CHAPTER 3 CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION This chapter explains how to join a conference, how to review the messages, and how to add your comments. 17 BIX User Manual Part 1: Introduction 19 What's a Conference 19 How to Join a Conference 19 The Message and Its Structure 20 How to Read a Message 21 How to Exit a Conference 22 How to Resign from a Topic 22 Resigning from Conferences 22 Part 2: Basic Commands 24 How to Redisplay the Last Message Read 24 How to Read the Comments on a Message 24 How to Exit Reference Mode 25 Original 26 Root 26 How to Display a Range of Messages 26 How to Add a Conference Message 27 Withdrawing a Message 29 Part 3: Intermediate Commands 30 Jumping to Any Message in a Topic 30 Skipping and Rereading Messages 30 Next 31 Topic 31 How to Move Between Conferences 32 Part 4: Expert Commanmds 33 Backward and Forward 33 Header 33 How to Use the Date Command 34 Using Skip with Date 34 Part 5: Master Commands 35 Search 35 The Abort Key 36 Abbreviate BIX Commands 36 How to Stack Multiple Commands 36 Order Your Conference Lists 37 Closed Conferences 38 Reposting Messages to Other Systems 38 18 BIX User Manual Part 1: Introduction What's a Conference? A conference is a structured discussion composed of topics and messages. Each topic is a single element of the conference. A topic contains messages on the theme of both the conference and the topic itself. How to Join a Conference You must enroll in a conference to read and write messages. To do this, simply type: join followed by the name of the conference. Do this from the main ( : ), Read:, or Mail: prompts. For example, type: join learn to join the `learn' conference and learn how to use BIX. Whenever you join a conference for the first time, BIX displays a welcome message, a list of topics in the conference, and the prompt: Topic? You can respond to the Topic? prompt by typing in the name of a topic that appeals to you or you may enter a carriage return. In response to the lat- ter, BIX goes to the first topic in the conference. After entering a topic, you can begin to read and write messages. Each time you sign on, BIX notifies you of new messages in that conference topic. NOTE: You are not charged any extra fee to join or leave a BIX conference. 19 BIX User Manual The Message and Its Structure A conference message is simply text that can be read by all members of that conference. A conference message can range in size from 1 character to 80,000 characters. Here is a sample message: ======================== engineering/electrical #115, from ftonpmb, 129 chars, Mon Jan 5 16:42:12 1988 This is a comment to message 111. There is/are comment(s) on this message. ------------------------ As far as I know, there are no such packages that will turn that layout into a schematic. I'm very interested in this myself. The line of equal signs ( == ) divides one message from another, indi- cates the start of a new message, and marks the beginning of the header that BIX applies to each message. The line of dashes ( -- ) is the end of the header, and tells you that the message is about to begin. The first line of text in the header (after the equal signs) contains the following information: a) conference/topic name (engineering/electrical) b) message number (115) c) author of the message (ftonpmb) d) number of characters (129 chars) e) date and time posted (Mon Jan 5 16:42:12 1988) The second and third lines of the header are additional status reports, and may not always be present. In this example, the second and third lines are telling you: a) that this message is a comment on message 111 20 BIX User Manual b) that other users have commented on this message The term that describes the relationship of the original message with com- ments to it is message threading. A series of linked messages is a thread. How to Read a Message Once enrolled in a conference, press your Return key to tell BIX to enter the first topic available in that conference. You know that you are in a topic when your prompt looks like this: Read: Press your Return key and BIX displays the first unread message in that topic. BIX displays up to 20 lines of text per screen before redisplaying the Read: prompt. If a message is greater than 20 lines, BIX pauses at line 21 and displays this prompt: .More.. Press your Return key to display the next 20 lines of the message. If you do not care to see the rest of the message, type: quit at the .More.. prompt. At the end of a message, BIX stops, redisplays the Read: prompt, and waits for your command. The simplest response is to press your Return key, which tells BIX to retrieve and display the next message. Each time you press the Return key at a Read: prompt, BIX displays a mes- sage that you have not read. When you have read all the messages in a topic, press Return to go to the next topic with unread messages. 21 BIX User Manual How to Exit a Conference To leave a conference so that you can go on to do something else, enter: quit at a Read: prompt. This will return you to the main system prompt, which is the colon ( : ). Alternately, you can move to a different conference. See "How to Move Between Conferences," on page 32. How to Resign from a Topic You can resign from individual topics in a conference. To do this, type in the command resign followed by the conference name and the topic name. For example, here's what you would enter to resign the topic `misc' in the `chips' conference: resign chips misc To resign more than one topic in a conference, repeat this procedure for each topic. NOTE: The results of the resign [conference topic] command places you back at the main system prompt ( : ). From there, you can continue to resign topics in a conference or proceed with your normal BIX session. Resigning