Copyright: Copyright © 1996 Galacticomm, Inc.
Citation: Copyright © 1996 Galacticomm, Inc.  All rights reserved.


Contents

The following Help Topics are available:

General Concepts

What are Polls and Questionnaires?

Menus and Toolbar

Toolbar for Polls and Questionnaires

File Menu

View Menu

Icons and Their Meanings

	Poll Questionnaire
	New, not yet taken by you Done, already completed by you Incomplete, partially taken by you but not completed Under Maintenance, being edited by the Poll Operator Unavailable


What are Polls and Questionnaires?

Worldgroups are among the most powerful consensus-finding tools ever invented.  They permit individuals scattered across the planet to come to an electronic "town meeting" and let their concerns be heard.  While Teleconference and Forums offer a dynamic exchange of commentary, they are not well suited to measurement.  Polls and Questionnaires offer users the chance to vote, and offer sysops the chance to get hard facts on voter sentiment.

Businesses use Ps & Qs to find out how customers feel and what they want.  Social groups use Ps & Qs to find out the same information from members.

Some Worldgroups even pay you to vote.  In return for filling out a poll or a questionnaire, you could receive extra file download privileges, extra time online, or other forms of persuasion.

Polls are made up entirely of Yes/No, True/False, and Multiple Choice questions.  This means that responses to a poll can be tabulated, totalled, and averaged to show how The People feel about any topic.

Questionnaires can ask these sorts of questions, but can also ask "essay"-type questions which cannot be averaged.  As a result, questionnaires gather only individual responses.  Sysops often use questionnaires to screen callers who apply for membership.

You'll need to be online to perform most tasks in Polls and Questionnaires.

See also Contents.


Toolbar for Polls and Questionnaires

	Take the currently highlighted poll or questionnaire.  Same as the File menu's Open, or pressing Enter, or double-clicking on the highlighted poll.
	View the totalled/averaged results of the currently hightlighted poll.  Same as the View menu's Results for Poll.
	Look up by User-ID the answers given by one person to the highlighted poll or questionnaire.  Same as the View menu's Results for Individual.


File Menu

Open

Take the currently highlighted poll, the same as pressing Enter or double-clicking on the highlighted poll.

Exit

Close the Polls and Questionnaires module.


Take a Poll

This is where you answer the questions asked by a poll or a questionnaire.

To reach this window, either double-click on the poll or questionnaire you wish to take or highlight it and from the File menu select Open.  The leftmost toolbar button also opens the currently highlighted poll or questionnaire.  Just answer each question in turn.

On occasion, you may notice that the next question changes as you answer the current question.  For example, suppose you were asked the question, "Do you own your own business?"  If you answer "No", there's not much point asking you half a dozen more detailed questions about the business that you don't have.  The poll can use your answer to branch to the next meaningful question.


View Menu

Results for Poll

Displays the tallied results for the currently highlighted poll, supplying vote counts, percentages, and charts of the results.

Results for Individual

Displays the specific responses of a single voter to the currently highlighted poll, looking up the individual by User-ID.

Toolbar

Activates or deactivates the button toolbar.


Results for Poll

This displays the totalled, averaged results of a poll.

To reach this window, highlight the poll you wish to examine.  Then, from the View menu select Results for Poll.  Alternatively, click the middle toolbar button.

Results are displayed in the order in which the poll's questions were asked.  You can use the scroll bar to browse through the results.

This button in the lower lefthand corner of each subwindow displays each question's results in a graph.

Results in Text form

The text of each question appears in the upper lefthand corner of each subwindow, in bold type.  Possible answers are listed in the column directly beneath the question.

The column under the title Matches displays the number of votes received for each possible answer.  The bottom line in this column shows the total number of votes received on this question.  Notice that this total may vary from question to question.  If one of the questions asks, "Do you own your own business?" and branches depending on the answer, not everyone will answer the following, business-related questions.

The far righthand column displays the votes in percentage terms.


Question Results Graph

This graphically displays the results of a single question asked by a poll.

To reach this window, from the View menu select Results for Poll.  Then, from any question listed, click [image].

Graph Type

Select between Bar and Pie chart views of the question's results.

Save

You can save the currently visible graph to a Windows bitmap file (.bmp) or Windows metafile (.wmf).

Print

You can print the currently visible graph to whichever printer is attached to your PC.  You can also save the printer output to a file if your printer's driver supports it.


Save Graph

You can save the graph currently displayed in Question Results Graph to a Windows bitmap file (.bmp) or Windows metafile (.wmf) on your PC.

To reach this window, from the View menu select Results for Poll.  Then, from any question listed, click [image].  Finally, from the Question Results Graph window click Save.

File Name

The text box lets you manually enter the drive:\directory\...\filename.bmp or .wmf into which you wish to save the graph.  Set the appropriate file type in Save File as Type.

The standard list box below the text box displays all files in the current drive:\directory which are of the type selected either by a text box filter or by List Files of Type.

If you wish to save the graph over top of an existing file which is visible in the list box, you can double-click on it, or highlight it then click on OK.

Save File as Type

The dropdown list box lets you save the graph as either a Windows bitmap file (.bmp) or Windows metafile (.wmf).

By default, List Files of Type inserts the *.bmp (bitmaps) filter in File Name's text box.  Even if you hand-type .wmf in the File Name, the file will be saved as a bitmap unless you change Save File as Type to Windows Metafile.

Directories

The list box displays the directory tree of the drive:\ selected below in Drives.  The current directory is the one whose folder icon is open and darkened within.  Any folders listed below it are children subdirectories of the current directory.  Any folders listed above it are parent directories.  Between the list box and the title line Directories: you will see displayed in text the current directory's drive:\path, possibly abbreviated.

Double-click on a directory to switch to it.  If the directory you seek is not visible, double-click on the directory which you know to be its parent.  This list box does not display the entire tree at once, but limits itself instead to the parentage and children of the current directory.

Drives

This dropdown list box selects the drive letter you wish displayed.  Depending on your PC's setup, it may display volume names in [brackets] to the right of each drive letter.

A single click selects a drive letter.  The Directories and File Name list boxes will change to display the new drive's current directory and files.


Look Up Specific User-ID

This is where you can locate the answers a specific individual gave to a particular poll or questionnaire.

To reach this window, from the View menu select Results for Individual.  Alternatively, click on the rightmost toolbar button.

User-ID to Look Up Results For

If you know the exact User-ID of the person you seek, type the User-ID in here.

If you're not sure, click Find...

(Dropdown list)

The dropdown list shows all polls and questionnaires from which you can call up an individual's answers.

Once you've selected a valid User-ID and a poll, click OK.


Results for Individual

This displays the answers given by one individual to a particular poll or questionnaire.

To reach this window, from the View menu select Results for Individual.

The status bar at the top center of the window displays User-ID: poll name

Use the scroll bar to browse through the list of questions.  Click on Close to exit.


Glossary

The following definitions are available:

Bitmap File

C/S (Client/Server) Mode

Client Side

Dumb Terminal

File Transfer Protocol

Metafile

Online, Offline, On Deck

Password

Worldgroup server

Server Side

Sysop

Terminal Mode

User Account

User-ID


Bitmap File

A bitmap is a way to store a graphical image as a rectangular grid of dots (pixels).

For example, this is a bitmap graphic:

	Here it is again 4 times as large.  Bitmaps don't enlarge very well because the information that is stored within them is only accurate down to the size of a single pixel (dot).  Enlarge a bitmap and you get big dots.

On the other hand, bitmaps work very well when they store information which is not meant to be enlarged, reshaped or otherwise manipulated.  Windows icons are bitmaps (stored as .ico files or embedded in .exe files).  Windows wallpaper designs are bitmaps (.bmp).

The Windows program Paintbrush can manipulate .bmp files.

See also Metafile.


C/S (Client/Server) Mode

Two-sided computing: your PC and the Worldgroup server PC both work to satisfy your requests.  Your PC's processing power is not ignored (as with a terminal mode BBS).  In fact, your PC ends up doing most of the work.  C/S mode minimizes wasted time online by letting you do many tasks on deck.

Client/server means that one program (the client) can ask another program (the server) for assistance.  The two programs often run on separate computers connected by a communications link (a network, the telephone system, etc.).

WGM is a client program running on your PC.

The Worldgroup server is a server program running on a remote PC.


