Weekly Posting: Tim Rue FAQ
Kirk Strauser
1.1 Tim as a liar.
1.2 Tim as a loon.
1.2.a Others' observations
2. VIC - stranger than fiction.
2.1 What is it?
2.2 What isn't it?
3. What can we do?
3.1 Fire with fire.
3.2 Passive aggression.
3.3 Killfile instructions for common newsreaders
3.3.a NewsRog
3.3.b Turnpike - Updated Mar. 30, 1999
3.3.c Outlook Express - Updated Mar. 30, 1999
3.3.d Thor - Updated Mar. 30, 1999
3.3.e Tin
3.3.f UMS - Updated Mar. 30, 1999
4. Administrivia.
4.1 FAQ maintainer.
4.2 Submissions.
1. Who is Tim Rue?
Tim Rue, aka Timmy, aka T. Rue, is best described as the town fool
of the comp.sys.amiga.* Usenet hierarchy. Whether you're discussing
the future of the Amiga hardware/software platform, or simply asking
advice on which brand of modem to purchase, Timmy's guaranteed
to jump in with bizarre paranoia-filled rants about government
suppression and NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). Lately this
has shifted to include something or another about profits and freely
accessible archives. Previous tangents about "Ask the children!"
seem to have been dropped from his manifest.
Know this: anything you say to him will be interpreted as a personal
attack. If you compare something he said to something you read
earlier that day, he'll think you're accusing him of plagiarism. If you
ask him to clarify a point, then you're obviously not willing to "search
the publicly accessible archives", and therefore out to destroy him.
1.1 Tim as a liar.
As of late, Timmy's chosen the annoying habit of inventing elaborate
conspiracies involving well-liked and public Amiga figures. For
example, Team AMIGA is supposedly a shadow organization run for
the specific contradictory purposes of 1) destroying the Amiga and
2) selling merchandise to Amiga owners (which would actually
prolong the Amiga's lifespan, ironically). If Timmy cites a proper
name in his postings, you can be assured that the following
statements are lies. Of course, it's theoretical possible that Timmy
could say something positive about a public figure; however, since
that hasn't happened yet, you may safely overlook that possibility.
1.2 Tim as a loon.
Let the man speak for himself:
In <4808.577T2...@mindspring.com>:
"Actually, this very thing about illusions directly relates to the high
level of faulty information the Amiga community generates. If the base is
illusional then there really is no way to generate valid information."
In <966.577T16...@mindspring.com>:
"When there is no hope of advancement, yet unending illusions of it, it
must be clowns at work. :) So what can you do but laff at them?"
In <2964.578T8...@mindspring.com>:
"I see where you are involved in Amicon, well guess what, I don't know you
or anyone involved and I'm sure there are alot of others who also don't
know. But when they go looking for information that is being mentioned
elsewhere and they cannot find it, and they say something about it, does
this give you the right to take offence. Perhaps you are trying to justify
this by saying your non-profit? Well it's no excuse to find offence and if
anything I'd say dump non-profit so as you might have motive to see
straight."
The scary part is that he *can* be almost rational for up to a paragraph
at a time. However, Deja News failed to find an entire coherent post,
and mostly he changes subjects in the middle of his sentences.
1.2.a Others' observations
"IMHO (and I wish I was clinically qualified so that I knew WTF I was
talking about (grin)), Tim's personality disorder includes a Messiah
complex - he KNOWS he's right, and his critics and detractors are all
fools. His mission is to save the rest of the Amiga world by making them
see the light of his genius. I think, even if ignored, he'll just keep on
making declamatory posts for the indefinite future. Having said that, it's
the bandwidth wastage that's the key issue here and FAQ and Killfiles are
definitely a good way forward along with simply not responding in public
to him."
[note from Ed.: Bill later forwarded this later to amplify his point]
---8<-----
Article 203794 of comp.sys.amiga.misc:
>Timothy Rue <tim...@mindspring.com> scribbled the following:
Thanks for the feedback. This along with other posts over time lead me to
see something I've not wanted to accept.
People can take this a arrogant or egotistical if they want, I no longer
care about flames.