from Conferences To drop your participation in a conference entirely, you can resign it. For example, to resign the `c.language' conference, you would type in: resign c.language from a Read: prompt or from the main system prompt, which is the colon ( : ). BIX asks you to confirm that you want to resign from the conference. Respond with a "y" for yes or an "n" for no. NOTE: If you choose to rejoin the conference later, BIX considers you a new 22 BIX User Manual user and you may be shown messages that you have read before. See Part 3 of this chapter for information on how to skip over messages. NOTES: 23 BIX User Manual Part 2: Basic Commands How to Redisplay the Last Message Read If you want to reread the message you just read, enter the command: again at the Read: prompt immediately following the message. BIX will then redisplay it. How to Read the Comments on a Message BIX normally displays messages in a sequential order. The reference command lets you read the comments on a message in a logical, conversational order. Reference remains in operation throughout your BIX session, unless you release it by entering the commands forward or backward. This is how you read a message thread. Enter reference from a Read: prompt, normally after you have read a mes- sage whose header shows that there are comments on it. You do not have to wait for a message with comments attached. You can en- ter the reference command at any Read: prompt. To tell BIX to display messages in conversational (i.e., referenced) or- der, type in: reference As a reminder that you are reading by reference, BIX changes the prompt to: Read Ref: Reading by reference takes you through the comments attached to a message irrespective of chronological order. For example, if at the Read: prompt after reading this message: 24 BIX User Manual ======================== programming/forth #4 from lsmith, 37 chars There is/are comment(s) to this message. ------------------------ Has anybody used the new Omega Forth? you were to respond with reference, BIX would display the first comment at- tached to that message, which in this case is message 9: ======================== programming/forth #9 from rjones, 109 chars This is a comment to message 4. ------------------------ Yes, I've used Omega Forth. It's great, one of the best implementations that I've seen. I highly recommend it. If there are more than one comment to that first message, you can follow the message thread by hitting your Return key. If there are no more comments on a message, BIX goes to the next unread message based on sequential order. In the example here that would be mes- sage number 5. BIX continues to produce messages sequentially until it com- es upon a message with attached comments, at which point it resumes dis- playing messages in referenced order. NOTE: The reference command is "sticky." That is, reference remains in ef- fect throughout a session unless you disable it. To disable the reference command, enter either the command forward or the command backward at a Read: prompt. How to Exit Reference Mode To exit the reference mode, use the command forward or the command backward from a Read: prompt. 25 BIX User Manual Original When BIX displays a message that is a comment to an earlier message that you no longer recall, you can jump to that earlier message by typing: original at the Read: prompt. After displaying the original message, BIX goes to the next unread message in the topic. Root The command root displays the message that inspired a thread of messages. Where original displays the message that has been commented on, root dis- plays the message that began a thread. You can jump to the root message in any thread, by entering: root at the Read: prompt following a message that is a comment on another message. TIP: Enter reference at the Read: prompt immediately after reading the root message to follow a thread from its beginning. How to Display a Range of Messages You can display a range of messages that will pause only at the .More.. prompt and pass through the Read: prompt. To do this, you would enter a spread of message numbers separated by the to command at a Read: prompt. For example, 15 to 22 84 to last first to 44 current to 165 Alternately, you can display every unread message in a topic, pausing only at the .More.. prompt. To do this, use the command: 26 BIX User Manual all entered from a Read: prompt. Use the reference command with the all command to display each unread message in a topic in referenced order. To do this, enter the command string: reference all at a Read: prompt. How to Add a Conference Message You must join a topic and be at a Read: prompt to add a message to that topic. When saying something original, such as asking a question, type: say Remember to make certain that you are in the topic that you want. In response to say, BIX prompts you for a title, after which you're prompted to begin entering the text of your message. To comment on a particular message, type: comment at the Read: prompt immediately after the message. You can also use the command reply. Alternately, you can enter: comment xxx where xxx is a message number. When you enter comment or say, you enter a writing area. This area is called the "scratchpad." BIX reminds you that to exit the writing mode you must enter a period at the beginning of a new line. 27 BIX User Manual The editor prompt now appears and will appear at the start of each new line: - > Everything you type is accepted as text. At the end of each line, about 65 characters, press return. If you make a mistake, backspace in the current line and make corrections. Your cursor keys will not work. To learn how to make corrections in other lines, see Chapter 5, "Editing Messages," on page 59. To end the writing session, type a period ( . ) at the start of a new line and press Return. For example: - > I must disagree with Denise's comment - > about the Warnock widget. I've found it more - > reliable than the Bausum version. - > . BIX now produces this prompt: add/action: It is asking you what action you wish to take with the text in your scratchpad. These are your options: add Post the text and clear your scratchpad edit Revise the message clear Discard the text and return to entry point list Display the message on screen quit Leave the text and return to entry point Type help or ? to see these options on the screen. The normal response, if you are happy with the text, is to type add, which completes the process of posting your comment in the conference. When you enter add, BIX displays the number it has assigned to your message. 