On Fri, 30 Sep 1994, Breakdown wrote:

Someone in here recently mentioned cancelling a post on USENET. It's been put to my knowledge that this is possible, but I have never known what it actually means and how it is done. Whose messages can I cancel(anyone's on the whole worldwide I-net or?) and how do I cancel them? If it helps any, I use the Tin Pl12 newsreader. Any replies are welcome. Please fill me in on this one. Thank you.

In Tin, it's really easy. Manipulate Tin until your post that you wish to cancel is the currently viewed one. Hit "D", then "d" (case IS important). This will release a control cancel message, which propagates much like your original article. At most sites, as soon as they recieve the control cancel message, they will delete your article. If you do this early on, chances are the control cancel message kill all copies of your article before your article propagates too far. The problem is that some Usenet sites have stopped processing cancels, because cancels have been misused to censor postings on the basis of content. So, there is a small chance that your article will survive on some sites, but usually nothing to worry about. mike -- Michael Handler <grendel@netaxs.com> PGP public key available 1984: We're Behind Schedule Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics