______ _____ _____ ___.-___ __ _____ _____ ______ _) _Y _Y _Y (__) | _Y __Y _Y (_ \_ | \_ | \_ l_\_ _/\_ \_ _/\_ l_\_ | _/ | | | | | | l | | | l | | | | | l__| l_____l__| l__ l__| l__ l__| l__| | `--' `--' `--' `--' `--' ______ _____ ___.-______ _____ _____ _) ._ Y_ _Y (__) _Y _Y __| \_ |/ / | \_ | \_ | \_ |_\_ _/_ | __/ . | l | . | l | l | l__| l__| l__ l__| l__ l__ | 2F `--' `--' `--' `--' `--' 5nds Ringdown loaded with AMIGA/ASCII/CONSOLE/C64/MAC 4040 26mb 9.5gb cd-rom 3/33.6ds 2/ISDN 3/TELNET * TRISTAR AND RED SECTOR INC. HQ * MELON DEZIGN WHQ * * TRSI RECORDZ DKHQ * AFTERSHOCK HQ * HOODLUM DK HQ * * MOT!ON HQ * ROYAL WHQ * TRADERS DREAM HQ * STYLE HQ * * LSD HQ * LIGHTFORCE HQ * POLKA BROS. WHQ * PUZZLE WHQ * * KEFRENS WHQ * SAVE OUR SOULS HQ * X-TREK WHQ * OLDSKOOL HQ * * 5TH DYNASTY HQ * TWILIGHT * LOOKER HOUSE EHQ * RAMJAM EHQ * * CRUX & BAD KARMA HQ * CPU HQ * ABUSE HQ * OMA HQ * THE PROTECTORS ARE: ZINKO^PLAYMATE^SISko^BILBO BAGGIn^NEIL/FLT^BLACK PANTHER/PSG UFOK/MsT^LsD^PsG^iHS^FURY/PSG/M!^SON DOOBIE^KELDON/HF/LFC <0> +45 58ASK4IT <0> <0> +FIND ON IRC <0> __. _____ _____ _____ _____ _) | _____ _( ___/_ _. _\__ )_ _( ___/_ _( ___/ | _( ___/ | . _( |__ / ._/)_ | . . __)__. |____. __)__. | | __/ . -| . | | | | | ` l_ | | ` l_ |____| | l_ | ` l_ | ` l_____ / ` l_____ / ` l____| / |_____ / l_____ /---l____/_____ /---l____/_____ /---l____/____|----l____/ ©dtA!____/ - - -----l____/ - - -----l____/ ______ _____ _____ ___. .___ _\__ /_ _____ _\__ )_ _\__ )_ _____ _) |.| (_ | _\__ )_ / ._/)_ | . _\__ )_ . ||| . . / . -| . | | / . | ||| | | l_ -| | l_ | ` l_ -| | `|' l____| / | l____| / |_____ / | l_ l_____| /---l____/____| /---l____/____|----l____/____| / l_____/ - - -----l____/ - - -----l____/ .------------------------------------------------. | tHIS fILE aRRiVED hERE aT 17:05:44 oN 02-Aug-:0| `------------------------------------------------' ________________ /\_______________________ /\____ /\___________ | ______/ __ \/ \ __ \ ___ \_ \/ \ \/ \__ ___/ | \__ \ |/ / \ \/ \ _____// \ \ \ \/ | | | / | \ / / / | / / / \ / | |________/___|LT95\__/________/____|________/\__/__|\ /\_____| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~|_____\->sEX, dRUGS aND a fOX iN a bOX<-\_/ ~~~~~~ A4000 / 25Mhz / 22 Mb / USR V34+ / 2 Nodes / A-iSDn / 6-Gigs Online We Support - AMiGA, IbM, PsX, HpA + sNeS EqUaLiZeR<>LooNy TooN 0181-xxx-xxxx <-Node1 Node2->0181-xxx-xxxx @BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZsLIM^jIM Releases To The HPA Scene A Brand New 0500 BBS With Multinode Teleconferencing and e-mail Dis Phile Woz Born On ............. THE SWITCHBOARD BBS - call now @END_FILE_ID.DIZ I've just found a kewl new multiuser 0500 message based BBS, so I thought I'd let all you peeps make use of it. It's a WGM WorldGroup BBS, with good fast speeds, Multinodes and on-line Teleconferencing. To gain full access, just logon as new and fill in the application form with a bogus name/address/company name etc (use any handle). In about 24 hours you will have full access to the system, and be able to download various s/w demos/archives, and have full e-mail access between users (beats using a bbs in london to chat, when ya live in Scotland). Anyway, enough of my babbling, down to business, the number is 0500 800 818 ,use 8N1. Heres a Document I D/Led telling you how to use the system... ______________________________________________ | | | Welcome to Worldgroup by Galacticomm! | |______________________________________________| If you've used a BBS before, you should quickly be able to find your way around Worldgroup in what we call "terminal" mode. The other way to access Worldgroup, client/server mode, uses a shareware Windows program which you can probably download from this Worldgroup. It's most likely in a library, and most Sysops name the .ZIP or .EXE file with something beginning in WG or WGM. The program is named Worldgroup Manager and, if you have Windows 3.1, you should check WGM out. If you have never used a BBS before, and you don't have a Windows PC, this document is intended to help you learn your way around. A few basics to keep in mind: if you want to exit from wherever you are in the system, type X ENTER. Most selections and commands must be followed by ENTER. On menus (and most prompts) you may also type ? ENTER for help. Otherwise, type a letter or number from the list of options provided by menus and prompts. Sometimes you'll type more than one character, such as when entering a filename.ext or writing a message. This document will help you get started using Worldgroup, and will be a reference for later, even after you've found your way around. A Quick Overview ---------------- When you first call into Worldgroup, you're asked to sign up, creating an account for yourself. If you're online reading this document, you must have already signed up, and should now have a User-ID and password that you can use from now on. When you call in, all you have to do is enter in your User-ID and then your password. The server remembers who you are, and starts by telling you if you have any mail waiting (it may also ask you if you want to read it right away). You might also get some other important notices, but you'll eventually be taken to the TOP menu. The TOP menu is the first menu on the server. The various selections on this menu go to different areas of the server. Each Sysop (System Operator) of a Worldgroup service can edit the layout of menus, so the TOP menu on one system may bear no resemblance to the TOP menu of another. Here's what the TOP menu looks like before Sysop editing: Please select one of the following: T ... Teleconference (type live with other users online) I ... Information Center (read information on this system) F ... Forums (read/write public messages) E ... Electronic Mail (read/write private messages) L ... File Libraries (upload/download files) A ... Account Display/Edit (examine your account information) P ... Polls and Questionnaires (answer polls and questionnaires) D ... Doors (run DOS programs while online) R ... Registry of Users (info other users make public) Q ... QWK-mail (offline E-mail and Forums handling) X ... Exit System (Logoff) (Disconnect from the service) Main System Menu (TOP) Make your selection (T,I,F,E,L,A,P,D,R,Q,? for help, or X to exit): By typing in one of the select characters, followed by an ENTER, you can enter any of these different areas. As an example, this is how you write and send a private E-mail message to yourself. First, select E to go into Electronic Mail. This menu appears: The following E-mail services are available: R ... Read messages to you W ... Write a message M ... Modify a message E ... Erase a message F ... Read messages from you S ... Special functions X ... Exit from E-mail Select an option (R,W,M,E,F,S,X to exit, or ? for more info): Type W ENTER to write mail. This prompt appears: To whom do you wish to send this message? Enter User-ID, ? for help, or ENTER for "Sysop": Type in your User-ID and press ENTER. Next, you'll be asked for the topic of your message. Type in a short description of what you'll be writing about (like the RE: line in a memo). When you're done, press ENTER. If the terminal you're using supports ANSI graphics, the Full Screen Editor will appear. This ANSI editor will act very much like a small word processor, allowing you to use your cursor keys to move around the message. Type whatever message you wish to send to yourself as a sample. The editor automatically word-wraps at the end of each line. When you are finished writing, press CTRL-G. This saves what you've typed. If you would rather abandon the message and lose what you've typed so far, press CTRL-O instead (oh, not zero). All sorts of advanced commands are also available. CTRL-R is help: ÉÍ HELP (CTRL-W for more) ÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º CTRL-Z Select Terminal ³ CTRL-L Redisplay Screen º º CTRL-K CTRL-Q Quit ³ CTRL-K CTRL-X Save and Quit º º CTRL-T Change Topic ³ CTRL-W Extended Help º º CTRL-X Exit to Line Edit ³ CTRL-N Import Message º º Line Commands: ³ CTRL-K CTRL-U Upload File º º CTRL-B Insert Line ³ º º CTRL-C Chop Line ³ CTRL-Y Delete Line º º CTRL-A Center Line ³ CTRL-J Join Line º º CTRL-F Insert character ³ CTRL-E Erase to End of Line º º Block Commands: ³ CTRL-V Delete character º º CTRL-K CTRL-B Mark Start ³ CTRL-K CTRL-K Mark End º º CTRL-K CTRL-H Hide Block ³ CTRL-K CTRL-F Frame Block º º CTRL-K CTRL-Y Delete Block³ CTRL-P Format Paragraph º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ º --- HIT ANY KEY TO RETURN TO EDITOR --- º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ If you don't have ANSI support, you'll get the line editor. The line editor doesn't allow you to move around with your cursor keys like the Full Screen Editor, so you have to enter your message one line at a time. The automatic word-wrap feature will wrap the end of lines for you, just like the ANSI editor. When you're finished entering your message with the line editor, and you want to go ahead and save it, type /S ENTER on a blank line by itself. If you want to change something about what you've written so far, you can edit the message by typing OK ENTER on a blank line by itself. That gives you this menu: EDITOR OPTIONS: S)ave message R)e-type a line A)ppend message D)elete line L)ist message I)nsert line(s) C)hange text N)ew message H)elp T)opic change U)pload file Select an editor option (S,A,L,C,H,R,D,I,N,U, or ? for menu): When you're finished editing your message, select S from this menu to save your message. No matter which editor you use, you'll next come to this prompt: Before sending this message, you may: A ... Attach a file to this message R ... Request return receipt P ... Mark message as priority C ... Send a copy of this message to other user(s) M ... Modify the message text or topic Select a write option or press ENTER to send message: For now, just press ENTER and the message is sent. You should receive it as new mail for you to read within a few seconds. The other options listed in these menus are explained in detail later on in this document under Electronic Mail. This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as features are concerned. The rest of this document contains more in-depth information about the vast number of other features that this server has to offer. If you have any problems finding your way around, just leave some E-mail to the Sysop asking for help. When the Sysop replies to your message, you'll be notified as soon as you log on that you have new mail waiting. Languages --------- Worldgroup has the ability to communicate with users using different languages, and different protocols, simultaneously. For example, you might be logged on to this system using a terminal package which supports ANSI, while another user might be logged on using a terminal package which supports RIP, such as RIPterm (see RIPscrip graphics, below). Alternatively, one ANSI user can receive English prompts from the server while another ANSI user receives, say, Spanish prompts. When you first connect with Worldgroup, the system will usually try to sense what kind of protocol you're using. You might also, depending on how the Sysop has configured the system, be presented with a list of languages to choose from. For example: Please choose one of these languages/protocols: 1. English/ANSI The standard English language version 2. English/RIP The English version of RIPscrip graphics 3. Spanish/ANSI Espa¤ol/ANSI Choose a number from 1 to 3: The part of the language name before the "/" is the spoken language name, while the part after the "/" is the protocol. If you see this prompt, choose the number of the language you wish to use. The server then prompts you for your User-ID and password, using the language you chose. Modules and Menuing ------------------- Worldgroup's terminal mode consists of two sections: the main menuing system and the modules. Just after logging on, you enter the main menuing system, where you can choose to enter different areas of the server, exit from them, and choose others. It's the main menuing system's job to guide you to and from the many features available to you. The different modules in this system are what provide you with the activities of the server: exchanging messages, talking to others, uploading and downloading, etc. The different modules are each discussed later in this document. The Main Menuing System ----------------------- The main menuing system of Worldgroup allows you to choose different menu options, leading you into different areas, or modules, of the server. Each menu you encounter will display a list of available options. It then awaits your selection. To enter in any selection or command on Worldgroup, you must type it in and then press ENTER. Each menu and menu selection is also called a "page", and has both a title, and a name of its own. The first menu you are given has the title "Main System Menu", and is named the "TOP" page. There are a few things you can do at any of these menus: go back to the previous page, /GO straight to another page, FIND another page to jump to, or redisplay the current menu. Select X at any of these menus to return to the previous menu (selecting X from the TOP menu is the way to log off the system). Just press ENTER with no select character to redisplay your current list of options. To jump straight to another page, type /GO . To look for a page containing a specific topic of interest, type FIND followed by the word you're looking for. Any pages that you can /GO to that refer to that word will be displayed. Global Commands --------------- Global commands are shortcuts that help you more rapidly move around in Worldgroup. You can type them in at almost any terminal-mode prompt: FIND Helps you locate an activity on this system by searching for through the description fields of every menu page. It then lists the names of pages which contain a match for . With this information, you can then /GO to those pages. /GO Takes you directly to page . If is a menu, it will list its options. If is a module, it will run the module. If is a file, it will display the file. /# Lists all users currently online except yourself. /RECENT Lists users who were recently online but who are now offline. /P Pages (sends an announcement to) a specific user by his or her , optionally sending a brief . /R Looks up the Registry entry of . Concatenated Commands --------------------- You can probably find most things you're looking for by just going through menus one at a time, but concatenated commands allow you to save time by bypassing menus you already know your selection for. The idea is this: If selecting E from your current menu leads you to the main Electronic Mail menu, and you know you want to write mail, which is the W selection from the main electronic mail menu, you can just select EW from your current menu to entirely bypass the main Electronic Mail menu. You can even bypass some prompts by concatenating your selection ahead of time. Some prompts have "defaults", meaning you just press ENTER for a certain action. At the prompt for whom to write mail to, just pressing ENTER means you want to write mail to "Sysop". In the above example, you could specify you wanted to write mail to the Sysop by typing EW. ENTER. Basically, by putting a period (.) in your concatenated command (as opposed to a select character), you are saying "at this prompt, act as if I just pressed ENTER." As you become more familiar with this system, you will find that using concatenated commands saves you quite a bit of time. Most prompts and menus support concatenated commands, so you can feel free to experiment with using concatenated commands throughout the system... File Transfers -------------- In different areas of the server, you will have the opportunity to transfer files from your computer to the server (uploading), as well as from the server to your computer (downloading). You can attach files to e-mail or forum messages, for example, and add or retrieve files in File Libraries. In order to assure that what arrives on one machine matches what departed the other machine, both computers must first agree on a common file transfer protocol. When dealing with a Worldgroup server in client/server mode (meaning your Windows PC is running the client program Worldgroup Manager), files are transferred in the same manner as are all other exchanges of data: through Dynapaks. While using WGM to work with a Worldgroup server, you do not need to concern yourself with file transfer protocols. When dealing with a Worldgroup server in terminal mode, however, there there are a number of commonly encountered file transfer protocols: ZMODEM is the best choice for Worldgroups running on DOS PCs ZMODEM (resume) can pick up at the point where a previous ZMODEM transfer was interrupted YMODEM Batch is a good alternative if the server doesn't have ZMODEM Kermit is useful when contacting Worldgroups which are not DOS PC-based XMODEM-1K is acceptable on connections with low line noise XMODEM-CRC is tolerable on connections with high line noise XMODEM-Checksum is the weakest of the accuracy-checking methods ASCII has no accuracy checking and should be a last resort The terminal software you're using to call the server may not support all of these protocols. Be sure to pick one that your terminal supports. In most terminal programs, press PgUp to get a list of upload protocols, and PgDn to get a list of download protocols. The ASCII and LIST protocols only work with ordinary ASCII text files. The other protocols work on all types of files. Another protocol option will appear automatically when you're about to download a compressed file (.ZIP, .ARC, etc.), files which each contain one or more other files in a compressed form. The V option appear in these cases, allowing you to view what files are compressed into the .ZIP, .ARC, .ZOO, or .LZH file. Another download option that may be available is T to tag a file. This feature allows you to tag up to 10 files for download and then, when you're ready (or when you log off), you can download all your tagged files at once. Another time-saver is the ! suffix. You can put an ! character at the end of your protocol selection to have the server automatically log you off when the file transfer is over. This way, if you're not around to disconnect yourself when done transferring a large file, the server will disconnect you automatically, possibly saving you connect time charges. Modules ------- Modules provide the actual areas of functionality of the server. Each module provides unique features to you, and can be selected from the various menus in the main menuing system. Below is a list of modules, each with an explanation of its features. This document may change from time to time as new modules are added to this system. Library of Files ---------------- The Library of files is for putting large file areas online for uploading and downloading. LIBs - Library Information Banks Files are organized into LIBs. A LIB is like a single DOS directory of files. Type S? from the Library menu to get a list of LIBs. You can select a LIB with the S command and get a list its files with the F command. File Names Files can be named just like DOS files, with 1 to 8 characters, a dot, and 0 to 3 characters: FILENAME.EXT File names can include letters (converted to upper case), numbers, and these punctuation symbols: ! # $ & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ ` You can refer to a file that's not in the current LIB by adding the LIB name and a backward slash (\) on the beginning: LIBNAME\FILENAME.EXT All the files within a LIB have to have a unique name. The Current LIB You always have a current or default LIB. When you first log on, you're in the MAIN LIB. Use the S command to select a different LIB. The Library menu prompt shows you what LIB you're in: Current LIB: MAIN The Main LIB Select a letter from the above list (or X to exit): Finding a File Fast If you know the name of the file you want to download: S MAIN D Select the MAIN LIB and start a download keyword search for the name of the file. If the file is in the MAIN LIB you'll get it right away. If it's in another LIB and you see it listed alphabetically, you can pick it by number. If there are many files with the same name in different LIBs, you can scan (F)orward and (B)ackward until you find it and pick it by number. If you know the name of the file, and the LIB it's in: D \ Example: D UTILITY\BIGSORT.EXE Just stick the LIB name in front of the file name with a backslash (\) in between. You can use this command from any LIB. If you know a piece of the file name or description: S MAIN F D The F command will search for the piece of information in the MAIN\FILES. file. Examples: you can see all files with an .EXE extension by typing F .EXE; or all files with the word "doctor" in their short description by typing F DOCTOR. Once you know the name of the file, use it in the D command. If you know when the file was uploaded: D D - Examples: D 4/15 D 12/25/91 D -7 D -14 You'll get a numbered list of files in order by when they were uploaded. You can scan (F)orward or (B)ackward through the chronological listing and pick a file by number. If you know something about the subject of the file: S MAIN D In the MAIN LIB you can search the entire Library for a file. Just refer to it by keyword, and get numbered list of files with that keyword. If you don't get an exact match, scan (F)orward or (B)ackward through the alphabetical listing. Command Summary F File