Re: Expire -o JUNK doesn't.

Peter Higson (phigson@islandnet.com)
Tue, 31 Dec 1996 16:27:27 -0800

In article <jTVyykW2vfEX092yn@daina.bga.com>,
mikus@BGA.COM (Mikus Grinbergs) wrote:
>Seeing some of the responses in yarn-list prompted this follow-up:
>
>In article <L6sxyodl5u/H089yn@islandnet.com>,
>phigson@IslandNet.com (Peter Higson) wrote:
>>
>> If I run: Expire -o junk, nothing happens. That is to say, it goes
>> through the motions and then tells me that 0 messages were expired.
>
>I looked at the headers of the messages shown at the article selection
>level in my 'junk' newsgroup. They had been posted to multiple news-
>groups, among which 'junk' was explicitly identified as such.
>
>Here is my hypothesis - there are TWO kinds of articles in 'junk':

[Hypothesis deleted - see original followup]

>It is ironic that many articles which end up in 'junk' do so because
>the person posting has followed netiquette. The ones in my 'junk'
>selection list that I looked at all had many many groups named in
>their Newsgroups: line -- too many to type in for each message.
>Rather, the person posted a "response" (which copied the Newsgroups:
>line from the original.) And if the original (for whatever reason)
>had 'junk' in it (a commentary?), that is where Yarn puts it as well.
>(Fields in an article's header can be viewed by toggling 'V'.)

Thank you, Mikus. Your hypothesis seems to fit all the facts. The
unexpired residue in my Junk group contains ",junk," in every header.
I hadn't spotted that until you pointed it out.

It occurs to ne that this situation could be avoided by giving the
'junk' newsgroup a less common name, say '_JUNK' or 'JUNK2B' or just
'JNK'. I suppose just changing the name in the ACTIVE file would be too
simple minded, it's presumably hard-coded into the program.

I'm relieved to find that my problem is not unique. Thanks to all who
contributed to my relief!

Peter

-- 
Peter Higson                    E-mail: phigson@islandnet.com
Victoria, BC, Canada     Enjoying life on an island in the Pacific!