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Chapter 5: Message Bases 5.1 Introduction and Overview The message bases are normally the heart of a BBS. They allow users to send messages between each other in private, and also join public discussions with multiple people involved. Not only can the message bases be just local, but they can also be linked into networks spanning all over the world. With respect to networks, 4D-BBS does not have a Fido-Net compatible tosser or frontend. There are many freely available public domain and shareware packages for you to choose from. This documentation will explain how to setup 4D-BBS to interact with these packages, but will not explain how to setup the actual tosser/mailer itself. It is assumed that you have already setup the tosser/mailer before you setup 4D-BBS. You can setup 4D-BBS before setting up the tosser/mailer, but you will most likely have to reconfigure many parts of the BBS afterwards. Support of UseNet is accomplished by using the Amiga UUCP package. Again, it is assumed you have this package setup AND operable. The UUCP: and UUMAIL: assigns must be used for support of this package. (Refer to Chapter 14 for more information on network specifics.) 5.1.1 Getting Started Setting up the message bases requires thorough planning before execution to prevent errors. You must first determine if you want to have networked sub-boards. It is usually a good idea to keep your local sub-boards at the front of the list, and your networked sub-boards at the rear of the list. Mixing the lists can be very confusing to users. There are several different types of sub-boards: Mail, NetMail, Local sub-boards, echos, and Newsgroups. 5.1.2 Mail and NetMail Sub-board number 0 is always the E-Mail (private) sub-board. This allows users to send mail to each other without others (aside from the SysOp and the mail addressee) being able to read the mail. In a Fido-Net network, Sub-Board 0 can also be used for Network Mail (NetMail). A piece of mail which does NOT have a destination address will be considered local ONLY, while a piece of mail WITH a network address will be prepared to be sent out the network (by the tosser). There can be MULTIPLE NetMail sub-boards setup, and you DO NOT have to make Sub-Board 0 a NetMail sub-board. If you wish to control which users can send NetMail, but want all to be able to send local mail, then making sub-board 1 a NetMail sub-board can accomplish this. For InterNet style mail, you must setup a SEPARATE sub-board with the "I" flag set. This will be the sub-board users can read and write AmigaUUCP style NetMail messages on (RFC-822 compatible message format). To accomplish this, sendmail from AmigaUUCP must be operable, and found in the "UUCP:C" directory. The directory name associated with this sub-board WILL NOT be used. Instead "UUMAIL:" from the Amiga UUCP package will be used. When a user checks for mail waiting for them on this sub-board, "UUMAIL:" is scanned for a file name which matches the user's UUCP name. Sendmail will handle directing mail to the proper areas, and the "UULIB:Aliases" file is applicable to names used in this sub-board. 5.1.3 Local Sub-Boards, Echos, and Newsgroups A sub-board in 4D-BBS is ANY message area. A Local sub-board is a PUBLIC sub-board which is not networked. This is normally the majority of the sub-boards, unless heavy networking is involved. An "echo" is the term referred to a networked, public sub-board in Fido-Net. The term arises because any messages which are posted to an echo is actually "echoed" to many other sites which have also elected to carry the particular echo. The name of an echo in Fido-Net can be anything you wish, since echos work on a "tag name" concept which are independent of the sub-board name. The directory which you assign to this sub-board will be the link between the tosser and 4D-BBS. You will also be able to assign an address that is independent of all other sub-boards to the echo to support multiple networks. A "Newsgroup" is the term given to an echo in UseNet. Newsgroups are name dependent, so the name of the sub-board is VERY IMPORTANT and must be given exactly. Normally names are a series of smaller parts put together with periods (i.e. "Comp.Sys.Amiga.Datacomm"). Case is not significant in the name as 4D-BBS will return the name into all lowercase before processing it. User's access to a sub-board can be controlled by granting them either NO access, READ only, WRITE only, or BOTH read and write. These options are configurable in both the Message Base and User Editor. 5.2 The Message Base Editor: MB_ED The Message Base Editor can be either run from the WorkBench by double clicking on its icon, or via a CLI by typing its name. From 4D-BBS the editor can be accessed by using the ":Y" menu command or by using the FIFO door menu command (i.e. "M:c F MB_ED"). You can access the Message Base Editor from a CLI, the pull-down menu or the Workbench. You may have to adjust the size of the window in order to see everything being displayed. 