XPost: alt.windows7.general   
   From: address@is.invalid   
      
   Char,   
      
   >>> Simple question : using the NNTP protocol - How do I check for   
   >>> newsgroups that have been removed ?   
      
   >>There isn't a method defined in any RFC to do so, because there are   
   >>a number of hurdles that make it infeasible:   
   >   
   > Rather than infeasible, it's more likely to be trivial.   
      
   Indeed.  Proof on point: the "new newsgroups" command.   
      
   >>- *WHO* decides what groups to include on that list?   
   >   
   > The user who sits behind the news client or script that provides the   
   > capability.   
      
   :-) The question could be as easily have been about the user as about the   
   newsgroup server.  As such my answer was deliberatily as vague, to covered   
   both.   
      
   But, if its about the user than I, again, refer to the "new newsgroups"   
   command, which seems to have solved that problem quite nicely.   
      
   >>- How far back do you want to go/removed since *WHEN*?   
   >   
   > Since the last time this user performed this check against this server,   
   > using this client/script.   
      
   Simpler answer : since a user-provided date-time.  Like the "new newsgroups"   
   command already does.   
      
   >>- For each user, the server would need to remember the last time that user   
   >>  checked the groups, and what groups have been removed since then.   
   >> *WHERE*   
   >>  does the server store this information?   
   >   
   > The server would store nothing. The client or local script would store   
   > everything.   
      
   Auric is thinking of a statefull environment where none is required.   
   Over-complicating stuff is an occupational hazard to a programmer. :-)   
      
   > then it could compare the new file to the old file, diff-like, to see   
   > what's been added. That much is trivial, and once it does the diff, I   
   > don't see why there couldn't have been an additional view that shows   
   > the groups that have been removed since the last check.   
      
   My newsgroup reader just flags the new newsgroups in its local list, meaning   
   that I can ask for them (long) after they have been added.  Though I have no   
   idea what the retaining time (if it works that way) for that "new newsgroup"   
   flag is.   
      
   > It seems to me that any client that uses a newsrc file could be used as   
   > the basis for determining which groups are New or Old since the last   
   > time the command was run.   
      
   Aurics suggested to use the LIST commands result for that.   
      
   But although that will work, its also rather wastefull to have to download   
   all the newsgroups (for me "only" 27,000+ of them - for just one newsgroup   
   server) just to be able to do a diff.  Hence the "new newsgroups" command   
   was added.  Instead of retrieving thousands of groups (normally) only a   
   handfull (if that much) will be returned.   
      
   As a test in which I asked for all new newsgroups since January 1, 2023   
   (read: a one-and-a-half years worth) I got just 40 of them.   
      
   As I recognised the wisdom of that "new newsgroups" command I imagined that   
   an "old newsgroups" command could exist for the same reason.   
      
   But alas, being able to easily purge old newsgroups seems not to have been   
   on anybodies mind. :-(   
      
      
   As for my reason for asking ?   I see way to many newsgroup names that are   
   infantile curses at someone (like over 20 containing "sucks" in their   
   names).  Assuming that once in a while someone over at the newsgroup server   
   goes over all the "newly-added" newsgroups and deletes those I would like to   
   get rid of them too (currently I just manually hide them)   
      
   Regards,   
   Rudy Wieser   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)