usefor-usepro-03 February 2005

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7.6.  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 the Newsgroups, Subject, Distribution and References
   headers.  Wherever in the following it is stated that, "by default",
   a header is to be "inherited" from one of those headers in the
   precursor, it means that its initial content is to be copied from the
   content of that precursor header.  However, posters MAY then override
   that default before posting if they so wish.

        NOTE: The Keywords header is not inheritable, though some older
        newsreaders treated it as such.

        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 (F-3.1.5) SHOULD by default be inherited
      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 inherited 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 (F-3.2.6) SHOULD by default be inherited
      from the precursor's Distribution header, if any.

   4. If the precursor did not have a References header (F-3.2.1), the
      content of the followup's References header MUST be inherited from
      that of the Message-ID header of the precursor. A followup to an
      article which already had a References header MUST have a
      References header comprising the precursor's References header
      (subject to trimming as described below) followed by CFWS and the
      Message-ID header content of the precursor.

      If the resulting References header is excessively long, it MAY be
      trimmed, but the first and the last two message identifiers 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 content of the header,
      (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 SHOULD then be sent to the <copy-addr>.
[There are still unresolved issues concerning the Mail-Copies-To header,
hence the continuing reference to [ARTICLE].]

      When emailing a copy, the followup agent SHOULD also include a
      "Posted-And-Mailed: yes" header (a-6.9).
[There are still unresolved issues concerning the Posted-And-Mailed
header, hence the continuing reference to [ARTICLE].]

      Followup agents SHOULD NOT attempt to send email to any address
      ending in ".invalid".
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--- ../usefor-usepro-02/Duties_of_a_Followup_Agent.out          December 2004
+++ ../usefor-usepro-03/Duties_of_a_Followup_Agent.out          February 2005
@@ -3,47 +3,49 @@
    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 (2.3.1) 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 is to be copied from the content of that precursor header.
-   However, posters MAY then override that default before posting if
-   they so wish.
+   involving the Newsgroups, Subject, Distribution and References
+   headers.  Wherever in the following it is stated that, "by default",
+   a header is to be "inherited" from one of those headers in the
+   precursor, it means that its initial content is to be copied from the
+   content of that precursor header.  However, posters MAY then override
+   that default before posting if they so wish.
+
+        NOTE: The Keywords header is not inheritable, though some older
+        newsreaders treated it as such.
 
         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.
+   1. The Newsgroups header (F-3.1.5) SHOULD by default be inherited
+      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
+   2. The Subject header SHOULD by default be inherited 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.
+   3. The Distribution header (F-3.2.6) SHOULD by default be inherited
+      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 taken from the Message-ID-
-      content of the precursor. A followup to an article which already
-      had a References-header MUST have a References-header comprising
-      the precursor's References-content (subject to trimming as
-      described below) followed by CFWS and the Message-ID-content of
-      the precursor.
-
-      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:
+   4. If the precursor did not have a References header (F-3.2.1), the
+      content of the followup's References header MUST be inherited from
+      that of the Message-ID header of the precursor. A followup to an
+      article which already had a References header MUST have a
+      References header comprising the precursor's References header
+      (subject to trimming as described below) followed by CFWS and the
+      Message-ID header content of the precursor.
+
+      If the resulting References header is excessively long, it MAY be
+      trimmed, but the first and the last two message identifiers 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 content of the header,
+      (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
@@ -52,16 +54,20 @@
       "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-
+  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
+      a <copy-addr>
   The followup agent SHOULD likewise email a copy of a posted
-  followup, which SHOULD then be sent to the copy-addr.
+  followup, which SHOULD then be sent to the <copy-addr>.
+[There are still unresolved issues concerning the Mail-Copies-To header,
+hence the continuing reference to [ARTICLE].]
 
       When emailing a copy, the followup agent SHOULD also include a
       "Posted-And-Mailed: yes" header (a-6.9).
+[There are still unresolved issues concerning the Posted-And-Mailed
+header, hence the continuing reference to [ARTICLE].]
 
       Followup agents SHOULD NOT attempt to send email to any address
       ending in ".invalid".


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