Editing Kill file (section)

{{Short description|File used in Usenet groups to hide people or subjects}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2015}}

A '''kill file''' (also '''killfile''', '''bozo bin''' or '''twit list''') is a [[computer file|file]] that stores [[String-searching algorithm|text matching patterns]] that are used in some [[Usenet]] reading programs to filter out (ignore) articles by subject, author, or other header information. Adding a pattern to a kill file results in matching articles being ignored by the [[end user|person]] using the [[Newsreader (Usenet)|newsreader]]. By extension, the term may describe a decision to ignore an author or topic.<ref>{{FOLDOC|Kill+file}}</ref> A kill file feature was first implemented in [[Larry Wall]]'s [[rn (newsreader)|rn]].