From: doug@netcom.com (Doug Merritt)
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 94 09:52:11 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: RATINGS: Subject tags
Message-ID: <199402241752.JAA08805@netcom9.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


hughes@ah.com (Eric Hughes) said:
>One of the goals of this arrangement I've proposed is that it can be
>used to rate _any_ existing mailing list.

This kind of thing was discussed quite exhaustively in news.future last
year, and one of the spinoffs was an actual software implementation
which is currently available via ftp. I haven't kept up on it so I
don't know whether it can be used for mailing lists at the moment,
or just for "virtual" newsgroups, but in any case I include three
items of info below.

The first is a finger message from last summer that gives an overview,
the second is an equally old alpha-test message from the primary author
that gives more info, and the third is a recent ftp site announcement from
him. Between the three you should get some notion of what strn
is all about and whether it's worthwhile following up on.

If it does not currently support email lists, perhaps the authors could
be persuaded to add such support. There's also a mention of public
key cryptography below which is somewhat interesting.

Since his address changed over the last 6 months, I took the liberty
of changing references from his old to his new address in the older
two items, to avoid confusion.
	Doug
--
Doug Merritt				doug@netcom.com
Professional Wild-eyed Visionary	Member, Crusaders for a Better Tomorrow

Unicode Novis Cypherpunks Gutenberg Wavelets Conlang Logli Alife HC_III
Computational linguistics Fundamental physics Cogsci SF GA VR CASE TLAs

---------------------------- item one ------------------------

Login name: caadams   			In real life: Clifford A Adams
Directory: /nfs/pavo/u3/caadams     	Shell: /bin/csh
Last login Mon Jul  5 16:59 on ttyp2 from b153_csasm_03.un
Plan:
STRN/USENET Interface Project.

	The strn (Scan/Scoring Threaded ReadNews) program will be the
first software release of the USENET Interface Project.
Strn consists of two major (and some minor) additions to the trn program
(version 3.0) by Wayne Davison/Stan Barber/Larry Wall.  The additions
are over 10000 lines of C code which implement newsgroup selection
menus by user-defined "topics", an interactive article selection mode,
and fast methods of scoring articles with prioritized display and
commands similar to KILLfiles.  An interactive multi-level
documentation browser is also being developed.

USENET Interface Project:
-------------------------
	The purpose of the USENET Interface Project is to
identify and implement methods of dealing with "human bandwidth"
problems of USENET.  Its goal is to allow users to be presented with
the articles they wish to read in the order they wish to read them,
without restricting the posters of articles.  There are currently three
stages planned:

    1. Filtering/Prioritizing
	Given the articles which currently exist, delete the articles
which the user is unlikely to read and present the remaining articles
in the order of their priority (score).  This builds on and enhances
the currently existing mechanisms such as separate hierarchical
newsgroups and KILLfiles.

    2. Suggestion/Addition
	Adds more information to make the filtering/prioritizing
process more accurate (accuracy is measured by how well the presented
order matches the user's wishes).  Rating services may replace
moderated newsgroups, where individuals decide which rating services to
follow and what level of quality is acceptable.  Summarizing and
keywording services can also be made available to allow better
selection and prioritizing.  This stage will introduce problems in
distributing the additional information and security (especially since
the reputation of moderators may become much more important).

    3. Alteration/Change
	The basic idea of this stage is that what the contents of the
original posting are only a suggestion of what the reader will
eventually view.  While the original text would be propagated
unaltered, various people would propagate their suggested editorial
changes (such as hypertext links, spelling or factual corrections,
moderator's notes, or summaries).  What a reader finally views would
be the combination of the original text with the changes of trusted
editors.  Another possibility at this stage would be the "virtual
newsgroup" which is simply a collection of articles chosen by
moderator(s).

	Send me email for more information on any of these projects.

				--Cliff

-- 
Clifford A. Adams  ----------------------- | USENET Interface Project:
457 Ash St. NE      Albuquerque, NM  87106 | Tools for advanced newsreading
STRN (Scan TRN) now in testing: trn 3.0 plus flexible newsgroup menus, fast
article scoring with score ordered display, and merged/virtual newsgroups.