directory for this LIB F File search (searches thru names and descriptions) D Display details on a file, with download options D Download a file D ... Download several files (you can use wildcards too) D Keyword scan (alphabetized) D -0 Scan today's uploads D -1 Scan yesterday's uploads (-7 for this week, etc.) D -LAST Scan uploads from the day you were last online D Scan uploads from a specific date D \ Download a file that's in a different LIB U Upload a file U * Upload multiple files M Modify the descriptions of a file you uploaded T Menu of options for files you have tagged T? List of tagged files with options T Download all tagged files now T -ALL Untag all tagged files S Select a LIB, display some details on it S? Get a list of LIBs S. Get a complete description of your current LIB The MAIN LIB The MAIN LIB can have its own files just like any other LIB. But while you're in the MAIN LIB, the download and file list commands apply to all files in all the LIBs. If you're not sure which LIB a file is in, the MAIN LIB is the place to look. F = File Listing Enter F from any LIB to get a list of the files in the LIB. The F command just displays the text file in each LIB named "FILES.". So these commands do almost the same thing: F File listing (no download charges) D FILES L File listing (download charges apply) F = Find String This command searches through the FILES. file in the current LIB for a certain string. F SYSOP Look at all files uploaded by Sysop F " SYSOP " Same, but exclude those uploaded by CoSysop F .EXE Look for all .EXE files F " 4000 " Look for all files that are 4000 bytes long F DOS Look for all files that have something to do with DOS Only lines in the FILES. file that have the string you're looking for will be displayed. The matching strings will be highlighted in a different color (if you have ANSI support). (This search is case- insensitive.) Tagging Files for Download When you choose a file to download, you will be given a list of protocols to use for the download. You can "tag" a file to download later using the T protocol. When you have tagged all the files you wish to download, you can download them all at once. You can select the T option to download all your tagged files (or to remove some of them if you changed your mind). You will also be given the option of downloading all your tagged files when you log off the system. Multi-File Download You can specify several files to download at once: D *.EXE *.COM *.BAT READ.ME When you do this, you are tagging these file specifications. Right away you get the chance to download them all with a multi-file protocol, or you may download them all later. You can download multiple files from a different LIB by prefixing the file specification with the LIB name, as in: D OTHLIB\*.TXT OTHLIB\READ.ME K This starts a Kermit download of all .TXT files and the READ.ME file from the "OTHLIB" LIB. Download Pricing The BBS may charge your account for downloading files. When you get a detailed description of a file, you can see an estimate of the download charges. This estimate tries to take into account the duration of the download on your session and the cost of connect time -- you may see the amount drop if you call back at a higher baud rate. If the amount of credits you have is close to this estimate, you may or may not be able to complete the download. U = Upload a file There are three steps to uploading a file: 1. Name the file 2. Type in a short description for it (up to 40 characters) 3. Transfer the file 4. Modify the file, entering a long description and keywords Take a moment to choose a good description for the file. This description will appear in the FILES. listing and in the keyword and chronological searches. (And the F command will find your file if the is in your description somewhere.) Multi-File Upload You can upload several files at once using one of the batch file protocols by typing * instead of a file name. Here are the multi-file upload protocol choices: Current LIB: MAIN The Main LIB Select a Library option (F,D,U,M,S,T,X, or ? for help): U * To start uploading these files, type: B ... YMODEM Batch Z ... ZMODEM G ... YMODEM-g K ... Kermit Your choice (or 'X' to exit): In these cases, you don't need to tell the BBS the name of the file. The same file name will be used on the BBS as is used on your computer. That's possible because these protocols transmit the name of the file, as well as its exact size, time, and date, before the contents are transmitted. You can use "U *" even when uploading only one file. That way you don't have to type in the file name twice. Please be sure and M = Modify the files you upload using U * right after you upload them. Otherwise they'll have blank short descriptions. That means that in the F = file listing and in the keyword search they'll show up with only the file name. Upload approval In some LIBs your uploaded file may not be available for other users to download until the Sysop or LIB Operator approves the file. LIB Operators are notified of unapproved files in their LIBs when they log on. Usually, you can see who is the primary LIB Operator when you select a LIB. Upload royalty On systems that charge for usage, you may get credit for an upload when another user downloads it. When the download completes, if charges are deducted from the account of the downloader, then the uploader may get a percentage credited to his account. The charges based on the number and size of files are subject to the royalty. Connect time charges during download are not subject to royalty. M = Modify an uploaded file If your terminal has ANSI capability, modifying a file gives you a full screen view of the file information. You can move around with the arrow keys. To change anything, just point to it and type it. Modifying a file means typing in this information: Short file description (up to 40 characters) Long file description (up to 5 lines of 79 characters each) Keywords (up to 10 keywords of 16 characters each) When you modify a brand new file, the long description starts off as blank. A message will appear where you're supposed to type in a long description: Just point the cursor to this field and type in the description. This message will disappear right away. You'll see a similar message where you can type in keywords: You can modify the information for files you've uploaded to change their descriptions or keywords. Other information about the file appears here, but you can't change it, like size, time, date, and who uploaded the file. The long description can be up to 5 lines of 79 characters each. If you're not using all 5 lines, just hit RETURN after the last line. You can give a file up to 10 keywords so that it will show up in download keyword searches, and in the INDEX file. When you're done modifying the file's descriptions and keywords, move the cursor to the bottom and choose: SAVE Save your new descriptions and keywords QUIT Throw out your changes and restore the old descriptions and keywords RE-UPLOAD Save the descriptions and then upload new contents for the file DELETE Delete the file To choose one of these type in the first letter (S, Q, R, D) and hit RETURN. Or tap the spacebar until the one you want comes up and then hit RETURN. You can also get out of the modify screen quickly by using these keystrokes: Save your new descriptions and keywords Throw out your changes and restore the old descriptions and keywords Modifying a File when you don't have ANSI If your terminal doesn't have ANSI, you can still modify the descriptions and keywords of a file one field at a time. Hit RETURN to skip over a field and move down to the next field. When you're pointing to a field, you can back up over the information that's already there and type new information, or just start typing in the new information. To edit the information that's there, start with a . To replace the information that's there, start by typing the first character of the new information. If you make a mistake, just use: to back up one field. Choosing Keywords Keywords are attached to files in the Library so that the file can be referenced by subject, using the D command. After you upload a file, it's a good idea to modify it and give it some useful keywords. Keywords should be short and simple. Don't use abbreviations, synonyms or suffixes if you can help it. Avoid keywords that are too general, as well as those that are too specific. To follow the terminology that's already in use on the BBS, try scanning with the D command. If you must use a multiple-word keyword use the comma so that the more important word comes first, for example: "america,north" or "compound, organic". Use multiple-word keywords only when: o There exists no single word that identifies the concept. o The subordinate word is meaningless without the main word, but the main word is too broad without its subordinates. o The single word is used often. Use another word to control the sequence and group the files better. Keywords can be 1 to 16 letters (converted to lower case), numbers, or any of the punctuation symbols comma (,) dash (-) and apostrophe ('). The file name is automatically a keyword, so there's no need to make up keywords that are similar to the file name. This'll just hog space in the alphabetized sequence. Take a second and put yourself at the keyboard of someone who wants this file. What keywords are they likely to think of? There's usually no need to think up a lot of keywords. Maybe the file name and one or two good choices are all that users will need to find your file. S = Select a LIB When you're in the Library of Files, you are always in the current LIB. The Library menu tells you the name and description of the current LIB. Use the S command to select a different LIB. After selecting the S command, you can select ? to view a list of all available LIBs (just S? from the main Library menu to just get a list). When you select a new LIB, you get a little more information about the LIB. DOS-Only LIBs These are no-frills LIBs. Files in a DOS-only LIB have no descriptions or keywords. Only the information that DOS records about a file is available -- name, size, date, and time. File Listings in DOS-Only LIBs The F command gives you a list of files, but they probably look more like a DOS listing. Current LIB: FASTLIB This will be a DOS-Only LIB Select a Library option (F,D,U,M,S,X, or ? for help): F SUMMARY.DAT 46199 04/30/92 15:03 SCHOOLS.DAT 184643 04/29/92 13:15 BUSINESS.DAT 98482 04/29/92 14:22 GOVERNMT.DAT 285820 04/30/92 18:25 HOUSHOLD.DAT 398582 04/30/92 19:43 5 File(s) 1013726 total bytes in these files 37298176 bytes free on this disk Current LIB: FASTLIB This will be a DOS-Only LIB Select a Library option (F,D,U,M,S,X, or ? for help): On some systems, a custom text file