Point blank. I'm beyond the perceptions others are at. Not only with the
VIC but also with marketing and I do wonder about other issuses to, but
these two issues I'm sure about.
I suppose the thing to do, is to see if I can raise others up to where
I'm seeing things.
[...snip....]
So in trying to raise others up, it's not easy but apparently I'm having
some success.
:) I probably do come off as a messiah to some. But I'd prefer not to be
preceived this way because all it tell me, is that some are so lost from
self awareness, or whatever blockage they have, that they don't realize
where they are really getting information from. NO IT'S NOT SOME IMAGINED
GOD.
---8<-----
Bill Bennett
----
An anonymous contributor:
A psychologist I know (off the record, this isn't a diagnosis, I'm not
responsible, etc. etc. etc.) says that Tim shows signs of schizoid or
schizotypal personality disorder (not schizophrenia, or multiple
personality disorder). This is typified by non-sequetirs, disconnected
thoughts, and paranoid delusions.
I have actually visited Tim's web site and it seems pretty clear that
this is probably a good diagnosis. I would not be surprised if Tim is,
or has been, on anti-psychotic medication.
I think the correct thing is to ignore him.
2. VIC - stranger than fiction.
The VIC saga started a while back, although its exact roots are lost
to history. In its current form, though, Timmy has evolved VIC into the
solution for all things Amiga (and possibly more).
2.1 What is it?
Timmy himself says in <5091.577T4...@mindspring.com>:
"Mostly what the general, but educated in VIC use, end user will preceive
is that the VIC is a tool that allows them to easily make productive use
of the vocabularies of applications. To do so in order to automate the
things they often do. To define a single word that the user can hand the
VIC to set in motion such automation. But the VIC also allows the user to
continue to build their personal vocabulary using base vocabulary of
applications as well as vocabulay they have already defined."
This is pretty much as verbose and detailed of a description that we've
been allowed to see, so any speculation is pure conjecture.
To his credit, one tiny code fragment does really exist: an AREXX
script he calls "IQ". Noone's really sure what it's supposed to do,
but it can be safely run without trashing your hard drive.
2.2 What isn't it?
For starters: real.
3. What can we do?
Ahhh, the time-honored question. Sooner or later, something has to
be done before Timmy entirely takes over Usenet.
3.1 Fire with fire.
The first and most satisfying solution is to simply flame the hell out of
him at every turn. When he opens his mouth, flame him. When he
calls someone such as Gary Peake a liar and a thief, flame him. If
he whines about profit or children or something else, flame him.
It's fun, it's easy, and it doesn't cost much.
However, as tempting as it may be, this isn't the recommended course
of action. First off, it's often like kicking a wet bag of sand. He'll
respond with something totally unrelated, and you'll wonder why you
even bothered. Second, Timmy's cardinal sin is killing scarce
bandwidth. The last thing needed is to encourage him to dump yet
more drivel into our haven.
3.2 Passive aggression.
Although not as immediately gratifying, a long-term approach is
certain to be more effective at ending this nonsense.
1) Add /"Timothy Rue" <thre...@earthlink.net>/ to your
newreader's killfile. This is the *surest way to reclaim our turf*. If
everyone in these groups were to immediately and permanently
ignore Timmy's postings, he would be gone within a month.
2) Since someone or another is bound to reply to him, thereby
encouraging him to continue, spread the word to new users you
encounter. When you see a reply with his name in the header,
send this FAQ or your own explanation to the user. Remember,
he can't keep burning without fuel!
3) Forward particularly slanderous postings to
postm...@earthlink.net. Don't get carried away here! This
is a last-ditch effort if you've clearly been lied about!
The key rule, though, is to JUST IGNORE HIM. Don't talk to him.
Don't trade e-mail. Don't acknowledge his existence.
Together, we can win.
3.3 Killfile instructions for common newsreaders
The killfile idea is all well and good, but if you don't know how to use
them, they're rather worthless. Therefore, here are some quick
instructions for adding Timmy to the killfiles of some common newsreaders.
3.3.a NewsRog
Easy! Click on an article by Timmy. Click on the little skull-and-cross-
bones icon above the articles listview. On the popup window, click on the
top cycle gadget until it reads "Kill all by same Author". Then, click on
the bottom cycle gadget so that it says "Kill Current & Future Articles".