---------------------------- item two ------------------------

>From netcomsv!decwrl!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!umn.edu!lynx.unm.edu!carina.unm.edu!caadams Mon Jul  5 17:18:39 PDT 1993
From: caadams@access.digex.net (Clifford A Adams)
Newsgroups: news.future
Subject: Virtual newsgroups, ratings, indexes--coming soon?
Date: 23 Jun 1993 03:35:57 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Message-ID: <208j2tINN342@lynx.unm.edu>


	The recent discussions on news.future have been very
interesting.  I'd just like to add that I'm working on several ideas
similar to some recent posts, and I hope to have some useful results
in the near future.  For instance, strn is very close to supporting
"virtual newsgroups" consisting of arbitrary articles from arbitrary
newsgroups.  These could be things like "top 20 thread" lists, indexes
similar to alt.sources.index, or moderated subsets of existing groups.

	In the next release strn (Scan TRN) will have merged newsgroups
consisting of all the articles from a set of newsgroups presented together.
(The code works well, but it needs documenting before release.)  Virtual
newsgroups are a fairly easy addition to this which I hope to add next week.
Distributing virtual newsgroup lists is going to be the hard part.
For now I'm looking at a mailing-list approach.  (Ick--I hate mail filters.)

	(Distributing the information using an alt.group with public key
authentication would be easy.  Unfortunately, that doesn't seem
possible in the current political environment.  Anyone who knows
differently is *welcomed* to correct me.  Even weak authentication would
be welcome if unpatented and exportable.)

	In short, some of these schemes might be implemented a few months
from now.  I hope to release strn 0.9.0 (beta) in a "few" weeks--right
now the alpha testing list is semi-closed.  (You *might* be able to
convince me if you try really hard.)  I'd like to talk to people about
new ideas, but I believe that the implementations are more
important--USENET isn't about to run out of new ideas anytime soon. ;)

				--Cliff

P.S.  For more information on strn and the USENET Interface Project, finger
my account: caadams@access.digex.net. I'll email more information on request.
-- 
Clifford A. Adams  caadams@access.digex.net | USENET Interface Project:
457 Ash St. NE     Albuquerque, NM  87106 | Tools for advanced newsreading
Scan/Scoring trn (strn) now in alpha testing: a trn 3.0-based reader with
flexible newsgroup menus and fast article scoring with prioritized display.

---------------------------- item three ------------------------


>From netcomsv!amd!decwrl!decwrl!nic.hookup.net!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!digex.net!digex.net!not-for-mail Thu Feb 24 09:39:16 PST 1994
From: caadams@access.digex.net (Clifford A. Adams)
Newsgroups: news.software.readers,news.future
Subject: Strn version 0.9.2 is now available.
Date: 21 Jan 1994 15:45:57 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Keywords: strn, newsreader, filtering, prioritizing

[I thought some of the news.future crowd might be interested in some of the
 new developments, especially Internet-sharable virtual newsgroups.]

	Strn (Scan TRN) version 0.9.2 is now available.
See below for FTP sites.  [Some of the uunet mirrors might take a day or
two to get a copy.]

	Strn is based on trn (version 3.4.1 by Wayne Davison), and
contains all of the trn commands and features.  It adds many new
capabilities to trn, such as a newsgroup browser, virtual newsgroups,
scoring/rating of articles, and easy configuration menus.  Strn has
been developed and tested over the past year with the help of more
than 50 alpha testers.  The beta release is intended to make the
current version more widely available, test out some of the new
concepts (such as index-moderation using virtual newsgroups), and
gather suggestions for improvement.

	Strn is still under development, although most of its planned
features are implemented.  Future versions of strn will mainly improve
the documentation, scoring ease-of-use, and configurability of the
program.  Version 1.0 release is expected in a finite amount of time.

