Network news transfer protocol

You're referring to NNTP, the Network News Transfer Protocol!

NNTP is a protocol used for transferring and retrieving Usenet news articles, also known as posts or messages. It's a standard protocol for exchanging news articles between news servers, allowing users to access and read news articles from various newsgroups.

Here's a brief overview of NNTP:

How NNTP works:

1. News servers: NNTP servers store and manage news articles, which are organized into newsgroups (e.g., comp.sys.intel.hardware, sci.math, etc.).
2. Client-server architecture: NNTP clients (e.g., newsreaders, news aggregators) connect to NNTP servers to retrieve and post news articles.
3. Article retrieval: Clients send NNTP commands to the server to retrieve specific articles or newsgroups.
4. Article posting: Clients send NNTP commands to the server to post new articles to specific newsgroups.

NNTP commands:

Some common NNTP commands include:

• LIST: Lists the available newsgroups on the server.
• GROUP: Retrieves the articles in a specific newsgroup.
• NEXT: Retrieves the next article in a newsgroup.
• POST: Posts a new article to a specific newsgroup.
• QUIT: Disconnects the client from the server.

NNTP ports:

NNTP typically uses port 119 for communication between clients and servers.

History:

NNTP was first introduced in 1986 by Dave Crocker and Mark P. Mills, and it has since become a widely used standard for exchanging news articles on the internet.

Modern usage:

While NNTP is still used by some news servers and clients, its popularity has declined with the rise of web-based news aggregators and social media platforms. However, NNTP remains an important protocol for those who still rely on traditional news servers and clients.