Editing Kill file

{{Short description|File used in Usenet groups to hide people or subjects}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2015}}

A '''kill file''' (also '''killfile''', '''bozo bin''' or '''twit list''') is a [[computer file|file]] that stores [[String-searching algorithm|text matching patterns]] that are used in some [[Usenet]] reading programs to filter out (ignore) articles by subject, author, or other header information. Adding a pattern to a kill file results in matching articles being ignored by the [[end user|person]] using the [[Newsreader (Usenet)|newsreader]]. By extension, the term may describe a decision to ignore an author or topic.<ref>{{FOLDOC|Kill+file}}</ref> A kill file feature was first implemented in [[Larry Wall]]'s [[rn (newsreader)|rn]].

==Variations==

Some newsreaders allow the user to specify a time period to keep an author in the kill file.

An '''ignore list''' is a similar yet simpler feature found in some [[web-based]] forums, including some web-based Usenet portals, which filters out posts by author only.

'''Scoring''' is a more advanced feature found in some newsreaders, including [[Gnus]]. The newsreader uses [[fuzzy logic]] to apply arbitrarily complex overlapping rules, stored in score files, to score articles. An article is ignored when its score is below a user-defined threshold. For example, articles might score as ignored (killed) if it violates too many low-weighted stylistic rules (e.g. containing too many [[capital letter]]s or too little punctuation, implying an annoying reading experience), or only one or two highly-weighted rules (such as the [[Email#Message_body|body]] containing objectionable keywords or the origin being a known source of [[spamming|spam]]).<ref name="The Gnus Newsreader">{{cite web |title=The Gnus Newsreader - 8. Scoring |url=https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/gnus/Scoring.html |website=www.gnu.org |access-date=30 June 2022}}</ref>

==History==
[[Jerry Pournelle]] wrote in 1986 of his wish for improvements to an [[offline reader]] for the [[Byte Information Exchange]] online service: "What I really need, though, is a program that will&nbsp;... sort through the messages, assigning some to a priority file and others to the bit bucket depending on subject matter and origin".<ref name="pournelle198603">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1986-03/1986_03_BYTE_11-03_Homebound_Computing#page/n281/mode/2up | title=All Sorts of Software | work=BYTE | date=March 1986 | access-date=27 August 2015 | author=Pournelle, Jerry | pages=269}}</ref>

==Media==
{{anchor|Inverted killfile}}In [[William Gibson]]'s novel ''[[Idoru]]'', the virtual community Hak Nam is built around an "inverted killfile" and is modeled on [[Kowloon Walled City]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Internet}}
* {{Annotated link|Circular File}}
* {{Annotated link|Email filtering}}
* {{Annotated link|Kill notice}}
* {{Annotated link|Shadow banning}}
* {{Annotated link|Usenet death penalty}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://catb.org/jargon/html/K/kill-file.html Kill file] entry in the [[Jargon File]]
* [http://www.newsdemon.com/usenet_term_killfile.php Kill file definition] entry at NewsDemon.com
{{Usenetnav}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kill File}}
[[Category:Usenet]]