Kill file

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A kill file (also killfile, bozo bin or twit list) is a file used by some

in the future. By extension, the term may be used for a decision to ignore the person or subject in other media.

Kill files were first implemented in

programs also allow the user to specify a time period to keep an author in the kill file.

Web-based forums, including at least some web-based Usenet portals, often have a similar but usually simpler feature called an ignore list, which hides any posts by a specific user, though typically without the ability to ignore posts for reasons other than the username of origin.

More advanced newsreader software like

History

Jerry Pournelle wrote in 1986 of his wish for improvements to an offline reader for the Byte Information Exchange online service: "What I really need, though, is a program that will ... sort through the messages, assigning some to a priority file and others to the bit bucket depending on subject matter and origin".^[2]

Media

In William Gibson's novel Idoru, the virtual community Hak Nam is built around an "inverted killfile" and is modeled on Kowloon Walled City.

See also

• Circular File
• Email filtering
• Kill notice
• Shadow banning
• Usenet death penalty

References

External links

• Kill file entry in the Jargon File
• Kill file definition entry at NewsDemon.com