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Caller's Guide to RoseMail Wide Beta Version Sun 7 Feb 1993, 17:46 Written for the RoseMail Team: Developers, Sysops and Callers by Carol Whitney Formatted for 10-itch monospace font! Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page ii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Caller's Guide To RoseMail. . . .xiii INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ROSEREADER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 ABOUT THIS GUIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 A Tip: Use the Table of Contents to guide you . . . . . . . 2 Explanation of terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Typing commands shown in the text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 INTRODUCTION TO ROSEMAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 What is RoseMail?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 How did RoseMail start?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Masses of Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 RoseMail's companion offline reader: RoseReader . . . . . . 6 Program(s) you need in order to use RoseMail . . . . . . . . 7 Trying out and registering RoseReader. . . . . . . . . . . . 8 A note on terminology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 PART I: CONFERENCES AND MESSAGES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 HOW MESSAGES AND CONFERENCES ARE ORGANIZED . . . . . . . . . . 10 Conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Types of conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Cross-echoed conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Local conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Main Board Conference (Conference 0). . . . . . . 13 Local participation and flavor. . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Echo conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Echo participation and flavor . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Determining the network a conference belongs to . . . 14 HOW ECHO MAIL WORKS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Network (Echo) Mail Transfers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page iii Your echo messages go out in a REP file. . . . . . . . . . 15 New echo messages arrive in a QWK file . . . . . . . . . . 15 What happens to the echo message you post. . . . . . . . . 16 PRIVATE MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Message Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Privacy of Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Personal ("private") messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Personal Echo messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Forced Echo conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 ANATOMY OF A MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The message header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The message footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Taglines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Origin Tagline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Location lore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Reader tagline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A little game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 YOUR PARTICIPATION: EXCHANGING PUBLIC MESSAGES WITH OTHERS. . 24 Principles of traditional message-writing. . . . . . . . . . 25 Lurking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Local vs. Echo conference posts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Threads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Subject headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Referring to previous messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Carbon copies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Cross-posting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Flames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Details of traditional message-writing . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Date and Time Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Lines and boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Smiley Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ASCII Control characters (decimal 0-31). . . . . . . . . . 35 IBM Extended character set (ASCII, decimal 128-255). . . . 35 ANSI sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Quoting from the message you reply to. . . . . . . . . . . 36 Quoting etiquette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Final checks on the messages you will post . . . . . . . . . 40 Enjoy your message exchanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page iv PART II. USING ROSEMAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 QUICK-START. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Configure RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Conventions used in this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Terminology for Command prompts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Terminology for entering commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Type commands in upper or lower case . . . . . . . . . . . 44 What is Mail?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 "Online" Mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 "Offline" Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 The message packet you receive: BBS.QWK . . . . . . . . . . 45 Your offline mail reader (RoseReader?) . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The message packet you send: BBS.REP. . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Sending your replies to RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Managing Mail Packets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Managing your conference and message selection . . . . . . . 48 Message numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Message pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 How RoseMail keeps track of your messages. . . . . . . . . 51 Changing your message pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 SETTING UP ROSEMAIL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 How to get into the RoseMail Message Centre. . . . . . . . . 52 Backing out of the menus (quitting). . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Giving commands to RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Toggle commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Help!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 What to do before you download mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Selections to make during your first RoseMail session. . . 55 IMITATION SESSION WITH THE ROSEMAIL MESSAGE CENTRE . . . . . . 55 Start RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 RoseMail New User Welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 RoseMail Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 RoseMail Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 List of Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 The Options command prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Selecting Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Quit a menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Select Compressor and Transfer Protocol. . . . . . . . . . . 62 Select Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page v Select conferences individually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Select and deselect multiple conferences . . . . . . . . . 68 Select multiple conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Deselect multiple conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Select the last nnn messages in a range of conferences. 70 Multiple screens of conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 THE MAIL CYCLE: Receiving a packet and sending replies . . . . 71 Downloading the mail packet (BBS.QWK). . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Abort the mail scan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Accept or refuse the mail packet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Uploading your BBS.REP file (sending your reply packet) . . 76 Capture of BBS.REP Upload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Turn script prompts on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Upload BBS.REP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Abort the upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Messages rejected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Messages distributed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 STRATEGIES FOR USING ROSEMAIL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Usefulness of the capture file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Other RoseMail selections (files). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Add-In Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Other RoseMail Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 CALL the sysop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Colour [M]ode toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 e[X]pert mode toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Script prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 RoseMail's Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Options Help prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Option 2: Download empty packets. . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Option 3: Flush the input buffer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Option 4: Include the welcome screen. . . . . . . . . . . 93 Option 5: Include bulletins.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Option 6: Upload file listings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Option 7: Download file listings. . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Option 8: Include a copy of the session.. . . . . . . . . 95 Option 9: Use script commands.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Option 10: Use fast start sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Option 11: Prescan during event.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Option 12: Download your replies. . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page vi Option 13: Use current date/time. . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Option 14: Include NEWS file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Option 15: Delay script prompts.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Option 16: Automatic Repeat Downloads.. . . . . . . . . . 100 Repeat Download packet names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Option 17: Small CONTROL.DAT file.. . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Option 18: Empty packets on mail only.. . . . . . . . . . 103 Option 19: Send user information. . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Option 20: Do not send NDX files. . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Action menu: Personal mail download . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Configuration menu: select networks to read . . . . . . . . 104 Controlling your message pointers in RoseMail. . . . . . . . 106 Taking messages in RoseMail that you have read in PCBoard. . 106 Selecting a mail packet by the date of messages. . . . . . . 107 What to do if you lose a QWK file: Reset Message Pointers . 109 Set limits on the size of your mail packet . . . . . . . . . 111 Set the maximum number of messages per conference. . . . . 112 Set the total number of messages per packet. . . . . . . . 113 Set maximum expanded size of your packet . . . . . . . . . 113 JumpStart (AutoStart): Automatic sequences. . . . . . . . . 113 Set up JumpStart (AutoStart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Enter JumpStart Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 JumpStart: Startup Timer or Abort Start. . . . . . . . . . 115 COMMAND SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Commands you can issue from the PCBoard command prompt . . . 116 Commands you can issue from inside RoseMail. . . . . . . . . 117 Action Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Configuration Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Commands to select conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 OFFLINE CONFIGURATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Add a conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Add a conference and take only your personal mail. . . . . . 120 Remove (DROP) a conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Set your message pointer in a single conference. . . . . . . 121 Add a conference and download only the last (nnn) messages . 122 Download only the last (nnn) messages in a selected conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Combine all your configuration commands into one message . . 122 TABLE 1. OFFLINE CONFIGURATION COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page vii TABLE 2: SCRIPTING PROMPTS AVAILABLE IN ROSE MAIL.. . . . . . 126 ENVOI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 RoseMail 2.00: New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 New conference selection command: Y]All . . . . . . . . . 136 Option 21: Repeat download after Prescan. . . . . . . . . . 136 Option 22: Repeat scans continue. . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 ROSENET MAIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Introduction to RoseNet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 RoseNet Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Range for RoseNet messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 RoseNet Message features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page viii List of Figures Figure 1. Message text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Figure 2: Excessive and Cruel Quoting . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 List of Screens Screen 1. The RoseMail Command prompt.. . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Screen 2. Starting RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Screen 3. Loading ROSEMAIL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Screen 4. Message from RoseMail for a new user. . . . . . . . 57 Screen 5. RoseMail's main menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Screen 6. RoseMail Options 1-10.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Screen 7. The Options command prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Screen 8. RoseMail Options 11-20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Screen 9. Toggling an Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Screen 10. Quitting a menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Screen 11. Choosing the compression program.. . . . . . . . . 63 Screen 12. Choosing the Transfer Protocol.. . . . . . . . . . 63 Screen 13. Enter "s" to select conferences. . . . . . . . . . 64 Screen 14. Select Conferences.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Screen 15. Choose Personal, All public messages, Your mail and messages to ALL, or Deselect the conference. . . . . . . . . 66 Screen 16. Choose All public messages, and select Last Read Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Screen 17. Selected Conferences Marked. . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Screen 18. Download the mail packet.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Screen 19. How to abort the scan for messages.. . . . . . . . 72 Screen 20. The download scan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Screen 21. Compressing, and reminding which protocol you chose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Screen 22. Download Successful, Goodbye.. . . . . . . . . . . 75 Screen 23: Quit RoseMail and return to PCBoard. . . . . . . . 75 Screen 24. PCBoard awaits your next command.. . . . . . . . . 75 Screen 25. RoseMail's prompt to upload BBS.REP. . . . . . . . 76 Screen 26. RoseMail Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Screen 27. RoseMail <PROMPTS ON>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Screen 28. Begin uploading BBS.REP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Screen 29. Messages Rejected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Screen 30. RoseMail lists the uploaded messages.. . . . . . . 82 Screen 31. The RoseMail ADD command.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page ix Screen 32. RoseMail's Add-in Selection menu.. . . . . . . . . 86 Screen 33. Add-In file is toggled ON. . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Screen 34. Download scan shows Add-in files.. . . . . . . . . 87 Screen 35. Options Help prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Screen 36. Option 2: Download empty packets. . . . . . . . . 90 Screen 37. Option 3: Flush the input buffer. . . . . . . . . 91 Screen 38. Option 4: Include the welcome screen. . . . . . . 93 Screen 39. Option 5: Include bulletins.. . . . . . . . . . . 93 Screen 40. Option 6: Upload file listings. . . . . . . . . . 93 Screen 41. Option 7: Download file listings. . . . . . . . . 94 Screen 42. Option 8: Include a copy of the session.. . . . . 95 Screen 43. Option 9: Use script commands.. . . . . . . . . . 96 Screen 44. Option 10: Use fast start sequence. . . . . . . . 96 Screen 45. Option 11: Prescan during event.. . . . . . . . . 97 Screen 46. Option 12: Download your replies. . . . . . . . . 98 Screen 47. Option 13: Use current date/time. . . . . . . . . 98 Screen 48. Option 14: Include NEWS file. . . . . . . . . . . 99 Screen 49. Option 15: Delay script prompts.. . . . . . . . . 99 Screen 50. Option 16: Automatic Repeat Downloads.. . . . . . 100 Screen 51. Option 17: Small CONTROL.DAT file.. . . . . . . . 102 Screen 52. Option 18: Empty packets on mail only.. . . . . . 103 Screen 52. Option 19: Send user information. . . . . . . . . 103 Screen 54. Option 20: Do not send NDX files. . . . . . . . . 104 Screen 55. Listing the networks available.. . . . . . . . . . 105 Screen 56. Selecting networks.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Screen 57. Selecting conferences by DATE. . . . . . . . . . . 108 Screen 58. Upload BBS.PTR (Reset Message Pointers). . . . . . 110 Screen 59. Set pointers "Before" or "After" your BBS.PTR file 110 Screen 60. Select Before or After.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Screen 61. Set the maximum number of messages per conference. 112 Screen 62. Set the total number of messages per packet. . . . 113 Screen 63. Set the maximum expanded size of your packet.. . . 113 Screen 64: Set up JumpStart (AutoStart) . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Screen 65. Enter JumpStart Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Screen 66. JumpStart: Startup Timer or Abort Start. . . . . . 115 (RoseReader) RoseNet conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 List of Tables TABLE 1. OFFLINE CONFIGURATION COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . 123 TABLE 2: SCRIPTING PROMPTS AVAILABLE IN ROSE MAIL.. . . . . . 126 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page x Wide Beta Release Notes, Sun 7 Feb 1993, 17:54 Hi RoseMail and RoseReader Friends, Thank you for participating in the wide beta testing of RoseMail and RoseReader. This documentation is included as part of the test, and I hope you will comment on it and point out areas that need fixing. RoseMail and RoseReader have been a great joy to me for about two years now, and the documentation I am submitting is an expression of that joy. I am very much hoping that you will use whatever parts of this Caller's Guide to RoseMail will please and assist you - and that, if you have a few minutes, you will PLEASE submit your remarks, containing your suggestions for improvement of this documentation. Please make your remarks in the Rose, RoseMail, or RoseReader conferences, whichever is easy for you to access. Also, written submissions are most welcome. You may write to Carol Whitney at R.R. 2, Sooke, B.C., V0S 1N0, Canada. I may not always reply, because I get VERY busy, but I will listen and read, and in one way or another, acknowledge the work you put into this. Before I introduce you to this documentation, I want to thank Vic Kass and Drew Miller for the many, many times they have helped me by providing information and updates. And I'd like to thank Joan Latam for the countless hours she has spent reading my messages, and A. Nonny Mouse for the delightful laughs he has given me. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page xi Caller's Guide to RoseMail: Notes for the wide beta release Friends, this guide was written for version 1.70. A few notes on the new version, RoseMail 2.00, are included at the back of the original Guide, to help you get working with the RoseNet routed, registered mail system. Also, there are some remarks on the REG and KEY commands that you will find in your RoseMail door, and some other notes may be added as things happen. During the wide beta testing of RoseMail and RoseReader, I will be updating this documentation for version 2.00. I look forward to your suggestions and comments. Please be nice :-) If you are NICE, I will accept criticism with equanimity. Just SAY it nicely. <hehe> So you may feel free to point out anything that is wrong, or that you find confusing. Thanks, friends --Carol Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Caller's Guide To RoseMail -------------------------------------------- Thanks to the RoseMail team: To the designer/engineer of RoseMail, Vic Kass, thanks for cooking up a program that attracted the attention of this slightly cynical messenger, for solidity, speed, and delighful design in his program. To Drew Miller, RoseMail programmer, special thanks for the many late night replies to long, hazy, fuzzy, questions while his eyes turned square in response to the modem lights. To A. Nonny Mouse, thanks for jumping in with a sqweeeeeek! message to light up the night in the dark hours of winter. Thanks to Victorians - of the Victoria, B.C. area: To Joe Macmurchie, Chief Sysop of Big Blue & Cousins BBS, for tolerating the trials of this Baby Sysop with the greatest of good humor, and even jumping in at crucial moments with information that led Baby Sysop safely through the Marshes of Multi-Nodes and NetMail. To Joe Carr and Steve Holland, co-sysops of Big Blue & Cousins for lifting Baby Sysop out of the Quicksand at crucial moments. To Geoffrey Mason, who took many long hours putting an early draft of the Caller's Guide through his mental shredder with the assistance of his trusty computer and modem. Thanks also to Bill Hadden for reading and useful suggestions. To the callers who assisted my explorations: most particularly, to Warren McFadyen, who called repeatedly under trying circumstances. and to Matthew Skala for similar assistance. Also, to Geoff Mitchell, Don Malins, Murray Ryan, Dan Jaundrew, Brian Grainger, Robby Robson, and the other callers who put up with various oddities and sundries. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page xiii Very special thanks to Sysop Catherin Gregory and Co-Sysop Kjell Ohlsson of Earthshine BBS for regular and sometimes surprising (to them, and sometimes to me) assistance as beta testers of the Sysop's Guide and of the resulting RoseMail arrangements. Special thanks also to the staff at Clark Development Company for excellent support, particularly to David Terry, Steve Catmull and Michael Leavitt for fast and complete replies to my questions about PCBoard, and for their infinite patience with me. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 1 CALLER'S GUIDE TO ROSEMAIL INTRODUCTION ------------ This is the first release of the "Caller's Guide to RoseMail". Our purpose is to explain as clearly as possible how to use RoseMail, whether for brand-new callers, experienced callers, or callers whose first language may not be English. As a service to new callers, Rose Media Incorporated also provides here a guide to the traditional exchange of messages on a PCBoard Bulletin Board System (BBS). We hope you will enjoy this guide. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please send your electronic mail in the RoseMail Support conference on any of the following BBS networks: RoseNet, NaNet, Intelec, Smartnet or Intelec. ROSEREADER ---------- You may wish to try the offline mail reader RoseReader, which is available from Rose Media BBS in a Test Drive version. Callers to certain BBSs can obtain free copies of this reader that will work with the local BBS only, by registering in the RoseMail Door. Your sysop can tell you whether your BBS offers this feature. To obtain your copy, you type "REG" in the RoseMail Door. Response from those who have tried RoseReader is enthusiastic. Your guide's writer uses it with delight. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 2 ABOUT THIS GUIDE ---------------- A Tip: Use the Table of Contents to guide you ---------------------------------------------- For a tour of this guide which will help you understand RoseMail, read through the Table of Contents, which is very detailed. The Table of Contents, besides performing its usual task of leading you to appropriate places in the text, will provide you with a broad view of the material, and orient you to the topics under discussion. It will also lead you to definitions, in context, of terms you may not be familiar with. Explanation of terms -------------------- Terms are explained in context as they occur, and a glossary is provided at the end of this guide. Typing commands shown in the text --------------------------------- Commands you type at the keyboard are sometimes illustrated in this guide enclosed in quote marks. Do not type the quote marks. Just as DOS and PCBoard do, RoseMail accepts commands in lower case, upper case, or mixed case. You may type commands to RoseMail using any of these. INTRODUCTION TO ROSEMAIL ------------------------ This section provides you with a very quick tour of RoseMail and its potential use for you. The technical material included here is treated in more detail later in this guide. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 3 What is RoseMail? ----------------- RoseMail is a program that your BBS "sysop" (System Operator) installs as a "door" program, on top of PCBoard. PCBoard is the software that runs the BBS. It answers your call and lets you give it commands. When you type a command to "open" the RoseMail Door, you leave PCBoard and find yourself in RoseMail. From RoseMail, you can download (receive) a compressed packet of messages from the conferences that you choose to read. You read these messages "offline" - that is, on your own computer, not connected to the BBS at all. Later, you go "online" again; that is, you log onto the BBS, open the RoseMail Door, and send a compressed packet of your replies and new messages. The missing link in this chain of events as described so far is the program - the "offline mail reader" - that you need to read and reply to the mail contained in the packet you receive. There are now numbers of these programs, and your BBS probably has several available that you can download, probably including RoseReader, which is written to take advantage of all RoseMail's features, once it is registered (paid for). What is the significance of all this? Simply, once you have acquired an offline mail reader, you can spend a short time connected to the BBS, downloading (receiving) a mail packet or uploading (sending) your replies, instead of spending a long time online, reading and replying to messages, using up your precious allotted time on the BBS, and perhaps contributing also somewhat more than you like to the well-being of your telephone company. You can see that reading and replying to messages "offline" provides convenience to you in scheduling this activity. You use only a short time on the BBS, which may save you in telephone charges. You can download quite a large packet of messages, and find those that interest you by using your mail reading program's text search and indexing features. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 4 RoseMail, then, can serve as a fast and convenient link between the PCBoard Bulletin Board software and you and your electronic mail. All you need to do is obtain a program that will read your mail offline. Naturally, we recommend RoseMail's companion program, RoseReader, for this purpose. You will find some information about RoseReader below. For you, the caller, RoseMail provides files or packets of messages in a format called "QWK-compatible." For the person who runs your BBS, namely, your System Operator, or sysop, RoseMail provides a way to exchange messages between BBSs fast and easily. To help you understand what "QWK-compatible" means, we present you with an extremely brief history of how RoseMail came about. How did RoseMail start? ----------------------- A few years ago, a team of seven people worked together to establish a program that would allow the rapid and easy exchange of messages between BBSs running on PCBoard software, and from any of these BBSs to its callers. Among this team of seven were Vic Kass, the developer of RoseMail, and Mark "Sparky" Herring, who wrote the program code for the QwikMail (now called "Qmail") Door. Mark Herring assigned the DOS filename extension "QWK" to the mail packets created by the QwikMail Door. In the last couple of years, several people have written mail doors that use the same file formats as those of the original QwikMail. There are several for PCBoard, and a number of others for other kinds of BBS software. Incidentally, even more people have written programs to read the mail packets. Now that there are many of these, all using the same file formats, it has become traditional to call them "QWK- compatible", which means that you can use any of these programs to read mail packets you download from a mail door that also uses the QWK file formats. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 5 A message written by the developer of RoseMail and RoseReader, Vic Kass, about February, 1992, throws a little light on the origins of RoseMail. Responding to an inquiry about RoseMail, he wrote the following (slightly edited to maintain clarity for callers unfamiliar with mail doors): A message written by Vic Kass, the developer of RoseMail -------------------------------------------------------- [message written about February, 1992] Being the 'engineer' behind RoseMail/RoseReader, I'm obviously prejudiced. Perhaps it would help to explain how RoseMail happened. About four years ago, I was one of the original 'group of 7' behind the startup of Qmail [the original mail door for PCBoard]. We were involved in almost day to day discussions to help . . . develop and debug Qmail. After two and a half or so years of this . . . I decided that there had to be a better way. Rose Media is a 25+gig[abyte] 55 line system. The only source of irritation we had was the continually failing mail door. . . . . Rose Media has always run alpha/beta [RoseMail] code [code from a program under development, not yet finalized] since it was installed here about a year ago. There have been in excess of 500,000 entries into RoseMail in that time - without a single hang [freeze-up of a computer system caused by problems with a program]! . . . . In conjunction with RoseReader, the door supports fully automated mail and file transfers. . . . Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 6 RoseMail/RoseReader were developed by a team of professional software engineers. . . . There is a MAJOR commitment to the Rose software far into the future. Microsoft's use of our Rose products is a pretty good endorsement. RoseMail and RoseReader are available for download on Rose [as well as most major BBS's around the world;] (free download to anybody - just check the top of our Files Area 30). . . . [RoseMail is] fully functional [in its Test Drive, or, unregistered, trial version] except for NetMail transfers so you can see what it's all about. Registration [which enables the exchange of messages between BBSs] is easy via a 1K Key file from the Register Door on Rose [Media BBS]. . . . Regards ........ Vic. Masses of Messages ------------------ The growth in number of messages exchanged over the last few years is phenomenal, as more and more people acquire computers with modems, and get bitten by the bug of exchanging messages on BBSs. These exchanges, which provide fun and information for still- increasing numbers of people, continue to be assisted by the sysops and programmers who devote so much time and energy to keeping us supplied with programs to make message exchange easy. RoseMail's companion offline reader: RoseReader ------------------------------------------------ RoseMail has a companion offline mail reading program called RoseReader, which was written to take advantage of all RoseMail's features. Unlike some of the other offline mail readers, RoseReader is a commercial program. It is distributed by being made available on BBSs. Your RoseMail sysop probably has RoseReader available for download. When you download RoseReader, you can explore its mail-reading features on a limited number of conferences, and on a limited number of messages per conference. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 7 With the unregistered, Test Drive version of RoseReader, you can use its communications program to download your mail packets and send your reply packets. If you register RoseReader, you get a ROSEREAD.KEY file that unlocks other features of this program, including automatic file transfers. Since RoseMail and Rosereader are written to work together, RoseReader is mentioned in this guide where appropriate to the purpose. Any "QWK-compatible" offline reader will work with RoseMail, but only RoseReader will take advantage of all RoseMail's features. Program(s) you need in order to use RoseMail -------------------------------------------- Besides the offline mail reader we have already mentioned, you may also need a compressor/decompressor program. This is a program that compresses a computer file so that it takes up considerably less space than normal, thus allowing fast transfer over phone lines. Compression programs also come with decompression programs, so that once you have received a compressed file, you can decompress it. Mail packets are compressed, so you will need the decompressor to read your mail packet. Your replies must be compressed to be sent back through the mail door, so you will also need the compressor. You might ask your sysop which compressor/decompressor program you should download. Also, you will need a communications program, and you will need a text editor, or a word processor that saves files in pure text (ASCII, or DOS Text) format. