 The Basics:
 -----------

   Feel free to experiment - you can't hurt the system!

   The first thing to remember about ^variantname is it is message
oriented software, not file oriented.  The system is built around message
handling -- we make it easy for you to read and participate in discussions.

   Our collection of messages is divided into different topics by using
the metaphor of ``rooms'', each having a name.  ^variantname systems
consist of a collection of rooms, each of which contain messages supposedly
pertaining to the name of the room.  So, for instance, you may find rooms
named "Religion", "Abortion", "Stock Market", and "Puns".  You can think of
yourself strolling down a hallway, looking at each room's nameplate and
"entering" those which interest you.

   But how do you use these rooms?  How do I get to have FUN?  (Glad you asked.)
If you're used to other types of BBS software -- forget them.  We'll not
burden you with painful menus to wait and search through.  Instead, we let you
use your intelligence by giving you "mnemonic, single-stroke" commands (it
also doesn't hurt to have a dictionary near your computer when on these
sorts of systems - users tend to be both highly literate and fond of word
games).  Those commands you'll want to use most are available with a single
keystroke, and soon you won't even have to think about using them -- instead,
you'll spend all of your time trying to decide what you wish to contribute to
the discussion.  And you need so few to begin using the system ...

   So just what do you need to use any system?  The basic questions are:

 o How do I read messages?
 o How do I go from one room to another?
 o How do I enter messages?

   Three questions, three easy to remember commands, which you type at a room
prompt.  (What is a room prompt?  A topic name followed by either '>', ')', ':',
or ']' -- just think of those as being the same, although there are subtle
differences.  You are ALWAYS in some room.)

 <N>ew.  By typing 'N' at the room prompt, ^variantname will display all
the "New" messages (that is, those which you've never had a chance to read)
to you in that room.  If you find there are too many messages or they are
displaying too fast for your reading speed, touch <P>ause as they display and
the messages should temporarily pause until you touch some key on the keyboard
again.  You can also do other things while messages display, but you can learn
about them later.

 <G>oto.  When you type 'G' ^variantname will take you from the current room
(and mark all messages in there as "read" by you!) to the next room in the
system which has New messages for you to read, and displays how many new
messages there are in the room and how many are new, like this:

 45 messages
  3 new
 Bubble Gum>

 You don't have to remember
what rooms have new messages and which don't -- the system will do it for you.
This greatly simplifies your use of the system.  When there are no more rooms
with new messages in the system for you to read, the system will take you
back to the room named "^baseroom" and not say anything about new messages.

 <E>nter.  Typing 'E' tells ^variantname you want to enter a message in the
current room.  Message entry is very easy and you'll find some prompts and
instructions for message entry during this process, so we shan't go farther
here.

   As you can see, basic use of ^variantname is very easy.  The general routine
is
<N>ew to read all the new messages in each room, <G>oto to take you to each
room which has New messages, and <E>nter to add to the discussions.  This
covers nearly everything you need to know to make effective use of ^variantname
as a discussion tool: 3 simple commands.

   But there are many other commands to do many things.  The following three
commands you will also use frequently during the course of your enjoyment of
^nodetitle:

 <L>ogin.  You use this command to login each time you call, simply by typing
in your password (either the one you picked or the sysop assigned to you).

 <T>erminate.  This lets you leave the system gracefully.

 <H>elp.  This lets you use the Help system (which you are already in).

   Good luck with the system.  Just poke around, read the discussions, and
enjoy!

 %COMMANDS Back to the commands help menu.
 %HELPOPT Get a list of all help files in the system.
 %MAINHELP Back to the top level of help system.

