Re: Problem with simple script to clean out an ERC buffer

[Bob Proulx]

Emanuel Berg wrote:
> Seriously, what is it in the IRC logs that is
> so important you have to check it like some
> 20-ish moronic dude who wants to attend every
> single party fearing otherwise he will
> "miss" something?

I get a "IRC highlight" if someone addresses my nickname.  But I might
not be at the keyboard.  Here is an example.

  Alice> Hey Bob can you help me out? A light switch is broken. Can
  you stop by the house and look at it?

And then conversation keeps going with other people.  I return to the
keyboard some long time later.  I see that I have been addressed
sometime in the near past.  Who was speaking to me?  But all I
immediately see is a sea of text from other conversation.

What I do is I search back for my nickname and see what would have
caused me to have been addressed (hightlighted).  I find the message
from my friend.  I respond.

  Bob> Hi Alice.  Sure.  I would be happy to come look at your broken
  light switch.  When can I drop by?

Now you might say that after a day or two when there was no response
because I didn't see it that she should try a different communication
method such as email.  Timeout and retry.  But IRC works for my friend
who happens to be a widower and needs a little help like this every so
often and it also works for me using the above technique.  It wouldn't
work if I didn't have enough history to look back to see the message
that addressed me.  You may think I am a "20-ish moronic dude" but it
is just "different strokes for different folks".

Bob

P.S. The above is a true story summary of a recent exchange that
happened in real life.  Busted three way hall switch needed to be
replaced.  I did change the names to the usual placeholder names
though.  But the events are real.

"Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true.  Only
the names have been changed to protect the innocent."