Re: ietf-nntp FAQ Extension to NNTP

[Brian Hernacki <[e-mail]>]

Dave Barr wrote:
> Instead of a FAQ command, I'd like to see a "CHARTER" command.  A simple
> extended description (perhaps HTML so it can include hypertext references
> to other newsgroups, web sites, and mailboxes.) of the newsgroup,
> rules and guidelines for new readers of the group, and the like.
> _that_ is newsgroup metadata. The FAQ command is too broad.  Some
> newsgroups have dozens of FAQs in them.  (some, like announce groups,
> are often largely FAQs)  The charters would probably need to be
> centrally maintained, at least for the Big-8.

It doesn't make sense to me to start cluttering the protocol
with alot of new verbage. While I do agree that there is a
need for clients to obtain such meta-data (and yes, I think
an FAQ is meta-data), the method for this should be general
enough that it can be easily used for other things.

Maybe a META or INFO verb that takes a parameter like LIST
would fit this purpose. So you could say INFO FAQ or
INFO CHARTER. It would be up to the server implementation to
decide who to go about getting it, etc. If people do come
up with new meta meta, it would then me just a matter of adding
a new object to the verb.

--brian

Should this be on the extensions mailing list instead??

--------------------------------------------------------
Brian Hernacki                 mailto:[e-mail]
Usenet foot-soldier	       Netscape Communications
(setf disclaimer "I speak for myself, not the company")