Outline of major strn features:
* The "scan mode" interface
    o A consistent full-screen interface for the four scan modes.
        . Implements many common commands such as movement, shell escapes,
          and searching.
        . Common code allows quick development of new scan modes.
    o Uses arrow keys for movement (trn-style 'n' and 'p' are also allowed).
    o X windows mouse selection (when strn is run under "xterm").
* Group scan mode
    o Full-screen interface for newsgroup selection.
    o Can replace the trn newsgroup selector for most purposes.
    o Easy subscription/unsubscription to newsgroups.
    o User-definable and sharable topic hierarchies.
        . Example: one could have an "IBM PC" topic containing
          the groups in comp.sys.ibm.pc.*, comp.os.msdos.*, comp.os.os2,
          and comp.os.ms-windows.*
    o Topic hierarchies can be easily shared:
	. Locally, by adding a link to another user's topics.
	. Remotely, by sending the topic files to other users.
	. Via Internet using Uniform Resource Locators (URLs).
* Virtual scan mode
    o Supports "virtual groups" consisting of articles from any newsgroup.
    o Supports an easy-to-use "hotlist" of selected articles.
    o Merged groups, such as rec.arts.sf.* (all articles in those groups)
    o Virtual group files can be mailed to other users, and (with some setup)
      automatically added to a user's virtual group files.
    o Posted virtual group files can be used directly, allowing easy
      "index-moderated" newsgroups.
    o Virtual newsgroups can be shared via Internet and URLs.
* Article scan mode
    o Subject-based "threading" available.
        . All articles with the same subject can be displayed as one line.
    o Summaries and keywords can be displayed.
    o Articles can be marked and read as a group.
    o Displays articles in either arrival or score order.
      (See below for more information on scoring.)
* Scoring
    o Articles are assigned a score by scoring rules consisting of:
        . Header matching: either exact text or regular expressions.
        . (optional) NewsClip programs.
    o Scoring allows high scoring (interesting) articles to be presented
      before non-scored (ordinary) or negative-scoring (uninteresting) ones.
      For instance, in sci.space, one could give higher scores to
      postings from NASA or JPL, and easily read only those articles.
    o Articles are graded on a continuous scale, rather than a binary
      keep/junk distinction.  (Articles scoring below a threshold
      value can be junked automatically.)
    o Scoring is *fast*, typically limited by I/O times to fetch article
      headers.
    o Scoring rules can be entered with an easy-to-use menu.
    o Scoring can be done from a shell script run by cron/at.
    o Scores are saved to a file so they don't need to be recalculated.
* Online help (help scan mode)
    o Typing 'H' at almost any prompt enters help scan mode.
    o Help scan mode presents menus of documentation, containing:
        . The complete trn manual, broken into sections.
        . Full strn documentation.
        . Introductory USENET documents (such as "What is USENET?").
    o Help files can be easily edited by the local administrator.
* Online configuration
    o Easy menu-based configuration of almost all strn options.
    o Accessible from the newsgroup selector or group scan mode.
    o Configuration changes are automatically saved for the next strn run.
    o Site-wide configuration

Strn version 0.9.2 is available from the following FTP sites:
(North America, Eastern US)
    ftp.uu.net
	/news/trn/strn
    ftp.digex.net
	/pub/news
(North America, Southwest US)
    perseus.unm.edu
	/pub/strn
(United Kingdom)
    src.doc.ic.ac.uk:computing/news/software/readers/trn/strn
(Europe, Netherlands)
    ftp.twi.tudelft.nl
	/pub/news
(South Africa)
    ftp.ee.und.ac.za
	/pub/news/strn

Sample displays [edited to reduce number of lines]:
Article scan mode:
[authors not shown in this sample to protect the guilty :-]:
---------- cut ----------
sci.physics | 790 unread Fold
+....  [  18] (  9) > Some physics questions
+....> [  14] ( 10) > The size of electrons, and Fanciful misc SAGA
+....  [  11] (  4) > Massive Photons Tomorrow (was Scientists Plan...)
+....  [   8] ( 47) > NASA Coverup
                    Keys: Moon Neutral Point calculation
+...x  [   7] (  8) > Gravitation & massless particles (was Re: Some physics qu
+..+.  [   3] (  5) > Question on Hawking radiation
                    Summary: Why don't extremal black holes radiate?
+....  [   3] ( 10) > Background Radiation and Olber's Paradox
+....  [   1] (  1) Covariant vs. Lie Derivative in Gen. Rel.?
-TOP-(score (old>new) order, 100% scored)
---------- cut ----------

