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== Crossposting ==
== Crossposting ==
Sometimes you may want to post the same article to more than one newsgroup, because the article may be of interest to more than one audience or you want to get a wider response.
Sometimes you may want to post the same article to more than one newsgroup, because the article may be of interest to more than one audience or you want to get a wider response. If you simply post copies of the article in the usual way to each newsgroup, it not only takes more of your time but anyone subscribed to both groups sees the message twice, which can be pretty annoying. ;)


If you simply post copies of the article in the usual way to each newsgroup, it not only takes more of your time but anyone subscribed to both groups sees the message twice, which can be pretty annoying ;)
The crossposting mechanism allows you to post one copy of the article simultaneously to more than one newsgroup. With some newsreaders, including slrn, reading a crossposted article in one group marks it as read in the other groups, if you read more than one of the groups in question, you see the article only once. Crossposting is always preferable to making multiple separate identical postings.


The crossposting mechanism allows you to post one copy of the article simultaneously to more than one newsgroup. With some newsreaders, including slrn, reading a crossposted article in one group marks it as read in the other groups, if you read more than one of the groups in question, you see the article only once.
To crosspost an article, start by posting as usual to one of the newsgroups in which you want the article to appear. Look at the headers of the article. For example the headers of this post are as follows:


Crossposting is always preferable to making multiple separate identical postings.
Newsgroups: redbrick.babble
From: "Mr.Sephiroth" <Moridin@3l33t.RedBrick.cx>
Subject: Re: Website hosting
References: <slrnae2607.gus.henough@Prodigy.redbrick.dcu.ie>
Reply-To: moridin@redbrick.dcu.ie
Followup-To:


To crosspost an article, start by posting as usual to one of the newsgroups in which you want the article to appear.
The top line, Newsgroups: specifies the groups that this message will get posted to. Now, suppose I want to post this both to redbrick.babble and redbrick.help. In that case the headers need to be amended to the following:


Look at the headers of the article. For example the headers of this post are as follows:
Newsgroups: redbrick.babble,redbrick.help
 
From: "Mr.Sephiroth" <Moridin@3l33t.RedBrick.cx>
Newsgroups: redbrick.babble
Subject: Re: Website hosting
From: "Mr.Sephiroth" <Moridin@3l33t.RedBrick.cx>
References: <slrnae2607.gus.henough@Prodigy.redbrick.dcu.ie>
Subject: Re: Website hosting
Reply-To: moridin@redbrick.dcu.ie
References: <slrnae2607.gus.henough@Prodigy.redbrick.dcu.ie>
Followup-To:
Reply-To: moridin@redbrick.dcu.ie
Followup-To:
 
The top line, Newsgroups: ,specifies the groups that this message will get posted to. Now, suppose I want to post this both to redbrick.babble and redbrick.help. In that case the headers need to be amended to the following:
 
Newsgroups: redbrick.babble,redbrick.help
From: "Mr.Sephiroth" <Moridin@3l33t.RedBrick.cx>
Subject: Re: Website hosting
References: <slrnae2607.gus.henough@Prodigy.redbrick.dcu.ie>
Reply-To: moridin@redbrick.dcu.ie
Followup-To:


Now the message will go to redbrick.babble and redbrick.help. You need to make sure that there are no spaces between the names of the groups on the newsgroups line, i.e. it's just comma delimited.
Now the message will go to redbrick.babble and redbrick.help. You need to make sure that there are no spaces between the names of the groups on the newsgroups line, i.e. it's just comma delimited.
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Followup articles normally appear in the same newsgroups as the original article. The author of the followup article can change this by editing the Newsgroups: line in the header. The author of the original article can also change this, by editing the Followup-To: line, which is normally blank. If the Followup-To: line is not blank, all followup articles appear in the specified newsgroup.
Followup articles normally appear in the same newsgroups as the original article. The author of the followup article can change this by editing the Newsgroups: line in the header. The author of the original article can also change this, by editing the Followup-To: line, which is normally blank. If the Followup-To: line is not blank, all followup articles appear in the specified newsgroup.


This is commonly done in two situations. First, the author of the article may want to attract the attention of readers of several newsgroups, but then restrict any followup discussion to one newsgroup. For example, I'm going to set the follow-ups to this post to go to redbrick.help, as I'm being nice and helping you to understand stuff ;)
This is commonly done in two situations. First, the author of the article may want to attract the attention of readers of several newsgroups, but then restrict any followup discussion to one newsgroup. For example, I'm going to set the follow-ups to this post to go to redbrick.help, as I'm being nice and helping you to understand stuff. ;)


Second, the author may want all responses to go directly to him/her via e-mail, so that he/she can prepare a summary of them to post later. Placing the word poster in the Followup-To: line accomplishes this.
Second, the author may want all responses to go directly to him/her via e-mail, so that he/she can prepare a summary of them to post later. Placing the word poster in the Followup-To: line accomplishes this.
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Finally, here's the headers for this post after all my modifications to them:
Finally, here's the headers for this post after all my modifications to them:


Newsgroups: redbrick.babble,redbrick.help
Newsgroups: redbrick.babble,redbrick.help
From: "Mr.Sephiroth" <Moridin@3l33t.RedBrick.cx>
From: "Mr.Sephiroth" <Moridin@3l33t.RedBrick.cx>
Subject: Re: Website hosting
Subject: Re: Website hosting
References: <slrnae2607.gus.henough@Prodigy.redbrick.dcu.ie>
References: <slrnae2607.gus.henough@Prodigy.redbrick.dcu.ie>
Reply-To: moridin@redbrick.dcu.ie
Reply-To: moridin@redbrick.dcu.ie
Followup-To: redbrick.help
Followup-To: redbrick.help


Then you can continue to post as normal :)
Then you can continue to post as normal :)
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