5.2.1 The Main List Screen Once the message base editor is executed, the main list screen appears. This is a short, quick listing of the most important attributes of each sub-board. From left to right they are: sub-board number, name, maximum number of messages, start and stop times, number of total hours open, low and high messages, default new and member user's access, sub-board flag, and network address. At the main list screen, you can enter the number of a sub-board to examine and edit the attributes of the sub-board. If there are more than 12 sub-boards, you can go to the next list by pressing Return or "n". You can go directly to the top or bottom of the list by pressing "t" (top) or "b" (bottom). You may also delete a sub-board directly from this menu with the "d" key, or load in different data files, with the "r" key. If you wish to save the changes you have made, select "s" from this menu. Your changes will be saved, and you will be asked if you want to "Save Current access levels to user defaults". This will make the new user and member access fields of this data file the DEFAULT access levels for a new user and a member when first validated. If this is your primary set of sub-boards, you will normally say YES to this question. If this is an alternate set of sub-boards, you will normally want to respond NO to this question. For more information on multiple sets of sub-boards see the later discussion in section 5.3. 5.2.2 Detail Edit Screen Once you enter the number of a sub-board to edit, a new screen will appear. This allows you to edit the attributes of a certain sub-board. Below is a description of each option. Name The name of the Sub-Board. The name of the sub-board can be whatever you wish, except for the previously noted case for a UseNet newsgroup. Maximum length of a sub-board name is 34 characters. Path The path of a sub-board is where the messages for this sub-board should be stored. This path MUST BE UNIQUE in comparison to all other sub-boards. This can also be anything you wish, and does not have to follow any patterns. The default is "Boards:Board_#", where "#" is the number of the sub-board. This was carried over from version V1.65 or prior of 4D-BBS. For a UseNet Newsgroup, this path is normally of the pattern "UUNews:Comp.Sys.Amiga.Datacomm" for versions earlier than 1.16 of UUCP and "UUNews:Comp/Sys/Amiga/Datacomm" for V1.16+. The maximum length of the path can be 68 characters. Flag The sub-board flag tells 4D-BBS what type of message system the sub-board will have. Below is a list of applicable flags. The Name use rules ONLY apply to those systems allowing aliases to be used. See Overview section for information concerning different sub-board types. FLAG SUB-BOARD TYPE NAME USE RULES Y Local Sub-Board Anonymous Names Allowed N Local Sub-Board Anonymous Names Not Allowed R Local Sub-Board Real Names Only F Fido-Net Echo Real Names Only M Fido-Net NetMail Real Names Only U Use-Net Newsgroup Real Names Only I Internet NetMail Real Names Only Low Mess Current low message for this sub-board. Normally this is not edited, since it is calculated by the high message number minus the maximum number of messages. High Mess Current high message for this sub-board. This value is stored in the "1.Msg" file (a Newsgroup uses a file named ".next") in the path specified above. Normally this is not a changeable value, except in case the "1.Msg" (or .next) file is lost, you will need to re-enter this value, or the BBS will restart the numbering of messages at 2. Max Msgs When this number of messages is reached on this sub-board, the lowest message will be deleted after the new message is saved. If storage space is ample, this number can be large. This number should be set proportionate to the number of posts this sub-board receives. On a high traffic sub-board the number should be larger to allow people to read all the messages. For a Fido-Net sub-board (flags "M" and "F") the TOSSER is responsible for deleting messages, and 4D-BBS will NOT delete any old messages, NO MATTER WHAT this value is set to. Newsgroups use an expire theory, where the messages are deleted after being on the system for a certain number of days. 4D-BBS will not delete messages on a Newsgroup sub-board. This number should be an ESTIMATE of the amount of messages normally on the sub-board and will not reflect the ACTUAL number of messages. Max Lines When a user enters a message on this sub-board, this value dictates the maximum number of lines they are allowed to enter. If your computer is low on memory, you can set this to a lower value to save memory. The memory requirement is 99 bytes times this number (i.e. 200 lines would require approximately 20k). Start Hour The time the sub-board opens up allowing users to read and write messages. Stop Hour The time which the sub-board will close and not allow any users to read and write messages. If BOTH start and stop hour are set to "0", the sub-board will be open 24 hours a day. A user with SysOp access overrides these 2 settings, and can always access the sub-board. Fido Adr