named FILES may be maintained by the Sysop in a DOS-only LIB, and you'll get that when you use the F command. Teleconference -------------- Teleconference is like a conference room where people gather to present and exchange information, or to chat socially. The multi-channel feature makes it like a vast building of conference rooms. There are so many channels, 65535 in fact, that you can always have privacy if you wish. Teleconference simply allows several users to converse with one another over their terminals. When you type something, a message goes out to all the other users in the same teleconference channel telling them what you said. The cost of this type of teleconference is far less than that of presently available video teleconferences, or that of assembling participants from across the country in the same room. So Worldgroup teleconferences can be held more often. In practice, Teleconference operates much like a Citizens Band radio. When you first enter Teleconference, you "tune in" to channel 1. Right away you get an announcement of all the other users who are on that channel. If you want to confer with one user in particular, or a small group of users, you suggest to them that they switch to some other channel, say 22. While you're on channel 22, you can call in other users in with the paging feature. If you exit the teleconference and come back without logging off, you'll be on the same channel. Teleconference channels have nothing to do with the communication channels that you use for your session on the server. Teleconference channels are just a method of keeping track of who is talking to whom. In the teleconference, you get a colon (:) for a prompt. When you type a message and press ENTER, that message is broadcast to all other users on the same teleconference channel. Here are some details on the teleconference commands: ENTER Just pressing ENTER tells you who else is on your teleconference channel, listing their User-ID's. WHISPER TO Send a private message to just one other user. No one else on your channel will even know this is happening, much less know what you say in the message. You can abbreviate the other party's User-ID if you make sure you use enough letters to clearly refer to only one user. / This is the shorthand form of the whisper command. No space is required between the slash and User-ID. CHANNEL Switch to another channel. CHANNEL Show your current channel number. SCAN Show a directory of the other users in Teleconference, and if they are "listed", what channels they are using. An example of the SCAN command: :SCAN USER-ID ..... CHANNEL ... TOPIC ---------------------------------------------------- Betty ... 44 Judy Fisher ... 44 Farley Dietz ... (Chat) Wilma ... 44 Gossip Bilbao ... (Chat) Fred ... (Unlisted) Barney ... (Unlisted) The lower numbered channels are reserved for the Forums. Channel 1 never has a topic. Other Forum channels have Forum topics. Non-Forum channels show a topic picked by a moderator of the channel, if any. In the above example, Wilma is moderating channel 44 with a topic of "Gossip". Farley and Bilbao are in the teleconference chat mode (see below). Fred and Barney are on some other channel, with the display of their channel number turned off (probably the same channel, but we can't be sure). UNLIST This prevents your teleconference channel number from being seen by others when they scan the teleconference. Your channel number is always visible when you're on channel 1 or a Forum channel however. When you first enter the Teleconference after logging on, you are "unlisted" on all channels but channel 1 and the Forum channels. LIST This allows your teleconference channel number to be seen by others when they scan the teleconference. PAGE This will broadcast a message to another user who is not in the teleconference (or not on your channel), requesting their attendance. Normally, you can't page a user more often than once every two minutes. You can disable others' ability to page you with PAGE OFF. If your page doesn't get through for any reason, you'll be told about it. Paging the Sysop user when he's not online causes an indicator on the console to blink. The User-ID can be abbreviated as long as you use enough characters to clearly refer to only one user on the system. The optional message, if following the User-ID, is sent to the recipient's screen along with the page announcement. A sample page call (as it appears on the recipient's screen): *** Wilma is paging you from teleconference channel 1! PAGE OFF This prevents other users from paging you or from requesting you to chat (see the CHAT command, below). PAGE ON Now other users can page you again, but no more often than once every 2 minutes. PAGE OK Now you can receive pages or chat requests as often as people care to issue them. Note: Use /P instead of PAGE to use this page command elsewhere on the system. CHAT This command allows two users to enter chat mode where they can converse directly with one another. Each keystroke from one user is immediately echoed to both users. To begin chat mode, both users must consent. If you're the first to use the command, you are requesting the other user to join you in chat mode. The request asks that user to also enter the same CHAT command (but with your User-ID), thereby agreeing to join you in chat. MODERATE If you have moderating capability, type this command to set the topic for the channel and make yourself the moderator. As the moderator, you have the following privileges: o Setting the topic for the channel o Squelching (silencing) other users on that channel o Unsquelching other users on that channel o Appointing another moderator for the channel The channels with the lowest channel numbers are reserved for Forum conferences. Those channels have fixed Forum topics, and can't be moderated. As a moderator, you can change the topic by just typing in the MODERATE command with the new topic. If you type MODERATE with no topic, then suddenly no one is the moderator of that channel. You also give up moderating if you log off, but not if you remain online: you can exit out of the teleconference, do something else, come back in, and you're still the moderator of the channel. APPOINT When you're the moderator, you can make someone else the moderator with this command. SQUELCH As a moderator, you can silence any other user on the teleconference by squelching him. Then that user can no longer talk on the channel, until either you unsquelch him, or the user logs off and on again. UNSQUELCH Permit a squelched user to speak again with this command. EXIT or X This takes you out of the teleconference. If you go back into the teleconference, you'll still be on the same channel. Anything you type that doesn't fit any of the above formats is treated as a message to all other users on the same teleconference channel. FILE LIBRARIES -------------- You can download megabytes of programs, documents, data and other sorts of files from a Worldgroup server through File Libraries. A library in some ways resembles a DOS directory, but it contains more information on each file. With descriptive text, number of times downloaded so far by other users, and more, you can intelligently choose which files are of interest to you and copy them down to your PC. The Current Library A single Worldgroup server may have hundreds of libraries, usually divided by subject. You always have a current library, the one you are currently "in." When you first log on, you're in the default library for the server. However, if you select a different library, this new library will be your default the next time you log on. The library menu header shows you which library you're in: Welcome to the MAIN Library. Description: A general-purpose file area. There are 343 files available for download. However, searches can be configured to include all libraries. Full Screen Displays The File Libraries module normally uses full screen displays, if your terminal program has ANSI or RIP capability. This greatly simplifies the process of working with long lists of files. Without ANSI, selection screens will scroll by a line at a time. File Names Files can be named just like DOS files, with one to eight characters, a dot (.), and zero to three characters: FILENAME.EXT File names can include letters (converted to UPPER case), numbers, and these punctuation symbols: ! # $ & ' ( ) - @ ^ _ ` All the files within a library must have a unique name. Wildcards Wildcards are used to specify the name of a file when you don't know the exact name of the file or you want to specify multiple files. For example: auto*.* any filename which starts with "auto" *.zip all files with the extension of "zip" patch?.zip any filename which starts with "patch" followed by any single character, and with the extension "zip" In the preceding examples, * means match any string (0 or more characters), ? means match any single character. You can use wildcards in most places where you're asked to enter a filename. Download Pricing The server may charge your account for downloading files. When you get a detailed description of a file, you can see an estimate of the download charges. This estimate tries to take into account the duration of the download on your session and the cost of connect time - you may see the amount drop if you call back at a higher baud rate. If the amount of credits you have is close to this estimate, you may or may not be able to complete the download. Tagging Files for Download When searching through files, you don't have to download a file immediately. Instead, you can tag it for later download. You may want to do this if you'd rather download all the files you've found at the end of your session or if you're not sure if you really want a particular file. You can remove the file from the tagged file list before you start downloading if you decide you don't want it or you found the correct file later in your searching. See the section on Managing Tagged Files. S = Selecting a Library If the server has multiple libraries, this command appears in the File Libraries menu. You select a particular library by typing: S Type S? to list the libraries available on this server. D = Download a File If you know the name of the file you want to download, type: D If the file exists in any library or if you used a wildcard in the file name, the download will start right away. If many files in different libraries have the same name, you will get a search screen to select the ones you want. F = Find Files Select the F option from the Library menu if you want to list files available or search for a particular file. You can list files in alphabetical order, by date, by number of downloads or you can search by file name or keyword. Setting your Library preferences will