We use cookies to understand how the site is used and to improve it. You can accept them, or carry on with them switched off.
Also known as: attribution
The line introducing quoted text in a follow-up, naming who wrote it, in a form such as On Tuesday, A. Poster wrote. It keeps authorship traceable when a thread runs several quoting levels deep. Newsreaders generate it automatically from the parent article's From and Date headers. Editing an attribution so that words are credited to the wrong person is treated as a serious breach of netiquette.
Browse all terms in Core Usenet Concepts, or see the full Usenet glossary.