usefor-article-03 February 2000

5.5.1.  Forbidden newsgroup names

   The following forms of newsgroup-name MUST NOT be used except for the
   specific purposes indicated:

     o Newsgroup-names having only one component. These are reserved for
       newsgroups whose propagation is restricted to a single host or
       local network, and for pseudo-newsgroups such as "poster" (which
       has special meaning in the Followup-To header - see section 6.7),
       "junk" (often used by serving agents), "control" (likewise),
       "revise" and "repost" (which have special meanings in the Xref
       header - see 6.14)

     o Any newsgroup-name beginning with "control." (used as pseudo-
       newsgroups by many serving agents)
     o Any newsgroup-name containing the component "ctl" (likewise)
     o "to" or any newsgroup-name beginning with "to." (reserved for the
       ihave/sendme protocol described in section 7.6, and for test
       messages sent on an essentially point-to-point basis)
     o Any newsgroup-name containing the component "all" (because this
       is used as a wildcard in some implementations)
   A newsgroup-name SHOULD NOT appear more than once in the Newsgroups
   header. The order of newsgroup names in the Newsgroups header is not
   significant, except for determining which moderator to send the
   article to if one of the groups is moderated (see 8.2).