which is the same as the original article, except that  if
the original subject does not begin with "Re: " or "re: ",
the  four  characters   "Re: "  are  inserted  before  the
subject.   If  there is no References line on the original
header, the References line should contain the message  ID
of  the  original  article (including the angle brackets).
If the original article does have a References  line,  the
followup  article should have a References line containing
the text of the original References line, a blank, and the
message ID of the original article.

The purpose of the References header is to allow  articles
to  be  grouped  into  conversations by the user interface
program.  This allows conversations within a newsgroup  to
be  kept  together,  and  potentially users might shut off
entire conversations without unsubscribing to a newsgroup.
User  interfaces  may not make use of this header, but all
automatically  generated  followups  should  generate  the
References line for the benefit of systems that do use it,
and manually generated followups (e.g. typed in well after
the  original  article  has  been  printed by the machine)
should be encouraged to include them as well.

2.2.7  Control  If an article contains a Control line, the
article  is  a control message.  Control messages are used
for communication among USENET host machines,  not  to  be
read  by  users.   Control messages are distributed by the
same newsgroup mechanism as ordinary messages.   The  body
of the Control header line is the message to the host.

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For  upward  compatibility,  messages   that   match   the
newsgroup   pattern    "all.all.ctl"    should   also   be
interpreted as control messages.  If no Control: header is
present  on  such  messages,  the  subject  is used as the
control message.  However, messages on newsgroups matching
this pattern do not conform to this standard.

2.2.8  Distribution   This  line  is  used  to  alter  the
distribution scope of the message.  It has the same format
as the Newsgroups  line.   User  subscriptions  are  still
controlled  by  Newsgroups, but the message is sent to all
systems subscribing to the newsgroups on the  Distribution
line instead of the Newsgroups line.  Thus, a car for sale
in New Jersey might have headers including

     Newsgroups: net.auto,net.wanted
     Distribution: nj.all

so that  it  would  only  go  to  persons  subscribing  to
net.auto  or  net.wanted within New Jersey.  The intent of
this header is to further restrict the distribution  of  a
newsgroup, not to increase it.  A local newsgroup, such as
nj.crazy-eddie, will probably not be propagated  by  sites
outside  New  Jersey  that do not show such a newsgroup as
valid.  Wildcards in newsgroup names in  the  Distribution
line are allowed.  Followup articles should default to the
same Distribution line as the original  article,  but  the
user  can change it to a more limited one, or escalate the
distribution if it was originally restricted  and  a  more
widely distributed reply is appropriate.

2.2.9  Organization  The text of  this  line  is  a  short
phrase  describing  the  organization  to which the sender
belongs, or to which the machine belongs.  The  intent  of
this  line  is  to  help  identify  the person posting the
message, since site names are often cryptic enough to make
it  hard  to  recognize the organization by the electronic
address.


3.  Control Messages

This section lists the control messages currently defined.
The  body  of  the  Control header is the control message.
Messages are a sequence of zero or more  words,  separated
by  white  space  (blanks or tabs).  The first word is the
name  of  the  control  message,   remaining   words   are
parameters  to  the  message.  The remainder of the header
and the body of the message are also potential parameters;
for  example,  the  From  line might suggest an address to
which a response is to be mailed.




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Implementors  and  administrators  may  choose  to   allow
control  messages  to  be automatically carried out, or to
queue  them  for  manual  processing.   However,  manually
processed messages should be dealt with promptly.

3.1  Cancel