28 BIX User Manual The command send will also post your message to the topic. If you are not content with the text as you've written it, you can enter the editor by typing edit before typing add. See Chapter 5, "Editing Mes- sages," to learn how to use the BIX text editors. To discard the message and wipe your scratchpad clean, type clear. This erases all the text in the scratchpad and returns you to your entry point. To see the contents of the scratchpad, type list. Because BIX does not show you your own messages, it's a good idea to list the message before ad- ding it to a conference. That way you can catch errors before others see them. To think some more before adding your message, type quit. BIX leaves the message in the scratchpad and returns to the Read: prompt where you began writing. NOTE: You cannot edit or change a message after it is posted. You can only withdraw it. Withdrawing a Message You can retract messages you have written. This is especially useful if you change your mind or accidentally add a comment to the wrong conference. To retract your message, type: withdraw xxx where xxx is the number BIX assigned to your message. If you omit the mes- sage number, BIX prompts for it. If you type withdraw after reading your message, that message will be withdrawn. NOTE: You cannot withdraw a message posted by someone else. 29 BIX User Manual Part 3: Intermediate Commands Jumping to Any Message in a Topic You can jump to a specific message within a topic by entering its number. For example, entering: 43 takes you directly to message number 43 no matter where you were in that topic. You can also jump to the beginning and end of a topic. To do this, use the commands first or last. NOTE: Jumping to a message or using the commands first and last, does not mark any intervening message as read or as unread. Once you have read that message, BIX returns to your original position. You can have these messages marked as read or unread; see the discussion on the command skip below. Skipping and Rereading Messages The skip command resets BIX's record of which messages you have or have not read. This lets you bypass messages in a conference and also provides an easy way of rereading old messages. You can skip either forward or backward. For example, by typing: skip to 73 BIX will jump to message number 73, mark every message before 73 as read, and recognize message number 73 as your first unread message. You can also type: skip 20 to move forward 20 messages. This is very useful if you are just joining a conference that has been active for some time. 30 BIX User Manual When you enter: skip to last BIX displays the last message in a topic and marks everything before it as read. You can go back and read earlier messages at your leisure. To jump backward from the last message, type: skip back 10 BIX will skip to the tenth message from the end, and you will have 10 un- read messages. Next The command next takes you to the succeeding topic on your conference list. This command is useful for bypassing those topics that you want to save for later. Enter next from a Read: prompt. Topic The command topic is similar to next, except that you can specify the topic that you want to jump to within a conference. For example, while in the `amiga' conference you decide that you want to go and read about Amiga products in the `prod.desc' topic. From a Read: prompt within the `amiga' conference, you would enter: topic prod.desc If you do not remember a topic name, type: topic BIX will display the topic list for that conference and produce the Topic? prompt. Type in the name of the topic you want. 31 BIX User Manual How to Move Between Conferences You can leave one conference and join another from any Read: prompt. For example, you are in the topic `main' in the `apple' conference. You now want to read the `features' topic in the `microbytes' conference. Here's what you would enter from a Read: prompt: join microbytes features You can jump to a specific message in another conference. For example, let's say that you wanted to read message 110 in the `features' topic in `microbytes.' Here's how you could jump to it: join microbytes features 110 32 BIX User Manual Part 4: Expert Commands Backward and Forward Normally, BIX presents messages from the oldest to the most recent. To temporarily reverse this, so that you can read from the newest to the oldest message, type: backward To restore the normal sequence, type: forward For example, you want to read the `hardware' topic in the `ibm.pc' confer- ence starting with the most recent item and going backward to the oldest. You would type: join ibm.pc hardware last backward Every time you press return BIX moves you backward one message through the messages. You can make backward part of your user profile. See Chapter 8, "Personal BIX," on page 109, for details. Header For a quick review of unread messages, display the message header. Use the header command to