[net.news] 'Phantom' first lines in articles - are they actually needed?

sahayman@watcgl.UUCP (Steve Hayman) (01/09/84)

. <- like this
. <= or this (this is the second line of my article, did anyone NOT
              get the first line?)

Are these really necessary to ensure your news articles get to
all the sites without being amputated, or what?  I haven't noticed any
obviously truncated articles here in a while.  Could some wise
person please clear this up, for the benefit of new users and
those of us 'veterans' who can't remember what the answer is,
or why there is a problem to begin with?  I'd hate to think 
my contributions to the net.world are being molested somewhere.
Thanks.

Steve Hayman
watmath!watcgl!sahayman

P.S. Sorry if the answer already exists somewhere, I must not be
reading the right groups.