INTERNET-DRAFT                               Charles H. Lindsey
Usenet Format Working Group                  University of Manchester
                                             July 2001

1.1. Basic Concepts

1.1.  Basic Concepts
   "Netnews" is a set of protocols for generating, storing and
   retrieving news "articles" (which resemble mail messages) and for
   exchanging them amongst a readership which is potentially widely
   distributed. It is organized around "newsgroups", with the
   expectation that each reader will be able to see all articles posted
   to each newsgroup in which he participates. These protocols most
   commonly use a flooding algorithm which propagates copies throughout
   a network of participating servers.  Typically, only one copy is
   stored per server, and each server makes it available on demand to
   readers able to access that server.

   An important characteristic of Netnews is the lack of any requirement
   for a central administration or for the establishment of any
   controlling host to manage the network. A network which limits
   participation to some restricted set of hosts (within some company,
   for example) is a "closed" network; otherwise it is an "open"
   network. A set of hosts within a network which, by mutual
   arrangement, operates some variant (whether more or less restrictive)
   of the Netnews protocols is a "cooperating subnet".

   "Usenet" is a particular worldwide open network based upon the
   Netnews protocols, with the newsgroups being organised into
   recognized "hierarchies".  Anybody can join (it is simply necessary
   to negotiate an exchange of articles with one or more other
   participating hosts). Usenet "belongs" to those who administer the
   hosts of which it is comprised. There is no Cabal with overall
   authority to direct what is to be be allowed. Nevertheless, there do
   exist agencies within Usenet that have authority to establish
   policies and to perform administrative functions, but such authority
   derives solely from the consent of those sites which choose to
   recognise it (and who can decline to exchange articles with sites
   which choose not to recognise it). Usually, the authority of such an
   agency is restricted to a particular hierarchy, or group of
   hierarchies.

   A "policy" is a rule intended to facilitate the smooth operation of a
   network by establishing parameters which restrict behaviour that,
   whilst technically unexceptionable, would nevertheless contravene
   some accepted standard of "Good Netkeeping". Since the ultimate
   beneficiaries of a network are its human readers, who will be less
   tolerant of poorly designed interfaces than mere computers, articles
   in breach of established policy can cause considerable annoyance to
   their recipients.

   Policies may well vary from network to network, from hierarchy to
   hierarchy within one network, and even between individual newsgroups
   within one hierarchy. It is assumed, for the purposes of this
   standard, that agencies with varying degrees of authority to
   establish such policies will exist, and that where they do not,
   policy will be established by mutual agreement.  For the benefit of
   networks and hierarchies without such established agencies, and to
   provide a basis upon which all agencies can build, this present
   standard often provides default policy parameters, usually
   introducing them by a phrase such as "As a matter of policy ...".

Diffs to previous draft

--- {draft-04}	Wed Jul 11 21:54:48 2001
+++ {draft-05}	Wed Jul 11 21:54:48 2001
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
    "Netnews" is a set of protocols for generating, storing and
    retrieving news "articles" (which resemble mail messages) and for
    exchanging them amongst a readership which is potentially widely
-   distributed. It is organized around "newsgroups," with the
+   distributed. It is organized around "newsgroups", with the
    expectation that each reader will be able to see all articles posted
    to each newsgroup in which he participates. These protocols most
    commonly use a flooding algorithm which propagates copies throughout