usefor-usepro-01 September 2004

2.1.  Definitions

   An "article" is the unit of news, synonymous with an [RFC 2822]
   "message".

   A "proto-article" (7.2.1) is one that has been created by a "posting
   agent" but has not yet been injected into a Netnews system system by
   an "injecting agent". It may lack some otherwise mandatory headers.

   A "message identifier" (a-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 a-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
   synonymous with [RFC 2822]'s author.

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

   A "followup" is an article containing a response to the contents of
   an earlier article (the followup's "precursor").
[Alternative definition, to bu ised if similar woprding is not added to
the description of the References-header (a-6.10):]

   A "followup" is an article containing a response to the contents of
   an earlier article (its "precursor"), or which is otherwise intended
   to be grouped with that article for purposes of display (e.g. as part
   of a multipart posting such as a FAQ).

   An (email) "address" is the mailbox [RFC 2822] (or more particularly
   the addr-spec within that mailbox) which directs the delivery of an
   email to its intended recipient, who is said to "own" that address.

   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 (a-5.2), unless it also has a Reply-To-header (a-6.1).

   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.

   A "control message" is an article which is marked as containing
   control information; a "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.

--- ../usefor-usepro-00/Definitions.out          August 2004
+++ ../usefor-usepro-01/Definitions.out          September 2004