For a sub-board type "F" or "M", this is the Origin system address which will be included in the message. Normally this will be your system's MAIN Fido-Net address, unless this sub-board is linked into an alternate FTN compatible network (i.e. Amiga-Net or Trek-Net). Status This is the status of the sub-board, and works in conjunction with the start/stop hour. If the setting is closed or open, then the stop/start hour will predict which one is in effect. A setting of Read or Write will limit a user to that one function, regardless if they have access to the other. Finally, a status of hidden will not show the sub-board, regardless of a user's access. Newuser Acc A new user will receive this access for this sub-board. Possible flags are (N)None, (R)Read, (W)Write, (B)Both, and (S)Sub-Sysop (B+Delete). CASE IS SIGNIFICANT; when a user's access is upper case then this sub-board is considered to be MASKED ON. That means in a global scan situation, this sub-board WILL be checked. It is suggested that networked sub-boards be defaulted OFF (lowercase letter). This keeps new users from always scanning network sub-boards when they log on (and puts less wear-and-tear on your hard drive). The user is prompted to set the masks when they logon as a new user, and can change them with the mask editor command. Member Acc Same as "Newuser Acc:" above, except this is the access given to the user for this sub-board when the user is validated from new user status to member status. 5.3 Sets of Sub-Boards It is possible to have different sets of sub-boards. This is accomplished using the menu command to load in an alternate sub-board data file. However, there are problems associated with this. The most significant is that there is no additional last read message pointers in the user file. If multiple sets of sub-boards are required, you must MIRROR your sub-boards access requirements. This problem will be resolved in upcoming V3.0. 5.4 Menu Topology Setups The most common way to setup the message bases on a BBS is to have a separate menu off the main menu, which would contain all the necessary message base commands. This is how the distribution disk is setup. Another popular setup is to integrate the message commands into the main menu. This is basically a merge of the main menu and the message base menu described above. A less commonly used, but interesting topology is the adventure setup. In this setup each menu is its own sub-board area and file transfer area, simulating a small town, castle, or other "setting". As you can see, there are many possibilities you can take with the flexibility of 4D-BBS. Your only limitation is your imagination and patience in designing and creating your masterpiece! 5.4.1 The User Point of View You may give the user any combination of the following 7 commands. Many of the commands have multiple settings or work differently depending on the situation. 5.5 Posting a Message Command Posting a message involves the user creating a message to be sent to either a specific user in the case of E-Mail, or to all users who have access to that particular sub-board in the case of public messages. A person can also reply to another message written by a user. This message is treated a little differently, as it will have a parent message, and the user will also be able to embed or quote parts of the original message in their own message. Whether posting a message, or replying to a message, the user will always see several prompts before actually entering the body of the message. All prompts have defaults which can be accepted by pressing Return. If the post is not a reply, the "Title:" field MUST be filled in, or the post will be aborted. 5.5.1 Posting Options Below are the different types of prompts and their function a user can view while posting or replying to another message. Anonymous If the sub-board is setup to allow anonymous posting, this prompt will query the user whether they would like to post with an anonymous name or not. Anonymous names always have an "*" preceding them to indicate it is NOT a true name. Currently Fido-Net echos, Mail, and Newsgroups do not allow anonymous posters. The default for this is the user's real name. To The name of the message recipient. If the message is NOT a reply, the default for a public sub-board is "All", while the default for an E-Mail sub-board is the SysOp's name. If the message is a reply, the default will be the name of the author of the message being replied to. In the case of InterNet mail, this field will contain both the user name and the address (see the address field below for Fido-Net). UseNet Newsgroups do not utilize this field, and therefore users will NOT be prompted for this when posting or replying on a UseNet Newsgroup. 4D-BBS does NOT check if the user name is valid, since it is possible to post a message to a user who is on another system. It is up to the USER to insure the name is entered correctly. Address System's address of the user of the "To:" field. This prompt will ONLY show up on a Fido-Net E-Mail sub-board. If the message is a REPLY, the default will be the address of the author of the parent message. If this post is NOT a reply, the default will be for local delivery. 