Next, click on the "Expiration" gadget so that it's unchecked. Finally,
click "Kill".
3.3.b Turnpike
"Here's how to do it in Turnpike, a good newsreader supplied by Demon in
the UK to the PC users it has.
Enter the following custom rule:
^References:\s*<[^<]*@earthlink\.net>h
And it will kill any message replying to Tim Rue."
Thanks to: Alex Ingram
3.3.c Outlook Express
1) Click the "Tools" menu.
2) Click the "Newsgroup Filters" submenu.
3) This will open the "Newsgroup Filters" window. Click "Add".
4) "Group(s):" should be set to "All Servers (All Files)". If not, click
on the entry to get a pop-up menu, and choose it.
5) Click in the box next to the "From:" line. Enter:
Leave the "Subject:" line blank. Make sure that the "Message has
more than..." and "Messages posted more than..." items are NOT
checked. Click OK at the bottom.
6) Click OK again on the "Newsgroup Filters" window.
3.3.d Thor
Note: This is a 3rd party submission. I haven't personally verified the
instructions, but it seems pretty reasonable. Also note that this
particular user carries the idea a little further. :)
With Thor
----------
I have two general rules using From and To fields for specific
users what, sadly, flows the "comp.sys.amiga.*" Amiga NG's.
Selects the menu item "Kill/Emphasize Database" ("Windows" menu),
and press "New" button for adding every rule. And fill the
following fields with theses contents:
(Rule #1)
From name : ?(Tim? Rue|Mat#? Ortmann|QwertY|thre...@earthlink.net|
ort...@informatik.tu-muenchen.de)#?
Mode : Kill
Conferences : COMP.SYS.AMIGA.#?
Level : 1
(Rule #2)
To name : ?(Tim? Rue|Mat#? Ortmann|QwertY|thre...@earthlink.net|
ort...@informatik.tu-muenchen.de)#?
Mode : Kill
Conferences : COMP.SYS.AMIGA.#?
Level : 1
3.3.e Tin
"For TIN 1.4, hopefully I have this correct.
From within the offending message
^K (CTRL+K)
<enter> Skips to Kill Subject. <space> to toggle no.
<enter> skips to Kill From. leave Yes or <space> to toggle yes. *
<enter> Skips to Kill Msg-Id. <enter> leave no or <space> to toggle no.
<enter> at kill lines.
<enter> at score rules.
At Kill time in days <space> to toggle as appropriate. *
At Kill pattern scope <space> to toggle as appropriate. *
<enter> should be at the q)uit e)dit s)ave option.
<s> to save the settings.
(*) The important settings.
PS: You can modify your "Kill Time In days" settings from the TIN
configuration menu or in the tinrc file."
- Thanks to Dave K.
3.3.f UMS
To filter everything coming for example from timothy rue:
sumsset Sysop PASSWORD "msgid=*"**thre...@earthlink.net*"" Expired
The second command expires every follow-up to Timothy Rue. Unfortunately
it also expires everything going to other thre...@earthlink.net
customers in public.
I don't care very much for that, as it is worth it.
sumsset Sysop PASSWORD "referid=*"**thre...@earthlink.net*"" Expired
The sumsset tool can be found on aminet in comm/ums in the Sumstools
archive.
- Thanks to Richard H.
4. Administrivia.
This FAQ was first written on October 2, 1998, by Kirk Strauser (who
is actually a member of Team AMIGA, but not high-ranking enough
to be allowed to participate in the conspiracies. :).
4.1 FAQ maintainer.
Once again, that be me, Kirk Strauser.
4.2 Submissions.
If you have suggestions, additions, or corrections, please write to:
teknique AT honeypot DOT net
If you're Tim Rue, and feel like responding, be advised that I consider
all e-mail on the subject to be fair game for reprint. Stated more
clearly:
If you write to me, I'll feel free to include your letter in the next
revision.
--
Kirk Strauser Member // http://members.dialnet.net/teknique/
Team AMIGA \X/ http://csc.smsu.edu/~strauser/RA.html
New page! See http://csc.smsu.edu/~strauser/honeypot.html for system inf