s-o-1036 June 1994

6.17. Article-Names

The Article-Names header content indicates any special  sig-
nificance the article may have in particular newsgroups:

     Article-Names-content  = 1*( name-clause space )
     name-clause            = newsgroup-name ":" article-name
     article-name           = letter 1*( letter / digit / "-" )

Each  name  clause  specifies  a  newsgroup (which SHOULD be
among those in the Newsgroups header) and  an  article  name
local  to  that  newsgroup.   Article  names  MAY be used by
relayers to file the article in special ways,  or  they  MAY
just  be  noted  for  possible  special attention by reading
agents.  Article names are case-sensitive.

     NOTE: This header provides a way to  mark  special
     postings, such as introductions, frequently-asked-
     question lists, etc., so that reading agents  have
     a  way  of  finding them automatically.  The news-
     group name is  specified  for  each  article  name
     because  the  names may be newsgroup-specific; for
     example, many frequently-asked-question lists  are

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     posted  to  "news.answers"  in  addition  to their
     "home" newsgroup, and they would not be  known  by
     the same name(s) in both newsgroups.

The  Article-Names header SHOULD be ignored unless the arti-
cle also contains an Approved header.

     NOTE: This stipulation is made in anticipation  of
     the  possibility  that  Approved  headers  will be
     involved in cryptographic authentication.

The presence of an Article-Names header does not necessarily
imply  that  the  article  will  be  retained unusually long
before expiration, or that previous article(s) with  similar
Article-Names  headers  will  be  cancelled  by its arrival.
Posters preparing special postings SHOULD include  appropri-
ate  other  headers,  such  as  Expires  and  Supersedes, to
request such actions.

Different networks MAY establish different sets  of  article
names  for the special postings they deem significant; it is
preferable for usage to  be  standardized  within  networks,
although  it might be desirable for individual newsgroups to
have different naming conventions in some situations.  Arti-
cle  names  MUST  be  14  characters or less.  The following
names are suggested but are not mandatory:

intro       Introduction to the newsgroup for newcomers.

charter     Charter, rules, organization,  moderation  poli-
            cies, etc.

background  Biographies  of special participants, history of
            the newsgroup, notes on related newsgroups, etc.

subgroups   Descriptions  of sub-newsgroups under this news-
            group, e.g. "sci.space.news" under  "sci.space".

facts       Information relating to the purpose of the news-
            group, e.g. an acronym glossary in  "sci.space".

references  Where  to get more information: books, journals,
            FTP repositories, etc.

faq         Answers to frequently-asked questions.

menu        If present, a list  of  all  the  other  article
            names   local  to  this  newsgroup,  with  brief
            descriptions of their contents.

Such articles may be divided into subsections using the MIME
"multipart/mixed"  conventions.  If size considerations make
it necessary to split  such  articles,  names  ending  in  a
hyphen  and  a  part  number  are  suggested; for example, a

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three-part frequently-asked-questions list could have  arti-
cle names "faq-1", "faq-2", and "faq-3".

     NOTE: It is somewhat premature to attempt to stan-
     dardize article names, since this is essentially a
     new  feature  with  no experience behind it.  How-
     ever, if reading agents are to attach special sig-
     nificance to these names, some attempt at standard
     conventions  is  imperative.   This  is  a   first
     attempt at providing some.