affect the choices you will have. In any case, you will get a search screen listing the files you requested. You will be able to get detailed information on any file, download a file immediately, tag files for later download, or view the contents of a file. R = Resuming a Search If you exit to the Library menu in the middle of a search list, you will find a new menu selection, R, to resume where you left off. T = Manage Tagged Files Select the T option to download files you have tagged. This option is only visible when you have files tagged. You will be given a list of the files you have tagged. You can untag any or all of them at this time. If you have tagged more than one file, you can download them all at once. Even if you don't bother downloading your tagged files before exiting the File Libraries menu, you can return later in your session to download them. You will also be given a chance to download them before you log off. If you log off, however, or are disconnected for any reason without downloading the files, your list of tagged files will be lost. L = Download Lists of Files Select L to download a list of all the files in a library or all the files in all libraries if you prefer to search for files offline. U = Upload a File Select U to upload files. Enter the name of the file you wish to upload and select the file transfer protocol. With most terminal programs, you now press to specify the file on your computer and start the the upload. After the upload completes, you are prompted to enter a description for the file. If you uploaded multiple files (using a multi-file upload protocol), you are prompted to enter descriptions for each of the files. You can upload several files at once using one of the batch file protocols by typing * instead of a file name. You can choose a multi-file upload protocol from among: Enter file name, *, M, ? for more help, or X to exit: * To start uploading these files, type: B ... YMODEM Batch Z ... ZMODEM G ... YMODEM-g K ... Kermit (Add '!' to automatically log off when done.) Your choice (or 'X' to exit):_ In these cases, you don't need to tell the server the name of the file. The same file name is used on the server as is used on your computer. That's possible because these protocols transmit the name of the file Q as well as its exact size, time, and date Q before transmitting the contents. You can use U* even when uploading only one file. That way, you don't have to type in the file name twice. Libraries have an upper limit on the size and number of files they can contain as well as the size of each uploaded file. Usually, you can see these limits when you select the Upload option. In some libraries, your uploaded file may not be available for other users to download until the Sysop or Library Operator approves the file. Library Operators are notified of unapproved files in their libraries when they log on. Usually, you can see the name of the Primary Library Operator when you select a library. On systems that charge for usage, you may get a royalty for an uploaded file when another user downloads it. When the download completes, if charges are deducted from the downloader's account, then the uploader may get a percentage credited to his account. The charges based on the number and sizes of the files are subject to the royalty. Connect time charges during download are not subject to the royalty. You can modify the description of a file you uploaded or re-upload it if necessary. Select U as if you were uploading a file the first time. Enter the file name of the original file to re-upload or M to modify the description. P = Set Your Preferences The preferences menu allows you to specify a preferred file transfer protocol or configure your default method of file listing and searching. You can also request that you be asked to specify those options each time you transfer a file or initiate a search. DOORS ----- What is a Door? A Door allows you to access DOS applications online. These applications appear to you like any other function. You may need to configure your terminal for "Doorway" mode or "IBM-PC" emulation for some Doors to work properly. Please ask your Sysop. Here are the Doors menu choices: E ... Enter a Door You will be prompted to enter the name of a Door. It may take a few seconds before the door program begins execution. Once you've entered the Door, follow the operating instructions for the program you've selected. You can exit the Door at any time by typing a special character three times in rapid succession (a message will appear when you enter the Door that will tell you which character to use). L ... List available Doors This option will give you a list of the Doors available to you. It will show the Door's name, a short description and the surcharge for using this Door. The surcharge is the number of additional credits you will be charged per minute while in that Door. X ... Exit Doors Exits the Doors module and returns to the previous menu. Account Display/Edit -------------------- You can: o Review the answers you gave when you first signed up o Edit some of those answers (if management permits) o Change the default language used when you log on o View other statistics on your account (credit balance, etc.) o Transfer credits from your account to another Credits Some Worldgroup servers track your usage or charge for your usage by issuing credits. Being online consumes credits and using various services also consumes credits. If the server does deal with credits then you'll see them in your account menu: User-ID: Barbara Hoover Credits: 314159 S ... Display statistics on your account A ... Display or edit account information (address/phone/password) T ... Transfer credits to another user Your choice (or X to exit): S = Display Statistics on your Account This choice shows you a few statistics on your account. User-ID: Barbara Hoover S ... Display statistics on your account A ... Display or edit account information (address/phone/password) T ... Transfer credits to another user Your choice (or X to exit): S User-ID .................... Barbara Hoover Account Created ............ 02/09/91 Last Logon ................. 05/14/92 Account Class............... CUSTOMER Time Limit Per Call......... UNLIMITED Time Limit Per Day.......... UNLIMITED ANSI setting this session .. ON User-ID: Barbara Hoover S ... Display statistics on your account A ... Display or edit account information (address/phone/password) T ... Transfer credits to another user Your choice (or X to exit): Your account was created when you signed up. The day you last logged on, (prior to your current session) is recorded also. Your class determines how long you can stay online and what services you are allowed to use and, on some systems, whether you are charged for using the server or not. In the above example, Barbara has no limits on how long she can stay online. The ANSI-ON condition means that her terminal is receiving color and cursor movement commands from the server. You can change that, also... see below. A = Editing Your Account Information On most Worldgroup servers, you can edit your answers to the Sign-up questions. You won't be able to change your User-ID, though. And some custom questions are only asked at sign-up, and can't be changed later. The Full Screen Data Entry service is used to change your account information if your terminal has ANSI capability. You'll see all your account information on screen. Use your up and down arrows keys to move around to different fields. To retype a field, just type over the old information. To change a field, start by moving the cursor right or left to the correct position. Then type over the old stuff, or: or delete a character insert a character See below for editing your account information when you don't have ANSI (using the Linear Data Entry service). You can leave this screen any time by hitting one of these keystrokes: Save your changes and exit Quit and abandon your changes Name, Address, Phone Numbers On some of these fields there are certain minimum lengths required. You'll be notified if your answer is too short. This information is treated by most Sysops as highly confidential. It would be used mainly to contact you in the event of a question or problem with your account. Many Sysops also use this information to mail announcements, newsletters, etc. Computer System On some systems, different menus are provided for users that have IBM computers and users that don't. IBM computers as terminals can display a wide variety of special extended ASCII characters, including box borders, shading, international characters, etc. The only other impact of this question is on demographic statistics that the Sysop can see. ANSI Preference This answer concerns whether or not your terminal should be receiving ANSI commands for cursor positioning, colors, and other attributes. ON ANSI commands will be sent to your terminal OFF ANSI commands will not be sent to your terminal AUTO Each time you log on, the server will decide whether or not to send ANSI commands to your terminal. The server may automatically detect whether you have ANSI or not, or it may ask you, or it may be prewired by the Sysop to be on or off. Usually you can leave it set to AUTO. But if this appears to be making the wrong choice sometimes, you can change it. If you see bland colorless text on your color monitor, set it to ON. If you see lots of annoying bracket characters with numbers and letters after them, like "[33m" or "[0;1;47;52m", you may want to set it to OFF. Screen Dimensions and Pausing Here are some examples of different screen configurations: Screen size: 80 columns by 24 lines Pause output? PAUSE Standard 80x24 terminal, the server pauses when it has 23 or more lines to display Screen size: 80 columns by 24 lines Pause output? CONTINUOUS Standard 80x24 terminal, the server doesn't pause, display is continuous Screen size: 80 columns by 43 lines Pause output? PAUSE Enlarged 80x43 terminal, pause each 41 lines Default Editor This answer helps to determine if you should be placed in the Full Screen Editor or the Line Editor when the system needs to invoke a system text editor. The chooses are FSE or LINE. Password Your password appears as a string of asterisks (****). You can retype your password once in a while to keep your account secure. Save or Quit When you're done editing, you can answer the question at the bottom: SAVE Save your changes and exit QUIT Quit and abandon your changes Just pick S or Q and press ENTER to exit the service back to the User Account Display/Edit menu. Editing your Account when you don't have ANSI If your terminal doesn't have ANSI capability or if your screen isn't long enough (24 lines is enough), then editing your account information will have to proceed one question at a time. Use the ENTER key to skip each field you don't want to change. When you get to a field you want to change, you can back up over the information that's already there and type new information, or just start typing in completely new information. To edit the information that's there, start with a . To replace the information that's there, start by typing the first character of the new information If you make a mistake, just use: to back up one field. T = Transferring credits With the Sysop's permission, you can transfer credits from your account to another user's account. There's usually a minimum amount you can transfer. By default it's 600 credits. Just select the 'T' option if you wish to transfer some of your credits to another user account. L = Change language/protocol preference If the Sysop allows it, you can tell the server to automatically choose a particular language and protocol each time you log on (this will take place right after you enter your User-ID and password). User-ID: Barbara Hoover Credits: 693150 Language: English/ANSI S ... Display statistics on your account A ... Display or edit account information (address/phone/password) T ... Transfer credits to another user L ... Change language/protocol preference Your choice (or X to exit): L When you select this, you'll get a prompt something like this: Which language/protocol would you prefer to use on this Worldgroup server? 