[Dxspider-support] Enabling Q:1 spots

[Dirk Koopman]

On 06/07/2021 04:54, rin JG1VGX via Dxspider-support wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have played with filters myself and here is a summary.
>
> What I wished to do:
> - Allow Q:1 spots system-wide
> - Set Q:2-9 as default for a new user
> - Users can allow Q:1 as necessary
>
> What I have done:
> - set $minqual = 1 as Andy G4PIQ has suggested
> (But this cannot be a permanent solution because /local/RBN.pm needs 
> to be updated manually each time /perl/RBN.pm is updated)
> - then played with various user filters, eg. acc/rbn, rej/rbn, 
> user_default, node_default
>
> What I have found:
> - 'node_default' This looks like a different animal and serves no 
> purpose in this case?
> - 'user_default' This does the job, but cannot be overriden by users' 
> own filters. Not useful?

This is news to me. The thing about user_default is that is applies 
*only until* a user defines a personal filter for a category, it then 
will _override_ the user_default with their preferences. The only caveat 
is that there seems to be a bug (in all branches) where "frequently" the 
user filter does not "take" until the user logs out and then in again.

"Frequently" in this context means: "never - when I am trying to find 
the fault" or "often enough for users to get confused and annoyed so 
that they logout, fume, wait a day or two and then login again when it 
now (magically) works".

> - finally got the gist that a single 'acc/ A' and a 'rej/ not A' mean 
> the same, but multiple 'acc' filters works like additive (A OR B) 
> while 'rej' works like multiplicative (A AND B).
> - if no /rbn filter is defined, /spots filters apply for both regular 
> and RBN spots. But once any /rbn filter is defined, filters must be 
> defined separately for both regular and RBN spots.
>

Please do "help filter" or read it on the wiki. It's meant to be 
"intuitive", but then it would be - to me. It's not quite as you 
describe it. But in essence it's this:


0. If there is no filter for this "thing" then nothing is filtered. It 
is just passed on.
1. For every type of thing you can filter (spots, announcements etc) 
there as 10 filter slots.
2. You can have a different filter in each slot.
3. Each slot is tried in the order 0 -> 9. This is "ladder logic".
4. Empty slots are ignored.
5. For every slot that matches: if it is a REJ filter it immediately 
rejects that "thing"; if is an ACC filter it will accept that "thing". 
No further processing on that "thing" occurs for that filter.
6. REJ filters are tried first; if it falls out of the bottom then the 
ACC filters are tried and if it falls out of the bottom then that 
"thing" is rejected.

The point of this is that nobody gets negative logic right the first 
time (nor the second or third time) however good one might be. Hence the 
REJ filters - they throw away everything you DON'T want. The ACC filters 
(only) give you what you DO want. You are therefore using positive logic 
to get what you want (much more of the time).

As we are all consenting sysops here, you should be made aware of the 
implications of input filters on your feeds (or node_default file for 
that "thing"). Any input filter will affect what gets into your node for 
onward processing. It is dumped at source. BTW a more efficient way of 
reducing what your users can see is to rcmd/<node partner> acc/spots 
by_zone 1,2,3 (for instance) and your node will never see any spots from 
spotters in other zones. Saves a lot some bandwidth.

> So far my purpose was not fulfilled but currently I have at my node:
> - Set $minqual = 1
> - In case users bothered by busted Q:1 spots, I would suggest them to use
>   acc/rbn info {q:[2-9]}, or rej/rbn info {q:1}

I agree with this. But it is not a perfect answer to the problem. At the 
moment, I don't know what the processing issues might be for "per user" 
$minqual settings.

>
> If there are better solutions, please let me know!
>
> 73 rin JG1VGX
>

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