- Address - This is generally used to describe the location
of items on a network. When referring to news servers, the address
is generally in the format of news.[server_name].com. There are
web sites that provide HTML gateways to news servers and these
will have addresses in the familiar World Wide Web format of
www.[name].com. NewsHunter will not work with web-based gateways.
NewsHunter requires access to an NNTP compliant news server.
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- ARTICLE - This is the command used to fetch an article
from the news server. An article number needs to be specified.
ARTICLE 234434 will retrieve article 234434 from the news server
and deliver it to your computer.
Article - Items posted to newsgroups are referred to as
articles. Articles are also sometimes referred to Posts.
Authentication - This is the process of logging on to
your news server. The news server asks for your username and
password and then checks its database to make sure you are an
authentic user of the system.
Author - Anyone who posts an article to Usenet.
Bandwidth - A term used to describe how fast information
is sent from one computer to another. Not to be confused with
Data Transfer which is a measure of quantity.
BODY - This is the command used to retrieve just the body
of an article from the news server. No headers will be downloaded
when using the BODY commands. The article number must follow
the command.
Cross Post - This term is used to describe the number
of other newsgroups an article has been posted to in addition
to the primary newsgroup.
Data Transfer - The amount of information sent from one
computer to another. Not to be confused with Bandwidth which
is a measure to speed.
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- GROUP - This command is used to select the newsgroup
that is to be read. The name of the newsgroup follows the command.
GROUP alt.binaries.pictures.anime will select the newsgroup so
that commands such as ARTICLE, HEAD, and BODY will know what
newsgroup to look at.
HEAD - This command requests just the headers of an article.
The headers contain information like the email address of the
author, the subject of the article, how many lines are in the
article, and more.
Headers - Headers are all the information that is not
contained in the body of an article. For example, when you compose
a letter, you include information such as when the letter was
written, who it addressed to, where it came from, and other bits
of information not related to the body of the letter where you
express the thought you wish to convey.
Internet - An networked system of computers that supports
many different kinds of services. The most popular of these services
is called the World Wide Web, or www for short. The Internet
also supports other services such and electronic mail, FTP, and
Usenet news service.
News Server - A computer that maintains newsgroups and
articles. This is the computer you connect to in order to read
Usenet newsgroups. Not to be confused with a Web Server which
delivers web pages.
NNTP - The protocol used to talk to a news server.
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- POST - This is the act of sending an article to a
news server. It can also be used to describe the article itself.
For example, one may refer to an interesting article by saying,
"Hmm, now that was an interesting post."
Reply To - This is one of the headers that all articles
have. It contains the email address where the author wishes to
receive any correspondence.
STAT - This is the command used to check the status of
an article. The article number must follow the command. The news
server will send a response by letting you know if the article
is available or not.
Subject - This is one of the headers that all articles
have. It contains a short description of the body's content.
URL - Uniform Resource Locator. Usually used when talking
about web sites. When talking about news servers the common term
used is Address. You will generally not hear people asking for
the URL of a news server. They will, instead, ask for the address
of a news server.
Usenet - One of the most popular services on the internet.
Usenet, or News Service, is akin to a gigantic bulletin board
system.
World Wide Web - The most popular service on the internet
today. The World Wide Web, or www, is the service that deliver
web content that can be viewed using a program referred to as
a browser. Popular browsers include OmniWeb and Netscape Navigator.
XOVER - Short for overview. This is the command used to
retrieve a batch of headers from the news server. The XOVER is
similar to a table of contents. It does not return the actual
articles, just a list of articles that are available.
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