Phil Weldon wrote:
I'd like the ability to killfile all THREADS begun by a particular
poster. Not just the initial post, but also all the follow-on posts in
the thread.

I currently use Windows Mail as a newsreader, but that doesn't seem to
have the flexibility in message rules to accomplish this task. Any
suggestions for a third-party newsreader? A free version would be nice,
but a good for-fee version would be worth the money.

I post the question to this newsgroup as I'm sure it's occurred to other
frequent participants here.

Phil Weldon

Mozilla Thunderbird (which is admittedly not the best email or
newsreader client freely available) but perfectly adequate for most
tasks has a robust filtering mechanism and does exactly what you wish.

On the top menu bar Tools -- Message Filters Click on 'New' and up
comes the dialog box where you have numerous drop down choices:

When this happens or that happens do this or this.

As an example I have a filter called IGNORED THREADS

When I open up any news group and the subject has Sykshmuck Lying in
it or the post is from Sykshmuck Lying then ignore the thread.

That eliminates any thread with that persons name in it, you can also
enable logging to verify that the threads are being ignored.
Thunderbird's chaining conditional filters are very flexible and very
easy to use.

There are add-ons that expand the possibilities of filtering, I have
seen "create new filter rules from this message" as a context menu
option...where you have quick access to your filter mechanism and the
message in question is the template, very handy.

Also, filter rules can get lengthy and complex, as you direct messages
to different folders or accounts....there are add-ons that manage filter
importing and exporting, also very handy for the forum warrior.

I use Thunderbird for Thunderbird biff, I'm sure there are better choices.