Client side

Your PC running WGM is the client side of a client/server relationship.  The remote PC running Worldgroup server software is the server side of the relationship.  The term client side includes:

1) any programs which run on your PC

2) any data, documents, or other files which are stored on your PC

The client side can do many tasks itself, and calls on the server side for tasks it cannot do (exchanging messages with other clients, looking up centralized information, etc.).


Dumb Terminal

A device which has a keyboard, a monitor, possibly a mouse, but has no ability to process data by itself.  A dumb terminal has to be connected to a computer in order to do anything.

Old-style user-side modem programs are known as terminal programs because they make your PC mimic a dumb terminal (thereby wasting your PC's processing power).


File Transfer Protocol

A language for exchanging files between two computers and confirming that what arrives is the same as what was sent.  Common protocols for terminal-mode transfers include ZMODEM, XMODEM, YMODEM-Batch, and Kermit.

WGM in C/S mode uses its own information transfer protocol, GCSP, which uses Dynapaks to exchange all forms of data including files.


Metafile

A metafile is a way to store a graphical image as a collection of shapes, angles, and relative distances.

For example, this drawing is a metafile:

	Here it is again 8 times as large.  Note that its curved edges are far smoother than would be a bitmap of the same size.  Stretched large or small, a metafile is recalculated to provide the most accurate image possible.

Because PC monitors in use today may be set to any of a dozen different resolutions (so many pixels tall, so many pixels wide), we have used metafiles within WGM's help files wherever possible.  This makes it more likely that graphics will appear properly on your display.

The Windows program Paintbrush cannot manipulate .wmf files.

See also Bitmap File.


Online, Offline, and On Deck
Online

Connected.

Your PC is online whenever it is connected to a Worldgroup server.

Offline

Disconnected.

Your PC is offline whenever it is not connected to a Worldgroup server.

On Deck

Disconnected but able to perform tasks.

Your PC is on deck whenever WGM is running the client-side program for a Worldgroup service but your PC is not yet connected to the online service.


Password

The private half of your identification, seen only by the Worldgroup server software and the Sysop.

A password is the confirmation that you are who your User-ID says you are.  Without passwords, someone else could log on using your User-ID and do things that you would be blamed for.  Keep your password secret.

Avoid obvious, easily guessed, passwords.  Make up something that is not your mother's maiden name, not your job title, in fact not anything related to your work.

Don't use a completely random string of characters, though.  "NE1410S" will be hard to remember.  Instead, an effective middle choice is to run two words together which are easily remembered by you but not easily guessed by others.  "Twosun" for example.


Worldgroup Server

Any online service running Worldgroup server software by Galacticomm, Inc.

Online services running other software are not servers in the client/server sense.  WGM drops back to terminal mode in order to communicate with them.


Server side

The remote PC running Worldgroup is the server side of a client/server relationship.  Your PC is the client side of the relationship.  The term server side includes:

1) any programs which run on the Worldgroup server PC

2) any data, documents, or other files which are stored on the Worldgroup server PC

The server side exists solely to do tasks which the client side cannot do itself (exchanging messages with other clients, looking up centralized information, etc.).


Sysop

A System Operator, or Sysop, is the manager of a Worldgroup system.


Terminal Mode

One-sided computing: the software running on the remote computer insists on doing all of the work, so the user's PC might as well be a dumb terminal.  This mindset made sense when computing power was prohibitively expensive.  Today, though, your PC may well be more powerful than the PC running the online service you call.  Even if it isn't, your PC is closer to you than the service's PC.  It can do things without delay, if the software at both ends permits.  Client/server mode permits this.  Terminal mode does not.

WGM falls back from C/S mode to terminal mode in order to communicate with non-Worldgroup online services.


User Account

A list of information including your full name, your mailing address, your telephone number, etc.  In a for-profit online service, the user account may include your credit card number or other method of payment.

User account information is private, seen only by you and by the Sysop.

Your user account is identified by your User-ID and password.


User-ID

The public half of your identification, seen by the software and by other users.

A User-ID is a string of 3 to 29 characters.  On business systems, it is often your full name.  On social systems, it is often a nickname or "handle."  In some situations, a User-ID may be assigned to you, but in most cases you have creative control.

Your User-ID is verified by the password you associate with it.


I never metafile I didn't like

      (Stryker said I could do it! --Marc)


Save As
Save / Save As

This function lets you record information to a disk file on your PC.

