On 7/11/06, Cory Wiegersma <cory5412@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
... if nobody figured it out, I couldn't quite figure the BBS out. I think I posted something to the wrong spot, then I posted something else, but it was in the right spot, but it was offtopic anyway, and I could NOT find any existing messages, and overall, I was very confused by the entire rigup.
I checked and I can not find any messages posted by you. All I see is the verification email the BBS makes everyone send. I can post messages for you
The interface is a strange one. It has a few quirks, but if you are prepared for them you can work with it relatively easily. The biggest is it tries to perform an action with only a single key press, if it can. So most commands are activated by simply pressing the corresponding key. This does not apply if there are more options you can enter after that key. So while pressing 2 will take you to the Meet and Greet conference, Pressing 1 will make the BBS wait for more input since 1 can mean conference #'s 1, 10 or 11 depending on what key you press next. Pressing Return will mean conference #1, 0 for conference #10 and 1 for conference #11. While this is a nice feature, it can be frustrating at times.
The editor is truly headache inducing. Editing works normally, but only for the current line. Once you reach the end of a line it wraps to the next line and then you can no longer modify the previous line. You control it by entering commands on their own line preceded by a / character. So /es saves a post or email, /help displays the help text and /abt aborts a post or email. There are lots of commands, /help will list them. There is no spell checking.
The menus are formatted like the old DOS ANSI BBS menus. They do not display well on most telnet programs, I have yet to find one that does display them right. I tried editing them once, but I just made a mess of things. It might help to use the plain ASCII menus since they have no color or special characters. This can be done by pressing D from the main menu to get to your options. Then pressing 2 to select the ANSI/Color preference. And finally selecting 2 to tell it not to use ANSI or color.
There are only a few menu commands you really need. * - Lists the conferences in the current forum and their numbers. Enter the conference number to go to that conference. (See the quirk about entry above.) - and < - Moves back to the previous conference. + and > - Moves forward to the next conference. [ and ] - Moves back or forward by forum respectively. There are only two forums right now. N - Scans all conferences for any messages you have not yet read. Q - Scans the current conference for any messages you have not yet read. R - Prompts you to read the messages in the current conference. It tells you how many messages there are and asks you where you want the listing to start from. It then lists the number, subject and author of each message starting from number you enter. Enter a message number to read it or press Return to read the next new message. P - Posts a new message to the current conference. M - checks your BBS email. E - Starts the process of sending a BBS email. O - Logs you off the system. C - Enters the Chat system. Enter /? for help if it is not displayed. Chat is similar to the editor for posts and messages, only with fewer options.
If anyone needs help, wants something posted to the BBS or wants to know what has been posted email me off list and I'll help you out. You can also IM me on AIM and YahooIM using my full name as my screen name. I also try to stay in the chat room on the BBS most of the time. If you ever need me and I'm not there or don't respond use the Sysop Chat option. It makes the computer beep several times. From the main menu press S and from chat enter /s. The way the BBS is designed each node has a window that I can watch. So if you are having troubles I can open the window for your node and help you out. (Don't worry, I keep the windows closed for privacy and performance reasons. The windows slow the software down badly.)
-- Lorance Stinson http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorancestinson/ http://lorance.freeshell.org/