1. English/ANSI The standard English language version 2. English/RIP The English version of RIPscrip graphics 3. Spanish/ANSI Espa¤ol/ANSI A. Automatic (no preference) Choose a number from 1 to 3, or A: Choose the number of the language/protocol you'd like as your default, and from then on the server will choose that each time you log on. If you have no particular preference, you can choose 'A' for Automatic, and the server will try to sense what protocol you're dialing in with (ie. with ANSI or RIP?) and set your language accordingly. For the most part, you should keep this set to Automatic. The Messaging System: E-mail and Forums --------------------------------------- Messages are the building blocks of two broad areas of Worldgroup: E-mail: private messages from one user to another Forums: public messages from many users, readable by many There's a lot of overlap between Electronic Mail and Forums. For example, when you write an electronic mail message, you can send it to one user, and send a carbon copy to a forum. Or you can reply privately to the author of a forum message, and other users won't see that reply. And one way to erase a message you wrote in a forum is to use the E-mail Read command to find it and then erase it. Electronic messages consist of: o Header o Body o File attached (optional) The header contains information like who the message is to, who it's from, what the topic is, and when it was written. Here's the header of a typical e-mail message: Date: Thursday, April 23, 1992 12:37pm Electronic Mail From: Michelle Msg#: 20483 To: Jessica Rodier *RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED* Re: for trade show in Phoenix (Reply to #20461, Reply to #20409) Message Topic, Re: Each time you write a new message, you need to give it a topic. When you reply to a message, you inherit the topic of the original message. Message Body: You can compose the body of a message you're writing using the editor. You'll get the full screen editor if you have an ANSI-compatible terminal. Otherwise you'll use a line-oriented editor. Reading a message displays the message body on your terminal. Whenever you read a message's body, the server makes a note not to include that message again when you scan for new messages. Message Number: The Worldgroup server issues a new sequential message number each time anyone writes a new message. Whether it's a private electronic mail message to one user, or a message in some forum, it has a unique message number on the server. This message number is used to jump directly to a message you want to read or reply to. Files Attached to Messages: When you write an e-mail or forum message, you usually have the option of attaching a file to the message. You upload the file after you write the message. Then, anyone who reads the message gets the option of downloading the file. Electronic Mail --------------- Electronic mail is a powerful and efficient way to send detailed messages to individuals who need not be there when the message arrives. Messages can also deliver attached document or program files, a major improvement over transferring files by floppy disk or copying them across a network in hopes that the intended recipient will see them. E-mail has become a common service on local area networks (LANs) in businesses. It is also common on wide area systems such as the Internet and CompuServe. The two areas evolved independently, however, and have only recently started to share messages with each other. Some producers of e-mail products have been slow to acknowledge the value of connecting with each other. The Worldgroup baseline package provides the same e-mail service to Novell LAN workstation users and remote PC modem users alike. This connectivity can be extended to existing MHS-compatible e-mail services such as cc:Mail and Microsoft Mail. With additional software and equipment on the server side, this connectivity can be extended to the Internet, and through it to such national services as CompuServe and America Online. When you connect to a fully-configured Worldgroup server, you can exchange e-mail messages with people across the world. The following E-mail services are available: R ... Read messages to you W ... Write a message M ... Modify a message E ... Erase a message F ... Read messages from you S ... Special functions X ... Exit from E-mail Select an option (R,W,M,E,F,S,X to exit, or ? for more info): Worldgroup keeps track of the messages that were written to you and the messages that you have written to others. In Box messages TO you messages others wrote to you Out Box messages FROM you messages you wrote to someone else R ... Read messages to you You have these options for where to start your reading: ENTER or period (.) Start with the next message you haven't read yet F Start with the earliest message in your In Box L Start with the very latest message in your In Box Start with a specific message number The Default or Next Message You'll probably call into the server regularly to get your latest messages. Some of your messages are not urgent, or they require more work to reply to, or you just want to keep them around for a while. Worldgroup tries to distinguish between new messages and messages you've already read by remembering the highest numbered message you've ever read from your In Box. This isn't perfect, but if you're careful to read your messages in order, you might find it very handy for keeping your urgent mail and your not-so-important mail separated. When you Read messages to you and press ENTER when it asks for a message number, you'll get the message that's one higher than the highest numbered message that you've already read. You can do the same thing in one step by typing R. (R period) from the E-mail menu. Similarly, RF reads the first (oldest) message in your In Box, and RL reads the last (most recent) message. After each message you read, you'll be prompted: (R)eply, (E)rase, (C)opy, (F)orward, (B)acktrack, (P)revious, or (N)ext? (R)eply Write a new message To the person who wrote this message (E)rase Delete this message from the Worldgroup server (C)opy Keep this message but send a copy to another User-ID (F)orward Send a copy to another User-ID and delete your copy (B)acktrack Read the message which inspired this message, if available (P)revious Read the message in your In Box immediately below this one (N)ext Read the message in your In Box immediately above this one Power User Tip: If you can't respond to a message immediately, you can make it new again by forwarding it to yourself. F ... Read messages from you Messages from you include all the e-mail and forum messages you've written which are still on the Worldgroup server. After each e-mail message you read, you'll be prompted: (M)odify, (E)rase, (C)opy, (P)revious, or (N)ext? (M)odify Edit a message you wrote, even after it's been sent (E)rase Delete a message even after it's been sent (C)opy Leave a message as is but carbon copy it to another User-ID (P)revious Read the message you wrote immediately before this one (N)ext Read the message you write immediately after this one If your Preferences include forum messages in your E-mail In Box, after each forum message you read you'll be prompted: (R)eply, (E)mail reply, (C)lear, (T)hread, (P)rev, or (N)ext? The (C)lear command removes the copy of this message from your E-mail In Box without erasing the original from the forum. See the Forums section below for more details on the other options. Power User Tip: To reply to a message, then forward the original message to a third user, type F R ENTER all on one line. W ... Write a message You can write an electronic mail message To: a specific user ENTER the Sysop / a forum @ a distribution list !quick your own custom distribution list When writing to an individual user, if you can't remember his or her exact User-ID, type in the first few letters of your best guess and Worldgroup will try to find a match. When writing to a forum from E-mail, you type the name of the forum in the E-mail To: field. E-mail posts the message to that forum addressed To: the User-ID **ALL**. More on Forums later. Once you finish typing the message, you Save the message. In the Full- Screen Editor (FSE), you save by pressing CTRL+G. In the Line Editor, you save by typing S ENTER from command mode or /S ENTER from entry mode. Either way, you'll next receive this list of options: Before sending this message, you may: A ... Attach a file to this message R ... Request return receipt P ... Mark message as priority C ... Send a copy of this message to other user(s) M ... Modify the message text or topic Select a write option or press ENTER to send message: IMPORTANT: Typing X ENTER at this prompt ABANDONS your message. It is not sent and is erased from the Worldgroup server. All of these choices are circular: once they perform their function, you are returned to this prompt. In order to send your message, you must finally press ENTER at this prompt. Once you do, you'll receive a confirmation such as: <<< CONFIRMED: MESSAGE #1789332 WRITTEN TO DISK >>> A ... Attach a file to this message This will next prompt you for a file transfer protocol (XMODEM, etc.) and will then upload a file from your PC. If the protocol you choose automatically conveys the name of the file (ZMODEM, for example), the server will accept that