Group scan mode:
[Here is the "top" level:]
---------- cut ----------
Top Level | Unread Newsgroups | Top Level
      file> Favorites
      virt  Hotlist
      file  Americast (USA Today)
      file  USENET
      file  Networks
      file  Computers
      file  Amiga!
      file  Social
      file  Games
      file  Recreational
      file  Science
      file  Misc
      file  Hierarchies
      list  All groups in .newsrc
-ALL-
---------- cut ----------
[After selecting the "USENET" entry the screen displays:]
---------- cut ----------
Level 2 | Unread Newsgroups | USENET
+....   31> news.software.readers
+M...    4  news.announce.newgroups
+....    7  news.misc
+....   33  news.software.nn
+....   27  news.future
+....  139  alt.config
+....  201  alt.fan.warlord
+.... 2259  control
      list  foreign news
-ALL-
---------- cut ----------

Virtual scan mode:
---------- cut ----------
Virtual  1 | unread+read | Hotlist
-....  [ 33] >Newsreader authors: Would article replacement break your reader <
-....  [ 18] FAQ use of replaces: <news.software.readers>
-....  [  6] >Using NNRP for something like "nngrab" <news.software.readers>
-....  [  6] rn KILL file FAQ <news.software.readers>
-....  [ -1] Future USENET projections, statistical <news.future>
-....  [ -1] Need more best-of-usenet groups/subj scan <news.misc>
-....  [ -1] More group-related intelligence for Pnews wanted. <news.software.r
-ALL-(score order)
---------- cut ----------

Help scan mode:
---------- cut ----------
Top Level | (type 'h' for help)
 help> Help on help scan mode
topic  Introductory USENET documents
topic  Trn manual information
 help  Strn Quickstart
topic  Introductory strn documentation
topic  Group scan mode
topic  Article scan mode
topic  Virtual scan mode (merged/virtual newsgroups)
topic  Scoring
topic  Digital signatures, cryptography, and USENET
topic  Misc (coding style, troubleshooting, quotes)
topic  Configuration (user and site-wide)
topic  Installation
topic  Version-related information
 help  Credits
-ALL-
---------- cut ----------

Configuration menus:
---------- cut ----------
Strn configuration menu:
0) Exit.
1) Group scan mode.
2) Article scan mode.
3) Virtual scan mode.
4) Scoring.
5) Miscellaneous.
Enter your choice: 2

Article scan configuration menu:
0) Exit.
1) Change the displayed fields.
   (Author, threadcount, summary, etc...)
2) Change ordering and misc. flags.
   (score ordering, fold, follow, etc...)
Enter your choice: 1

Article scan display:
0) Exit.
1) Article number (OFF)
2) Score (ON)
3) Number of articles with same subject (ON)
4) Author (ON)
5) Summary (OFF)
6) Keywords (OFF)
An article will look like this:
+....  [  26] (17) John Q. Public   Subject of the article
Enter your choice:
---------- cut ----------

Authors: (See the strn credits for more information)
STRN	Clifford A. Adams <caadams@access.digex.net>
TRN	Wayne Davison <davison@borland.com>
RN	Stan Barber (current maintainer)
RN	Larry Wall (original author of rn)

					--Cliff
-- 
Clifford A. Adams  caadams@access.digex.net | Author of "strn" (scan trn):
457 Ash St. NE     Albuquerque, NM  87106   | Trn 3.4.1 + virtual newsgroups,
scoring (articles sorted by score), newsgroup menus, online help, and more.
See ftp.uu.net:/news/trn/strn/strn-0.9.2.tar.gz