File Name

The text box lets you manually enter the drive:\directory\...\filename.ext into which you wish to save the information.  Set the appropriate file type in Save File as Type.

The standard list box below the text box displays all files in the current drive:\directory which are of the type selected by Save File as Type.

If you wish to save over top of an existing file which is visible in the list box, you can double-click on it, or highlight it then click on OK.

Save File as Type

The dropdown list box lets you choose the way you wish the information to be recorded in the file.

For example:

	°	Text is usually saved as .txt (ASCII text).
	°	DOS Batch files are usually saved as .bat.
		Text and Batch files can be safely viewed.  The following file types are machine readable only and so should not be viewed as text:
	°	Programs are usually saved as .com (command) or .exe (executable).
	°	Graphics are often stored as .bmp (bitmap) or .wmf (metafile).
	°	Files are often compressed and packaged into a single file for quicker and simpler delivery.  Such compressed packages are most commonly stored as .zip (PKware format).  In order to extract a zipped file's contents, you need the program PKunzip.exe.
	°	The results of searches in File Libraries should be saved as .gfl (Galacticomm's file library format) if you wish to use the list to tag files to be downloaded.
Other forms of data will come with choices appropriate to them.

Directories

The list box displays the directory tree of the drive:\ selected below in Drives.  The current directory is the one whose folder icon is open and darkened within.  Any folders listed below it are children subdirectories of the current directory.  Any folders listed above it are parent directories.  Between the list box and the title line Directories: you will see displayed in text the current directory's drive:\path, possibly abbreviated.

Double-click on a directory to switch to it.  If the directory you seek is not visible, double-click on the directory which you know to be its parent.  This list box does not display the entire tree at once, but limits itself instead to the parentage and children of the current directory.

Drives

This dropdown list box selects the drive letter you wish displayed.  Depending on your PC's setup, it may display volume names in [brackets] to the right of each drive letter.

A single click selects a drive letter.  The Directories and File Name list boxes will change to display the new drive's current directory and files.


Find...

This function helps you find the correct spelling of a person's User-ID.

Although people commonly use their full names as User-IDs, you need to remember that a User-ID is a single string.  That is, the User-ID "Carolyn G." will appear before the User-ID "Kelly B." because the letter C comes before the letter K.

Type your best guess in the User: field

As with almost everything in Worldgroup, UPPER/lower case doesn't matter:  "Tyler" equals "TYLER" equals "tyler".

Click on the Search button

If the function finds any matches, the window will enlarge to display a list of possible matches.  Select the one you wish either by double-clicking it, or by single-clicking it then clicking the OK button.  The selected User-ID will be returned to the window from which you called Find...

If the function does not find a match, try a shorter string in the User: field.  Although you can type in a full name, it's generally better not to.  If you ask for "reginald" but he signed up as "Reggie", the search won't find him.  You're better off searching for "reg".

Notice that you can search for a person by last name, or even partial last name.  It will not find "Ann Owen" if you type in "we", however.  The search string in User: must be the beginning of a word if not a whole word.


Print

This function sends data to your printer.  It suggests Number of copies: 1 but will accept as many as 999.  From this point on, Windows takes over.

If you simply click on OK (or press Enter), Windows will print the data on whatever default printer you've set in Control Panel's Printers area.

If you click on Setup..., Windows will first bring up the printer setup window which will let you choose which printer (or file) will receive this data.


Edit Toolbar

This window lets you choose which buttons are displayed on the toolbar and which are not.  Notice that not all of the buttons you add will necessarily appear immediately after you save your edits.  It may be inappropriate to display a particular button at this moment but, when it becomes appropriate, the button will be displayed.

Add/Remove a Button

A single mouse click on any of the buttons listed here, or on the description beside it, will toggle between displaying the button on the toolbar and not displaying it.  Highlighted means the button has been included/added to the current toolbar.  Not highlighted means the button has been excluded/removed from the current toolbar.

Add All

This button highlights every button in the list, including/adding all of them.

Remove All

This button unhighlights every button in the list, excluding/removing all of them.

Save

Once you've edited this toolbar to your satisfaction, click this button to save your changes.  Not all of the buttons you add will necessarily appear immediately.  It may be inappropriate to display a particular button at this moment but, when it becomes appropriate, the button will be displayed.