usefor-article-04 April 2001

2.1.  Definitions.

   An "article" is the unit of news, analogous to a [MESSFOR] "message".
   A "proto-article" is one that has not yet been injected into the news
   system.

   A "message identifier" (5.3) is a unique identifier for an article,
   usually supplied by the "posting agent" which posted it or, failing
   that, by the "injecting agent". It distinguishes the article from
   every other article ever posted anywhere. Articles with the same
   message identifier are treated as if they are the same article
   regardless of any differences in the body or headers.

   A "newsgroup" is a single news forum, a logical bulletin board,
   having a name and nominally intended for articles on a specific
   topic. An article is "posted to" a single newsgroup or several
   newsgroups. When an article is posted to more than one newsgroup, it
   is said to be "crossposted"; note that this differs from posting the
   same text as part of each of several articles, one per newsgroup.

   A newsgroup may be "moderated", in which case submissions are not
   posted directly, but mailed to a "moderator" for consideration and
   possible posting.  Moderators are typically human but may be
   implemented partially or entirely in software.

   A "hierarchy" is the set of all newsgroups whose names share a first
   component (as defined in 5.5).  The term "sub-hierarchy" is also used
   where several initial components are shared.

   A "poster" is the person or software that composes and submits a
   possibly compliant article to a "posting agent". The poster is
   analogous to [MESSFOR]'s author(s).

   A "posting agent" is the software that assists posters to prepare
   proto-articles, in compliance with this standard. The proto-article
   is then passed on to an "injecting agent" for final checking and
   injection into the news stream. If the article is not compliant, or
   is rejected by the injecting agent, then the posting agent informs
   the poster with an explanation of the error.

   A "reader" is the person or software reading news articles.

   A "reading agent" is software which presents articles to a reader.

   A "followup" is an article containing a response to the contents of
   an earlier article (the followup's "precursor").

   A "followup agent" is a combination of reading agent and posting
   agent that aids in the preparation and posting of a followup.

   An article's "reply address" is the address to which mailed replies
   should be sent. This is the address specified in the article's From
   header (5.2), unless it also has a Reply-To header (6.1).
   A "reply agent" is a combination of reading agent and mailer that
   aids in the preparation and posting of an email response to an
   article.

   A "sender" is the person or software (usually, but not always, the
   same as the poster) responsible for the operation of the posting
   agent or, which amounts to the same thing, for passing the article to
   the injecting agent. The sender is analogous to [MESSFOR]'s sender.

   An "injecting agent" takes the finished article from the posting
   agent (often via the NNTP "post" command) performs some final checks
   and passes it on to a relaying agent for general distribution.

   A "relaying agent" is software which receives allegedly compliant
   articles from injecting agents and/or other relaying agents, and
   possibly passes copies on to other relaying agents and serving
   agents.

   A "news database" is the set of articles and related structural
   information stored by a serving agent and made available for access
   by reading agents.

   A "serving agent" receives an article from a relaying agent and files
   it in a news database. It also provides an interface for reading
   agents to access the news database.

   A "control message" is an article which is marked as containing
   control information; a relaying or serving agent receiving such an
   article may (subject to the policies observed at that site) take
   actions beyond just filing and passing on the article.

   A "gateway" is software which receives news articles and converts
   them to messages of some other kind (e.g. mail to a mailing list), or
   vice versa; in essence it is a translating relaying agent that
   straddles boundaries between different methods of message exchange.
   The most common type of gateway connects newsgroup(s) to mailing
   list(s), either unidirectionally or bidirectionally, but there are
   also gateways between news networks using this standard's news format
   and those using other formats.

--- ../usefor-article-03/Definitions..out          February 2000
+++ ../usefor-article-04/Definitions..out          April 2001
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
    A "proto-article" is one that has not yet been injected into the news
    system.
 
-   A "message identifier",) is a unique identifier for an article,
+   A "message identifier" (5.3) is a unique identifier for an article,
    usually supplied by the "posting agent" which posted it or, failing
    that, by the "injecting agent".  It distinguishes the article from
    every other article ever posted anywhere.  Articles with the same
@@ -47,10 +47,10 @@
 
    A "followup agent" is a combination of reading agent and posting
    agent that aids in the preparation and posting of a followup.
+
    An article's "reply address" is the address to which mailed replies
    should be sent. This is the address specified in the article's From
    header (5.2), unless it also has a Reply-To header (6.1).
-
    A "reply agent" is a combination of reading agent and mailer that
    aids in the preparation and posting of an email response to an
    article.
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
    possibly passes copies on to other relaying agents and serving
    agents.
 
-   A "news database" is the set of articles and related strutural
+   A "news database" is the set of articles and related structural
    information stored by a serving agent and made available for access
    by reading agents.