a.u.o intro: where does `offline' begin?

==begin FAQ caption==
  From: Rahul Dhesi <dhesi@rahul.net>
  Newsgroups: comp.mail.pine,news.software.readers,comp.mail.misc
  Message-ID: <3k6bv8$t4d@hustle.rahul.net>
  Date: 15 Mar 1995 09:28:08 GMT

Suppose I have a high-powered Sun machine that gets, oh, 6 incoming
newsfeeds totalling a couple of hundred megs a day.  If I read or
post news on it, am I reading or posting offline?  (Probably not, you
might say.)

What if I cut it down to, say 2 incoming news feeds and 50 megs a day?

One incoming newsfeed and 3 megs a day?  A sporadic incoming newsfeed
that's rather selective based on my tastes, a couple of hundred
kbytes a day?

Just what is meant by offline news reading?
==end FAQ caption==