4D-BBS will try to decipher the address to find any faults which might possibly be in it, before accepting the address. A Fido-Net address must have a ":" and "/" in it, with an optional "." (i.e.1:346/24 or 1:346/24.5). Title The title of the message being posted. If the message is NOT a reply, pressing Return at this prompt will abort the message. If the message is a reply, a "RE:" will be pre-appended to the title of the parent post (if it does not already start with one) and this will be the default. The user does have the option of changing this. Once the user has successfully completed these prompts, they will then be put into the message entry system to complete the message. (Refer to section 5.9 for using the message entry system.) 5.6 Reading Messages Command Reading messages in 4D-BBS is one of the most commonly used functions by users. Whether it be by the global quick scan option, or by a single read command, the functionality is similar. When talking about the read functions, the term "global read" will be used to reference a read by the menu command ":j" and the term "normal read" will be used to reference a read by the menu command ":p r". (Refer to Chapter 8 for more information on the implementation and usage of these two menu commands.) 5.6.1 Global Quick Scan The most popular type of reading messages by users is the "Global Quick Scan". This is a function which will scan each sub-board the user currently has masked on, and check if there are new messages. If there are, the BBS will put the user at a prompt allowing them to execute any of the message functions. Once the user has read all the new messages on a particular sub-board (or has chosen to skip to the next sub-board without reading all the messages) the BBS will move onto the next masked sub-board until all have been checked. This is a very easy way for users to read all the new messages. The Global Quick Scan is basically a stacked set of read commands. Refer to section 5.6.4 Read Commands below for more information on the specifics inside the Global Quick Scan. 5.6.2 Continuous and Manual Read Modes There are two types of display modes: manual or continuous. In manual mode, the user is prompted after each message is displayed for the next command. In continuous mode the user is never prompted for a command, and all messages will be displayed one after the other until the last message is displayed. If the user is in a Global read mode and selects continue, the BBS will automatically go to the next sub-board and start displaying messages, until ALL sub-boards have been checked. At any time during continuous mode the user can abort the display, in which they will be prompted to abort continuous mode. When a user has ANSI enabled, they can choose between normal read mode, and full screen read mode. In full screen read mode the header information will be kept at the top of the screen, while the body of the message is scrolled underneath it. The user's terminal must support the FULL set of ANSI commands in order for this to work. Normal read mode will simply clear the screen before displaying each message and is slightly faster than full screen read mode. Continuous read mode is normally used when a user wants to capture all the messages into a file, and read them off-line. ANSI Full Screen read mode is not recommended for continuous read mode. ANSI normal read mode will NOT clear the screen before each post in continuous mode (it will clear the screen before each post in manual read mode), and is easier to read in a text file. (Refer to the "C" command in section 5.6.4 for information on how to turn on continuous read mode.) 5.6.3 Message Threading For all sub-boards except UseNet Newsgroups and InterNet E-Mail, message threading is also available. The behavior of message threading is different depending on whether the user is in global read mode or normal read mode. The below dependencies describe the behavior of message threading in the two situations and assume message threading is turned on. If message threading is NOT turned on, a linear read will be used, and threads will be ignored. In global read mode, the BBS will check to see if the message has a parent higher than the user's initial last read message. If so, this message will NOT be displayed, since it should have been displayed already. If the message does not have a parent higher than the initial last read, the message will be displayed and then checked to see if it has a child message. If a child message is found, that message will be displayed, and the BBS will keep following the thread, displaying each message as it goes along, until the end of the thread is found (a message without a child message). At that point, the BBS will go to the message AFTER the original message, and this process will start all over again, until the highest message is reached. Normal read mode with threading is very similar to global read mode except for one slight difference: Each thread is considered to be complete, and in order to display a message that is a part of a thread, the user will have to manually move into that thread. If the user were to start reading at number x, then any threads which started below x WILL NOT be seen. This is confusing to some users, and could possibly change in the future. The structure of message threads are linear, and NOT tree. This means that replies are not necessarily linked to the specific message the user replied to, but are attached to the end of the thread. 