multiply-posting to net.general
and anything else, and suggests that this is not the wisest move. The same
code can be used to forbid posting to net.flame and anything else. For those
who care (or prefer a concrete demonstration, I submit the following code
(not actually used in my postnews, yet, but it's ready):
in post_checks() [a famous cereal?]
if (ngmatch(newsgroups, "all.jokes")) {
if (askyes("Could this be offensive to anyone? ","")) {
char joke_buf[512];
getpr("Whom might it offend? ", group);
sprintf(joke_buf," - offensive to %s (ROT13)",group);
modify_article(tempfname,"Subject: ",joke_buf,"append");
encode(tempfname);
}
}
> #ifdef NOFLAMES
> if (ngmatch(newsgroups, "net.flame")) {
> c = newsgroups;
> while (*c != ',' && *c)
> ++c;
> if (*c == ',') {
> printf("It is generally regarded as tasteless to flame in groups other than\n");
> printf("net.flame. Please choose which group is appropriate for your message.\n");
> get_newsgroup();
> modify_article(tempfname,"Newsgroups: ",newsgroups,"replace");
> }
> }
> #endif NOFLAMES
if (ngmatch(newsgroups, "net.general")) {
c = newsgroups;
while (*c != ',' && *c)
++c;
if (*c == ',') {
printf("Everybody reads net.general, so it doesn't make sense to\n");
It's easy, and if enough sites implemented it, it might make life easier.
Then again, it might not. It seems that the worst offenders will take being
called "tasteless" as a badge of honor...
--
John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA, (617) 626-1101
...!decvax!frog!john, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw%mit-ccc@MIT-XX.ARPA
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