Re: Can we exchange ideas for Thunderbird message filters?

On Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:30:25 -0500, quasi <quasi@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 00:39:53 -0800 (PST), jhnrmsdn@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

In fact I'm going off Thunderbird fast and may have another look
at Forte Agent, which I used to use, if that's still going.

I also tried Thunderbird a few month ago, and quickly ditched it. It's
extremely clunky, to the point of being barely tolerable. Sea Monkey
is just as bad.

On the other hand, a good NNTP newsreader (such as Forte Agent),
together with a decent NNTP news server (such as Giganews) makes for
an excellent combination.

That's the combination I use, and now that I taken the time to set up
the filters in Forte Agent, I get almost _no_ spam.

I've got Agent - last night I found I could only filter on Sender
or Subject. I wanted to do "Organization: http://groups.google.com";
but it wouldn't allow that.

So what did you do? (Maybe I need a newer version?)

It's a solution
works extremely well for me, but it's not for everyone, for the simple
reason that most users lack sufficient technical knowledge.

Also, Forte Agent, while inexpensive, is not free. For Windows, there
are some free NNTP usenet clients (for example Free Agent), but
there's nothing that comes close to Forte Agent in terms of power,
speed, and naturality.

As far as NNTP usenet servers, Giganews is wonderful, but once again,
it's not free. Of course, there are some free NNTP servers (such as
Teranews).

Now it's also true that most ISPs provide a free NNTP news server for
their customers, but in many cases, the ISP news servers are not well
maintained, and typically suffer from missing posts, sporadic delays,
and poor retention. By contrast, a post to Giganews propagates
essentially instantly (within seconds), and Giganews has all the
messages of sci.math from 2003 to the present.

But as I've noted previously, in my opinion, trying to convince the
continual stream of new users arriving from Google Groups to find an
alternative newsreader / news server combo simply won't work. On the
whole (with exceptions, of course), Google Groups users are far too
unsophisticated to be able to successfully make such a change. Even
many of the current sci.math regulars are novices in this regard, so
it's only natural to expect that most Google Groups users would be
even less tech-savvy.

As I've also previously pointed out, many users access sci.math from
work, so a web-based interface is their only choice. Of course, there
are a few alternative web-based gateways to sci.math, but they are all
seriously flawed. As a blatant example, Math Forum badly destroys the
nested quoting. At least the Google Groups program correctly maintains
the nesting levels.

Moreover, many Google Groups users subscribe to _multiple_ groups, not
just sci.math, so it would be very inconvenient for them to have to
use a separate interface just for sci.math.

But don't forget the "-- " prefix idea. In my opinion, it has the
potential to provide a simple, low-tech solution. Of course, for it
work, a sufficient number of sci.math users would have to adopt the
convention so as to give it high visibility. That way, new arrivals
would see a pattern of prefixed posts, and hopefully switch to it as
well.

quasi

David C. Ullrich
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Can we exchange ideas for Thunderbird message filters?
    ... at Forte Agent, which I used to use, if that's still going. ... there are some free NNTP servers (such as ... whole, Google Groups users are far too ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Is There Anyone Here Who........................
    ... I read this ng via Google Groups. ... No killfile is available. ... Get yourself Forte Agent from www.forteinc.com, ... Thekeytoanysecurity ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: Im baaaaack
    ... Forte Agent is the best in my experience. ... Forte also provides a paid newsfeed service, ... setup charge, propagation can take days, and posts ... Google Groups is probably more ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Linux still has a long way to go to even sniff mainstream!
    ... to post to Usenet damages your credibility in my eyes from the beginning. ... I use Forte Agent. ... I don't know if you have a critical opinion about ... that one as well but Google groups is not my client of choice. ...
    (alt.os.linux)
  • Re: Im baaaaack
    ... Forte Agent is the best in my experience. ... Forte also provides a paid newsfeed service, ... setup charge, propagation can take days, and posts ... Google Groups is probably more ...
    (talk.origins)