Clearly, a worthwhile reduction of the amount of these resources used can be achieved if articles are stored in a central database on the receiving host instead of in each subscriber's mailbox. The USENET news system provides a method of doing just this. There is a central repository of the news articles in one place (customarily a spool directory of some sort), and a set of programs that allow a subscriber to select those items he wishes to read. Indexing, cross-referencing, and expiration of aged messages are also provided.