name. If the protocol does not convey a name, the server will ask you for a filename.ext once the upload finishes. R ... Request return receipt A return receipt is a brief message that Worldgroup automatically generates when the recipient gets this message. The recipient is told when a return receipt is generated. P ... Mark message as priority You can label a message as priority. This causes it to be slightly more noticeable in a long In Box list on the recipient's side. C ... Send a copy of this message to other user(s) You can make a limited number of carbon copies (usually up to 5) of any message you write. M ... Modify the message text or topic If you've saved the message only to realize that you needed to make a change, this command will take you back to re-edit the message. S ... Special functions This is where you can manage various features of your E-mail In Box. Choose a special function: C ... Configure distribution list A ... Auto-forward incoming E-mail S ... Set personal preferences Your choice (or X to exit)? S ... Special functions C ... Configure distribution list Your distribution list can have up to 40 entries. When you write a message To: !QUICK, the Worldgroup server will send it to all of the names you have entered in your list. There's no checking for correct User-ID's. You can even specify users who haven't signed up yet. But be sure and get their User-ID exactly right (UPPER/lower case doesn't matter, but spaces and spelling do). S ... Special functions A ... Auto-forward incoming E-mail You can divert all message addressed To: this User-ID to another User-ID. If you maintain multiple accounts, this lets you gather all messages in one account's In Box. For example, you might want to maintain one user account with your own name as User-ID, and another with your job title as User-ID. This allows customers to write messages to CoSysop without needing to know that this is currently Richard Skurnick. Auto-forwarding also lets you temporarily divert messages to a coworker when you know you'll be out of touch for a while. Forum messages to you are not affected by auto-forwarding. They'll still appear in your original In Box (if you have your preferences set to include forum messages in your In Box -- see below). Also, enabling auto-forward only affects future messages -- any e-mail currently in your In Box remains there. For example: S ... Special functions S ... Set personal preferences Your current preference settings are: N ... Read new mail at log on: PROMPT F ... Show Forum mail to you in your in box: YES R ... Read messages mode: BROWSE Q ... Use message quoting when replying: NEVER C ... Clear message from in box after reply: NO A ... Add comments when copy/forwarding: PROMPT Select an option (N,F,R,Q,C,A,X to exit, or ? for help) N ... Read new mail at log on: PROMPT (A)lways Display the first new message immediately (N)ever You must select E-mail yourself to read messages (P)rompt Lets you choose between reading now or later F ... Show Forum mail to you in your in box: YES (Y)es Forum messages To: you will appear with your E-mail (N)o Forum messages will remain unrelated to E-mail R ... Read messages mode: BROWSE (B)rowse Header only, prompt for Next, Previous, or Read (F)ull Header plus body displayed immediately Q ... Use message quoting when replying: NEVER (A)lways Copies the original message's body into the reply (N)ever You must type your own references to earlier comments (P)rompt Lets you choose whether to quote or not C ... Clear message from in box after reply: NO (Y)es Replying to an E-mail message automatically erases it, and replying to a forum message automatically clears it from your In Box. (N)o Messages remain in your In Box after your replies. A ... Add comments when copy/forwarding: PROMPT (A)lways Lets you insert your comments ahead of the original (N)ever Copies/Forwards the message as if you'd never had it (P)rompt Lets you choose whether to insert comments or not Forums (Public Message Bases) ----------------------------- Forums are typically long-term conversations. One user will start a topic of discussion by posting a question or a comment (I feel this way about X.... How does everyone else feel about it?). Other users will read the message the next time they are online on this server. Some will reply to the message. Replies to replies may continue over a period of weeks or months, the thread of conversation often becoming many hundreds of messages long. Threads are valuable sources of information even if you don't wish to participate in the debate. You'll read all sides of an issue and gain a much fuller understanding from it. In a technical support forum, for example, a thread might start with one user describing a problem she's having by posting a request for advice. She may get 17 responses that night, some of them contradictory. There may well be more than one solution to the problem, and even the wrong ones can show what not to do. By the next night, others will have chimed in to naysay the inaccurate suggestions. Forums are also known as newsgroups, and a much older term for them was SIGs. They all mean roughly the same thing. Newsgroups is a term most often associated with the Internet, while Forums is the more common term in the BBS community. Now with Worldgroup, the two can intermingle: an Internet newsgroup can be made to appear exactly as if it were a forum. Threading Say you write a message and somebody else writes a reply to it. You reply to that, someone else replies to it too, and then someone else replies to your original message. Before you know it, a tree of messages is formed. This is known as a thread, and Worldgroup does track the formation and structure of threads. It's common for one forum to have many threads at any given moment. Threading is the act of reading forum messages in thread order instead of simple chronological order. Threading is in fact chronological, but only for those messages which are part of that conversation. If message number 123 is a reply, threading to its Parent lets you see the message that 123 was a reply to. This may not be the message immediately previous to 123, however. Between the time the original message was written, and 123 was written in reply, another message on the same topic may well have been posted. When you first go into Forums, you'll see a menu like this: Welcome, , to Hello: Questions & Answers about this system R ... Read messages W ... Write a message F ... Find messages T ... Teleconference S ... Select a new Forum Select a letter from this list, or X to exit: R ... Read messages This lets you read messages in this forum in chronological order without regard to threads and without narrowing the list of messages through a search or quickscan. You have these options for where to start reading: ENTER or period (.) Start with the next message you haven't read yet F Start with the earliest message in your In Box L Start with the very latest message in your In Box Start with a specific message number Here's what a message header looks like in a forum: Date: Monday, April 27, 1992 11:23am /IntSales From: Brian Nibs Msg#: 108782 To: Lai Fay-caymen Re: Saba is quietly becoming a financial center (7 replies) (Reply to #108623, Fw by Tom Gerhart) After you read a message in a forum, you'll get a prompt like this: (R)eply, (E)mail reply, (T)hread, (P)revious or (N)ext? (R)eply Write a public reply to this message in the forum (E)mail reply Write a private reply to the writer of this message (T)hread Follow the thread of this conversation (F)orward to the next message on this topic (B)ackward to the previous message on this topic (P)arent to the message which inspired this message (P)revious Read the message posted in this forum immediately before this message, regardless of threads or topics (N)ext Read the message posted in this forum immediately after this message, regardless of threads or topics All (R)eplies in a forum are automatically directed to the writer of the message you're replying to. Keep this in mind when adding your own message to a thread: Which message would be best to reply to? Which user are you addressing? Who do you most want to see your message? W ... Write a message Most of the time you post messages to a forum, they'll be in the form of (R)eplies to existing messages. You can, however, begin a new thread of conversation by writing a message to a specific user, or to **ALL** users. Either way, the message is visible to anyone who has sufficient access to the forum. When writing to an individual user, if you can't remember the exact User-ID, type in the first few letters as a best guess and Worldgroup will try to find a match. Forums emphasize message text, but you can attach files to forum messages precisely as you do in E-mail. As you might expect, a file attached to a forum message is available for download to any user who has sufficient access to this forum. F ... Find messages The following Find options are available: S ... Search L ... List messages non-stop Q ... QuickScan C ... Configure your QuickScan Select a Find option (S,L,Q,C,X to exit, or ? for help): S ... Search You can search forum messages for particular words or phrases, for messages with files attached, for messages posted since a particular message number, and all of this across multiple forums. If you have a favorite set of forums you always search, you can record your search settings semi-permanently in Configure your QuickScan and use Q ... QuickScan instead of S ... Search. The Search command is more for one-time-only search configurations. Your search currently contains the following Forum(s): Hello Search parameters: R ... Read messages N ... New messages only: NO C ... Clear parameters A ... With attachments only: NO V ... View forums in search T ... To you only: NO + ... Add a forum F ... From you only: NO - ... Remove a forum M ... Starting message #: 0 K ... Keywords: Select an option, X to exit, or ? for help: R ... Read messages Display the first message which matches the current search settings C ... Clear parameters Empty the list of forums to scan, clear the keyword search field, set Starting message to 0, and set all "only" choices to NO V ... View forums in search List the forums set to be scanned + ... Add a forum Add a forum to that list - ... Remove a forum Remove a forum from that list K ... Keywords: Search for specific words/phrases N ... New messages only: Find only messages you haven't read A ... With attachments only: Find only messages with files T ... To you only: Find only messages addressed to you F ... From you only: Find only messages you wrote M ... Starting message #: 0 Zero means search back to earliest message still available. You can search for a specific word, partial word, or phrase: Keyword