Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!utfyzx!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.sysadmin,news.admin
Subject: Re: Negative Article ID's
Message-ID: <1987Apr27.131502.8062@sq.uucp>
Date: Mon, 27-Apr-87 13:15:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: sq.1987Apr27.131502.8062
Posted: Mon Apr 27 13:15:02 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 29-Apr-87 00:37:26 EDT
References: <3673@drutx.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: msb@sq.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Distribution: news
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto
Lines: 12
Keywords: Any ideas?
Xref: utgpu news.sysadmin:154 news.admin:324
Checksum: 19689

>	  I seem to be getting news articles with negative article
>	numbers (i.e. <-4@uokmax.UUCP>, for one example). 

It should perhaps be pointed out, in case anyone else is confused,
that the Message-ID in news is simply a string, and any site is allowed
to generate it in any format they like.  For instance, check out the
Message-ID on THIS article.  It was generated by C news (the as-yet-
unreleased system described by Geoff Collyer and Henry Spencer at the
last USENIX conference).  I presume they use this format because it
is easy to generate reliably in sh.

Mark Brader