5.6.4 Read Commands The following is a list of commands which are available at a normal read prompt. Some commands are not always available, while other commands can only be used by a SysOp or local user. A: Read Message Again Will redisplay the last message the user viewed. B: Back a message Will display the previously displayed message. If threading is enabled, the threads will be searched, so using this command does not always mean going to the message number one below the current message. This command can also be invoked by the "-" or Delete keys. C: Continuous Read Mode Enables the continuous read mode. The user can press a key at any time to abort this mode. (Refer to section 5.6.2.) D: Delete Current Message If the user's account level is "SysOp" or has "S" status for this sub-board or the author of the current message, they can use this command to delete the current message. If this message is in the middle of a thread, the parent and child messages will be updated to point to the other, essentially removing this message from the thread. E: Edit Current Message If the user's account level is "SysOp" or has "S" status for this sub-board or the author of the current message, they can use this command to edit the current message. No changing to the header information is allowed from this. F: Find a Message Allows a user to enter a search string, and the BBS will display any messages which contain the string in the header or the body of the message. H: Help Displays the file "Text:ReadMsg.Help". This is a list of all the read commands. This command can also be invoked by the "?" key. I: Read Individual Message Allows the user to jump to a certain message. Entering "I" can be bypassed by just entering the actual message number at the prompt. J: Jump to End of Thread In thread read mode, this will skip reading the current thread, and go to the next message not associated with the current thread. The messages in the current thread which have NOT been read WILL NOT be displayed. L: Local Save If the user's account level is "SysOp" or they are logged onto the BBS locally, they can use this command to save (or append if the file already exists) the current message to a text file. The user is prompted for a file name and should enter the full path. If just the filename is given the file will be saved in the directory the BBS was started in. M: Send Private E-Mail Allows a user to send private E-Mail to the author of the current message. It is treated as a "reply" so the user can quote any part of the original message. The user can change the name and address if they wish to send E-Mail to a user other than the author of the current message. Currently this message WILL ALWAYS be sent to sub-board 0. This may change in the future to allow the user to select the destination sub-board. N: New Messages This command will display the next unread message on the current sub-board. In global read mode this is the same as pressing Return, unless the user jumped to a certain message. P: Post a Message This will allow the user to enter a new message which is NOT associated with any other messages. If the user wishes to add a message to the current thread, they should use the reply command listed below. (Refer to section 5.5.) Q: Quit Reading Messages Stop reading messages and abort the read command. If in Global read mode this will abort reading ALL sub-boards. If the user just wants to skip this sub-board and go to the next, they should use the Skip command listed below. In normal read mode this will end the reading of messages. R: Reply to Current Message This command allows the user to add a message to the current thread. The message will be added to the END of the thread, and NOT at the point where the user actually replied at. (Refer to section 5.6.3.) S: Skip Reading Messages This command will prompt the user if they would like to have all the messages on the current sub-board marked as read. If the user is in Global read mode, they will then go to the next masked sub-board. If they are in normal read mode, the command will return, as if the "Q" command above was selected. T: Toggle Thread Reading Allows the user to select whether the BBS will display messages in thread sequence, or ignore the message threads and show in numerical sequence. W: Who is the Author If the author is a local user and their account information is public, this command will display the user information about the author. This is very