Example matches ------- --------------- demo Demonstration pandemonium demolition -demo- demo "DEMO" red day By Monday, I was tired of waiting red-letter-day This is a red letter day As you can see, a hyphen has a special purpose in keywords: A word with hyphens around it will specify an exact match on the entire word (case is ignored). A hyphen will match a space, a line boundary, any punctuation symbol, or any combination of these. L ... List messages non-stop This is handy when you want messages to scroll by on your screen without stopping to reply or download any files. You can capture all messages and read them offline this way. Later you can call back to download specific files or reply to specific messages (QWK-mail is a more complex but more powerful way of doing this). You are first asked whether to list messages only in this (F)orum or in all forums listed in your (Q)uickscan. Next, you are asked how much information the list should provide for each message: B ... Brief-title (1 line per message) T ... Title (4-line summary of each message) F ... Full-text (summary plus full message text) Q ... QuickScan This performs a search according to the configuration you record semi-permanently in C ... Configure your QuickScan: C ... Configure your QuickScan Your quickscan currently contains the following Forum(s): Hello Quickscan parameters: C ... Clear parameters N ... New messages only: NO V ... View forums in quickscan A ... With attachments only: NO + ... Add a forum T ... To you only: NO - ... Remove a forum F ... From you only: NO M ... Starting message #: 0 K ... Keywords: Select an option, X to exit, or ? for help: These settings are saved as you change them. T ... Teleconference Every forum has its own teleconference channel. The topic of the channel is the topic of the forum. See Teleconference for more. S ... Select a new Forum S? ENTER brings up a list of available forums S ENTER switches you to that forum S ENTER asks for the name of the forum you wish to switch to QWK-mail -------- You can reduce the amount of time you spend online: use QWK-mail to download your e-mail and forum messages from the Worldgroup server in a batch, go offline, read and reply to those messages, then go back online just long enough to upload your replies in another batch. While Worldgroup Manager in client/server mode handles e-mail and forum messages more efficiently than is possible in terminal mode, QWK-mail gives non-Windows users nearly the same online time savings. OPERATION QWK-mail is a program which runs on the Worldgroup server computer. Its "D" option gathers all E-mail messages you haven't read yet, then uses the Quickscan settings you've recorded in Forums to search for messages you haven't read yet and batches them all into a .QWK packet (a file with extension .QWK). Both e-mail and forum messages can have files attached to them. You can select whether or not to automatically include such files in the .QWK packet. If you choose not to include them, you can request them later. Once the .QWK packet is assembled, the file is downloaded to you. You can then log off. In order to examine the contents of a .QWK packet, you need an offline QWK-mail reader. Some of the more popular brands available include SLMR, EZ-Reader, BlueWave, and Freddie. Shareware versions of these programs are available on many systems. The Galacticomm Demo System (305) 583-7808 has a shareware version of SLMR in File Libraries. The offline mail reader also serves as an editor, allowing you to write replies to downloaded messages. If you chose not to automatically download all file attachments, you can manually request that a file be downloaded in your next .QWK packet by writing an e-mail message To: GALQWK. Set the message's Topic: field to REQUEST <#>, where <#> is the message number of the message whose attachment you want. Once you've finished writing, the reader batches your replies and file attachment requests into a .REP packet (a file with the extension .REP). You then go online, go into QWK-mail and select "U" to upload the file. After the upload is complete, you can exit QWK-mail and do other things, or even log off the system. The uploaded .REP packet is queued behind other users' .REP packets for processing. It can take several minutes for your packet to be processed. If you are still online, you are told when the server finishes your packet. Once processed, your replies are sent as if you had written them online. Any files you requested will be included in your next .QWK packet. Of course, the .REP file must finish processing before the server gets those requests and knows to include them in the next .QWK packet. OPTIONS ON THE QWK-MAIL MENU D - Download .QWK packet Gathers e-mail messages and forums messages (via Quickscan settings) you have not yet read either online or via QWK-mail, asks for a file transfer protocol (ZMODEM, etc.), then downloads the messages. It then updates your current message pointers so that your next download will include only new messages. U - Upload .REP packet Asks for a file transfer protocol (ZMODEM, etc.), then uploads the .REP packet built by your offline quick mail reader. A - Attachment toggle (currently ) When this is set ON, the "D" command above will include in the .QWK packet all files attached to new messages. If the forums you scan often contain large files of no interest to you, the OFF setting is better. When this is set OFF, the "D" command above will not automatically include file attachments in the .QWK packet. You can manually request files through .REP packets built by your offline quick mail reader. R - Reset message pointers Message pointers are the way Worldgroup remembers where messages you've already read stop and messages you haven't yet read begin. Every message, e-mail or forum, which is sent to a Worldgroup server is given a number in the order it arrived. The R command resets your current message pointers to the message number you specify. Normally, you don't have to change your message pointers, since QWK-mail automatically maintains them for you. However, if you are interested in downloading all messages since a certain date, you can reset the message pointers to the number of a message slightly older than the time you're interested in. Your next download will include messages newer than the one specified. Resetting the message pointers to 1 will cause your next QWK download to include all existing messages matching your E-mail Preferences and Forums Quickscan settings. ? - Help Displays a screen of useful information on using QWK-mail. X - Exit, return to main menu Exits QWK-mail and returns to the menu above. Processing of .REP packets continues whether you are present or not. Polls and Questionnaires ------------------------ You can vote, and voice your opinions, on questions posed by the management of this Worldgroup server. In some cases, you may be given credits, greater access, files, etc., once you complete a poll or questionnaire. A poll asks questions with limited possible answers: yes/no, multiple choice, and true/false. This lets a poll's results be totaled and averaged into voting results. A questionnaire can ask these questions, too, but it can also ask essay questions ("What do you think about this?", etc.) and other questions which have no fixed number of possible answers. These cannot be totaled and averaged, so a questionnaire does not have voting results. Some polls and questionnaires allow you to retake them (to change your previous answers). Others let you answer them only once. As you log onto the system, you may be shown a list of available polls and questionnaires, allowing you to take one or more before continuing on to the main menu. On occasion, you may be asked (or compelled) to take a poll or questionnaire at logon. The main Polls and Questionnaires menu looks like: Polls and Questionnaires Menu: G ... General information T ... Take a Poll/Questionnaire R ... View results for Poll L ... Look up results for an individual Enter your selection, or X to exit: Selection "G" provides an overview of Polls and Questionnaires. Selection "T" lists all polls and questionnaires that you have access to. You can select one from this list and begin answering questions. Selection "R" lists all polls whose results you have access to. You can select one from this list and view its results. Selection "L" displays the answers provided by one individual to a poll or questionnaire. You will be prompted to enter the User-ID of the individual, then you are presented with a list of questionnaires and polls that this individual has completed. Select one from this list and view the individual's answers. Selection "X" exits Polls and Questionnaires, returning you to the previous menu. Registry of Users ----------------- You can advertise yourself on this Worldgroup server if you wish. The registry allows you to put information online for other users to view. This is optional. You may want to remain confidential or anonymous on the server and there's usually no penalty for doing so. By the way, the questions you answered when you signed up are for the Sysop only. See him or her if you have any confidentiality concerns. When you create your own entry in the registry, you type in the answers to several questions. The operator of the server can configure his own set of questions. The last one is always a "summary" question. If you don't want to answer a question, you can always enter "N/A". You can scan a list of users alphabetized by User-ID, and see their summary lines. Also, you can look up other users directly by User-ID. Of course, you'll only see information on users who have voluntarily answered the registry questions. D - Directory Search Use this command to list out the users that have answered the registry questions. You may start anywhere in the alphabet you please, and only the User-ID and summary line will appear for each user. L - Looking up Another User This is used to look up a specific user's registry. You will be able to view the user's answers to all registry questions. If you don't know the exact User-ID you want to look up, just enter what you know, and the server will try to find an exact match for you. Y - Creating or Editing Your Entry When you create your entry, you answer the registry questions one after the other. Each answer has a limited number of characters it can accept. To find out how many, you can just type a long line until you run into the limit. After creating your entry, you can go back later and edit your answers. Mega Green Cesspit Scrapings go out to Gamma, Rocky, Utah, Acid Phreak, Digital Aphliktion, Potsan (buy dem cardz of dis man!), all my other HPA buddies.... This File ID: 6/7/96 at 16:23. 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