A killfile is a set of instructions to your newsreader setting conditions for messages not to be retrieved or to be marked read so that they are easier to ignore.

This will allow you to tell it, for example, not to get any articles written by sanford.wallace@cyberpromo.com - the exact command you use to do this will vary according to which newsreader you're using.

The most useful function for a kill rule is to allow you to not waste time in retrieving any more articles in a thread which is no longer of interest to you. Killfiling an individual means that you do not think that they have anything to say which you consider worth the effort of reading.

If someone wants to publically announce that they have killfiled someone else, they might do this by writing <PLONK>, to indicate the sound of something being thrown into a dark corner. Killfiling is therefore occasionally called "plonking".

But someone told me they'd 'plonked' me then they replied to a later message I posted. How could they have read my post if they'd killfiled me?

Sometimes people will say they've killfiled someone but their vanity will not allow them to actually do so in case they miss something the victim might say about them. Saying you've killfiled someone then making further replies could be an indication that you may be heading in the direction of fuckwittedness. If you say you've killfiled someone, then killfile them. Otherwise it is simply meaningless posturing and will make you look like an idiot.

My software doesn't seem to have the ability to set killfiles

Then either get one which does or just manually skip over messages which are from someone you'd rather ignore or threads you don't want to read.

 

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