OK, GT filter final solution

[johnridley]

I'm done with half measures.

"If message contains the text 'Eric S. Raymond', delete it"

Catches almost all responses too. Hope nobody says anything important with that text in there, but history is against that happening. I'll risk it.

Comments

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

I thought the final solution was "unsubscribe gt-pfrc".

I sent a private note to someone asking him not to encourage the trolls.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

That's probably a little wider "filter" than I'm ready for. I actually did unsubscribe once, for about a month, a few years back. Can't remember why, but it was probably a similar situation.

[isherempress.livejournal.com]

Worked for me. There are at least a half-dozen blowhards on the list who I don't miss reading on a daily basis, and if they are on LJ, they aren't on my FL.

IMO, Kevin, subtlety will not work. And with ESR, nothing less than a 12-pound sledgehammer will do the trick...

OTOH, I am looking forward to seeing all of you guys up north soon. ;-)

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

You're coming to berzerker? Excellent. I'll make sure I bring a bottle of wine instead of just a box. Is your lovely wife coming too?

[erikvolson.livejournal.com]

I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Heh, I didn't get the emails from LJ telling me there were comments here to unscreen, because, well, it included the original message containing the text in question, so gmail deleted them.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

Now _that_ is funny.

[bwittig.livejournal.com]

No one familiar with the postings will fault you for the filter.

I personally sort unread GT messages by subject into their own folder. If I am busy I just scan the list, deleting subjects and posters who waste time.

If I am bored I can always go back and read them from the trashcan.

I believe in freedom of speech. I also believe in freedom not to listen.

I enjoy reading a well reasoned post with which I disagree. I try to keep an open mind, however, to keep room in there for new ideas and new facts you have to skip some of the cotton candy and all of the rotten vegetables. the metaphors on the bus mix round and round

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

When I do read gt-pfrc (roughly for 2000 messages twice a year), I find mutt invaluable. It provides a very strong thread-view with what I consider the Best Feature Ever: The ability to break subthreads off. People have a really bad habit on that list of not starting a new thread with a new message rather than a Reply-To.

Graphically the threads often show certain pathologies when they're swamps. A chain thread over 10 messages is almost never worth reading. Strong branch threads that always start with One Of Those People are usually worth deleting at the sub-thread level.

The main fault of the system is that once the messages are deleted, you lose thread context.

[billroper]

*shrug*

I find Eric's posts generally better-informed than many on the list, but everyone's mileage varies.