usefor-usepro-00 August 2004
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7.7. Duties of a Followup Agent
A Followup Agent is a special case of a posting agent, and as such is
bound by all the posting agent's requirements. Followup agents MUST
create valid followups and are subject to special requirements
involving certain inheritable (a-4.2.5.2) and other headers.
Wherever in the following it is stated that, "by default", a header
is to be taken from some header in the precursor, it means that its
initial content (plus its extension-parameters, if any) are to be
copied from those of that precursor header. However, posters MAY
then override that default before posting if they so wish.
NOTE: There is no provision in this standard for a followup to
have more than one precursor (though it might be permitted in
some future extension).
1. The Newsgroups-header (a-5.5) SHOULD by default be taken from the
precursor's Followup-To-header if present, and otherwise from the
precursor's Newsgroups-header. However, if the content of that
Followup-To-header consists of "poster" (and the user does not
override it), then the followup MUST NOT be posted but, rather, is
to be emailed to the precursor's poster.
2. The Subject-header SHOULD by default be taken from that of the
precursor. The case sensitive string "Re: " MAY be prepended to
its Subject-Content unless it already begins with that string.
3. The Distribution-header (a-6.6) SHOULD by default be taken from
the precursor's Distribution-header, if any.
4. If the precursor did not have a References-header (a-6.10), the
followup's References-content MUST be formed by the message
identifier of the precursor. A followup to an article which had a
References-header MUST have a References-header containing the
precursor's References-content (subject to trimming as described
below) plus the precursor's message identifier appended to the end
of the list (separated from it by CFWS).
Followup agents MAY trim References-headers which have grown to
excessive length, but the first and last message identifiers from
the precursor MUST NOT be removed.
5. If the precursor contains a Mail-Copies-To-header (a-6.8), the
actions to be taken, in accordance with the Mail-Copies-To-
content, (and subject to manual override by the poster) are as
follows:
"nobody" (or when the header is absent)
The followup agent SHOULD NOT email a copy of a posted
followup to the poster of the precursor.
"poster"
The followup agent SHOULD (if it has the necessary
capability) email a copy of a posted followup, which MUST
then be sent to the address(es) in the Reply-To-header, and
in the absence of that to the address(es) in the From-
header.
a copy-addr
The followup agent SHOULD likewise email a copy of a posted
followup, which MUST then be sent to the copy-addr.
When emailing a copy, the followup agent SHOULD also include a
"Posted-And-Mailed: yes" header (a-6.9).
Followup agents SHOULD NOT attempt to send email to any address
ending in ".invalid".
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#Diff to first older
--- ../usefor-article-13/Duties_of_a_Followup_Agent.out May 2004
+++ ../usefor-usepro-00/Duties_of_a_Followup_Agent.out August 2004
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
-8.6. Duties of a Followup Agent
+7.7. Duties of a Followup Agent
A Followup Agent is a special case of a posting agent, and as such is
bound by all the posting agent's requirements. Followup agents MUST
create valid followups and are subject to special requirements
- involving certain inheritable (4.2.5.2) and other headers. Wherever
- in the following it is stated that, "by default", a header is to be
- taken from some header in the precursor, it means that its initial
- content (plus its extension-parameters, if any) are to be copied from
- those of that precursor header. However, posters MAY then override
- that default before posting if they so wish.
+ involving certain inheritable (a-4.2.5.2) and other headers.
+ Wherever in the following it is stated that, "by default", a header
+ is to be taken from some header in the precursor, it means that its
+ initial content (plus its extension-parameters, if any) are to be
+ copied from those of that precursor header. However, posters MAY
+ then override that default before posting if they so wish.
NOTE: There is no provision in this standard for a followup to
have more than one precursor (though it might be permitted in
some future extension).
- 1. The Newsgroups-header (5.5) SHOULD by default be taken from the
+ 1. The Newsgroups-header (a-5.5) SHOULD by default be taken from the
precursor's Followup-To-header if present, and otherwise from the
precursor's Newsgroups-header. However, if the content of that
Followup-To-header consists of "poster" (and the user does not
@@ -22,51 +22,13 @@
to be emailed to the precursor's poster.
2. The Subject-header SHOULD by default be taken from that of the
- precursor's Subject-header. The case sensitive string "Re: "
- (known as a "back reference") MAY be prepended to its Subject-
- Content unless it already begins with that string.
-
- NOTE: The practice of prepending such a "Re: " (which is an
- abbreviation for the Latin "In re", meaning "in the matter of",
- and not an abbreviation of "Reference" as is sometimes
- erroneously supposed) is widespread, but reading agents cannot
- rely on all followup Subject-headers using it, nor can it be
- assumed that reading agents will understand any back-reference
- other than a single "Re: ".
-[Shmuel wants something like "... nor that the "Re:" was even intended
-as a back-reference."]
-
- Some reading agents, notably those which choose to use the
- Subject-header to enable a simple form of thread sorting, need
- to be able to recognize the presence of a back-reference.
-
-[Various other snippets of text have been suggested for the NOTE,
-including the following:
-
- NOTE: Some reading agents expect a single "Re: " at the
- beginning of the Subject-content of a followup, and consider
- this when sorting articles for display. This is unreliable, and
- an intrusion on the unstructured nature of the header, but
- widespread.
-
- NOTE: Some reading agents expect this string at the beginning of
- the Subject-content of a followup, and consider this when
- sorting articles for display. Further, most expect just one
- instance of "Re: ", and do not treat any other string in this
- manner.
-
- NOTE: Further discussion of this (user interface) issue can be
- found in [USEAGE] section x.x.
-
- Although "Re: " is case-sensitive, there has historically been
- some disagreement about that, so it is best to check for its
- presence with a case-insensitive test.
-End of snippets.]
+ precursor. The case sensitive string "Re: " MAY be prepended to
+ its Subject-Content unless it already begins with that string.
- 3. The Distribution-header (6.6) SHOULD by default be taken from the
- precursor's Distribution-header, if any.
+ 3. The Distribution-header (a-6.6) SHOULD by default be taken from
+ the precursor's Distribution-header, if any.
- 4. If the precursor did not have a References-header (6.10), the
+ 4. If the precursor did not have a References-header (a-6.10), the
followup's References-content MUST be formed by the message
identifier of the precursor. A followup to an article which had a
References-header MUST have a References-header containing the
@@ -78,7 +40,7 @@
excessive length, but the first and last message identifiers from
the precursor MUST NOT be removed.
- 5. If the precursor contains a Mail-Copies-To-header (6.8), the
+ 5. If the precursor contains a Mail-Copies-To-header (a-6.8), the
actions to be taken, in accordance with the Mail-Copies-To-
content, (and subject to manual override by the poster) are as
follows:
@@ -99,7 +61,7 @@
followup, which MUST then be sent to the copy-addr.
When emailing a copy, the followup agent SHOULD also include a
- "Posted-And-Mailed: yes" header (6.9).
+ "Posted-And-Mailed: yes" header (a-6.9).
Followup agents SHOULD NOT attempt to send email to any address
ending in ".invalid".