Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netsys!lamc!wet!epsilon
From: epsilon@wet.UUCP (Eric P. Scott)
Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions
Subject: Re: Newsreader problem
Summary: "UNIX news" is not the same as "Network News"
Keywords: UNIX news netnews usenet uucp mail
Message-ID: <438@wet.UUCP>
Date: 18 Aug 89 09:11:40 GMT
References: <4611@eos.UUCP> <2661@ccnysci.UUCP>
Reply-To: epsilon@wet.UUCP (Eric P. Scott)
Organization: Wetware Diversions Public Access UNIX, San Francisco
Lines: 35

In article <2661@ccnysci.UUCP> stacy@ccnysci.UUCP (Stacy Weaver) writes:
>[quote of a forged message]
>
>	have you tried typing news at the prompt?

[ This description is for System V; other variants are similar ]
The UNIX "news" program (and its associated directory, /usr/news)
has absolutely nothing to do with usenet.  "news" can be used as
an extension of the /etc/motd (message of the day) file; while
motd is displayed each time you log in, news topics are only
displayed once.  The zero-length file $HOME/.news_time maintains
the date and time of the last message read.  A system
administrator will typically put a  news -n  (display names) or
news -s  (display count of unread news items) in a shell profile.
news  with no arguments displays all items you haven't read.
BSD has a similar "bboard" style program called msgs.

Network News is what you're reading now.  The software package is
generically called netnews, and the machines that exchange
Network News are known collectively as usenet.  netnews is not an
AT&T product, and not an official part of UNIX (although often
distributed with UNIX as "contributed software.")  Netnews
software is also available for non-UNIX systems as well--don't
assume that what you read here originates on a UNIX system or
that other readers are in UNIX environments!  Also, the hardest
thing to explain to the stubborn: usenet is not uucp, and uucp is
not usenet.  Each can exist quite happily in the absence of the
other.  People do not have "usenet addresses"--they have
addresses on uucp, Internet, etc.  You cannot mail to someone
through usenet.  If you reply to a usenet article, your reply
travels through conventional electronic mail.  If you follow up
to a usenet article, your followup travels through usenet.  It's
not addressed to anyone in particular--it goes to one or more
newsgroups.
					-=EPS=-