980820-3 |
Is it possible for a person, who has written an article in Usenet News, to retract that article. If so, how (what is sent through which protocol). |
Possible reply |
Yes, by using the Cancel or Supersedes operation. Cancel is done by sending a message which contains a header with the text: Control: cancel "<" message-ID ">" where message-ID is the ID of the article being deleted. Example: Control: cancel <5ne625$f2b$25@news.internetmci.com> The "Sender:" or "From:" headers must contain the sender of the article being deleted. The original standard meant that only the original sender should be allowed to send cancel articles, but nowadays cancel messages are also sent by other agents, for example cancelbots. They will then claim to be the original sender in order to be allowed to delete an article. Older methods: A message sent to all.all.ctl and a message whose subject begins with "cmsg" are treated as control messages. Example: Subject: cmsg cancel <5ne625$f2b$25@news.internetmci.com> |