identify those messages that interest you. Note the mes- sage number. Later, jump directly to it. Scanning message headers marks those messages as read. If you were to enter: header 103 at a Read prompt, BIX would show you the header for message number 103. You can use current, first, last, and date 33 BIX User Manual with header, as well as select a range of comments. Here are some examples of how you could use the header command: header current to 1156 header current to last header first to 12 header first to last header 63 to last header date 12oct88 to last header date 1feb88 to date 1mar88 header 72 to 84 How to Use the Date Command The date command lets you jump directly to the messages posted on or about a specific date. For -example, type: date 23jun88 to make BIX display a message in that topic posted on or about June 23, 1988. Once you have read that message, BIX returns to your starting point. Using Skip with Date Use the commands skip and date in conjunction to mark as read long stretches of messages. For example, let's say that today's date is November 10, 1988. To make BIX begin displaying messages 1 week old, you would en- ter: skip to date 3nov88 Every message before November 3, 1988, is marked as read. 34 BIX User Manual Part 5: Master Commands Search You can locate all the occurrences of a certain word in a topic using the search command. Enter the search command from the Read: prompt within the topic that you wish to explore. Enclose your search string within single quotation marks. For example: search `modem' When it finds a match, BIX displays the message number and a line of text containing the search string. If the Read: prompt returns, the search was unsuccessful. You can search a range of messages within a topic. For example: search 20 to 87 `modem' will look for any mention of the word "modem" in messages 20 through 87. The parameters of a search can be any BIX message specifier, such as date, first, and last. For example, here's how to search for the word "modem" posted during a particular week: search date 7jan89 to date 15jan89 `modem' NOTE: Searches are not case-sensitive. You cannot search across entire con- ferences, only topics. BIX has a Keyword Indexer that searches across all conferences for a keyword or phrase. See "Keyword Indexer" in Chapter 10, "Advanced BIX Tech- niques," on page 159. 35 BIX User Manual The Abort Key Control-C is your abort key. Please use it only in emergencies, such as to break a long message or an inappropriate search. The Break key supplied with your telecommunications software should also work. Set it for no more than 350 milliseconds. NOTE: Control-C may take a second or two in to take effect. This is due in delays inherent to packetswitching networks. The Break key supplied with your software should work more efficiently than Control-C. It is recom- mended that you use the Break key supplied with your software. Abbreviate BIX Commands In most cases, you can abbreviate BIX commands to their first three charac- ters. For example, joi is the same as join. Again, rather than typing: skip to last you can type: ski to las For a complete list of the abbreviations, see the individual command in the Glossary, on page 181. How to Stack Multiple Commands You can stack multiple commands on a single line to save time. Separate each string of commands with a semicolon ( ; ). For example, if you type: show new; join unix 36 BIX User Manual BIX lists your conferences with unread messages (show new) and joins you to the `unix' conference (join unix). NOTE: You cannot combine search commands on one line because all characters after the command search are part of the string to be found. The BIX Keyword Indexer can search across all conferences for a keyword or phrase. See "Keyword Indexer" in Chapter 10, "Advanced BIX Techniques," on page 159. Order Your Conference Lists When you log on, BIX displays a status report of the new (i.e., unread) messages in all your conferences. This list is based on the order in which you joined the conferences. Use the command order to rearrange or prioritize this list. For example, to place the `pascal' conference in front of the `graphics' conference, you would type, order pascal graphics You can use the specifiers first and last. For example, order pascal first makes `pascal' first on your conference list. Note that: order pascal last puts `pascal' before the last conference. To place `pascal' last on your conference list, BIX requires two steps: order pascal last order last pascal 37 BIX User Manual Use order from the main system prompt ( : ). To use order in the conference area, precede it with the command join. For example, join order pascal first Closed Conferences BIX has two types of conferences, open and closed. Anyone may join an open conference. Becoming a participant in a closed conference, however, re- quires the permission of the moderator. The moderator's name can be ob- tained by using the show command (i.e., show conference name). Send the moderator a mail message requesting to become a participant. Reposting Messages to Other Electronic Systems If you want to give other BIX users permission to transmit a message you have entered in BIX to another electronic conferencing system, enter the following text at the end of your message: This information comes from BIX (R), the BYTE Information Exchange. For additional information about BIX, call 800-227-2983 or 603-924-7681. By adding this to your message, you are notifying BIX users that your mes- sage may be transmitted to another electronic conferencing system without any further approval from you. Of course, you should be sure that you have the authority to permit the message to be transmitted to another electronic conferencing system. 38 BIX User Manual