similar to the ":5 w" menu command. Z: Scan Message Headers This will give the user a listing of the titles and authors of the posts on the current sub-board. (Refer to section 5.7.) &: Forward Message This command allows a user to forward the current message to another sub-board. If the user selects a mail sub-board, they can forward this message to another user via mail. This command can also be used to forward a message which is on an inappropriate sub-board to the correct sub-board before deleting it from the inappropriate sub-board. /: Status of Read Mode This command will display the status information about the read mode, including current/low/high messages, date and time, and current sub-board. :: Toggle Display of Toggles the display of kludge lines for Fido-Net Kludge Lines sub-boards. These are lines which begin with "^A", and also include the "Seen-By:" and "Path:" lines at the bottom. For UseNet this will display the entire header before displaying the body. !: Print Current Message If the user's account level is "SysOp" or they are logged onto the BBS locally, they can use this command to print the current message to the "PRT:" port. The format is the same as the local save command mentioned above. No form feeds or padding line feed are printed, so it's up to the user to make sure the printer is ready. If the printer is NOT ready, it can cause the BBS to hang until it is on-line. Use this command with caution when logged on from remote! <: Jump to First Message Displays the first available message on the current sub-board. >: Jump to Last Message Displays the last available message on the current sub-board. .: Toggle Full Screen If ANSI is enabled, this will toggle full screen Read Mode read mode. (Refer to section 5.6.2.) +: Mark Attached If the current message has a file attached with it, File for Downloading the user can use this command to mark the file to download. The file will be added to the mark list, and the user can download it with one of many download commands. They can not however directly download the file. This option will probably be available in the future. : Go to Next Message If the user presses Space or Return, the next logical message will be displayed. (Refer to section 5.6.3.) 5.7 Scanning Messages Command When a user does not wish to read all the messages on a sub-board, this is an excellent command to use to check for any messages that interest the user. This command is especially useful when reading networked sub-boards which have a high amount of traffic. By using this command users can quickly and easily pick out messages to read without having to read all the messages. When first invoked it will display the lowest and highest number of messages on the current sub-board and by default which message it will start scanning at. It defaults to starting at the last message read by the user on the current sub-board. By pressing Return, the user can select the default or they can enter their own starting number. The function will list up to the highest message on the current sub-board. 5.8 Secondary Message Commands The following are descriptions of commands which don't directly manipulate messages but affect the way some of the direct commands function. 5.8.1 Alter Masks This command affects the behavior of many functions associated with messages. When a user sees a list of sub-boards, they will ONLY see the sub-boards which they have masked ON. When they do a Global quick scan, only the sub-boards which are masked ON will be checked. When the user selects this command, they will be presented with a list of the sub-boards they have access to. Any sub-board number preceded by an "*" denotes a sub-board which is masked ON. By selecting the CLEAR option, all sub-boards can be masked off. Similarly, by selecting the ALL options, all the sub-boards can be masked ON. Entering a sub-board number will toggle just that sub-board. By selecting NEXT or PREVIOUS, the user can see all of the sub-boards. Pressing Return will go to the next set of sub-boards, if there is one. If the user wishes to abort the selection and use their original masks, they can select Quit, or they can select Save to update their masks with these new ones. 5.8.2 Listing Sub-Boards When a user sees a list of sub-boards, they are presented with several pieces of information about each sub-board: 00 Personal Mail Open 23 03:00 02:00 RWD 1:346/24 The first column is the sub-board number, followed by the sub-board name. Next is the status of the sub-board as set in the message base editor program (and is also changeable via ARexx). Following the status is the number of hours the sub-board is open, with the starting and stopping hours. Next to the stopping hour are 3 letters showing the access the user has (Read/Write/Delete). Last is the network address of the sub-board, or a blank if it's local only. 5.8.3 Change Current Sub-Board This command dictates which sub-board is current. Many menu commands can be passed a "0" to specify the action should be performed on the current sub-board. This also affects the two EICs which display the current sub-board number and name. Normally this command is used in a menu with an input type of "#". In this case the user is allowed to enter the sub-board number directly without having to go through an intermediate prompt. The ":k 0" command can still be used to prompt the user for the sub-board to be made current. 