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3.6: Canceling Articles

Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really, really, really wish you hadn't posted that?

Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.

Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press C or S c (gnus-summary-cancel-article). Your article will be canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article. This command uses the process/prefix convention (see Process/Prefix).

Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in question.

Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you want to use the standard posting method, use the `a' symbolic prefix (see Symbolic Prefixes).

If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some corrections, you can post a superseding article that will replace your original article.

Go to the original article and press S s (gnus-summary-supersede-article). You will be put in a buffer where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the usual way.

The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you have posted almost the same article twice.

If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away, there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return to the post buffer (which is called *sent ...*). There you will find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change the Message-ID header to a Cancel or Supersedes header by substituting one of those words for the word Message-ID. Then just press C-c C-c to send the article as you would do normally. The previous article will be canceled/superseded.

Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.

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The Summary Buffer

Marking Articles