5.8.4 Macros Users can store up to 2 macros within their user account. These are character combinations that can be used in the message editor. A common use of macros is for a signature line or two at the end of a message. The macros are accessed via the Control-P+Q and Control-P+W commands. When the macro edit command is invoked, both macros are displayed and the user has the option of editing either of them, saving the changed macros into their user account, or aborting the macro edit. When creating a macro, the user can use any Control-P character combination to implement color and styles. EICs are also accessible in macros. 5.9 Message Entry System Command The message entry system allows you or your users to create messages, edit messages, and edit text files. The current message entry system is a line editor. This type of system is compatible with almost every terminal type, since it does not require any special type of terminal emulation to use it. Default parameter for the message entry system is 200 lines, with each line a maximum length of 72 characters. The reason for the 72 character limit is to prevent a quoted post to go over the normal 79 character screen limit. The maximum number of lines is configurable on a per sub-board basis, the edit defaults to 200 lines. 5.9.1 Startup Actions The message entry system can have three different types of opening action: reading in a message or text file, quoting a message, or starting a new message. If Edit a Message was selected, the message will be read into the entry system, and you will be able to start appending to the message. Editing can also be performed on the message at this point using the commands outlined in section 5.9. This mode can also include editing a text file rather than a sub-board message. If the file being edited is a message, you can not change the header information for the message. If you are reading messages and reply to a message, 4D-BBS will automatically display the parent message, to allow you to quickly include, or quote, the relevant part of the parent message in your reply. This allows easy following of replies. See the quote editor command for more information on this function. If you are posting a new message or creating a text file, you will simply be put into the message entry system, with a blank message. You can either start typing your message, or use any of the editing commands described below. 5.10 Entering the Message Command After you are in the message entry system, you can simply type your message. The BBS will automatically word wrap your text, pressing Return is not necessary except to end a paragraph. 5.11 Message Entry Command In order to access the message entry commands, you will need to bring up the command prompt. This is accomplished by typing a "/" at the beginning of a line. A command prompt will then appear, allowing you to enter a command letter. Below is a list of commands, and descriptions of how they work. Note: Some commands may be preceeded with a line number to specify which line the action should be performed on, without being prompted for it. These commands are noted by preceeding them with a number sign. A: Abort Message Entry Allows you to abort the message, deleting any changes to the message you have made. #D: Delete a Line Allows you to delete a single line of text from the message. #I: Insert Text Allows you to insert text before a certain line. Accessing any editing command will stop this mode, and return you to the normal append mode. #L: List Message of Line Allows you to list the entire message, or if you preceed the command with a number, it will only list that line. N: Toggle line Numbers When typing in a message, the editor can display line numbers at the beginning of each line to show you what line number you are currently on. This option is defaulted to off. Q: Quote Parent Message If you are replying to a message, this command will allow you to embed parts of the parent message into your message. After displaying the parent message with line numbers, you will be prompted for the starting and ending lines. The BBS will automatically put the initials of the users followed by a ">" before each line of quoted text. You should only quote relevant parts of the parent message, and very rarely should you ever quote the entire message. S: Save Message This will save the message. If a text file, it will be saved as the specified filename. If a message, the BBS system will assign an appropriate filename according to what message base the message is being saved into. T: Try Again Start over editing or entering this message. This will delete any changes you have made (if any) and allow restart of the Editor.