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 8 However, if you use RoseReader, you will need no other programs, providing your mail packets are compressed using PKZIP or PKARC. RoseReader contains internal compression and decompression that is compatible with PKZIP and PKARC. At the time of this writing (March 1992), most sysops make PKZIP available in RoseMail. RoseReader also provides a full communications program and a choice of text editors which it includes internally. You may install your favorite text editor or word processor and use it with RoseReader if you prefer. See also the information in Part II on choosing your compression program in the RoseMail Door. Trying out and registering RoseReader ------------------------------------- To try RoseReader, look on your BBS for files named !RR170x.ZIP, or perhaps RR170x.ZIP, where "x" is a letter. If you cannot find the RoseReader files on your BBS, they are always available from File Directory 30 on Rose Media BBS, at (416) 733-2285. Look for the files: !RR170A.ZIP !RR170B.ZIP !RR170C.ZIP !RR170D.ZIP The filenames on Rose Media are preceded by an exclamation point ("!"), which puts them at the top of the list of files. If you call a different BBS for the files, the "!" may not be present. Also, there may be other files added since the time of this writing (March, 1992), so be alert for that possibility. The !RR170x.ZIP (or RR170x.ZIP) files provide you with the Test Drive version of RoseReader 1.70. With these, you are somewhat limited in what you can accomplish. However, enough features are enabled so that you can read and reply to some messages in some conferences, and try out the RoseReader Communications. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 9 When you register RoseReader, you download a very small (1024-byte) ROSEREAD.KEY file from Rose Media BBS. This file unlocks the features of RoseReader. You can register the Platinum version of RoseReader for $45.00 Canadian. The ROSEREAD.KEY you get with the Platinum version unlocks all of the RoseReader features. A note on terminology --------------------- For a list of common terms with definitions, see the Glossary at the end of this guide. Throughout this guide, we use simple DOS terminology. Your DOS manual will provide assistance if you need it. The procedures explained in this guide are simple enough for anyone who has gone so far as to learn to use a modem with a BBS. If you read the portions of the guide that concern you at the moment, you should have no difficulty with terms. PART I: CONFERENCES AND MESSAGES --------------------------------- The technical information contained in this introductory section is basic and simple. It should assist you in developing your techniques for exchanging messages with others. This section also tells you something about what other callers, some of whom may be sysops, conference moderators, or even the administrators or heads of echo mail networks, might expect from you, the new caller. Mostly, we deal with the format of your message, since this affects how your message is received by others - often, to the extent of whether your message gets read or not. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 10 We also include a few remarks about message content. In the remarks on both formatting and content, we are purposely conservative, because the methods we suggest have been tried and tested by many a messenger, and they are known to be effective in this somewhat strange world where we callers are guests of sysops. Since exchanging messages on a BBS is always an adventure, we suspect that if you are reading this guide, it is with the intent of pursuing the adventure available. In the following sections, we show you how messages fit into the "conference" structure on a BBS, and explain how public and private messages work. We explain how messages are transferred from one BBS to another, so that people who live far apart can read and reply to each other's messages. Next we illustrate the elements of a message. Then we outline the bare bones of "BBSing" etiquette, so that you can start exchanging messages without unintentionally treading on toes, leaving you free to enjoy your participation to the fullest. For people accustomed to writing with little restraint, "BBSing" may feel strange at first, because some reasonable self-restraint enhances your participation. The public exchange of messages on BBBs does, however, leave plenty of room for you to express your thoughts and opinions, even unpopular ones. The self-restraint required by most networks is merely that you should not attack other messengers personally. Differences of opinion are generally very welcome. We offer this material with the idea that you should jump in, be yourself, and flourish in this wonderful medium. HOW MESSAGES AND CONFERENCES ARE ORGANIZED ------------------------------------------ This section explains some concepts you need to understand in order to use the RoseMail Message Centre (abbreviated here as "RoseMail"). RoseMail requires the BBS software called "PCBoard" in order to run. So, wherever you find RoseMail, PCBoard is the underlying bulletin board software that is running the system you call. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 11 The conference and message organization of PCBoard is carried over into RoseMail, so if you are familiar with PCBoard, you will feel at home with RoseMail. However, if you have not exchanged messages using PCBoard, RoseMail will lead you through every step as you read and post your first messages. Conferences ----------- If you have exchanged messages using PCBoard, you are aware that they are organized into various conferences, depending on their topics. You can post a message in any conference your sysop (system operator) makes available to you for this purpose. Depending on the size of the BBS, the one you call may carry tens, hundreds, or even thousands of conferences, most of which will be devoted to specific topics. A few of the conferences may provide special services. Types of conference ------------------- Some conferences are local to your BBS, so that only callers who call that same BBS can read and post in them. Other conferences, designated "echo" conferences by your sysop, are copied from and to other BBSs, so that callers from all over the continent or the world can participate. These conferences are usually dedicated to particular topics. Your sysop may set some local conferences to provide special services. For instance, a sysop may set up a private, or "EMail" conference, by designating that all messages in that conference will be private. Then, even if you send a public message in that conference, it will become private when you write it online, and it is saved, or when you upload it through RoseMail. Besides local conferences, you may find others that originate with associations of sysops who have agreed to exchange messages between their systems. These associations are called "networks". Each has a name. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 12 For example, callers to BBSs can find networks called RIME, Smartnet, NAnet, ILink, Intelec, and U'NI-net, as well as many other smaller networks. Sysops who are members of these nets may carry just a few or all of their conferences. They "echo" messages from BBS to BBS, so that callers to individual BBSs can participate with callers to other BBSs that are members of the network. So, if you post a message in a conference sponsored by U'NI-net on your local BBS, your message will be echoed (copied) to other member BBSs in U'NI-net. Conferences shared through networks this way are called "echo" conferences. Incidentally, you should not post a message on your local BBS and then also post the same message in the same conference on another BBS. If you did that, your message would go out twice, and cause some consternation and confusion to sysops and callers too. Cross-echoed conferences ------------------------ A very few conferences are echoed by more than one network. For example, Rose Media BBS sponsors conferences called "Rose" and "RoseMail". These conferences originate on Rose Media, in its RoseNet network, and they are shared between RoseNet, U'NI-net, Intelec and Smartnet. Technical support for RoseReader and RoseMail is provided in these conference, which are distributed and shared by the sysops who are members of the nets mentioned. If your sysop carries the Rose or the RoseMail conference, the message you post in either of these conferences is distributed to all member BBSs that carry them. Local conferences ----------------- A local conference is one in which only the callers to a specific BBS participate. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 13 The Main Board Conference (Conference 0) ---------------------------------------- A standard feature of a BBS that runs PCBoard software is Conference number zero, the Main Board conference. This conference is usually local, which means that only callers to this specific BBS can read or post in the conference. A few sysops may choose to echo their Main Board conferences. Sysops vary in what kinds of messages they allow on the Main Board conference; some Main Board conferences are areas for exchanging messages on any topic; some are dedicated to exchanges with the sysop or new BBS users. Local participation and flavor ------------------------------ Sysops may provide other local conferences as well, in which only callers to their boards can participate. Local conferences often engender friendships among the messengers who participate. It is fun to meet the people you have exchanged messages with, and it is interesting that messages exchanged on a BBS can so well communicate the flavor of what their writers are like. Echo conferences ---------------- An echo conference is one that is shared among sysops who have formed an association in order to exchange electronic mail between their bulletin board systems (BBSs). There are numbers of these associations, each with its own name, although a sysop may be a member of several associations, and so carry several networks. What we callers see of a network from the BBS that we call is the collection of conferences sponsored by that network and carrying its name. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 14 Echo participation and flavor ----------------------------- Since networks are made up of associations of sysops, one of whom heads the network; and since sysops, like callers, are people with preferences, each network has a different flavor, and thus may attract different callers, although some callers participate in many networks. Some networks specialize in seeing that messages stay quite strictly on the topic the conference covers. To this end, they provide moderators, or hosts, who read the messages and remind callers of their obligations to make their messages pertinent. Others may also provide conference hosts, yet treat topicality in a lighter manner. To catch the flavor of a network, you can engage in the pastime known as "lurking", which you can read more about below. U'NI-net, which is mentioned here because it is a source of support for RoseMail and RoseReader, is one of the more lightly hosted networks. Callers choose networks to post in according to what they can find within the range of their telephone budgets. If they find several BBSs, or "boards", within that range, they may choose a "home BBS" according to which networks they find on which boards, and on which conferences these boards carry. Determining the network a conference belongs to ----------------------------------------------- The name of the network to which a conference belongs is shown in the RoseMail Door when it scans the conferences for your mail. Also, messages posted in these conferences have an identifying "origin tagline" appended to them when they are sent out from the BBS where they were posted. The origin tagline usually identifies the software used to gather and send the mail, the network, and the BBS where the message was posted. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 15 When you look at a list of conferences, either while selecting conferences using RoseMail, or while reading messages with an offline mail reader, you may see a network identification symbol included with the name of the conference. For instance, some sysops might use "UN" to identify a conference as belonging to U'NI-net. HOW ECHO MAIL WORKS ------------------- When you leave a message in an echo conference, that message becomes part of the mail in the network to which the conference is assigned. Your message is then distributed among the BBSs that subscribe to that particular network. Network (Echo) Mail Transfers ----------------------------- Your echo messages go out in a REP file --------------------------------------- At least once a day, often in the small hours, when phone costs drop, sysops scan their echo conferences for messages written by their callers. These messages are compressed into a file called "HUB.REP", where "HUB" is the mail packet name for the "hub" BBS the sysop calls. The "HUB.REP" file, then, is the file of messages written and posted to a BBS, that the sysop collects and sends to the hub. New echo messages arrive in a QWK file -------------------------------------- Often during the same call, your sysop downloads a "HUB.QWK", which is a packet of messages destined for echo conferences. Your sysop's RoseMail unpacks and distributes the messages from the HUB.QWK, and they are then available on your BBS for you to read. The HUB.QWK, then, is the file that brings the echo mail. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 16 What happens to the echo message you post ----------------------------------------- When your message is sent out in a HUB.REP file, it is unpacked and distributed on the hub BBS. From there, it travels from BBS to BBS, so that the BBSs participating in the network which carries the conference you posted in receive copies of your message. This means that a caller to a BBS thousands of miles away from you can read and reply to your message, as can callers everywhere along the line where there is an "echo" of the conference in which you posted your message. PRIVATE MESSAGES ----------------- Message Security ---------------- PCBoard terminology refers to a message as having a "security". This term applies to who may read the message. Privacy of Messages ------------------- A message you post on a BBS is never truly private. RoseMail uses the term "personal", rather than "private", to reflect the fact that sysops can read messages flagged as private. In PCBoard terminology, a private message has a security of "Receiver Only". That is, when you call a PCBoard BBS and enter a message, you type "R" (for "Receiver Only") to specify that a message is to be read only by its recipient - and your sysop. You, your recipient, your sysop, and perhaps a person designated to manage the conference you post in - can all read this private message. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 17 If you wanted to post your private message to a person who calls a distant BBS, but does not call yours, you would first have to check with your sysop to make sure such messages are actually sent out. Some of the software that manages echo mail will "route" personal messages, and some will not. Much depends, too, on the policy of the network. Some networks encourage personal echo mail, and many, which specialize in the exchange of public messages, do not accept any private ones. Personal ("private") messages ----------------------------- A message you address as "Personal" in RoseReader (or "private" in some other readers) uses the same specification as "Receiver Only" in PCBoard. That is, only you, the addressee, and the sysops, can read it. If it lies in an echo conference and has its echo flag set, it may be copied to other BBSs, where the sysops of those BBSs can read it. Personal Echo messages ---------------------- Using RoseReader, you can set the echo flag on a personal message, if you are posting in an echo conference. If your offline mail reader does not provide a place for you to set or turn off the echo flag, the message will usually be set to echo if you post in an echo conference, and you can usually turn off the echo flag by using "NE:" (no following space) as the first three characters of your subject heading in the message header. If you set the echo flag on, this will allow the message to be sent out from your BBS, if your sysop has set the conference to allow Personal Echo Mail. If you are not sure how the conference is set, you could ask your sysop. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 18 Forced Echo conferences ----------------------- RoseMail allows your sysop to make a conference in which all messages are automatically echoed. If you happen to post a message in one of these, your message will be echoed (copied to other BBSs) even if you do not set the "echo flag" on your message. Your sysop can tell you what settings are in effect for any particular conference on your BBS, so if you are not sure how a conference is set, you could ask your sysop. ANATOMY OF A MESSAGE -------------------- Understanding the structure of a message will help you read and reply easily. Here is a brief description of what you are likely to find. The message header ------------------ Each message posted on a BBS contains certain information at the top, in an area called a "header". The header includes: - the name of the recipient (in the TO field) - the name of the writer of the message (in the FROM field) - the date and time written, or the date and time posted on the BBS, depending on the caller's and the sysop's chosen settings - a subject heading of the writer's choice (in the SUBJECT field) with the abbreviation "Subj:" preceding it, which eliminates the need to use "RE:" (and makes using "RE:" irritating to some callers). Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 19 - the number of the message - the number of the message referred to if the reply is to a local message - an indicator of whether the recipient has yet read the message - the conference number and name where the message was posted - the word "ECHO" if the message has its echo flag set Simple as these elements of the message header may appear, each element that is not automatically set requires your attention. It is an important courtesy for you to check each area of the header that you can change. These fields are shown in the window that pops up either before you write your reply, or just after you have saved the reply in your text editor or word processor. The only field you cannot change is the FROM field, which has your name in it, since you are writing the message. So, at the time you have header information on your screen, check each of these areas, and change any that require changing, before you save that information. Pay particular attention to the subject heading, the name of the person to whom you are sending the message, and to the conference in which you are posting. You can change these on every message you write. Check whether you are sending the message publicly or privately. If you are using RoseReader, you can also turn the echo flag on or off when posting in an echo conference. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 20 The message footer ------------------ Many messages contain information attached to the body (text) of the message as a "footer". In U'NI-net, and some other networks, the first attachment is the "tearline", which is a group of three hyphens, left-justified. Next, there may be a tagline appended by the offline mail reading program. This tag often shows the name and version of the mail reading program used. It also provides space for the messenger to incorporate some humorous or other text. The last line appended is the "origin" line, explained in more detail below. The order described above is a common one, but a reader tagline may sometimes appear above the tearline, depending on various maneuvers and manipulations of messengers, offline mail readers, mail networking software, and perhaps noisy telephone lines or whatever software upheavals may affect the look of a message. If you are using an offline mail reader, you should check the text of your mail reader's tagline at the same time you are checking the header information on the message you write. Choose your tagline, or write a new one. If you do not, you could run into an embarrassing juxtaposition of tagline with the text of your message. Taglines -------- The Origin Tagline ------------------ Each BBS on an echo network tags the messages that it sends out with an "origin" tagline that identifies the BBS. This tagline is the last line of the message. It usually identifies the software being used to exchange the mail, the name of the network sponsoring the conference, the name and location of the BBS where the message originated, and the phone number of the BBS. For an example of an origin tagline, see Figure 1, below. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 21 The origin tagline is not added until the message leaves the BBS where it was posted. So when you see a message in an echo conference that does not have an origin tagline, that usually means its writer called your BBS, and posted the message there. Sometimes a problem with software results in messages not getting tagged as usual, so it is wise not to assume that a message lacking an origin tagline was necessarily posted locally. Location lore ------------- Sometimes it is tempting to believe that a caller whose message comes from Rose Media BBS lives in Toronto. However, people who call BBSs are not always so restrained as to call only their local BBSs to post messages. Therefore, although the origin line identifies the BBS on which the writer posted the message, it may give no indication of where the writer lives. The Reader tagline ------------------ Offline mail reading programs usually also provide taglines. Traditionally, the program's name and version are included, but also, there is some space left where you can place text that you choose or write yourself. The reader tagline normally goes just above the origin tagline, forming the next-to-last line of the message. Some software juggles the location of the reader tagline, so you may sometimes see different arrangements. See Figures 1 and 2, below, for examples of reader taglines. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 22 A little game ------------- "BBSing" is supposed to be fun. Usually, it is. You, the caller, get to play with your reader tagline; it is your space for having a little fun. Of course, you may also use your reader tagline to impart serious information. Some "BBSers" make games out of "stealing" each other's taglines. Some programmers even go so far as to write special programs just to manipulate these "reader" taglines. Here is an example of a message. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 23 Figure 1. Message text. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ To: ONE CALLER Number: 543 │ │ From: ANOTHER CALLER Refer #: 532 (ECHO) │ │ Date: 03-14-92 17:42 Recvd: No │ │ Subj: Quoting in messages Conf: 18 OffLine │ │ -------------------------------------------------------------- │ │ OC> I'm surprised at how easy it is to quote with a reader. │ │ │ │ Yes, I remember that feeling when I first saw the message I │ │ was replying to come up with the initials already attached. │ │ │ │ OC> The mail reader I was using had a place where I could tell │ │ OC> it to use the same filename for the message I was replying │ │ OC> to and for the reply that I was about to write. │ │ │ │ Many mail readers use that technique. If you use that one, the │ │ message you're replying to comes up with the initials and the │ │ prefix character attached, and you can then erase any quotes │ │ you don't want, insert your cursor between the quotes, and │ │ press Enter to make space for your new text. It's easy! │ │ │ │ OC> lot of messages where the whole first screen is nothing │ │ OC> but quotes, and sometimes the second and third screens as │ │ │ │ You have my sympathy. I've seen quite a few callers comment │ │ on that. They tell me the message quoted is usually available │ │ for review, so I don't have to quote a lot of the message I'm │ │ replying to. │ │ │ │ --Another Caller Sat 03-14-1992 06:57 │ │ --- │ │ ■ RoseReader 1.70 P001545: BBSing is lots of fun! │ │ ■ RoseMail 1.70: U'NI-net ■ Mary & Thyme ■ Kayaust BC │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 24 In the message illustrated above, notice that the writer has quoted a partial passage, so that the sentence structure in the quote is not complete. The point is to jog the memory, not to repeat the previous message. In some discussion conferences, there may be reason to quote full sentences, but in other contexts, truncated passages are all that is needed. Blank lines inserted between passages are welcome, because they greatly increase the readability of the message on the screen. You will also notice that the text of the message is typed in mixed case. Text typed all in capitals is difficult to read on- screen. It is considered shouting or screaming, and is to be avoided, except when used with individual words for emphasis. If you look closely, you will notice that Another Caller, the writer of the message, has signed the message with a single, fairly simple, line, and added the date and time the message was written. But the message header shows a date and time that is somewhat later than that at which the message was written. The implication here is that Another Caller has chosen to have the message stamped with the date and time it was posted on the BBS, instead of the date and time the message was written, but likes to keep track of the time it was written, by putting a date and time stamp into the body of the message. See the heading "Date and Time Stamps" below for more on this subject. YOUR PARTICIPATION: EXCHANGING PUBLIC MESSAGES WITH OTHERS ----------------------------------------------------------- The great tradition of public message exchange on a BBS is that you, the caller, no matter how new you are to this medium, may reply to any public message. In other words, public conferences are like public forums, where anyone may jump in on a conversation. You may address a message to anyone whose name you see as the writer of a message, or post a message to "ALL", to invite response from all participants. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 25 Reading and replying in a conference is like being in the same room with the other participants, perhaps at a party where not everybody knows each other, but where people enjoy making new acquaintances. The following sections cover some general traditions of public message-writing, and include as well some suggestions for managing the little details of your messages. Principles of traditional message-writing ----------------------------------------- Lurking ------- Experienced callers commonly "lurk" in order to explore a range of available conferences, or to explore one of the conferences in some detail before posting. To "lurk" is to read without posting. When you lurk, those posting will not be aware of your presence. Thus, you can read a conference at your leisure, and decide if you want to participate or not; if you then decide to participate, your contribution will presumably be appropriate. If you are a new caller, you also may lurk. Perhaps you will find some answers to questions you have. Other callers particularly appreciate those who check the recent content of the conference, so as not to post a question that has just been answered. Conference participants usually welcome new questions, and even old ones, if these have not just been answered. If you lurk in a conference for a short time before posting, you will develop a feeling for how participants are using the conference. When you do post, do not be afraid to be yourself. Participants usually welcome new members, and like to have variety in a conference. If you use your natural sense of sociability, you will usually find yourself welcome. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 26 Local vs. Echo conference posts ------------------------------- Try to be aware of which messages are of local interest only, and which might have value in an echoed conference. If you are discussing files available for download on your home BBS, your message is probably of local interest. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a file you have heard about, and cannot find it, you could post in an echo conference, and somebody might tell you the file is available elsewhere. Matters that are of general, widespread, interest, are usually suitable for posting in echoed conferences. If you wish to chat with Auntie Grasshopper, though, you might keep your post local. However, some conferences are dedicated to chatting "over the echo", and these conferences can be a lot of fun. It's rather like having a very widespread family or club or group of friends. So, if you wish to gossip over the back fence, use the chat conferences for this purpose. Most chat conferences allow messages on almost any topic. They are, however, intended to be friendly chats, so if you are an argumentative debater, you might look for conferences called "Opinion" or "Politics." Even in these conferences, however, you are usually expected to keep your temper and to avoid making personal attacks. Threads ------- When you are reading messages while connected to the BBS, PCBoard provides a way for you to "thread" from a message to its reply, or from the reply back to the message replied to. When you read by thread, you skip over unrelated messages, and your reading will progress approximately by subject, rather than by the chronological sequence of posting, as would happen if you were reading by message number. As you will discover, threads may work differently in conferences that are echoed (copied to or from other BBSs), because the message reference number PCBoard uses to thread is often not available in these conferences. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 27 Programs dedicated to reading messages "offline", however, make it possible to apply techniques to threading that do not depend on message reference numbers. For instance, RoseReader allows you to sort messages by message number, which is related to, but not necessarily the same as, the date and time the message was written, or also, you may sort by subject, sender, addressee, or by the date and time recorded in the message header. Whatever kind of sorting you choose, your choice affects the logic of your tracing through the messages you read. A very common and almost universally available way to read is by subject. The combination of facts just described has several implications for how you might choose subject headings for the messages you write, and adds to the complications that make their writing an art. Subject headings ---------------- Those who use offline mail readers will, in principle, appreciate your making sure to change the subject heading so that it reflects with reasonable accuracy the content of your message. Most offline mail reader programs, including RoseReader, allow you to enter or change the message header information AFTER you have written your reply, that is, just before the reply is added to your BBS.REP file. We have already mentioned the importance of checking your subject heading along with the other message header information. Changing the subject heading, however, can change the order of threading, so you will want to keep in mind how the participants in a conference may be affected by your change. If the default subject heading is appropriate and sufficiently specific, it is courteous to leave it as it is, so as not to disrupt the thread, unless your intent is specifically to move the message out of the current thread. If you wish to keep your message in the thread that has inspired you to write, changing the end of the subject heading while leaving the beginning intact may accomplish your purpose. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 28 Suppose, for instance, somebody has sent you a message with the subject heading "Help!", and that there have been a number of messages in this thread. You find the heading less than illuminating, so you add to it "with scripts". Now the heading "Help! with scripts" will place your reply close to the messages labeled merely "Help!" when the headings are sorted by subject. Even though the punctuation looks a little unusual, that is of little consequence compared to the usefulness to others of being able to find your message that is related to others in the topic under discussion. Many messengers, aided by their mail-reading programs, browse through large quantities of messages, reading only those they find of interest. These people are most likely to select messages for reading based on the subject heading. So make your subject heading just as specific as you can; you may lose some readers, but the ones you gain will be those who share your interests. Referring to previous messages ------------------------------ Some offline mail readers provide variables that you can use to automate the inclusion of a reference to a previous message in the body of your message text. For instance, if your mail reader provides the variables indicated in angle brackets ("<" and ">") just below, you might write at the top of your message something like this: "On <previous-message-date> at <previous-message-time>, <previous-message-writer> wrote to <previous-message- recipient> concerning <previous-message-subject>, saying:" Probably you will see occasional examples of this kind of extra reference information. Opinions on its usefulness vary. Some callers appreciate the references; others find the automation or the repetition irritating. Once more, networks vary in what they allow or approve. A good working rule is, "When in doubt, leave it out." If such reference information is really vital to your message, you can weave such a referral into your new text with just a little thought. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 29 Carbon copies ------------- Many offline mail readers provide a facility that allows you to post carbon copies of a single message to more than one person. This facility should be used rarely, only when absolutely necessary, because posting copies of the same message incurs extra cost for the sysops who carry the messages. Also, many callers find it irritating to see the same message more than once, and those who call long distance for their mail may resent the extra time it takes to download copies of the same message. By all means, use this feature if you need it, but it is best to make all such messages private, so that each caller who receives the message only sees it once. Cross-posting ------------- To "cross-post" is to copy a message from one conference or network to another. In general, cross-posting is frowned upon, particularly if you do not have permission from the writer of the message to post in an area where the writer did not post. If you wish to copy a message between conferences or networks, you might obtain permission from the writer, and from the conference host or network head. Sometimes cross-posting is very useful, making it worth the effort to obtain permission. Of course, if the message you wish to cross-post is your own, that creates a different situation. Here, the only problem remains whether your message is one that justifies posting multiple copies. One activity you will be happy to avoid is the one called "carpet-bombing," where a caller posts copies of the same public message in many conferences, sometimes in more than one network. The notoriety thus gained among other callers and among sysops is not usually a pleasant experience for the caller who makes such a thoughtless error. If you are only posting a few copies, they may be welcome if they are appropriate to the conferences concerned. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 30 Flames ------ Most messages you read on a BBS are pleasant, funny, thoughtful, or interesting in some way. However, sometimes you will see messages in which one person berates another. BBSing jargon calls these "flames". If you read much, you will probably see some messengers handle such material with aplomb, and others appear to fall apart under the stress. In conferences that are moderated, the moderator may deal with the flame. In unmoderated conferences, the participants are as likely as not to deal with it in some way. In some conferences, a caller's or host's visible lack of experience or of skill in dealing with people allows the conference to deteriorate when burning, while in others, the host or the participants show great skill, usually employing both understanding and humor, in getting a discussion back on track. If you write with cool restraint, you may never be attacked. If you get up on a soapbox, you may receive flames yourself at times. You will see that different messengers have different abilities: some manage to express even outrageous opinions without attacking others, and some cannot seem to find the words to say what they mean. If you take time to think about what you mean, you can extend yourself and express your opinions freely without launching personal attacks, always assuming the conference is one where your topic and tone are appropriate. In BBSing tradition, you are never required to respond to each message you receive, so if you ever have a flame directed at you, you may ignore it entirely if you wish. Ignoring such a message is the most effective possible thing you can do. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 31 A reasonable technique for dealing with a flame if you must reply is to treat it as though it was the result of the writer's inability to find words to express the opinion. It may help, too, if you recognzie that people sometimes let their feelings loose when alone at a keyboard. They forget that participating in a conference is like being in the same room with people, and feel alone, so they let their feelings out inappropriately at times. You do not have to react to inappropriate display by falling into the trap of responding similarly. A further element that can contribute to confusion is that a computer screen excludes the body language we use when we are physically together, so that the recipient of a message may not know how to take a message that may have been intended as a harmless joke. If you are in doubt, you can assume no ill feeling was meant. If ill feeling was meant, your reply treating the message is if none was meant may be just the thing to defuse an impending war. The most successful messengers are those who can laugh at themselves as well as at others, who realize that the fun of exchanging messages lies in the exchange as much as it does in the topic covered, who take the time to write their messages as interestingly or as clearly, or as straight-forwardly, as they can. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 32 Details of traditional message-writing -------------------------------------- Signatures ---------- Sometimes messengers sign their names at the bottom of their messages. Usually it is not necessary to sign, because your name is in the message header. However, if you are sharing a user account with someone, or posting under the name of an organization, signing your message is a courtesy. One other time signing is useful is on the very rare occasion when something goes wrong with message transfers, and the name in the header turns out to be wrong. Perhaps you can imagine the confusion that results in such instances. NOTE: On most BBSing networks, each messenger is expected to have a single account, or name, under which to post, and not to share an account (name) with others. You may see the very rare exception. In any event, you should not post under another person's name unless your sysop has approved such an action. Using a BBS account that belongs to another person can be grounds for your permanent suspension from a BBS, a network, or both. If you choose to sign your messages, keeping your signature small and simple, particularly in echoed conferences, will endear you to sysops, and often to other messengers as well. Some networks have fairly strict rules about signatures. When in doubt, you may ask a conference host, your sysop, or other callers, what is favored in the conferences or networks you post in. If you wish to play with a fancy signature, you may usually do so in local conferences without arousing objections. Date and Time Stamps -------------------- Some messengers like to know when they wrote a message. The date and time is displayed in the header of the message, but exactly what date and time is displayed depends on a number of things. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 33 If you write a message while logged onto the BBS, using PCBoard, the message displays the BBS system date and time in effect when the message was saved to disk. If you write a message from an offline mail reader, the message header displays the date and time at which you saved the message to disk on your own computer, using your offline mail reader. When you upload a message to RoseMail, the message normally retains the date and time you wrote the message, and it will be posted that way. But there are two ways this date and time can be changed, so that it represents the time the message was posted on the BBS, instead of the time the message was written. The first way is that you, the caller, can select an Option (Option 13) in RoseMail, to have the message header stamped with the BBS system time when you posted the message on the BBS, instead of the time you wrote it. You, the caller, control this choice. How to make the choice is described later in this guide. The second way is that your sysop can set any or all conferences to display the BBS system time instead of the time the message was written. So any messages you post in such conferences, assuming you send the message through RoseMail, will have the BBS system time of posting displayed in the message header, instead of showing the time you wrote the message. You will notice, then, that if you place the date and time you wrote the message somewhere in the body of the message, as did Another Caller, both the time of writing and the BBS system time will be shown to anybody who reads your message. This ability to show the time of posting may help sysops track down messages that go astray. Because there is a mix of software transferring messages from one BBS to another, and because no machines, no phone lines, and no persons are perfect, messages do occasionally get lost somewhere along the line, or end up where they do not belong. Messages that show dates and times of writing and posting are probably easier to trace if they get lost than are messages which show only the time of writing. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 34 Some text editors allow you to bring your system's date and time into your text, and some offline mail readers provide a similar facility. Lines and boxes --------------- Sometimes you will see messages that contain lines or boxes of some kind. Some specialized quoting programs will put these in for you automatically. If you read many messages, though, you will notice that most writers avoid extraneous lines and boxes. There are several reasons for this. Lines and boxes distract many readers, and can even cause them to pass by messages containing them. Remember that the screen on which your message arrives affects the look of the message for the reader. If you have something interesting to say, lines or boxes will not improve your message. If you rely on your words, rather than on decorations, your message will have its best chance of being read and absorbed by the widest possible number of readers. Smiley Faces ------------ When you are reading messages, you will probably encounter some strange punctuation, or symbols whose meaning you are unable to determine. For instance, you may see something like "<g>" or ":-)" or ":)". These symbols represent "<grin>", a smile, and a shorter version of a smile, respectively. To see how the punctuation symbols represent smiles, look sideways, tilting your head to the left. Or the symbols may be reversed, thus: "(-:", requiring that you tilt your head to the right, instead. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 35 There are many variations on these symbols, and you can make up your own. Some common variations are =:-) to show a brush haircut, :-)= to represent a beard, "B-)" for a person wearing spectacles, ":-D" for a giant smile, "|-)" or "%-)" for bleary eyes. And, of course, ":-(" for a sad face. (This kind of sad face engenders great laughter among some callers, including the writer of this guide.) ASCII Control characters (decimal 0-31) --------------------------------------- The ASCII control characters, which have decimal codes of 0 (zero) through 31, may freeze certain terminals or interfere with some software operations. You should avoid using these in your messages unless specifically told by a conference host or by your sysop that it is all right to use them. Since you have to type them in a special way, there is little danger that you will use them by mistake. IBM Extended character set (ASCII, decimal 128-255) --------------------------------------------------- Although IBM-compatible machines will not have difficulty with the IBM extended character set, that is, the ASCII characters that have the decimal codes 128 through 255, you should use these only where they are clearly permitted, since they too may freeze the terminals of some callers. If you wish to use the full IBM extended character set, you can check with your sysop and with the host of the conference in which you wish to use them. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 36 ANSI sequences -------------- In principle: do not put any ANSI sequences into your message or tagline. An ANSI sequence is a special series of codes preceded by the Escape character, ASCII 27 (decimal). This has nothing to do with the ANSI terminal you may use to access your BBS. Innocent as ANSI sequences can be, it is considered hostile to include them unless the conference in which they are posted is specifically meant for ANSI drawings, because some terminals will freeze, or "hang", when such messages are read online. Some networks carry conferences where ANSI codes are welcome. These may be named something like "ANSI-ART". In such conferences, the Escape character may be translated by the routing software into some other special character, such as the reverse quote ( ` ), thus nullifying its potential for freezing the terminal of a caller who reads the message online. If you enjoy exchanging messages that contain ANSI screens, look for one of those conferences, because there, you will be welcome with your ANSI drawings and signatures. Quoting from the message you reply to ------------------------------------- Messengers customarily quote brief passages from the message they are replying to. The idea is to remind the recipient of the context, since a single message appears on the recipient's screen amidst a large number of possibly unrelated ones. Messages entered online in PCBoard use a prefix of "->" to show the quoted passages. Offline mail readers allow more flexible means of identifying quotes; usually, the initials of the person being quoted are prefixed to the quoted lines, followed by a symbol such as the greater-than sign ( > ). The messenger's new text has no initials or other prefix. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 37 Since you will often see multiple strings of initials in quotes, you should be aware that the initials NEAREST the quoted text are usually those of the writer of that text. However, methods of quoting that do not attach initials to each and every quoted line may create entirely false impressions of who wrote what, especially if quotes are both pared down (truncated) and quoted multiple times during their travels from one message to another. If you pay attention to the possible traps these varied methods of quoting can lay, the most common of which is to mislead (unintentionally) by removing or omitting one or more sets of initials that should theoretically be adjacent to the text, you can avoid making embarrassing assumptions about who said what. This guide's writer recommends attaching initials and a prefix of ">" to each line that you quote, since this method reduces greatly the hazards of "misquoting" that the fancier methods sometimes produce. Your offline mail reader will usually have a place in its configuration menu for you to select this method of quoting. Another consideration you may wish to keep in mind when quoting from previous messages is that message text appears on the screen of your recipient only some 23 or 24 lines at a time. If you quote prolonged passages from previous messages, your addressee, not to mention anyone else who reads your message, will have to page down to see any of your own new text. If you think the message you are quoting is more interesting than your own, other readers may not agree with you, and in any event, those readers probably still have access to the message you are quoting, so you may want to set your own text in the forefront, rather than boring your readers by repeating text they have probably already read. If you feel you must quote more than a couple of lines at a time, you could alleviate possible boredom by inserting your new text between the passages you are quoting. This is easily done with the text editor or word processor you are using with your mail reader. Finally, you can contribute to high standards of communication between messengers by paying attention to what quoting really contributes to the message you are writing, and what quoting is unnecessary. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 38 Quoting etiquette ----------------- At times, messengers quote and re-quote passages, sometimes to extremes. While such quoting may be acceptable in local conferences, readers soon get tired of reading the same words they have seen before. Messengers should attempt to keep quotes to a minimum in local conferences, but pay particular attention to keeping quotes short in echo ones, since transferring messages long distance multiple times incurs considerable cost, and many sysops bear this cost out of their own pockets. Readers of both types of conferences appreciate it when quoting is kept to a minimum. You will, however, want to quote at least some, and take some care in choosing what to quote. Remember that the original messages usually remain available for review, but that it is a courtesy to jog the memory of your recipient and other people who read your message. The following message has been broken in the middle, to spare you the full example of strings of initials following each other. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 39 Figure 2: Excessive and Cruel Quoting ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ To: ONE MESSENGER Number: 43657 │ │ From: ANOTHER MESSENGER Refer #: 43613 │ │ Date: 03-12-92 05:14 Recvd: Yes │ │ Subj: EXCESSIVE QUOTING Conf: 7 UBeenBad │ │ -------------------------------------------------------------- │ │ │ │ OM} AM> OM} AM> OM} AM> OM} AM> You know - one really shouldn' │ │ │ │ OM} AM> OM} AM> OM} AM> OM} If you weren't so darned funny, it │ = = │ OM} I always thought you were pretty neat! │ │ │ │ What am I supposed to say to that? After all, I'm not messy. │ │ --- │ │ ■ RR 1.60 P001545: This quoting is funny - isn't it? │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Notice that the repeated quotes at the top of the message cause text to fall off the right side of the screen. Used judiciously as humor, excessive quoting can be fun. Used on echo mail networks, it is seldom appreciated. You will notice that the header on this message does not have an echo designation. The best way to handle quoting is to use your own judgment: quote as you like, but be aware of how quotes are likely to be received by others. It helps to remember that every quoted passage has appeared at least once before. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 40 Final checks on the messages you will post ------------------------------------------ When you use an offline mail reading program, there is a way to assure yourself that the messages you post will be interesting, and will attract the attention you wish, rather than the attention you do not wish. When you look at the list of conferences using your reading program, you will find a conference labeled "Replies". This is a "conference" that contains the replies you have written. If you read this conference, just as you would any other, you will quickly see if there are problems with your replies. Also, you can "reply" to the messages in this conference. This gives you the opportunity to re-edit, or change, your reply, and you can alter the information in the message header when you save the re-edited reply. Reviewing your messages in your Replies conference will allow you to catch and correct errors. A very common error is that of forgetting to erase quoted passages left behind at the end of your new text. If your text editor has a command to delete everything from the cursor to the end of the file, it is a good idea to place your cursor at the end of your intended message, and then use this command before you save the file. One more measure you can take, although too late to rescue yourself with any certainty from sins already committed, is to download your own replies after they are actually posted. RoseMail's Option 12, which allows this, is described later in this guide. If you discover serious errors in messages you have already uploaded, you may, if you manage to do it early enough, be able to log onto your BBS, read your erroneous message online in PCBoard, and then use the PCBoard (K) command [(K)ill the message] to remove the message from circulation before it is read by too many people, or is sent out in echo mail. Reviewing your Replies before you send them is easier than going through this process of panic. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 41 Enjoy your message exchanges ---------------------------- Above all, exchanging messages on a BBS is supposed to be fun as well as useful. Happily, the fun predominates. PART II. USING ROSEMAIL ------------------------ QUICK-START ----------- For callers already familiar with QWK mail doors, this section describes very briefly how to configure RoseMail before downloading your first mail packet. Configure RoseMail ------------------ From the PCBoard Command prompt, enter "rosemail", or "door" or "open" followed by the door number in which your sysop has installed RoseMail. Do not type the quotation marks. Press Enter to bypass the new user welcome screen. Then perform the following steps: (1) Enter "t" to select your transfer protocol, and follow the screen prompts. (2) Enter "c" to select your compression program, and follow the screen prompts. (3) If you wish to add files to your mail packet, such as the Welcome screen, NEWS or bulletins, enter "o" to select RoseMail's Options, and select your Options as you like. When you have finished, enter "q" to (Q)uit the Options menu. You will be returned to the main RoseMail menu and the main RoseMail Command prompt. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 42 (4) Enter "s" to select conferences. Note the following possible commands: s;all - will select all conferences s;<low>-<high> - will select a range of conferences, where <low> is the number of the lowest conference you wish to include, and <high> is the number of the highest d;all - will deselect all the conferences d;<low>-<high> - will deselect a range of conferences, where <low> is the number of the lowest conference you wish to deselect, and <high> is the number of the highest. high-nnn - where "nnn" is a number, will select the "nnn" highest-numbered messages in a range of conferences that you have already selected. When you enter the command "high-nnn" at the Conference Selection command prompt, you are prompted to enter the range of conferences <low>-<high> for which you wish to receive "nnn" messages, where <low> is the number of the lowest conference, and <high> is the number of the highest. To select an individual conference, type its number or its name, and follow the screen prompts. If not all the conferences fit on one screen, press Enter to bring up successive screens. When there are no more conferences to display, you will be returned to the main RoseMail Command prompt. Entering "s" will bring up the first screen of conferences again, to allow you to continue your selection. To display a conference not showing on the current screen, type the conference number. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 43 You may find it convenient to select only a very few conferences for your first mail packet download. You can then add other conferences by using the offline configuration commands described toward the end of this guide. When you have finished selecting conferences, enter "q" to (Q)uit conference selection. Now you may enter "d" to download your first RoseMail QWK packet. Once you have entered the "d" command, you will be prompted as necessary, until you receive your cue to download. When the file transfer is complete, you are shown a "SUCCESSFUL" message and returned to the RoseMail Command prompt. We trust you will enjoy the ease and the speed of RoseMail. You might like to keep this guide around for reference, since you probably will not want to miss RoseMail's many features, just because you are not aware of them. Conventions used in this guide ------------------------------ Terminology for Command prompts ------------------------------- Frequently, when you log onto a BBS, you will find your command prompt says something like, "Main Board Command?" If your prompt includes the words "Main Board", this indicates that you are in the "Main Board" conference. However, on most PCBoard BBSs, you can join other conferences, and your command prompt would then change to "(Name of Conference) Command?" Therefore, this guide uses the term "PCBoard command prompt" to indicate the generic PCBoard command prompt you receive, regardless of which conference you have joined. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 44 Terminology for entering commands --------------------------------- Where commands are mentioned in the text, we may say "enter 'x'", or some similar expression. The word "enter" in this context means that you type the letter (or short word) of the command, and then press the Enter key. Type commands in upper or lower case ------------------------------------ Just as PCBoard does, RoseMail accepts your typed commands in lower case, upper case, or even mixed case. Therefore, commands illustrated in this guide are given only in a single case. Where you see upper case commands, you may type them in lower case, and vice-versa. What is Mail? ------------- "Mail" is a generic term for messages, even though electronic messages do not follow the usual postal routes. "Online" Mail ------------- When you are connected to the BBS you call, you are said to be "online". When you have a PCBoard Command prompt from the BBS, such as, "Main Board Command?" you can read and reply to messages "online". However, reading and replying to messages is time-consuming. If you are doing so while online, you are tying up a BBS phone line. Furthermore, your daily access time is probably limited, and you may have difficulty trying to read and reply to the messages that interest you in the time allotted to you. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 45 "Offline" Mail -------------- Instead of taking up time online, you can use a program that allows you to read and reply to mail without being connected to the BBS; that is, you can read and reply "offline". To read and reply to mail offline, you need a special file, namely, one that contains the messages you want to read. To obtain this file, you call the BBS, open a mail door such as RoseMail, download (receive) a compressed file that contains messages from your selected conferences, and disconnect (log off) from the BBS. Then you use an "offline mail reader", which is a program that allows you to read and reply to messages as if you were connected to the BBS. When you have finished your session, your mail reader compresses your replies into one file. You then call the BBS again, open the mail door once more, and upload (send) your packet of replies. You can repeat this cycle as you wish. You can see that when you read and reply to messages offline, the amount of time you spend connected to the BBS is very limited compared to the time it takes to accomplish the same things while online. You will also appreciate the ease and flexibility of the offline method. The message packet you receive: BBS.QWK ---------------------------------------- Before you download your first mail packet, you tell RoseMail which conferences you wish to read. You can also choose to include other items in your mail packet, such as bulletins, NEWS, lists of files available for download from your BBS, and perhaps some other specialty items that your sysop makes available. All these are placed in the file, or "mail packet", you download. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 46 To transfer this mail packet, you can use RoseReader or any other suitable communications program. The mail packet you download is called "BBS.QWK", where "BBS" stands for the name your sysop uses to identify the mail packets from your BBS. This name usually reflects the name of the BBS in some way. For instance, if you receive your mail packet from Rose Media BBS, your file is called ROSE.QWK. Your offline mail reader (RoseReader?) -------------------------------------- Once the transfer of your BBS.QWK to you is complete, you log off. You now change from your communications program to your mail reader. If you are not using RoseReader, you will need an external compression/decompression program to decompress your BBS.QWK file, and to compress the replies and new messages you write. You can probably obtain the necessary compression/decompression program from the BBS you usually call. RoseReader provides an internal compression and decompression program that is compatible with the popular programs PKZIP and PKARC. Now, offline and at your leisure, you use your mail reading program to "open" (decompress) your mail packet and read the messages it contains. You can reply to messages or enter new ones as you wish. The message packet you send: BBS.REP --------------------------------------- When you are through replying to messages and entering any new ones, you exit your offline mail reader. Now the reader compresses your replies into a single computer file. This file is called "BBS.REP", where, once again, "BBS" stands for the name of the mail packet that your sysop has designated. So, if your mail packet came from Rose Media, and thus is called ROSE.QWK, your reply packet will be called ROSE.REP. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 47 Sending your replies to RoseMail -------------------------------- Now that you have a BBS.REP, you start your communications program (perhaps you are using RoseReader to do this, since it provides this facility), log onto your BBS again, open the RoseMail Door, and tell RoseMail you wish to send your replies. Your file transfer protocol goes into operation, just as it would for any other file, and RoseMail, once it has received your BBS.REP, unpacks it, and distributes your replies and new messages to the conferences you designated. Then it shows you a list of your replies and the conferences to which they were distributed. Now you can start the cycle again, and download a fresh packet of mail. RoseMail keeps track of which messages you have already received, so will send you only new ones. If your sysop enables the feature, RoseMail will also keep track of messages you posted recently on the BBS, so that if you send messages a second time by mistake, RoseMail will reject the messages that are already posted, and notify you that they are duplicates. Although it is really your responsibility to keep track of which BBS.REP files you have sent and which you have not, RoseMail (and RoseReader, too) can assist you in keeping track. Managing Mail Packets --------------------- The packet from any one BBS is specific to that BBS. It has its own BBS name, and its structure relates to the conference structure on that BBS only. For this reason, it is useful to keep at least one .QWK file for each BBS you call. For instance, if you want to enter a message for your BBS, it is simplest to do it from a BBS.QWK file. Also, you may want to refer to a file called BBS.PTR, or one called SESSION.TXT. More information on these files is given below. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 48 If you have a file named BBS.QWK in your download directory at the time you download a new one, you can get what is referred to in computer jargon as "unpredictable results". These results can include damage to both the old and the new BBS.QWK files, making both unusable. Therefore, to keep a BBS.QWK file around for a time, you will find the simplest method is to rename it. If you have RoseReader, you can rename the packet from the menu that lists the packets. Otherwise, you may use the DOS "rename" command, or a file manager. You might even copy the .QWK file to a floppy disk. One useful method of keeping track of your .QWK files is to rename them using the date of the mail packet as the <filename> part of the DOS <filename.ext>. In spite of the efforts of sysops, hardware or software failures sometimes occur. On occasion, phone lines do strange things to data transmitted by modem. So if you have said something earthshaking in your BBS.REP, it is a good idea to make a copy of that file, perhaps under another name, before you send it. Then if something goes wrong after you have sent your replies, you can send them again later on. Managing your conference and message selection ---------------------------------------------- If you enjoy exchanging messages, you will probably want to try out different conferences, and you will want to change your conference selections occasionally. Usually there will be more conferences, and more messages available in each conference, than you can possibly read. You can explore different conferences at different times, but you will need to know how to select the most recent messages, rather than trying to read all those available. The key to exploring conferences when your time is limited lies in controlling your "message pointers". This section explains how message numbers and message pointers work. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 49 When you select conferences in RoseMail, you are asked, for each conference, to specify the message number to start with. Your choice of message number has nothing to do with message content; it has to do only with the chronological sequence in which messages were posted on the BBS you call. So, in effect, when you choose a message number, you are merely specifying approximately how many messages you think you can read. Conferences in PCBoard have both a name and a number. Within each conference, each message is numbered. PCBoard assigns numbers to messages in the chronological order in which the messages are posted; that is, each message that is posted in a conference takes the next available message number in sequence. The records that show which messages you have read and which you have not are called "message pointers". This term is often shortened to just "pointers". So when you hear somebody talking about "setting my pointers", the talk is about changing PCBoard's record of which messages have or have not been read. Message numbers --------------- With PCBoard software, the only time you will find a conference in which the message numbers begin with "1" is when your sysop starts a new conference, or, rarely, if the message file has become corrupted and the sysop has had to renumber the messages. In conferences that have been under way for some time, the numbers begin with the earliest message still available. Because new messages are constantly coming in, your sysop must delete old ones to make room for the new ones. As a courtesy to you, most sysops do not renumber the messages, but instead, let the numbers accumulate, so as not to change the number of a message that may have been previously referred to by number. As is explained below, these reference numbers are valid only locally, on your own BBS. When you write to people who call the same BBS you do, you can refer to messages by number, assuming your sysop lets the numbers accumulate. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 50 On your own BBS, when writing to other local messengers, you can treat messages left in echo conferences just as you would those in local conferences; that is, you can refer to them by number. However, the message you post in an echo conference has its number changed when it is sent to other BBSs. Let us trace how this happens. A message you post on the BBS you call might be number 28722 in the echoed Technical conference. When your sysop scans for outgoing mail, your message is placed in the HUB.REP packet. When it arrives at the hub, it is unpacked and sent to the Technical conference on the hub, where it takes on the next number available on HUB BBS. Let us say that number is 48318. Now a sysop from NODE BBS calls the same hub your sysop calls, and picks up a HUB.QWK, which includes your message. Your message is now inserted in the Technical conference on NODE BBS, where perhaps it is assigned the number 15479. That is why referring to message numbers in an echoed conference is useless, except to people who call the same BBS you do, and it is why refer numbers may not appear in the message headers in echo conferences. When you select a conference in RoseMail, RoseMail shows you what message numbers are available in that conference. It shows you both the lowest and the highest number available. You can enter "0" (zero) as your "Last Read" message in order to get all the messages in the conference, or you can type the number just below the "Low Message" number, to get the same effect. You can enter a message number somewhat below the "High Message" number to pick up only the most recent messages in the conference. Message pointers ---------------- When you read messages online in PCBoard, PCBoard makes a note of the highest message number that you have read in each conference. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 51 The records of the last message you have read in each conference are called "message pointers." How RoseMail keeps track of your messages ----------------------------------------- RoseMail uses the PCBoard records of which messages you have read in which conference. When you use RoseMail to select conferences, you are shown your "Last Read" message, or, your "message pointer", for each conference you select, and you can change the number of that pointer, thus determining how many messages you will receive in the conference. When you take messages in a packet from RoseMail, RoseMail sends information back to PCBoard about which messages you selected, and PCBoard updates its records accordingly. It is useful to keep in mind that when you read messages online in PCBoard, PCBoard updates your pointers accordingly, and RoseMail, since it uses the PCBoard records, is equally aware of your reading, and will not send you those messages in your next mail packet. Changing your message pointers ------------------------------ You can change PCBoard's record of message pointers by selecting conferences in RoseMail, or by using the SELECT command in PCBoard, from the PCBoard Command prompt. You will usually find it most convenient to set your pointers using RoseMail. Notice that downloading a BBS.QWK changes your pointers over all your selected conferences. You can change your pointers in individual conferences by using the conference selection menus in RoseMail or in PCBoard. You can also send messages to RoseMail in your BBS.REP that will select conferences and change pointers. See "Offline Configuration" below for more information. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 52 SETTING UP ROSEMAIL ------------------- This section describes how to get started with RoseMail. More details and illustrations are provided in the following section entitled "Imitation Session with the RoseMail Message Centre". How to get into the RoseMail Message Centre ------------------------------------------- Log onto the BBS. Type "rosemail" (without quotes), and press Enter. When you enter the command "rosemail", if you get some kind of error message, your sysop may have installed RoseMail with a "keyword" different from "ROSEMAIL" to get the program started. If this happens, you can use the PCBoard command "door" or "open" instead. You will need to find out the number of the door by typing either "door" or "open" (without quotes), and then pressing Enter. You will be shown a list of doors with a number beside each one. When you are asked which door you want to open, enter the number of the RoseMail Door, and Rosemail will appear in a few moments. RoseMail recognizes that you are a new RoseMail user, so it gives you its new user welcome screen. Backing out of the menus (quitting) ----------------------------------- To get out of any area in RoseMail, type "q" (for Quit) when you have a flashing cursor beside a command prompt, and then press Enter. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 53 Giving commands to RoseMail --------------------------- You operate RoseMail with commands made up of single letters or, occasionally, short words. For example, you might enter "s;all" to select all conferences (when selecting conferences), "u" to upload replies, "mag" to select magazines, or "d" to download messages. You can usually type these commands one by one, and be prompted by RoseMail for your next command. Once you are more familiar with RoseMail, you may want to "stack" your commands by typing them on a single line, separated with either a space or a semicolon. The main RoseMail Command prompt looks something like this: Screen 1. The RoseMail Command prompt. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (56 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): _ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Any time the RoseMail Command prompt appears with your cursor beside it, you can type a RoseMail Command. The commands available to you are listed on the menu, higher up on your screen, unless you have turned the menus off using the "e[X]pert Mode Action Command, by typing "x" at the RoseMail Command prompt. If you have done this, it is helpful to know that you can turn the menus back on at any time by typing "x" and pressing Enter. Toggle commands --------------- Incidentally, turning a feature ON or OFF with the same command is called a "toggle". You can use the e[X]pert Mode toggle at your convenience, any time you have a RoseMail Command prompt. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 54 Turning menus off by toggling the e[X]pert mode ON speeds your session, because you are sent less data over the modem. Once you are familiar with RoseMail's commands, then, you may wish to toggle e[X]pert mode ON. Help! ----- When using the RoseMail Message Centre, keep in mind that you can ask for help any time your cursor is beside a RoseMail Command prompt. Notice the little phrase with the question mark: "(?=help):" at the end of the command prompt. That question mark means that if you get lost, you can always type a question mark, and then press Enter. You can type "h" for Help, if you prefer. You will then be asked for what item you would like help. Read the screen and then enter the appropriate letter or number. For instance, if you enter "O" you will receive help about the Options menu. If you enter "C" RoseMail will give you help about the Compression programs. In other words, if you take your time and read your screens, RoseMail will lead you through the process. What to do before you download mail ----------------------------------- You should make some selections before you download mail. You will need to select the conferences you want to read, and you will find your session goes smoothly if you also choose your transfer protocol and your compression program. You may also wish to select RoseMail Options. Remember to ask for help, if you need it, by entering "h" or "?". When you start RoseMail, a menu appears on the right side of the screen, under the title "Configuration Commands". Among the items listed on this menu are the selections you should make during your first RoseMail session. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 55 Selections to make during your first RoseMail session ----------------------------------------------------- Details of the four points listed here, specifically, the prompts that show on your RoseMail screen, are shown in the next section, "IMITATION SESSION WITH THE ROSEMAIL MESSAGE CENTRE". (1) Select your compression program. Type "C" to select, press Enter, and then follow the instructions on the screen. (2) Select your Transfer Protocol. Type "T" to select, press Enter, and then follow the instructions on the screen. (3) You must select conferences to read before you can receive a mail packet. Type "S" and press Enter to select conferences to read, and then follow the instructions on the screen. (4) You may select Options, to tell RoseMail what you want included in your mail packet. IMITATION SESSION WITH THE ROSEMAIL MESSAGE CENTRE -------------------------------------------------- To help you familiarize you with RoseMail, this section imitates a session with the RoseMail Message Centre. Start RoseMail -------------- We begin at the moment you receive the PCBoard Command prompt, after you have signed onto the BBS. You can now start your session. Open the RoseMail Door by entering "rosemail" (or the PCBoard command "door" or "open" followed by the door number). Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 56 Screen 2. Starting RoseMail ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (58 min. left) Main Board Command? rosemail │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Pressing Enter does not show on the screen, but you will need to press Enter after you type the command. If all goes well, you will now see a message: Screen 3. Loading ROSEMAIL ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Loading ROSEMAIL, please wait... │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RoseMail New User Welcome ------------------------- After a moment, you are welcomed to RoseMail. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 57 Screen 4. Message from RoseMail for a new user ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Welcome │ │ │ │ Welcome to RoseMail! Our records show that this │ │ is your first time using this door, so please take │ │ some time to select which transfer protocol and │ │ compression program you would like to use. │ │ │ │ If at any time you have a problem inside RoseMail, │ │ type ? or H to get some help. │ │ │ │ We hope you enjoy your stay. │ │ │ │ Press ENTER to continue │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now press Enter to start your RoseMail session. RoseMail Main Menu ------------------ On the left side of the screen, a list entitled "Action Commands" appears. If this is your first time in RoseMail you may disregard this list for the moment. On the right side of the screen, you will see a list of "Configuration Commands". If this is your first time in RoseMail, this is the list from which you will work for now. After a few sessions with RoseMail, you will become familiar with the commands. We will start, then, with the list of Configuration commands. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 58 Screen 5. RoseMail's main menu. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ROSEMAIL Message Centre │ │ RoseMail Version 1.70 (03-04-92 01:00) │ │ │ │ │ │ Action Commands │ │ │ │ [CALL] the SysOp Configuration Commands │ │ [D]ownload mail packet │ │ [U]pload mail packet [O]ptions settings │ │ [P]ersonal mail download [C]ompression to use │ │ colour [M]ode toggle [T]ransfer protocol to use │ │ e[X]pert mode toggle [S]elect message conferences │ │ [G]oodbye - log off [R]eset message pointer upload │ │ [Q]uit - return to PCBoard [MAG]azines and periodicals │ │ [NET] to scan │ │ [SIZ] packet size │ │ │ │ │ │ (56 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): o │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RoseMail Options ---------------- Although not strictly necessary, we will start by entering "O" for [O]ptions. Our command brings up RoseMail's List of Options. List of Options --------------- The following two "screens" are actually side by side on your computer screen. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 59 If this is your first time in RoseMail, we recommend that you leave Option numbers 1-4, and Option 10, just as they are. You can experiment with them later, when you are more familiar with RoseMail. In the following screen, which appears as the left-hand column when you are actually in RoseMail, you may want to examine Numbers 5 through 8, and number 9 if you are using scripts. Screen 6. RoseMail Options 1-10. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Available options │ │ │ │ 1. Use IN/OUT or QWK/REP......... QWK │ │ 2. Download empty packets........ NO │ │ 3. Flush the input buffer........ NO │ │ 4. Include the Welcome screen.... YES │ │ 5. Include Bulletins............. NO │ │ 6. Include Upload Files Listing.. NO │ │ 7. Include Download Files Listing NO │ │ 8. Include a copy of the session. NO │ │ 9. Use script prompts............ NO │ │ 10. Use fast start sequence....... NO │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Options command prompt -------------------------- You will notice that you now have a different command prompt. Each area of RoseMail has a command prompt appropriate for it. The Options command prompt looks something like this: Screen 7. The Options command prompt. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Option to change (2-20), L]ist (?=help): _ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 60 Notice that the Options you may change are numbers 2-20. Option 1 is reserved for future development. Notice also that now there is a new command, "L]ist". When you enter "L", you are shown the list of Options to choose from. If you have turned e[X]pert mode on, you will not be shown the list of Options unless you enter "L" to display it. To select an option, you type its number at the command prompt. When you do this, and press Enter, you will see the "NO" change to "YES", or the "YES" change to "NO" beside the Option you chose. You will remember that this kind of yes-no, on-off, switching is called "toggling". NOTE: Option 1 is an area that is reserved for future development of RoseMail. It should be disregarded in this version of RoseMail. If you read your screens, you will see that you are invited to change only Options 2-20. From the list shown below, you might look at the choices for numbers 12 through 14, number 16, and number 19. As you become more familiar with RoseMail and your Offline Mail Reader, you may wish to experiment with the other options. However, if you are curious even during your first session, you can use the Help screens (enter "?" or "h"). Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 61 Screen 8. RoseMail Options 11-20 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ 11. Prescan during event.......... NO │ │ 12. Download your replies......... NO │ │ 13. Use current date/time......... NO │ │ 14. Include the NEWS file......... NO │ │ 15. Delay scripting prompts....... YES │ │ 16. Repeat downloading............ NO │ │ 17. Small CONTROL.DAT file........ NO │ │ 18. Empty packets on mail only.... NO │ │ 19. Send User information......... NO │ │ 20. Do not send NDX files......... NO │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ We will assume that if you limit your selections to the numbers we have suggested here, and use the Help screens if you need them, you can now make these choices with some degree of comfort. Selecting Options ----------------- Here is an example of a caller selecting options for the first time. Let us watch over our caller's shoulder - perhaps we shall even become this Intrepid Caller ("IC") ourselves. Our IC decides to include Bulletins in the mail packet. IC types the Option number, 5, and presses Enter. RoseMail responds to the command by "toggling" the option, in this instance, from "NO" to "YES", and then reporting the status that results. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 62 Screen 9. Toggling an Option. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Option to change (2-20), L]ist (?=help): 5 │ │ │ │ Include Bulletins is now set to YES │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Quit a menu ----------- Our caller is in a hurry to get mail, and so enters "q", to (Q)uit back to the main RoseMail menu. Screen 10. Quitting a menu. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Available options │ │ │ │ │ │ Option to change (2-20), L]ist (?=help): q │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Select Compressor and Transfer Protocol --------------------------------------- Our Intrepid Caller now reads the Configuration menu again, and so remembers to choose a Compression method and a Transfer Protocol, and to select conferences, before downloading a mail packet. IMPORTANT NOTE! Your sysop provides the compression methods and the transfer protocols, and the lists you see may be different from those shown here. Our caller selects PKZIP as the compressor. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 63 Screen 11. Choosing the compression program. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (55 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): c │ │ │ │ Available compression programs are as follows: │ │ │ │ A ==> Phil Katz's PKARC │ │ Z ==> Phil Katz's PKZIP │ │ │ │ Enter the letter for the desired compression program (?=help):z│ │ │ │ Selected Phil Katz's PKZIP compressor. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Notice that RoseMail confirms the choice at the bottom of the screen. This is useful for those of us whose fingers sometimes slip on the beykoard. The caller then selects Zmodem as the transfer protocol. Screen 12. Choosing the Transfer Protocol. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (55 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): t │ │ │ │ Available transfer protocols are as follows: │ │ │ │ X ==> XModem │ │ Y ==> YModem │ │ Z ==> Zmodem │ │ G ==> Ymodem-g │ │ M ==> Zmodem - MobyTurbo │ │ │ │ Enter the letter for the desired protocol (?=help): z │ │ │ │ Selected Zmodem protocol. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 64 With Compressor and Transfer Protocol selected, our caller is now ready to select conferences. Select Conferences ------------------ To select conferences the caller enters "s". Screen 13. Enter "s" to select conferences. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (53 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): s │ │ Scanning conferences... Please wait. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now a list of conferences appears on the screen. RoseMail shows only as many conferences at a time as will fit on one screen. Your screen will probably little resemble the following: Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 65 Screen 14. Select Conferences. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ SELECT CONFERENCES │ │ │ │ 0. Main Board │ │ 1. GoodHelp │ │ 2. DoorKnob │ │ 3. Pets │ │ 5. Chit&Chat │ │ 16. Older-Hat │ │ 23. UBeenGreat │ │ 26. UBeenAwful │ │ │ │ │ │ Select conference by NUMBER or NAME, Q]uit (?=help): 1 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can see that some numbers are skipped. This skipping merely means that the conferences not visible cannot be selected. Conferences skipped are ones your sysop has reserved. Select conferences individually ------------------------------- The caller decides to select Conference 1, GoodHelp. Now RoseMail asks whether to deliver Personal messages only (messages addressed to the caller), or to send all public messages in the conference (All), or to select Your personal mail and include also messages wrritten to ALL ("Y]All"), or to Deselect the conference, so it will not be scanned for messages to put in the mail packet. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 66 Screen 15. Choose Personal, All public messages, Your mail and messages to ALL, or Deselect the conference. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Conference GoodHelp P]ersonal, A]ll Y]All or D]eselect? a │ │ │ │ Lowest message : 1 │ │ Highest message : 9 │ │ Last Read : 0 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This must be a fairly new conference, because there are only 9 messages in it, and the message numbers start with 1. Conferences that have been under way for some time will have much larger numbers. The number beside "Last Read" is the number of the highest message in the conference that you have read. Remember that PCBoard keeps track of these numbers, and that RoseMail uses your PCBoard record to know where your message pointers are set. The caller decides to read the whole GoodHelp conference, and enters "0" (rather than "1") as the chosen message number (pointer), because if "1" were entered as the "Last Read" message, the first message sent in the packet would be message number 2. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 67 Screen 16. Choose All public messages, and select Last Read Message. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ SELECT CONFERENCES │ │ │ │ 0. Main Board │ │ A 1. GoodHelp │ │ 2. DoorKnob │ │ 3. Pets │ │ 5. Chit&Chat │ │ 16. Older-Hat │ │ 23. Ubeengreat │ │ 26. Ubeenawful │ │ │ │ Conference GoodHelp P]ersonal, A]ll or D]eselect? a │ │ Lowest message : 1 │ │ Highest message : 9 Last read: 0 │ │ Last Read : 0 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now RoseMail marks the GoodHelp conference with an "A", to show that the caller has chosen to read All messages in the conference. When Intrepid Caller presses Enter after typing "0" (zero) to set the pointer, the prompts at the bottom part of the screen above disappear, and IC can select another conference. If IC had selected P]ersonal instead of A]ll, the conference would be marked "P" instead of "A". If IC had selected Y]all, that is, "Your" mail (IC's mail) and the messages addressed to ALL, the conference would be marked with a "Y". Our caller selects several other conferences in the same way, and then enters "q" to "Quit". Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 68 Screen 17. Selected Conferences Marked. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ SELECT CONFERENCES │ │ │ │ A 0. Main Board │ │ A 1. GoodHelp │ │ A 2. DoorKnob │ │ A 3. Pets │ │ A 5. Chit&Chat │ │ 16. Older-Hat │ │ 23. Ubeengreat │ │ 26. Ubeenawful │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Select conference by NUMBER or NAME, Q]uit (?=help): q │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now the caller is returned to the RoseMail Command prompt, ready to download the first mail packet. Select and deselect multiple conferences ---------------------------------------- Select multiple conferences --------------------------- You may select all the conferences at once. To do this, enter "s;all" at the conference selection command prompt. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 69 You may select a range of conferences all at once. To do this, enter "s;<low>-<high>", where <low> is the number of the lowest conference you are selecting, and <high> is the number of the highest. For example, if you are going to select conferences zero through five, you could enter: s;0-5 When you combine these commands with those for individual conference selection and deselection, you can adjust your selected conferences quickly and easily. Deselect multiple conferences ----------------------------- Similarly, you may deselect all the conferences at once. To do this, enter "d;all" at the conference selection command prompt. You may deselect a range of conferences all at once. To do this, enter "d;<low>-<high>", where <low> is the number of the lowest conference you are deselecting, and <high> is the number of the highest. For example, to deselect conferences zero through five, you can enter: d;0-5 When you combine these commands with those for individual conference selection, you can adjust your selected conferences quickly. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 70 Select the last nnn messages in a range of conferences ------------------------------------------------------ Suppose you want to select conferences 0 through 10, and you want to download the highest 20 messages from conferences 7-10. You can use the following combination of commands. First, you will use the "<low>-<high>" command, and then you will use the "high- nnn" command. After the "high-nnn" command, you will be asked for a range for which you want "nnn" messages - in this instance, "nnn" is 20. So, your series of commands will look like this: Select conference by NUMBER or NAME, Q]uit (?=help): 0-10 Select conference by NUMBER or NAME, Q]uit (?=help): high-20 Range to set high (low-high or ALL): 7-10 This will select conferences 0-10, and send you the last 20 messages in conferences 7-10. Suppose you want to select conferences 0-10, and you want the last 20 messages in each. Then you could use a slightly different set of commands. You could, for instance, do it this way: Select conference by NUMBER or NAME, Q]uit (?=help): 0-10 Select conference by NUMBER or NAME, Q]uit (?=help): high-20 Range to set high (low-high or ALL): all Multiple screens of conferences ------------------------------- Our caller only had to deal with one screenful of conferences. When your BBS has too many conferences to fit on one screen, you can bring up the next screen by pressing Enter. When you reach the end of the entire list, pressing Enter once more returns you to the RoseMail Command prompt. If you want to see the listings again, enter "s" to bring up the first screen once more. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 71 To jump to a conference number different from any currently displayed on your screen, enter the number you want. If that conference number exists, a new screen that contains that conference listing will pop up. If there is no such conference number, nothing will change. THE MAIL CYCLE: Receiving a packet and sending replies ------------------------------------------------------ Downloading the mail packet (BBS.QWK) ------------------------------------- The caller has now made all the necessary and some optional choices: Compressor, Transfer Protocol, Conference Selection, and Options. The next step is to download the first BBS.QWK packet. Examining the Action Commands, Intrepid Caller sees that a choice is available: to download Personal mail only, using the P command, or to download all public messages, using the D command. Since our IC has not yet been participating in most of the conferences just selected, IC expects no personal messages, and chooses the D command, which will send all the public messages as well as any personal ones. Screen 18. Download the mail packet. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (48 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): d │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Abort the mail scan ------------------- When RoseMail begins the mail scan, it posts a message indicating how you can stop the scan if you wish. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 72 You might want to abort the scan if you notice, during the scan, that you did not select conferences quite the way you meant to. Screen 19. How to abort the scan for messages. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Press <CTRL>X or <CTRL>K to abort the message scan. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ NOTE: If you have selected many conferences to read, the message that tells you how to abort the scan for mail may scroll up and off the screen. So remember that you can abort the scan if you wish. You may have to hold down the Control key and the X or K key for a moment before the scan will abort. Screen 20. The download scan. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Offline and Netmail door │ │ │ │ Highest Last Number of To │ │ Conference Network Message Read Messages You │ │ │ │ 0 Main Board Local 45 0 11 0 │ │ 1 GoodHelp Local 9 0 9 0 │ │ 2 DoorKnob Local 9 0 9 0 │ │ 3 Pets Local 12 0 11 0 │ │ 5 Chit&Chat Local 5 0 5 0 │ │ │ │ Number of messages to download: 45 │ │ Number of messages to you : 0 │ │ │ │ Do you want to download this packet (Y/N)? y │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 73 In the screen above, you can see that although the Main Board has 45 messages, only 11 are listed in the "Number of Messages" column, and therefore you will receive only 11 Main Board messages in your packet. This simply means that the other messages are private and not addressed to you, or perhaps they have been removed from the BBS ("killed"). The "To You" column shows the number of messages addressed to you that will be included in your mail packet. Notice also that the total number of message to be included in your packet is shown at the bottom of the download scan, and that you have the opportunity to choose to download the packet by answering "Y" for Yes, or to answer "N" for No, thus avoiding the download. Accept or refuse the mail packet -------------------------------- The question that shows at the bottom of the screen, "Do you want to download this packet (Y/N)?", allows a caller to back out of the selection and make a different one instead. If the caller answers "N" to this question, the RoseMail Command prompt returns. Our caller is satisfied with the packet, so answers "Y" to the question. After a moment's wait, RoseMail sends a message that the BBS.QWK is compressed, and the caller should "Prepare to download". You will see that RoseMail also reminds you of the protocol you chose. This reminder will help you make sure to choose the exactly matching protocol on your own computer, when you press PgDn (or whatever key your communications program requires) to start your download. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 74 Screen 21. Compressing, and reminding which protocol you chose. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Compressing your mail now...Done │ │ Prepare to download BBS.QWK (14 k) using Zmodem │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It is when you see the message "Prepare to download BBS.QWK" that you press the key to start a download. Transferring a BBS.QWK file or a BBS.REP file is just the same as transferring any other file. If you are asked to select a protocol now, that is your own communications program doing the asking, since you have already selected the protocol at the RoseMail end of the transfer. If you do not know which key to press to start a download, check the manual for your communications program. NOTE: The protocol Zmodem has a feature that allows it to start a download all by itself. If you are using Zmodem, and your communications program is set to let it start automatically, you may not have to press PgDn (or any other key) to get the transfer started. This automatic start applies only to downloads, not to uploads. If you automate your RoseMail session completely, by using the Platinum version of RoseReader, or by using a script with your communications program, you will not have to touch your keyboard at all during the session. Now the file transfer begins. When it is done, Intrepid Caller receives the joyous message that the download was successful. In a hurry to read the mail packet, IC logs off from the RoseMail Door, by entering "g" for goodbye: Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 75 Screen 22. Download Successful, Goodbye. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ DOWNLOAD SUCCESSFUL │ │ │ │ │ │ (47 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): g │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ However, if there were other things Intrepid Caller wanted to do on the BBS before logging off, entering "q" to Quit would cause IC to leave RoseMail and return to PCBoard. Screen 23: Quit RoseMail and return to PCBoard. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (47 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): q │ │ Returning you to the board... │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Whereupon, Intrepid Caller receives a Command prompt from PCBoard. Screen 24. PCBoard awaits your next command. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (46 min. left) Main Board Command? │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ NOTE: If you should happen to receive a message that your download was unsuccessful, you might try to assess the reason for the failure. For instance, did you match protocols correctly? Although computers, being machines, can have occasional problems, much of the time the infamous "operator error" is the cause. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 76 Uploading your BBS.REP file (sending your reply packet) -------------------------------------------------------- You now have your BBS.QWK packet. It is in your download directory. You can read and reply to messages, or enter new messages, without being connected to the BBS at all. When you have finished writing messages and have exited your offline mail reader, you will find a BBS.REP, where "BBS" stands for the name your sysop has assigned to the mail packet, in your upload directory. If you choose to handle things simply, this directory might be the same one as your download directory. You might want to check that your BBS.REP does exist in the subdirectory from which you upload to RoseMail. Now you are ready to log back on to the BBS, go into the RoseMail Door once again, and upload your replies. Since you have already configured the RoseMail Door, you need not do this task again, until you want to make changes. See also "Offline Configuration" below. Log on to your BBS. Type "ROSEMAIL" or "OPEN n" or "DOOR n", where "n" is the number of the RoseMail Door. Press Enter. You will find yourself in the RoseMail Door, with a Command prompt. Now type "U" and press Enter. Your upload prompt looks something like this: Screen 25. RoseMail's prompt to upload BBS.REP ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Prepare to upload ROSE.REP now. │ │ Ready to receive file (Press CTRL-X to abort) using Zmodem │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 77 The message from RoseMail "Ready to receive file . . . " is your cue to start your upload. Press PgUp (or whatever key your communications program requires for the upload). If you are now asked to select a protocol, this request comes from your own computer. Make sure you choose the protocol that matches the message on the screen that says, "using <protocol name>". The steps you will need to take if you are not using an automated program or a script are: Select your protocol (this is from your own communications program, on your own computer). Make sure you match the protocol RoseMail is showing on your screen. Provide the BBS.REP filename that RoseMail is expecting (make sure the REP packet name is correct for the BBS you are calling). You may also have to check that the DOS pathname to the BBS.REP on your disk drive is correct. For instance, you might have to type "C:\MAIL\ROSE.REP", or, if your mail reader stores the pathname in its configuration area, and asks only for the filename, you would type just "ROSE.REP" (substituting the correct "BBS" name for your own .REP file). Once you are sure the path and filenames are correct, when you press Enter (or whatever other key your communications program requires), your transfer will start. If the path and filenames are not correct, correct them before you initiate the upload from your computer. Your BBS.REP file will now be uploaded to RoseMail. When the transfer is complete, you will see a screen showing the messages you uploaded, and you will receive information about the distribution of your messages. Capture of BBS.REP Upload ------------------------- Here is part of a capture file showing entry into RoseMail, and a successful upload. In this capture, script prompts are turned on. You will notice the commands enclosed in angle brackets <>. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 78 Script prompts are short messages that serve as cues for programs to "grab on to" and respond to. You can turn these prompts on from the Options menu in RoseMail, by toggling Option 9 to "YES". If you are at your computer, typing commands at the keyboard, you do not need to turn the script prompts on. Turn script prompts on ---------------------- Our caller now feels more familiar with RoseMail than during the first session. Intrepid Caller decides to find out what happens if the script prompts are turned on. Option 9 is set to NO by default, and IC has not changed that Option. Instead of changing it, IC uses another way to turn the prompts on, although this way will engage the RoseMail script prompts only for the current session. Intrepid Caller enters "rosemail prompts" at the Main Board Command. Screen 26. RoseMail Prompts ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (58 min. left) Main Board Command? rosemail prompts │ │ │ │ Loading ROSEMAIL, please wait... │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As IC logs in to the RoseMail Message Centre, RoseMail reports that the script prompts are turned on: Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 79 Screen 27. RoseMail <PROMPTS ON> ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Message Centre │ │ RoseMail Version 1.70 (03-04-92 01:00)<PROMPTS ON> │ │ │ │ (58 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): _ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Upload BBS.REP -------------- IC types "U" to upload and presses Enter. RoseMail returns a message saying "Ready to receive file". Screen 28. Begin uploading BBS.REP. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <COMMAND> │ │ (58 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): U │ │ │ │ Prepare to upload BB&C.REP now. │ │ Ready to receive file (Press CTRL-X to abort) using Zmodem │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 80 Abort the upload ---------------- Notice the message on the last line that says "(Press CTRL-X to abort)". If you want to abort your file transfer, you can. When a file transfer is in progress, a simple pressing of Ctrl-X may not be enough. You may have to hold down the Ctrl key and the X key at the same time for longer than a normal key-press. Those who use the external protocol program DSZ can press Alt-N, followed by Enter when DSZ sends a message, for a rapid response to the request to abort. However, our caller wants to send BBS.REP, and therefore presses PgUp to start the transfer. Soon, the transfer is complete. RoseMail unpacks ("unarchives") the BBS.REP file, distributes the messages to the proper conferences, assigns a message number to each message, and posts a report on the results. Messages rejected ----------------- There is a surprising development. Screen 29. Messages Rejected. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ 0 Main Board VIC KASS REJECTED: Duplicate message. │ │ <MESSAGE REJECTED> │ │ 1 GoodHelp DREW MILLER REJECTED: Duplicate message. │ │ <MESSAGE REJECTED> │ │ 3 Pets A. NONNY MOUSE REJECTED: Duplicate message. │ │ <MESSAGE REJECTED> │ │ <MESSAGES INSERTED> │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It looks as though IC uploaded the same BBS.REP twice. Fortunately RoseMail rejected the messages and saved the caller the embarrassment of having the messages appear twice. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 81 You will notice that RoseMail gives the reason for the rejection. Usually, though, your messages will be inserted without difficulty. You will notice the message in the screen above that says "<MESSAGES INSERTED>". Do not allow this message to confuse you. RoseMail lists all the messages it unpacks from your BBS.REP, and reports on each. If it says it rejected your messages, it did reject them - that is, they were NOT posted. There is a reason for the above message appearing as it does. The "<MESSAGES INSERTED>" script prompt serves as a cue for automatic scripts that the BBS.REP packet has been received, unpacked, and then dealt with in the appropriate way. Messages distributed -------------------- Let us look at RoseMail's report of a successful BBS.REP upload. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 82 Screen 30. RoseMail lists the uploaded messages. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <UPLOAD> │ │ 3 Software-Chat 21307 TOM CASE Sqweeeeeeeeeek! │ │ 5 Victoria-Chat 75949 GEOFFREY MASON Nobody will notice │ │ 5 Victoria-Chat 75950 WARREN MCFADYEN BATs, Zen, Thanks │ │ 0 Main Board P 98713 JOE MACMURCHIE Thorns & Roses │ │ 5 Victoria-Chat 75952 MATTHEW SKALA V^\_o^o_/^V (DITTO) │ │ 25 Pets-UN 11657 PATTI MCGREGOR Corazon & Prancy │ │ 25 Pets-UN 11658 AMANDA BOOTH Ears & Leaps │ │ 5 Victoria-Chat 75954 MURRAY RYAN Much Snow Out There │ │ 80 Email P 10312 CATHERIN GREGORY Sysop Fever │ │ │ │ <MESSAGES INSERTED> │ │ │ │ <COMMAND> │ │ │ │ (57 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There! That is better! For each message received, RoseMail shows the conference number, the conference name, a "P" if the message is personal, the number of the message in the conference, the name of the person the message is addressed to, and the subject of the message. Intrepid Caller's messages are now ready for other callers to read online or to download. You may notice the "-UN" appended to one of the conference names. Sometimes sysops identify the network a conference belongs to by including an abbreviation in the name of the conference which represents the network's name. The "UN" in the screen above stands for "U'NI-net". Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 83 Our caller has completed the mail cycle. Since it is convenient to take a fresh packet during the same BBS session, rather than to make separate calls, IC starts a new cycle, typing "D" and pressing Enter to start the mail scan. <END MAIL CYCLE CAPTURE> STRATEGIES FOR USING ROSEMAIL ----------------------------- Usefulness of the capture file ------------------------------ One of the best learning and trouble-shooting tools available to you is the "capture file". This is a file that copies the screens you see when you are connected to the BBS, and saves them in a file on your computer. New and experienced users alike will find a capture file invaluable for coping with unexpected events and "unpredictable results". If you should want some technical assistance, perhaps from the Rose or RoseMail conference on U'NI- net, Smartnet or Intelec, posting details from your capture file will help the helpers help you. Most communications programs provide the means for you to keep a capture file. Check your program's documentation to find out how to turn it on. After you log off your BBS, you can read your capture file with a program that lets you look at files, or you can use a text editor. The easiest way to manage capture files is to set your communications program to start one automatically when you start the program running. Your capture file may grow large, and you will want to prevent it taking up too much disk space. You can rename it and start a new one, or erase an old one when you are sure you will not need it. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 84 Other RoseMail selections (files) --------------------------------- Users of RoseReader can browse two types of files that your sysop may provide. These are Magazine files and Add-In files. Either type of file may be updated periodically by your sysop. If you follow the selection procedures described below, you can select these files so that they come down automatically in your mail packet when your sysop updates them with new versions. A general description of how to select Magazine files is given here first, followed by a more detailed description of how to select Add-in files. The same principles apply to selecting both kinds of files. Consult the RoseReader documentation to find out how to configure RoseReader to browse these files. Magazines --------- You can select magazine files if your sysop provides them. To select magazine files, enter "mag" at the main RoseMail menu. If nothing happens, your sysop is not carrying magazine files. If your sysop is carrying magazine files, the "mag" command will show you a list of the magazines available. You can toggle your selection for each magazine ON or OFF. Copies of the magazines you selected will be included in your mail packet each time they are updated, until you change your selection. That is, if you leave a certain magazine selected, a new version will come down in your mail packet each time your sysop posts one. The menus and the download scan for Magazines behave in the same way as those for Add-in files. A detailed description of the procedures for Add-in files is shown just below, so if you read that section, you will manage Magazine files without difficulty. Just use the same methods for both types of files. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 85 Only users of RoseReader will be able to read Magazines and Add-in files. Magazines are shown on the main menu of a QWK packet that you have opened. Consult the RoseReader documentation for details. Add-In Files ------------ Your sysop may designate other files besides the magazines that you can choose to have added to your mail packet each time they are updated. These files act like the Qmail Services files. You can browse them if you use RoseReader and configure its SERVICES directory. See the RoseReader documentation for details. To select Add-in Files, you enter "ADD" at the RoseMail Command prompt, even though the ADD command does not show on the RoseMail menu. When you give the command "ADD", you are shown a menu listing the Add-in files your sysop has made available. If no menu shows, and you are merely returned to the RoseMail Command prompt, then your sysop has not installed any Add-In files. Here is an imitation of a session in which a caller selects Add-in files and downloads one in a mail packet. Remember that the ADD command is NOT listed on the RoseMail menu. All the same, you can use it. First, the caller enters "add" at the RoseMail Command prompt. Screen 31. The RoseMail ADD command. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <COMMAND> │ │ (247 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): add │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now, because the sysop has installed an Add-in file, the file is listed on the menu. The caller enters the number of the file wanted. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 86 Screen 32. RoseMail's Add-in Selection menu. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Available add in modules: │ │ │ │ 1. Chatter ................... OFF │ │ Enter number to toggle, Q]uit or R]eset> 1 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RoseMail acknowledges that the file is selected: Screen 33. Add-In file is toggled ON. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Available add in modules: │ │ │ │ 1. Chatter ................... ON │ │ Enter number to toggle, Q]uit or R]eset> q │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now the caller (Q)uits the Add-In selection menu. The bottom portion of the caller's download scan shows that the Add-in module selected is included in the mail packet. If you have downloaded the "Chatter" add-in module before, and you wish to download it again, you can use the [R}eset command from the menu shown just above. You will be sent the same file again in your mail packet. If your sysop updates the Chatter file, so that the new file has a DOS date later than your last download of the file, the new version will be sent to you automatically, as long as you have the Chatter file selected and do not change your selection. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 87 Screen 34. Download scan shows Add-in files. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ 19 Technical Local 6 6 0 0 │ │ 40 Herbs Local 2 2 0 0 │ │ │ │ Including module: Chatter │ │ │ │ Number of messages to download: 206 │ │ Number of messages to you : 13 │ │ Number of files found : 0 │ │ Number of bulletins found : 0 │ │ Number of add in files : 1 │ │ <DLASK> │ │ │ │ Do you want to download this packet (Y/N)? │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When the caller opens the packet with RoseReader, the Services menu will show as active, assuming RoseReader is configured properly, and the caller can then browse the selected file. Other RoseMail Commands ----------------------- CALL the sysop -------------- On the Action Commands menu, you will see a command to CALL the sysop. This command is similar to the PCBoard command to Page [O]peraor (the sysop), with the difference that you use the CALL command from inside RoseMail, instead of from the PCBoard menu. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 88 Most sysops have all they can manage just to keep the BBS running, so if you use the CALL command, you may not receive a response from your sysop. Instead, you may get a message that the sysop is not available. If your sysop does respond to your CALL command, you will be put into Sysop Chat Mode, where you and your sysop can type to each other. If you have an urgent question about RoseMail, and your sysop does not respond to the CALL command, you could [Q]uit RoseMail, and leave a (C)omment to the Sysop after you are returned to PCBoard. Try not to be startled if your Sysop suddenly puts you into Sysop Chat. It will be helpful to you to know that if this happens, you can respond, and you will be able to return to what you were doing when the sysop takes you out of the Chat session. Time you spend chatting with the sysop is not docked from your online time. Incidentally, it is traditional to press Enter twice, making a blank line, when you have finished typing your part of the Chat. Your sysop will probably do the same. It takes just a little practice, but not much, to learn how to handle chat. You cannot, yourself, exit Sysop Chat. Your sysop will return you to your previous activity when Chat is finished. Colour [M]ode toggle -------------------- Another command, "colour [M]ode toggle", allows you to change your screen mode. This command is analogous to PCBoard's "Graphics Mode" command. For colour [M]ode to work, both you and the BBS need to have the mode enabled. To do this on your own computer, you may load some form of ANSI.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file, or perhaps your communications program provides the necessary configuration. Consult your DOS manual and the manual for your communications program for more information. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 89 e[X]pert mode toggle -------------------- Any time you have a command prompt in RoseMail, you can toggle the menus off and on by entering "x". Turning menus off speeds your session by reducing the amount of data sent to you over the modem. Script prompts -------------- In the screen illustrations below, notice the "script prompts". These are the short messages enclosed in angle brackets and written in capital letters, like this: <COMMAND>. RoseMail's script prompts help control the session when you automate it with your communications program's scripts. The precision of control is also visible when you send special configuration messages in your BBS.REP. See the section below called "Offline Configuration" for more information. Meanwhile, you might notice the variety of script prompts that show in the screens simulated in this guide. RoseMail's Options ------------------ Here is a more detailed description of the Options you can select in RoseMail. For lists of the options as you see them in RoseMail, see pages 59 and 61. The screens that follow simulate the Help screens you see when you ask for help from the Options Command prompt. Because your sysop can edit the Help screens, the ones you see in RoseMail may be different from those shown here. The ones shown here are those that come originally with RoseMail. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 90 Screen 35. Options Help prompt. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ What option would you like help with (1-20)? 2 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As mentioned before, there is no Help screen for Option 1, since this Option is reserved for future development. The Help screens for Options 2-20 are presented here, with some notes. Screen 36. Option 2: Download empty packets. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Download empty packets │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, you will be prompted │ │ to download a message packet even if no messages │ │ are found. The New Files List, Bulletins, and │ │ Add-in Modules will still be sent if you elect to │ │ complete the download. │ │ │ │ If set to NO, RoseMail will return you to the │ │ main menu when no messages are found. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you set this option to YES, you can download packets that contain various kinds of files, even if there are no new messages available since you last took a mail packet. If you want to download packets only when there are new messages, you will set this Option to NO. Refer also to Option 18, where you can define what kind of packet is called "empty". The point is that an "empty packet", although it has no messages, may contain other files that you usually download from RoseMail. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 91 You can also download an "empty packet" that has "nothing at all" in it, that is, none of the usual files, and no messages. If you do this, you will be sent a file that contains the BBS's CONTROL.DAT file and the BBS.PTR file. However, if you have the WELCOME screen, or the "copy of the session", SESSION.TXT, selected, you will also receive these files in your "empty packet". In effect, if you download an empty packet, you will receive a tiny BBS.QWK packet that you can use to enter messages offline. A choice you make here, if it conflicts with one you make in Option 18, will override your choice for Option 18. Screen 37. Option 3: Flush the input buffer. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Flush the input buffer │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, RoseMail will clear │ │ all keystrokes you have entered prior to issuing a │ │ command prompt. │ │ │ │ If set to NO, you will be able to type ahead of │ │ what is on the screen. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To comprehend this obscure-appearing option, you should probably learn just a little about the "input buffer", sometimes also called the "keyboard buffer". Because we typists may type unevenly, fast or slow, your computer has a little place in its memory that holds your keystrokes. Each keystroke you type goes into this holder or buffer. The program you are using takes from the buffer the first keystroke you typed, and uses it. Then it takes the second, and so forth. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 92 At some point, the program may stop accepting your keystrokes, perhaps because it is occupied with the current task. If you happen to have typed too fast, or too much, for the program to respond immediately to your instructions, there may be some keystrokes waiting in the buffer for the program to act on them. Eventually, the program will return to seek whatever keystrokes remain in the buffer. When you "flush" the buffer, your instruction to flush says, "Discard the keystrokes placed in the buffer; they are extraneous". So, when the program returns to the buffer, it finds nothing. Then the program will have to wait until you type more instructions. Programs that communicate automatically with RoseMail use this input (keyboard) buffer to store the commands that normally you would type. If you use a script that provides instructions you would normally type, or if your communications program itself provides those instructions, then those instructions go into the keyboard buffer. If you have told RoseMail to flush the input buffer, the instructions placed there in sequence by your automated program or script could disappear before RoseMail picks them up, so that the sequence, and therefore, your intended session, is disrupted. So, if you never use a script or an automated program to collect your mail, you could set this Option to YES. After all, you are there at the keyboard to tell RoseMail what to do. But the whole idea of a script, or automated communications session, is to let you stay off the keyboard, and have the script or program do the job instead. Since we assume the script or the automation program is sending the correct keystrokes to RoseMail, we do not want to lose the keystrokes sent just because RoseMail is too busy to collect them right away. For these reasons, if you are using a script or an automated program to collect your mail, you should set this option to NO. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 93 Screen 38. Option 4: Include the welcome screen. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Include the welcome screen │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, a copy of the │ │ welcome screen (the screen you see when you first │ │ log into the BBS) will be included in every packet │ │ you download. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Screen 39. Option 5: Include bulletins. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Include bulletins │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, all NEW bulletins │ │ will be added to your mail packet. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Screen 40. Option 6: Upload file listings. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Upload file listings │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, a listing of all NEW │ │ files in the upload directory will be included in │ │ your mail packet. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The "upload" directory is the area in PCBoard where files sent by callers are stored after your sysop has approved them. Your sysop may also upload files into this directory. This directory is a kind of catch-all, in that files stored here have not been classified or moved out into the main file directories. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 94 For the big BBSs that obtain many new files each day, this upload directory will usually have fewer new files in it than are shown in the main file directories. So, if you set this option to YES, you will see a list that represents a mixed collection of files, and the list will probably not be very long. When you decide how to set this option, you need to be aware that you must have selected the conference from which these listings are available in PCBoard. For instance, if you call Rose Media BBS, you must select the Main Board conference in your mail packet in order to receive the listings of new files. If you do not want to read the messages in the Main Board conference, simply select only your Personal mail for that conference. If you do not post messages, you will receive only the few generic messages left by the sysop, so this selection adds very little to the size of your packet, and what it adds is likely to be of use to you. Which conference allows you to see the New Files lists depends on which BBS you call, so you will need to find out how the BBS you call is organized for these listings. Commonly, you would find such listings available from the Main Board conference. Screen 41. Option 7: Download file listings ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Download file listing │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, RoseMail will search │ │ through ALL the download file areas to create a new │ │ files listing that will be included in your packet. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 95 How large a listing of new files will be, if you set this option to YES, depends on how many new files your BBS gets each day. These "Download file listings" cover the directories where files have been classified according to type or purpose. These directories can contain long lists if your BBS gets a lot of new files each day. If you set this option to YES, and find the lists are more than you want to receive, you can set it to NO again later. The same notice applies here as for Option 6; you must have the conference selected in which these file listings are available from PCBoard, in order to receive them in your packet. Screen 42. Option 8: Include a copy of the session. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Include a copy of the session │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, a listing of how │ │ many messages you got, and from which conference, │ │ will be included in every mail packet you download. │ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The "copy of the session" you get in your packet if you set this Option to YES is a copy of the mail scan you see when RoseMail is scanning for your messages. The filename for this copy is SESSION.TXT. Generally it is quite a small file. You can see what conferences you are currently reading, and whether there is much message activity in the conferences. You can also see in which conferences you have messages addressed to you, as well as the numbers of the messages contained in the packet the file belongs to. The numbers are helpful if you want to see where your message pointers are set, or if you want to look for a particular message by number. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 96 Screen 43. Option 9: Use script commands. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Use script commands │ │ │ │ If you are using an automated program to perform │ │ your downloads, setting this option to YES should │ │ help you. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you set this option to YES, Rosemail produces a set of standard, short phrases, enclosed in angle brackets, like this: <COMMAND>. For other examples, see the "capture" of the download session above, or the list of script prompts at the end of this guide. These prompts help regulate the flow between RoseMail and your automated program. Screen 44. Option 10: Use fast start sequence. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Use fast start sequence │ │ │ │ A 'Fast Start' is a sequence of commands that you │ │ want executed when you first enter the door. This │ │ command sequence will be used as your first line │ │ of text to the door and is interpreted like an │ │ ordinary input line. │ │ │ │ This line can contain the regular command stacking │ │ space ' ' and semicolon ';' to separate commands. │ │ │ │ ie. 'D;Y;G' downloads a packet and logs you off. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 97 To "stack" is to type a series of commands on the same line, without pressing Enter in between. Both PCBoard and RoseMail allow you to "stack" your commands by separating them with a space or a semicolon. See the section entitled "Command Summary" below, for a list of commands you can type to RoseMail, or put into scripts, so your communications program can run your session for you. See also the section entitled "JumpStart (AutoStart): Automatic sequences", below. Screen 45. Option 11: Prescan during event. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Prescan during event │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES and if your sysop │ │ performs an offline scan for users during an event │ │ (or at a periodic interval), mail packets will be │ │ created while you are not online and the packet │ │ will be ready to download instantly after you │ │ select a download. │ │ │ │ The packet that you receive from a prescan is in │ │ all aspects the same as if you did the scan online, │ │ including mail only from selected conferences and │ │ sending information such as new files listings (if │ │ you have it selected.) │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This option is largely intended for sysops who call their hubs for netmail packets. If you are calling regularly, long distance, for your mail, and your sysop offers pre-scanned mail packets for callers other than sysops, you may be able to make arrangements with your sysop to have packets pre-scanned for you. Since pre- scanned mail packets can take up quite a lot of space on the BBS hard disk, many sysops may not offer this service to callers who are not taking netmail packets. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 98 Screen 46. Option 12: Download your replies. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Download your replies │ │ │ │ If this option is set to NO, RoseMail will make │ │ sure that you do not receive messages which you │ │ have entered. │ │ │ │ If set to YES, you will receive messages which you │ │ have entered. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You will find it advantageous to download your own replies. When you do so, you get copies of them in your mail packet, so that you can see what you have posted. For instance, seeing copies of your own messages is a wonderful cure for mistakes like forgetting to delete extraneous quotes from the ends of your messages. Also, if you are carrying on an exchange important to you, you have both ends of the conversation in your BBS.QWK packets. Screen 47. Option 13: Use current date/time. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Use current date/time │ │ │ │ If this option is set to NO, your replies will │ │ have the date and time that the reader program │ │ says you entered the message. │ │ │ │ If set to YES, all messages will be added with the │ │ date and time of your upload. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you set Option 13 to YES, the messages you upload in your BBS.REP will have the date and time of the BBS at the time you upload stamped in their headers. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 99 Some callers include the date and time they wrote the message in the body of the message, perhaps as part of a signature line, or in the reader tagline, and then set this option to YES, so that the time the message was written appears in the message, and the time of upload shows in the message header. Your sysop may set some or all conferences to stamp your message with the BBS system date and time at the time your message is posted. You might therefore find it useful to include the date and time you wrote your message somewhere in the body of your message, or perhaps in your offline mail reader's tagline. Screen 48. Option 14: Include NEWS file. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Include NEWS file │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, all updated NEWS │ │ files will be added to your mail packet. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As in the options for file listings (Options 6 and 7), you will need to select the conference from which the NEWS is available in PCBoard, in order to receive it in your packet. Commonly, the NEWS is available from the Main Board. Screen 49. Option 15: Delay script prompts. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Delay SCRIPT prompts │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, a delay of one second │ │ will precede all the script prompts. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 100 When you first use RoseMail, this option is set to YES by default. If you use scripts, or automated communications programs, you will probably want to leave this set to YES. Unexpected events on telephone lines, on BBS systems running on networked software, or even on your own computer, could affect timing in the communications between you and the BBS. The one-second delay may allow a script working under bad line conditions to continue on its way instead of failing. Screen 50. Option 16: Automatic Repeat Downloads. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Automatic Repeat Downloads │ │ │ │ If this option is set to YES, RoseMail will │ │ automatically start a new mail download if the │ │ previous download could not fit all of your │ │ messages. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Some of the advantages of setting this option to YES are fairly obvious - you can pick up all your mail in one call (assuming you do not run out of your daily allotted time on the BBS), even if there is more mail than will fit in a single packet. One advantage that may not be so obvious is that if you have only limited space for BBS.QWK files, or if you are short on computer memory, you can use the SIZ command to limit the size of your packets, and then download several smaller packets instead of one large one. Your choices here depend on many considerations, all of which you will want to take into account, once you become experienced with the RoseMail method of collecting and sending your mail. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 101 Repeat Download packet names ---------------------------- When you use the automatic Repeat Download feature in RoseMail, your first packet is named BBS.QWK, but your second is named BBS.QW0. Your third is named BBS.QW1, and so forth, through BBS.Q99. You could theoretically take 101 packets, if you had enough time allotted on your BBS to make so many downloads, and if there were enough new messages to fill so many packets, and if you had enough disk space to store them all. You could even take down 101 packets, exit RoseMail but stay logged onto PCBoard, re-enter RoseMail, and take down another 101 packets, time and availability of new mail permitting, of course. Be careful if you take a mail packet, quit the RoseMail Door and return to PCBoard, and then go back into RoseMail and take another mail packet (or several), during the same call. As long as you remain in RoseMail, your next packet will take the next packet name. But if you quit and re-enter RoseMail, RoseMail treats this like a new session, and sends you another file named BBS.QWK. This second BBS.QWK can overwrite or damage the first one that awaits you, and be damaged itself in turn, if you are using the Zmodem protocol with crash recovery. If you re-enter RoseMail to take another mail packet on the same call, you can shell from your communications program to DOS on your computer, and rename any new mail packets, before downloading any more. If you do this reasonably quickly, you will find yourself still online when you exit your DOS shell. Most BBSs will allow you a few minutes to shell to DOS from your communications program without dumping you off the telephone line. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 102 Screen 51. Option 17: Small CONTROL.DAT file. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Small CONTROL.DAT file │ │ │ │ In order to maintain compatibility with older │ │ reader programs, this option will cause RoseMail │ │ to include only the conferences that you have │ │ selected in your CONTROL.DAT file. If this option │ │ is set to YES, some readers may disallow offline │ │ selection of conferences. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The CONTROL.DAT file comes with every .QWK-compatible mail packet you download. It contains information specific to your BBS and to you (for instance, it contains your name). Normally, it lists all the conferences available on the BBS. Some of the old mail reader programs are limited in how many conferences they can list. If the number of conferences listed in CONTROL.DAT exceeds your mail reader's capacity, you could get "unpredictable results". You may wish to set this option to YES if you call a large BBS that carries many conferences, and you are using an old mail reader. If you use RoseReader, you can leave this option set to NO. For information on offline selection of conferences, as mentioned in the help screen, see the section below entitled "Offline Configuration". Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 103 Screen 52. Option 18: Empty packets on mail only. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Empty packets on mail only │ │ │ │ Normally, RoseMail considers an empty packet as │ │ one which contains no messages, files, bulletins │ │ or add in files. If you only want to download │ │ packets when you have new mail, and leave the │ │ bulletins and files to that time, set this option │ │ to YES. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you set this option to YES, RoseMail will normally send you a packet only when there are new messages for you to read. If, however, you have set Option 2 to allow you to download "empty packets," your choice here (for Option 18) will be overridden by your setting for Option 2. In these latter circumstances, RoseMail will send you the empty packet you request regardless of what setting you make to this option (18). See the notes under Option 2 for more information. Screen 52. Option 19: Send user information. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Send user information │ │ │ │ RoseMail can include information on the current │ │ status of your BBS membership inside a mail packet. │ │ However, this takes extra space and causes a │ │ slightly longer download time. If you want this │ │ information to be sent, set this option to YES. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 104 Screen 54. Option 20: Do not send NDX files. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - do not send NDX files │ │ │ │ Most readers require an index (NDX) file for each │ │ conference that has mail. If you are downloading │ │ mail for the sole purpose of netmail, the index │ │ files are often not required and this option can │ │ be set to YES to reduce transfer time. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you are reading messages with an offline mail reader, you will want to leave this option set to NO. This option is intended for sysops who might not read netmail packets, since they could save time and space by excluding the NDX files from their packets. Action menu: Personal mail download ------------------------------------ Enter "P" to download only messages addressed to you. Your mail packet will contain the new messages written to you in all conferences you have selected. Configuration menu: select networks to read -------------------------------------------- To select which networks you want to read, enter "NET". When you issue the command "NET", you are shown which networks are available, and which you have currently selected. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 105 Screen 55. Listing the networks available. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ (48 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): net │ │ │ │ Available networks: │ │ │ │ 3. U'NI-net │ │ 12. SneakerNet │ │ 13. FishyNet │ │ │ │ Currently selected network: ALL │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now you can make a selection. You may notice that the network numbers in the screen above are not in sequence. Numbers not shown represent networks that are reserved, or undefined, or that your sysop does not carry. Screen 56. Selecting networks. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <SET NETWORK> │ │ Network to select (or ALL): 3 │ │ U'NI-net has been selected. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As you can see, when you make your selection, RoseMail acknowledges it. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 106 Controlling your message pointers in RoseMail --------------------------------------------- When you select a conference in RoseMail, you are asked to choose a message number, or a "pointer." The question you are asked is: "Last Read?" Please notice that means what it says! If you tell RoseMail the last message you read is message number 1, RoseMail will send you the messages beginning with message number 2. So if you want all the messages in a conference, it is easiest to specify "0" (zero) as your last message read. Do not specify "0", though, without looking to see approximately how many messages are in the conference. Some sysops keep quite a few messages, so you could end up with many hundreds. To find out how many messages are available in a conference, use the "s" command to select that conference, even if you already have it selected. You will then be shown the numbers of the lowest and highest messages available for that conference, and you can set your pointer as you wish. Taking messages in RoseMail that you have read in PCBoard --------------------------------------------------------- When RoseMail makes a .QWK packet for you, it scans the conferences you have selected for messages that PCBoard says you have not yet read. This means that if you read messages in PCBoard, without going into RoseMail, the messages you read will not be included in the next mail packet you take from the RoseMail Door, because PCBoard updates your message pointers when you read messages in PCBoard. If you have been reading messages in PCBoard, and you wish to collect these same messages in your .QWK packet, you can do so by using RoseMail's conference selection menu to set your message pointers back. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 107 To collect messages from RoseMail that you have already read in PCBoard, go into RoseMail, and use the conference selection menu to select (or select again) the conference in which you read the messages that you now want to collect in your BBS.QWK. When the conference selection menu asks for your "Last Read" message, set the number back as far as you wish. What you have just done is reset your message pointer for that conference, by specifying a message number within the conference you have selected. When setting your message pointers manually from within RoseMail, you cannot enter a minus sign or a hyphen to indicate that you want only the last "nnn" messages (where "nnn" represents the number of messages you want to download), as you would do when sending a special message in your BBS.REP packet, because when you are inside RoseMail, you are shown the numbers of the messages available, and it is a simple matter just to type the message number you wish to use as your "Last Read" message. Selecting a mail packet by the date of messages ----------------------------------------------- You can set your message pointers by going into RoseMail's Conference Selection screen and typing "date" at the conference selection prompt. Here is an illustration of one of the possible command sequences. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 108 Screen 57. Selecting conferences by DATE. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SELECT CONFERENCES │ │ │ │ A 0. Main Board 21. Household │ │ 1. Assistance 22. Animals │ │ A 2. ReadOnly A 23. Earthshine │ │ 3. Pets A 24. BB&C │ │ 5. ThymeChat A 63. Virus-UN │ │ A 8. Email A 64. Pets-UN │ │ A 14. Fishy │ │ 15. Old-Hat │ │ 16. Older-Hat │ │ │ │ <CONFIG> │ │ Select conference by NUMBER or NAME, Q]uit (?=help): date │ │ │ │ Set to what date (mm-dd-yy): 08-23-92 │ │ │ │ Range to set by date (low-high or ALL): 19-64 │ │ │ │ Resetting message pointers... Please wait. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As you can see, you could type "all" to set all the conferences to the same date. When you use this command, your pointers will reset to the first message in the message base that has the date you typed. Notice that where messages come in from netmail packets, later messages may have earlier dates, so that you may receive messages where the headers show dates earlier than those you selected. The date command, then, is a very approximate, yet convenient, way of setting your message pointers. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 109 What to do if you lose a QWK file: Reset Message Pointers ---------------------------------------------------------- If you have lost a BBS.QWK packet and wish to download it again, you can do so very easily if you have the file called BBS.PTR from your previous BBS.QWK packet, regardless of whether you have renamed the packet. BBS.PTR is included in your mail packet each time you download a BBS.QWK. This file contains your message pointers for each conference. It is not affected by any name change you make to the original packet. RoseReader can be set to save this file for you. If you are using a different offline reader, you can extract the BBS.PTR file manually from the packet previous to the one you lost, assuming, of course, that you have not yet erased that BBS.QWK. Like CONTROL.DAT, BBS.PTR is a file you may never see until you get curious and explore the work directory of your mail reader. Hint: if you go exploring, use your reader's "shell to DOS" command while you are reading messages, because your reader probably erases the contents of the work directory, and quite possibly the directory itself as well, when you exit your packet. If you need to extract the BBS.PTR from a previous BBS.QWK manually, your compression program undoubtedly has a means of doing it. Check the manual for your compression program to find out how to do this. With PKUNZIP you would enter a command something like this: pkunzip -e <bbs.qwk> bbs.ptr (where <bbs.qwk> represents the current filename of the packet from which you are extracting BBS.PTR) Once you have extracted the BBS.PTR file, copy it to the directory from which you upload your BBS.REP files, if it is not already there. You are now ready to upload your BBS.PTR to RoseMail. Once in RoseMail, you enter the "r" (Reset message pointer upload) command from the Configuration menu: Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 110 Screen 58. Upload BBS.PTR (Reset Message Pointers) ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <COMMAND> │ │ (59 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): r │ │ │ │ Please upload THYME.PTR now. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The message "Please upload BBS.PTR now" is your cue to press U to upload. You perform this file transfer just as you would any other. Since BBS.PTR is a small file, the upload will go quickly. When your upload is complete, you will be shown a help screen, and be given a choice of how to set your pointers. Screen 59. Set pointers "Before" or "After" your BBS.PTR file ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ RoseMail Help - Reset message pointer upload │ │ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── │ │ If for some reason your message pointers (a list │ │ of your last read messages in every conference) is │ │ corrupt, you can upload a PTR file which is │ │ included in every packet that you download. After │ │ uploading the PTR file, you will be asked if you │ │ want to reset the message pointers to the condition │ │ 'B'efore or 'A'fter the message scan. │ │ │ │ Answering 'B'efore will reset all your message │ │ pointers to the state they were in BEFORE you │ │ downloaded the packet containing the PTR file. │ │ │ │ If you answer 'A'fter, your message pointers will │ │ be set to the condition they were in AFTER you │ │ downloaded the packet containing the PTR file. │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 111 Now you may enter "B" or "A" to complete this procedure: Screen 60. Select Before or After. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <PTRFILE> │ │ │ │ Reset to B]efore or A]fter download (ENTER to abort)? b │ │ Message pointers reset successfully. │ │ <SUCCESSFUL> │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you wish to abort your pointer reset, you may press Enter before typing "a" or "b". To reset your pointers, type "a" or "b" and press Enter. Your message pointers are now set as you specified. You may download another mail packet now, and it should give you the correct messages, along with any new ones that have been posted. Remember that if you upload an old pointer file, you will receive all the messages posted since the time of the packet in which you received that pointer file. Set limits on the size of your mail packet ------------------------------------------ Offline mail reading programs differ in the number of messages they can manage in a single conference. Some of the old readers cannot handle more than 200 messages per conference. If your disk space and computer memory is limited in size, you may wish to limit the size of the packet you take. Some laptop computers operate better with smaller packets. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 112 Your sysop sets limits on the number of messages per conference, and on the total number of messages that callers can take in a single packet. Within the limits set by your sysop, you can set your own limits to accommodate your needs. You can also set the approximate size of your packet when it is expanded, or unarchived. That is, you can set limits on the approximate amount of space, in kilobytes, that the messages will take when they are decompressed on your computer. To set these limits, use the SIZ command from the Configuration menu. Here is what happens when you do that. In the simulated screens illustrating the SIZ command, the arrows ( <== ) point to the entries you make. These do not appear on your computer screen when you are in RoseMail. They are included here to make the simulation easier to follow. Screen 61. Set the maximum number of messages per conference. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <COMMAND> │ │ (56 min. left) RoseMail Command (?=help): siz <== │ │ │ │ │ │ Current settings: │ │ 300 message maximum per conference │ │ 1000 message maximum in total. │ │ 9999 k approximate maximum of expanded files. │ │ │ │ <SET MAX CONF> │ │ New setting for messages per conference: 200 <== │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 113 Screen 62. Set the total number of messages per packet. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <SET MAX PACKET> │ │ New setting for total messages per packet: 800 <== │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Set maximum expanded size of your packet ---------------------------------------- In the screen below, one line is too long, so it is divided. Your computer screen will show the last two lines as one. Screen 63. Set the maximum expanded size of your packet. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <SET ABS MAX> │ │ │ │ New setting for approximate maximum K │ │ in packet (10k or more): 1200 <== │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ JumpStart (AutoStart): Automatic sequences ------------------------------------------- You can have RoseMail perform an automatic sequence of commands by using the JumpStart feature (also called AutoStart). To set up this feature, take the following steps. Log on to the BBS. Go into the RoseMail Door (type "rosemail" and press Enter). Select Options. Toggle Option 10 ("Use fast start sequence") to YES. You will now see the prompt illustrated in Screen 64. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 114 Screen 64: Set up JumpStart (AutoStart) ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Use fast start sequence is now set to YES │ │ <OPTION SET> │ │ │ │ No jump start sequence set. │ │ │ │ Enter new sequence (or ENTER): _ │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now you can enter a sequence of commands: If you press Enter, you accept the currently defined sequence. Screen 65. Enter JumpStart Commands ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Enter new sequence (or ENTER): u;d;y;g │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Our caller has specified "u;d;y;g" as the sequence of keystrokes to send to RoseMail. You will see that the letters are separated by semicolons. You can use spaces instead of semicolons to separate the commands. The commands our caller entered will do the following tasks: "u": upload replies; "d": scan for the BBS.QWK; "y": answer Yes to the question about downloading the scanned packet, and "g": say [G]oodbye (log off). You can use any sequence of keystrokes that RoseMail will accept. For instance, you could enter "u;q" to upload replies but not download a packet, and then quit RoseMail and return to PCBoard. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 115 You can use any of RoseMail's commands in your sequence. Here are a few examples: p;y - download your personal mail; say Yes to the download prompt d;y;q - download all new mail, say Yes to the download prompt, quit to PCBoard u;p;y;g - upload replies, download personal mail, Yes, Goodbye Once you have set up this JumpStart sequence in RoseMail, you have to start it from the PCBoard Command prompt. So, the first time you set up your JumpStart sequence, quit RoseMail and return to PCBoard. Now the fun begins. Type "rosemail" at the PCBoard Command prompt and press Enter. Now the JumpStart sequence takes over. RoseMail loads, and immediately gives you a message that looks like this: Screen 66. JumpStart: Startup Timer or Abort Start ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ <JUMP START> │ │ Jump start sequence in 10 seconds. S to start, C to continue │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now you can press S if you are at the keyboard and you want your sequence to start right away. If you have logged on with a script, and are not at the computer, the JumpStart sequence will begin automatically after 10 seconds, or you can trigger it by sending an "S" in your script. If you are at the keyboard, and you wish to stop the JumpStart sequence from occurring, you may press "c". You will be given the RoseMail Command prompt, and you may continue manually from there. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 116 When you want to turn off JumpStart, you can use the "C" command. You will get a Command prompt. Then you can enter "O" for options, and toggle Option 10 to NO. If you merely want to change your JumpStart commands, use the "C" command, enter "O" for options, toggle Option 10 to NO, and then toggle it to YES again. When you toggle the option back to YES, you trigger RoseMail's prompt to enter your new sequence commands. As long as you have Option 10, JumpStart, set to YES in RoseMail, and you have a JumpStart sequence of commands already defined, every time you start RoseMail from the PCBoard Command prompt, RoseMail will perform your last-defined command sequence, unless you stop it by pressing "C". COMMAND SUMMARY --------------- Commands you can issue from the PCBoard command prompt ------------------------------------------------------ ROSEMAIL Start the RoseMail Door ROSEMAIL PROMPTS Start the RoseMail Door with script prompts enabled. If you have JumpStart enabled in Option 10, and you have told RoseMail the keystroke command sequence to use, either of these commands will perform the JumpStart, using the sequence of commands you defined. If you have JumpStart enabled, but no sequence defined, you can enter, at the PCBoard command prompt, keystroke commands of the kind you would otherwise enter in the JumpStart command sequence in RoseMail. For instance, at the PCBoard Command prompt, you might enter: Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 117 rosemail u;d;y;q (upload, download, yes, quit to PCBoard) or rosemail p;y;g (Personal mail download, yes, Goodbye) Commands you can issue from inside RoseMail ------------------------------------------- Action Commands --------------- CALL - [CALL] the sysop (ask the sysop to type to you) D - [D]ownload message packet U - [U]pload message packet P - download your [P]ersonal messages only M - toggle your colour [M]ode X - toggle e[X]pert mode G - say [G]oodbye (log off) Q - [Q]uit (return to PCBoard) Configuration Commands ---------------------- O - set your RoseMail [O]ptions C - [C]ompression to use T - [T]ransfer protocol to use S - [S]elect message conferences R - [R]eset message pointer upload MAG - choose [MAG]azines and periodicals NET - choose which [NET]s to scan for mail SIZ - define your packet [SIZ]e Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 118 Commands to select conferences ------------------------------ s;all - select all conferences s;<low>-<high> - select a range of conferences, where <low> is the number of the lowest conference you are selecting, and <high> is the number of the highest. d;all - deselect all conferences d;<low>-<high> - deselect a range of conferences, where <low> is the number of the lowest conference you are deselecting, and <high> is the number of the highest. high-nnn - select the last nnn messages in a range of conferences. First you enter the command "high-nnn", where "nnn" is the number of messages you want to download, and then you are prompted to enter a range. At the prompt for the range, enter <low>-<high>, where <low> is the number of the lowest conference in the range, and <high> is the number of the highest. OFFLINE CONFIGURATION --------------------- You can include messages to ROSEMAIL in your BBS.REP file which will make changes to your RoseMail configuration. To do this, you write a message and address it to RoseMail. This message, when uploaded, makes the change you requested in the message. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 119 This section describes the necessary content of the message you send to RoseMail. Consult the documentation for your offline mail reader for more information. Some mail readers, including RoseReader, will create some of the necessary messages for you when you press certain keys. If you are using a reader other than RoseReader, however, you should review the configuration messages in your REPLIES conference before you send them to RoseMail, because the format of messages created automatically by other readers may not be exactly what RoseMail requires, and your requested configuration change could fail. In a message you send to RoseMail to change your configuration, you may include some of the commands as subject headings, and leave no text at all in the message. You may write a message that has the subject "CONFIG", and include lines of text that contain the instructions. When you do this, you should begin any text at the left margin, on the first line of the message, putting in one instruction per line. All messages you send to RoseMail to change your configuration should be addressed to ROSEMAIL. Conference-specific messages, that is, where the subject in the message header is "ADD" or "DROP" or "RESET" should be sent to the conference concerned. Messages where you use the subject heading "CONFIG" may be sent to any conference. Usually it is most convenient to send such messages to the Main Board. RoseMail ignores the body of the message when you put the configuration instruction in the subject heading, and always ignores the tagline on a configuration message. If you send three commands in a message, and receive a notice that three commands were successful and one was unsuccessful, you may have left some extraneous text, such as an automated signature, in the message you sent. Your guide's writer has bamboozled herself this way a few times. Make all your offline-configuration messages private. You do this at the time you save your message when, in the message information window of your mail reader, it asks you if your message is to be public or private (personal). Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 120 The message information window is the one where you enter the name of your recipient, the subject of your message, and other information. If you are using RoseReader, you can create messages to ADD or DROP conferences automatically, by going to the conference list, highlighting the conference you wish to add or drop, and then pressing A or D respectively. When you ADD a conference, you are prompted to set your message pointer. You can edit any of these special configuration messages from the Replies conference, just as you can edit your written messages. Sometimes this is a convenient way to alter the subject heading of a configuration message, perhaps to set or change a message pointer, or to add instructions to the body of a message that has the subject CONFIG. Add a conference ---------------- Address your message to ROSEMAIL. Send it to the conference you want to ADD. Make the subject of your message "ADD". When you use RoseReader to ADD a conference automatically, it creates one message with the subject "ADD", and a second message to set your message pointer. If you are creating an ADD message manually, you can set the pointer in the subject heading of that same message, beside the word "ADD". See the other instructions for adding conferences, below, for details. Add a conference and take only your personal mail ------------------------------------------------- Address your message to ROSEMAIL. Send it to the conference you want to ADD. Make the subject of your message "ADD YOURS" Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 121 TIP: You can also send this exact same message to a conference you already have selected. Doing so will instruct RoseMail to take your Personal mail only, instead of sending you all the public messages. Your message pointers remain unchanged until you explicitly specify new pointers, either manually while you are online, or in a configuration message that you send to RoseMail in your BBS.REP file. Remove (DROP) a conference -------------------------- Address your message to ROSEMAIL. Send it to the conference you want to DROP. Make the subject of your message "DROP". If you are using RoseReader, you can bring up the list of conferences, highlight the name of the conference you want to drop, and press D. RoseReader will then create the necessary message automatically. Set your message pointer in a single conference ----------------------------------------------- Address your message to ROSEMAIL. Send it to the conference in which you want to change your Last Read message number. Make the subject of your message "RESET nnn" (where "nnn" is the message number you wish to use as your "Last Read" message). NOTE: If you have dropped a conference, and you add it again shortly afterwards, you can send a single message with the subject "ADD" or "ADD YOURS". PCBoard, and therefore, RoseMail, will leave your pointer set as it was when you dropped the conference. If you prefer, you may use "RESET nnn" to set your message pointer for the conference to a specific number different from that where you left off. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 122 Add a conference and download only the last (nnn) messages ---------------------------------------------------------- Address your message to ROSEMAIL. Send it to the conference you want to ADD. Make the subject of your message "ADD -nnn", where "nnn" is the number of messages you want to download. You will then be sent the highest (nnn) messages in the conference. Download only the last (nnn) messages in a selected conference -------------------------------------------------------------- Address your message to ROSEMAIL. Send it to the conference you want to RESET. Make the subject of your message RESET -nnn (where "nnn" is the number of messages you wish to download, and "-" is a hyphen or a minus sign) Combine all your configuration commands into one message -------------------------------------------------------- Address your message to ROSEMAIL. Send it to the Main Board. Make the subject of your message "CONFIG". Type the offline-configuration commands you wish RoseMail to perform for you. Start on Line 1, Column 1 of the body of your message. Make sure EACH command line starts in column 1. Do not leave blank lines between the command lines. Consult Table 1 below for a list of offline configuration commands. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 123 TABLE 1. OFFLINE CONFIGURATION COMMANDS These are the commands you can type into your offline configuration message to RoseMail. ADD <Conference> [<Message #>] [<Yours/Personal>] Example: ADD 2 -3 Y Meaning: Add conference 2, take only the highest 3 messages, and take only your personal mail. (If none of the highest three messages are written to you, you will receive no messages in the packet, but the conference will now be scanned for your personal mail until you change this setting.) ADD YOURS [<Message #>] Example: ADD YOURS 5420 Meaning: Add the conference to which this message is sent, and send only your personal messages, beginning with message number 5421. ADD YOURS [<-nnn>] Example: ADD YOURS -50 Meaning: Add the conference to which this message is sent, and send only messages addressed to you that lie among the highest 50 messages in the conference. DROP <Conference> Example: DROP 2 Meaning: Drop conference 2. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 124 RESET <Conference> <Message #> Example: RESET 12 5000 Meaning: Reset conference 12 to message number 5000. RESET <Conference> <-nnn> Example: RESET 12 -20 Meaning: Reset your message pointer in Conference 12 back 20 messages from the high message number. Note! This will reset the conference back from the high message number at the time your request is uploaded. It will not reset the number back 20 messages from the last message you read. PCBEXPERT <ON | OFF> - Toggle PCBoard expert mode Example: PCBEXPERT ON Meaning: Turn Expert Mode ON in PCBoard (turn menus off). EXPERT <ON | OFF> - Toggle RoseMail expert mode Example: EXPERT OFF Meaning: Turn Expert Mode OFF in RoseMail (turn menus on). PCBPROT <A - Z> - Change your PCBoard transfer protocol Example: PCBPROT Z Choose Zmodem for your PCBoard transfer protocol. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 125 PROT <A - Z> - Change your RoseMail transfer protocol Example: PROT G Meaning: Select Ymodem-G as your RoseMail transfer protocol. PAGELEN <Number> - Page length Example: PAGELEN 20 Meaning: Set your screen length to 20 lines. MAXSIZE <Kbytes> - Maximum packet size in Kilobytes Example: MAXSIZE 100 Meaning: Set the size of your mail packet when decompressed to a maximum of 100 Kilobytes. MAXNUMBER <maximum number of messages per conference> Example: MAXNUMBER 100 Meaning: Set the maximum number of messages you want to download per conference to 100. JUMPSTART <Sequence or OFF> Example: JUMPSTART D;Y;Q Meaning: Set your JumpStart command sequence to "D;Y;Q". Your command sequence will then be: download a mail packet, answer Yes to the question "Do you want to download this packet?" and then quit RoseMail (return to PCBoard). Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 126 MAXPACKET <maximum number of messages per packet> Example: MAXPACKET 500 Meaning: Set the maximum number of messages you want in your mail packet to 500. AUTOSTART <Sequence or OFF> - same as jumpstart Example: AUTOSTART OFF Meaning: Turn off AutoStart (JumpStart), so that your defined command sequence does not operate. OPT <##> <ON | OFF> - set (toggle) door option Example: OPT 2 OFF Meaning: Turn Option 2 OFF. TABLE 2: SCRIPTING PROMPTS AVAILABLE IN ROSE MAIL. If you write a script for your communications program, these are the prompts to which you can cue your script's commands. NOTE: These prompts will only appear if option 9 in the RoseMail door is set to "YES", or if your script opens RoseMail with the command ROSEMAIL PROMPTS. <BAD COMMAND> - an unknown command was entered <BAD CONFERENCE> - tried to insert message in a conference that is not available. <COMMAND> - waiting for keyboard input at main prompt <CONFIG> - configuration prompt Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 127 <CONFIG ACCESS> - set conference scan type (All, Personal or Deselect) <CONFIG LAST> - set last read message in conference <DLASK> - prompt for download <DL ERROR> - non-recoverable download error occurred <DL SUCCESS> - download was successful <DOWNLOAD> - file is ready to download <EXPERT OFF> - expert mode is not set <EXPERT ON> - expert mode is set <GOODBYE> - goodbye has been selected <GRAPHICS OFF> - graphics mode disabled <GRAPHICS ON> - graphics mode enabled <KEYBOARD T-OUT> - keyboard timed out; that is, the program is not receiving keyboard or script commands <JUMP START> - jump start active <MESSAGES INSERTED> - finished inserting messages or receiving and unpacking the mail packet <MESSAGE REJECTED> - a message was not inserted <MSGS LEFT> - there are new messages left, but the Option to repeat a download is not turned on, so the remaining new messages will not be sent until a new command to download is issued. <NO GRAPHICS> - attempted to toggle to graphics mode when not allowed Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 128 <NO TIME> - not enough time to download the current mail packet <NO TRANSFER> - no messages to download <OPTION NOT SET> - option has been toggled to the inactive state <OPTION SET> - option has been toggled to the active state <POINTER ERROR> - error occurred in uploading a pointer reset file (BBS.PTR) <PTRFILE> - prompt for choosing to set pointers Before or After the message numbers contained in the BBS.PTR file just received <PTRUP> - ready to receive a pointer reset file (BBS.PTR) <QUIT DOOR> - door has been exited <REPEAT DOWN> - RoseMail is running a repeat download automatically; script or user intervention is not required <SCAN ABORTED> - download scan was aborted (CTRL-X or CTRL-K pressed) <SET ABS MAX> - set absolute packet size in kilobytes (K) <SET COMPRESSOR> - prompt to set compression program <SET MAX CONF> - set the maximum number of messages per conference <SET MAX PACKET> - set the maximum number of message per packet <SET OPTION> - prompt to set options <SET TPROT> - prompt to set transfer protocol Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 129 <SUCCESS> - transfer was successful <TIME EXPIRED> - exceeded maximum amount of time on board <UNSUCCESSFUL> - transfer was not completed correctly <UPLOAD> - ready to receive your file <UP ERROR> - non-recoverable upload error occurred ENVOI ----- Caller, we hope you enjoy RoseMail. Please let us know your impressions, and if you have questions, comments or suggestions, write to us in the Rose or the RoseMail conferences on U'NI-net, Smartnet, or Intelec. GLOSSARY -------- We have used quite a few terms in the Caller's Guide to RoseMail. Here is a list of terms you may encounter during your explorations of RoseMail. The terms are defined as they are used in the context of this guide. archive - Verb: to compress a computer file. Noun: a compressed computer file, usually made up of a number of files compressed together into a single file. BBS - popularly used acronym for "Bulletin Board System". Bulletin Board System - a computer you call to exchange messages and other information, and to send and receive computer files. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 130 compression program - a program that compresses a computer file to a size considerably less than its normal size. BBS files are usually compressed, to reduce the time necessary for transmitting them over telephone lines. Compression programs provided on BBSs come with decompression programs as well, so that you can decompress the files that you receive. cross-echo - Verb: to copy a message or messages to a conference other than the one in which it was originally posted. Also, to copy a message or messages from one echo mail network to another. Noun: a conference that accepts messages from more than one echo mail network. Example: vendor support conferences frequently accept messages from several networks. cross-post - to copy a message from one conference or from one mail network to another. Some networks ask that a person wishing to cross-post a message obtain permission from the writer of the message, from the network, or both. Good sense, courtesy, and fair use may all be considerations in cross-posting. door - a program that is linked to, but not part of, the Bulletin Board software that runs the BBS you call. When you "open" a "door", you leave the BBS software behind, and enter the new program that forms the door. You can log off from the door, or you can quit the door, which returns you to the BBS software. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 131 echo - to copy messages to a distant BBS, also, to post in a conference from which messages are sent to distant BBSs. echo mail - messages that are copied to other BBSs. echo mail network - an association of sysops and their BBSs that exchanges messages so as to permit callers from all the BBSs in the association to write to each other. flame - verb: to chastise or write nasty messages. Noun: a message that chastises, whether appropriately or not. hub - a BBS that collects and distributes conferences and the messages they contain. One hub may act as distributor for several message networks. lurk - to "lurk" is to read messages in a conference without posting messages yourself. mail packet - a compressed file of messages, and possibly other files as well, sent to you by a mail door. Sometimes also used to designate a "reply packet" - a packet of replies you send to the mail door. network - a group of conferences and their messages that are exchanged between BBSs under the sponsorship of an association of sysops. The association has a name, which is also the name of the network. Examples: U'NI- net, U'NI-net/US, SmartNet, Intelec, Dev- Net. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 132 node - one modem-line on a BBS, which may be a separate machine or may not be. Also, in the context of a network of BBSs in which messages are exchanged, a single BBS in the network, or, a BBS that calls a hub for mail. offline - not connected to or located on the BBS. This term is used in this guide primarily to refer to the programs we use to read mail on our computers, thus: "offline mail reader". offline mail reader - a program you use to read and reply to messages that you have downloaded from a BBS. online - connected to or located on the BBS. You are said to be "online" when you are connected via modem to your BBS. pack - to compress a computer file. There are other uses of the word "pack" in BBSing, but you are not likely to encounter them unless you are a sysop. PCBoard - Bulletin Board System software required for RoseMail to run. PKARC - a compression/decompression program by Phil Katz that preceded the newer programs by the same author called PKZIP (and PKUNZIP). The decompression component of this program is called PKXARC. The DOS filename for an updated version of this program, which avoids a bug that the earlier version had, is usually PK361.EXE. PK361.EXE contains the files PKPAK.EXE and PKUNPAK.EXE. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 133 PKPAK - the compressor portion of the DOS file PK361.EXE. This is an update to the original PKARC program. PKUNPAK - the decompressor portion of the DOS file PK361.EXE. This is an update to the original PKXARC program. PKUNZIP - a decompression program used widely on BBSs at the time of this writing (March 1992). PKUNZIP comes with the compression program PKZ110.EXE, which is current at the time of this writing. "PK" stands for Phil Katz, the author of PKZ110.EXE. PKXARC - the decompression part of the compression program PKARC. PKZIP - a compression program used widely on BBSs. The filename for the version current at the time of this writing (March 1992) is usually PKZ110.EXE. This is the file you download to obtain PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE. "PK" stands for Phil Katz, the author of PKZ110.EXE. pointers - numbers that refer to and locate messages by their numbers. prescan - to collect a mail packet, usually a netmail packet for a sysop, ahead of time and store it on the BBS disk so that the caller does not have to wait online while the mail packet is scanned and compressed. .QWK - the .EXT part of the DOS "FILENAME.EXT" that is the name a DOS computer file is given. The extension ".QWK" is given to the mail packet that is downloaded from a BBS. In this guide, the mail packet you download is called a BBS.QWK. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 134 QWK format - the file format (from the programmer's point of view of the mail packet you download. The BBS.REP is also said to be in "QWK format". This is really a programmer's term, but it is useful for callers to be aware of the term, because it will help you locate and identify programs you may wish to use. QWK-compatible - a file that is in the QWK format, or a program that works with QWK format files. .REP - the .EXT part of the DOS FILENAME.EXT that refers to a packet of replies to messages. In this guide, a reply packet is called a BBS.REP. reply packet - a compressed file containing messages a caller (you) wrote, which is sent to a BBS through a mail door and distributed among the conferences to which the messages were written. A reply packet carries the DOS filename extension ".REP". screaming - typing a message, or a portion of it, entirely in capital letters. shouting - typing a message, or a portion of it, entirely in capital letters. sysop - contraction of the words "System Operator". A sysop is a person who runs a Bulletin Board System. the echo - colloquial for a conference or group of conferences in which messages are exchanged or "echoed" among different BBSs. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 135 thread - a train of thought, and by extension, a collection of messages on a single topic, defined in "offline mail" by the fact that the subject heading on the messages is all the same. unarchive - to decompress a computer file. unpack - to decompress a computer file. UNZIP - to decompress a computer file that has been compressed with PKZIP, or, by extension, to decompress any computer file that has been compressed using any compression program. ZIP - to compress a file using PKZIP.EXE, or, by extension, to compress a computer file using any compression program. <END CALLER'S GUIDE TO ROSEMAIL> Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 136 Wide Beta notes Sun 7 Feb 1993, 19:53 The notes that follow will be included in the main part of the Caller's Guide when the documentation reaches full release. RoseMail 2.00: New Features ---------------------------- The major new feature of RoseMail 2.00 is the RoseNet routed, registered mail system. New conference selection command: Y]All ---------------------------------------- While you are selecting conferences in RoseMail version 2.00, you will see that you can choose "Y]All". This means you will receive messages addressed to you, and messages addressed to "ALL" in the conference(s) in which you make this selection. When you choose this type of filter, a "Y" will appear beside the name of the conference for which you applied the filter. Option 21: Repeat download after Prescan ----------------------------------------- When this option is set, RoseMail will perform a repeat download after you receive your prescan packet. This will ensure that you have all your mail. In the List of Options, it looks like this: 21. Repeat download after Prescan. NO Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 137 Option 22: Repeat scans continue --------------------------------- When this option is set, subsequent download scans in a repeat download will continue in the last conference that was scanned instead of starting over at the first conference. In the List of Options, it looks like this: Repeat scans continue......... YES 22. Repeat scans continue......... YES For now, here is an idea of the major new feature of RoseMail 2.00: this is the RoseNet routed, registered mail system. Sysops who run RoseMail can implement the RoseNet mail system if they wish, or disable it if they wish, so if you are logging onto a BBS that has a RoseMail Door, you may or may not find the RoseNet mail system present. If you wish to use the RoseNet mail system, you require a fully registered copy of RoseReader. I believe the current price is $45.00 Canadian, with GST where applicable added to that price. Ontario residents may also need to add provincial sales tax. HOWEVER! Some sysops, by making arrangements with Vic Kass, may provide free registered copies of RoseReader that you can use on your home BBS that carries RoseMail. These copies can be used ONLY on your home BBS; they will not work on any other BBS. But on your home BBS, they will manage all RoseMail's features. You could ask your sysop if these free local copies of RoseReader are available. To register RoseReader, whether for a free local copy, or for a fully-enabled Platinum version, you take the following steps. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 138 Log onto your BBS. Go into the RoseMail Door. Type "REG" (without the quotes) at the RoseMail Command prompt. Then follow the instructions on the screen. Your registration request will be processed by RoseMail; you need do nothing else except to provide your payment if you are buying a Platinum version of RoseReader. When you have registered and your registration has been processed, you will be notified that your KEY file is waiting. This file has 2048 bytes in it, in contrast to the KEY files for previous versions, which only have 1024 bytes. When your KEY file is ready, if you go into your RoseMail Door, you are told your KEY file is waiting. To download it, you enter "KEY" at the RoseMail Command prompt. You are prompted to complete the download. Copy your ROSEREAD.KEY into your RoseReader directory - the same directory where your RR.EXE file is located. Now your RoseReader is registered, and you can enjoy RoseReader's full capabilities. ROSENET MAIL ------------ Introduction to RoseNet ----------------------- The RoseNet registered, routed mail system is new with RoseMail 2.00. Read the WHATSNEW.200 file that comes with RoseReader for a list of the features it includes. Here, we cover briefly the features that you, the caller, need to understand in order to use this mail system effectively. See the RoseReader documentation for further details. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 139 Wide beta note, Sun 7 Feb 1993, 20:30: There is no updated RoseReader documentation right now. Howver, arrangements are being made for that documentation to be written, and it will be provided as quickly as is humanly possible. Because operations in the RoseNet mail system largely resemble other RoseMail operations, we concentrate here on the information that goes beyond that offered in the online help or in the other parts of this documentation. You do not have to configure anything in order to use RoseNet mail. All that is required is that your sysop provide RoseNet mail, and that you have a registered copy of RoseReader. Any RoseNet messages addressed to you will come down in your mail packet, and you can send return mesages by replying from your RoseNet conference. Naturally, you can also enter new messages from the RoseNet conference, and you can re-edit them from your RoseNet Replies conference. When you open a mall packet from your packet menu in RoseReader, you will see that three "pseudo-conferences" appear on your conference list. Although further description of these belongs in the RoseReader documentation rather than in documentation for RoseMail, a brief description is provided here for your convenience. RoseNet Features ---------------- Range for RoseNet messages -------------------------- Using RoseNet, you can send messages apart from the usual networks from which you download mail. You can send messages into the Internet, and you can reach services such as CompuServe and Prodigy this way. You can send UseNet messages using this system. Your messages are automatically private, and they are routed from the BBS you call through your BBS's hub(s) and distributed from there by Rose Media BBS, the central host for the RoseNet mail system. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 140 Your RoseReader Serial Number is an integral part of the entire RoseNet system. This number acts as your personal RoseNet identity and address. You can be reached via the RoseNet BBS system as "FirstName LastName@<BBSname>", where "FirstName LastName" is your logon name for your home RoseNet BBS, and <BBSname> is your home BBS's RoseNet name. You may need to ask your sysop to provide you with your BBS's RoseNet name, because it may not be the same as the mail packet name. On the Internet, your address is: rn.<4-digit serial number>@rose.com To leave a private message for a personal who calls the same BBS you are calling, please use that BBS's normal PCBoard facilities for private messages. Your sysop will certainly appreciate your using the most appropriate service for any particular purpose. If your sysop provides a PCBoard conference for private mail between callers, use that. If a conference is provided for messages to the sysop, use that. If you wish to reach another caller to the same board, and no special conference is provided for local private messages, you can use the Main Board conference (conference 0) for the purpose, or ask your sysop which conference is preferred for this kind of exchange. When you wish to reach another person who has access to RoseNet mail, but does not call the same board you do, you use the addressing system <FirstName LastName>@<BBSname>, as described above. RoseNet Message features ------------------------ All RoseNet messages are automatically private and echoed (if sent to another system), so you will find you do not need to fill out any protection status field, nor designate your message to echo, when you provide information for the message header. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 141 When the message header information comes up in RoseReader for your editing, you can toggle the message type from RoseNet to PCBoard (or vice-versa) by pressing the space bar when the message type field is highlighted. You can change the conference by editing the conference field, and all other fields also operate as they would for a PCBoard type of message. If you toggle the message type, you will see changes in the fields available for editing. RoseNet messages behave entirely differently from PCBoard messages. They are compressed when saved to disk. When you browse a RoseNet message, it is decompressed, and when you leave that message, it remains compressed. You can view an audit trail that shows the passage of your message by pressing H while browsing the message. Press ESC to leave the view of the audit trail. If you save a RoseNet message to disk as an ASCII text file, the audit trail information is saved as part of the text. All RoseNet messages contain an audit trail. This trail can be seen from any message while browsing it, by pressing H. If the message is saved as a text file, the audit trail is included in the text file. The audit trail shows where slow points are in the link, and otherwise facilitates the tracking of RoseNet messages. You may request return receipts for your messages (request return receipt), check that the user you are addressing is known on the destination system (User Check), scramble (encrypt) your message (scramble code), and attach a file to your message. Your sysop may disable scrambling. If your scrambled message encounters, enroute, a BBS where the sysop has disabled scrambling, you will receive your message back, with a note indicating the cause of its return to you. You can request return receipts and user checks are requested from the message information window that you fill out at the time you save your message. Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 142 The writer of a scrambled RoseNet message must deliver the correct scramble code to the recipient. Scramble codes are case- sensitive. The sysop or your home BBS, and the sysops of systems enroute to and from the RoseNet Central Host, may set limits to the size of attached files. You can attached a file to a message by filling out the attached file information field. This field supports full drive and pathnames along with the filename. The recipient of the file detaches it at the other end by using the (W)rite command while viewing the message. Other RoseNet messages may be bounced back to you for other reasons, such as, when you request a user check, and your addressee is unknown on the destination system, or when the message is not deliverable for some other reason. Here is an illustration of the RoseNet conferences you see from your RoseReader packet menu. In the illustration, we have marked the three RoseNet conferences with asterisks in the left margin of the illustration. RoseReader does not mark these conferences; the marks here are simply to aid your eye. Screen ##: (RoseReader) RoseNet conferences ╔═════════════════ Select a Conference ══════════════════╗ ║ Archive (49) S_SciFi ║ * ║ RoseNet Archives (1) S_ChitChat (19) ║ ║ Replies (6) S_Asia ║ * ║ RoseNet Replies S_Travel ║ ║ Personal (6) S_Writers ║ * ║ RoseNet S_Internation ║ ║ Main Board S_Desqview ║ ║ S_Astronomy I_Spitfire ║ ╚════ Conference Number : Non BBS ═════════════ More ══╝ Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 143 You can enter and reply to RoseNet messages in the RoseNet conferences, (D)eposit RoseNet messages for review and later reply from your RoseNet Archives conference. You can review and edit your RoseNet Replies in their RoseNet Replies conferences. You can toggle a message between the two types, PCBoard and RoseNet Point-to-Point, at will, when filling out the Message information window. See the documentation for RoseReader for further information. Wide beta version: <END NEW FEATURES DESCRIPTION> Sun 7 Feb 1993, 21:31 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 144 INDEX A command (RoseReader) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Abort BBS.REP upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 mail scan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Access time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Action Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57, 71, 117 Action menu personal mail download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 ADD a conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119, 120 download only the last (nnn) messages. . . . . . . . . . . . 122 offline configuration command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 offline, personal messages only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 personal mail only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 ADD a conference (RoseReader). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 ADD command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85, 123 ADD YOURS command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121, 123 Add-In Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85, 87 Add-in Selection menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86 ALL, mail addressed to You and to ALL. . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 ALL, messages addressed to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Angle brackets commands enclosed in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 ANSI screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 ANSI sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 ANSI terminal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 ANSI-ART conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Archive (glossary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 ASCII 27 (decimal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 ASCII Control characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 ASCII Extended characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Associations sysops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 13, 14 Attached files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Audit trail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Automated communications session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 delay script prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Automatic Repeat Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Automatic sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 AutoStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 turn off, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 145 AUTOSTART (JumpStart) command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 BAD COMMAND script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 BAD CONFERENCE script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 BBS home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 hub. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 16 origin tagline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 users, new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 BBS.PTR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47, 109 contains message pointers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 directory for. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 extract from previous packet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 extract manually from BBS.QWK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 find on disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 set BEFORE or AFTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 BBS.Q99. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 BBS.QW0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 BBS.QWK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 46 collect previously read messages in. . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 damage to. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 enter a message from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 message pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 previous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 rename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 repeat packets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 replies included in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 transferring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 BBS.REP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27, 46 abort upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 keep copy of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 offline configuration messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 transferring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 unpack or unarchive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76, 77, 79 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 146 upload the same one twice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 upload, successful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 BBSing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 etiquette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 jargon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Blank lines offline configuration messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Blank lines in messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Buffer flush the input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 flush the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 input. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 Bulletin Board System (glossary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Bulletins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 selecting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 C (Compression to use) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 C (JumpStart) command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115, 116 CALL command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 CALL the sysop from RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Caller friendships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 guests of sysops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 new. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 obligations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 participation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Callers locations of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Capture file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 automatic start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 how to read. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 usefulness of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 Capture of BBS.REP Upload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Chat Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 Choice confirmation by RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 COMMAND script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 stacking, JumpStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Command prompt Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 147 RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Command prompts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 Command sequence JumpStart, currently defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Command sequence, change JumpStart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 COMMAND SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Commands Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 case of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 44 Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54, 57 Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 enclosed in angle brackets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 entering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 JumpStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 quote marks (do not type). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 rosemail prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 select conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 stack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53, 97 toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 typing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Commands to select conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Commands you can issue from inside RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . 117 Communications program RoseReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Compression program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 obtain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41, 62 CompuServe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Conference display during selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 16 host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14, 35 moderator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 NEWS file available from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 number of messages, maximum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 quit selection in RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 reset your message pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 selection for download file listings . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 selection for upload file listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 148 topic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 types of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Conference name identifying symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 Conference number jump to during selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Conference selection menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 message pointers, set using this menu. . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Conferences ANSI-ART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 deselect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 deselect a range of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 deselect multiple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 13 list of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 40, 64 local. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 12 multiple screens in RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70 name and number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 screens of in RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64, 65 select a range of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 select multiple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 services, special. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 skipped. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 CONFERENCES AND MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CONFIG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 CONFIG ACCESS script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 CONFIG as message subject. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 CONFIG LAST script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Configuration message, private . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 message, tagline on. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Configuration Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54, 57, 117 Configuration menu select networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 SIZ command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Configure RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 149 CONTROL.DAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Crash recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Cross-echo (glossary). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Cross-post (glossary). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Cross-posting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Ctrl-X to abort upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 Cue upload BBS.PTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Cues script prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Current date/time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 D command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71, 117 D command (RoseReader) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 D;<low>-<high> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69, 118 D;all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69, 118 Date and Time Stamps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 DATE command in conference selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Date of the mail packet as the <filename>. . . . . . . . . . . .48 Decompress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Decompression program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Delay script prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Details of traditional message-writing . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Disk space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100, 101, 111 DL ERROR script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 DL SUCCESS script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 DLASK script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Do not send NDX files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 door command to open RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 DOS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 DOWNLOAD script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 unsuccessful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Download directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Download file listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94, 95 Download scan Add-in files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Download your replies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 DROP a conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119, 120 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 150 offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 DROP command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 DSZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 Echo flag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 personal message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 RoseReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Turn off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Echo mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 transfers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Electronic mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 13 Empty packet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Empty packets on mail only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 ENVOI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Error operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Escape character, ASCII 27 (decimal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Etiquette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Exclude NDX files from packet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 EXPERT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Expert mode PCBoard, toggle, offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 RoseMail, toggle, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 EXPERT OFF script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 EXPERT ON script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Extended character set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 External protocol program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 Fast start sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 Files caller uploads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 directories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 listings, size of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 new files, lists of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94 sysop uploads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Flame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 dealing with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Flush the input buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 FROM field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 151 G command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Goodbye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 GRAPHICS OFF script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 GRAPHICS ON script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Group of 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Growth of message exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Help in RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Herring, Mark "Sparky" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 High Message number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 High-nnn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42, 70 Home BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 HUB.QWK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 50 HUB.REP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 16, 50 IBM compatible machines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 extended character set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 ILink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Include NEWS file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Initials adjacent to text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 multiple strings of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Intelec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1, 12, 83, 129 Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139, 140 JUMP START script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 JumpStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 change command sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 last-defined command sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 sequence already defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 sequence defined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 sequence undefined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 sequence, first-time setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Startup Timer or Abort Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 JUMPSTART command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 JumpStart command sequence define or turn off, offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . 125 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 152 Key to press to start a download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Keyboard buffer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 KEYBOARD T-OUT script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Keyboard timeout script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Keystroke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Laptop computers packet size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Last Read message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50, 51, 107 pointers, setting back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66, 67 Last Read message number offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Limit number of messages per conference. . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Limit number of messages per packet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Limit packet size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100, 111 Limits set by your sysop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Lines and boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Local vs. Echo conference posts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Log off from RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Low Message number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Lurking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14, 25 M command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Mag command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84, 117 Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 Mail definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 Mail cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45, 47, 71, 83 Mail packet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 accept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 compressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 limit size of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 magazine files in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 managing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 name of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15, 46 number of messages, set total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 QWK-compatible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 refuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 153 rename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 101 Repeat Download, names of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 set approximate expanded size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 set maximum expanded size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Set maximum number of messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Mail scan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14, 71 abort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71, 72 copy of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Main Board offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Main Board Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 rosemail prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 Main Board Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 NEWS available from. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Maximum number of messages per conference change, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Maximum number of messages per packet change, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Maximum packet size in Kilobytes change, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 MAXNUMBER command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 MAXPACKET command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 MAXSIZE command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Memory available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Menu quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52, 62 turn off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 turn on. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Message browsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 date and time written. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 distribution on network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 lacking an origin tagline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 new text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Personal echo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Receiver Only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 refer by number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 154 reference information in body of message . . . . . . . . . . .28 security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 signature line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 sort by addressee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 sort by date and time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 sort by number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 sort by sender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 sort by subject. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Message footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Message header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18, 27, 40, 50 changing information in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 conference number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 date and time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 echo flag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 fields you can change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 FROM field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 number of the message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 read flag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 refer number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 SUBJECT field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 subject heading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 TO field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Message information window . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19, 119, 120 Message number select in RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Message numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49, 50 PCBoard keeps track of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 refer to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Message pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48-51 BBS.QWK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 control in RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 RoseMail keeps track of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 set BEFORE or AFTER on upload of BBS.PTR . . . . . . . . . . 110 set in a single conference, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 set manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 set message number, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 set, using RoseReader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 155 update by PCBoard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 updating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 MESSAGE REJECTED script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Message text new. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 quoting in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Messages adventure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 BBS.PTR upload selection of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 blank lines in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 chronological sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 deleting old . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 distributed from BBS.REP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 duplicate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 echo, arrival in QWK file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 final checks on. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 including in your packet messages you have read online . . . 106 kill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 list of uploaded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 mixed case in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 not yet read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16, 17 personal, select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 pertinence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 private. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 public, select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66, 71 received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47, 51 sorting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 MESSAGES INSERTED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Messages rejected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 Microsoft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Moderator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 dealing with flames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 MSGS LEFT script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 NAnet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 NDX files do not send. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 NE:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 NET command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104, 117 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 156 Netmail packets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Network affiliation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 identification symbol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 origin tagline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Networks available. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 echo mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 list of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 selected currently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 New user menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41, 52 New user welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 NEWS file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 NO GRAPHICS script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 NO TIME script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 NO TRANSFER script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Node (glossary). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 NODE BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 O command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 45 conference selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 OFFLINE CONFIGURATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 commands, combine all into one message . . . . . . . . . . . 122 OFFLINE CONFIGURATION COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Offline mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Offline mail reader. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 45, 46 BBS.REP, produces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 capacity, number of conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 name and version in tagline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 NDX files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 number of messages per conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 subject headings, choice of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 tagline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 44 Operator error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 OPT command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 157 OPTION NOT SET script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 OPTION SET script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 command prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 list of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58, 60 select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 selecting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60, 61 toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60, 62 Options 1-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Options 11-20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Options menu quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 Organization messages and conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Origin tagline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14, 20, 21 P command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71, 117 Pack (glossary). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Packet name repeat downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Packet size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 expanded (unarchived). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 set total number of messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Page (call) the sysop from RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Page length change, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 PAGELEN command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 PCBEXPERT command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 PCBoard command prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43, 44, 51 return to from RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 SELECT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 updates your message pointers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 upload directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 PCBoard BBS software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3, 4, 10 PCBoard Command prompt JumpStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 PCBoard expert mode toggle, offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 PCBoard transfer protocol change, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 158 PCBPROT command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Personal mail select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 Personal mail download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 PKARC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PKZIP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Platinum version of RoseReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 POINTER ERROR script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Pointer reset file ready to receive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36, 37 symbol in quoting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 Prepare to download. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73, 74 Prepare to upload BBS.REP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Prescan during event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 Principles of traditional message-writing. . . . . . . . . . . .25 PRIVATE MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Prodigy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Prompt upload BBS.REP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Prompts conference selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 PROT command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Protocol exactly matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 external program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80 match correctly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 RoseMail reminds you of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 PTRFILE script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 PTRUP script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Q command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Qmail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4, 5 QUICK-START. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 QUIT DOOR script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Quit RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Quoted text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 identifying who wrote what . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 159 Quotes erase at end of message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 initials, multiple strings of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 length of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 repeated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 sentence structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 truncated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Quoting etiquette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 excessive and cruel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 initials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 misleading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 previous message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36, 37 strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 unnecessary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 QwikMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 QWK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 QWK file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 loss of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 QWK format (glossary). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 QWK-compatible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 7, 102 CONTROL.DAT file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 R command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109, 117 Range for RoseNet messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Reader tagline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20, 21 caller's use of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 location in message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Ready to receive file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77, 79 Receiver Only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16, 17 Refer numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Reference information in body of message . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Register Door on Rose Media BBS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Registration RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 RoseReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Remove a conference offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 REP file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 REPEAT DOWN script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 160 Repeat download after Prescan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Repeat Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 packet names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Repeat scans continue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Replies download your own. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 review before sending. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 sending to RoseMail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Replies conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40 offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 review replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Reply packet (glossary). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 RESET -nnn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 RESET a conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 RESET command message number in conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 offset from high message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Reset message pointer upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Reset Message Pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 RESET nnn command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Return receipts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Return to PCBoard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Reverse quote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 RIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 rn.<4-digit serial number>@rose.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Rose conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1, 12, 83, 129 Rose Media BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 5, 6, 9, 12, 139 file listings, select Main Board conference for. . . . . . . .94 phone number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Rose Media Incorporated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Rose products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 RoseMail command prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53, 54 concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 history. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 KEY file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 keyword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 log off from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 main menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 open door. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 PCBoard, link with . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 161 quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 select files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84 start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 technical support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Test Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 What is it?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 RoseMail <PROMPTS ON>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79 RoseMail 2.00: New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 rosemail command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 RoseMail conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1, 12, 83, 129 RoseMail Door. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 network indicator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 open . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55, 76 RoseMail expert mode toggle, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 RoseMail Message Centre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 help screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 How to get into. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 imitation session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 RoseMail Prompts command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78, 116 RoseMail transfer protocol change, offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 RoseNet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 RoseNet BBS system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 RoseNet conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 RoseNet Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 RoseNet Host system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 RoseNet messages, range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 RoseNet registered, routed mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 RoseNet routed, registered mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 ROSEREAD.KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7, 9 ROSEREADER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 BBS.PTR file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 capacity, number of conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 compression, internal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8, 46 description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 filenames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 KEY file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 message sort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119, 120 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 162 Platinum version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 74 registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8, 9 rename packet from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Test Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 RoseReader for Sysops Test Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 RoseReader Serial Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Routing personal messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 S (JumpStart) command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 S (Select conferences) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 S command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 S;<low>-<high> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69, 118 S;all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Scan download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 SCAN ABORTED script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Scramble code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Screaming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Screen length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92, 100 JumpStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Script commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 Script prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78, 81 capture of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 current session only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 delay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 regulate flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 turn on. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78 SCRIPTING PROMPTS AVAILABLE IN ROSE MAIL . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Select conferences: Y]All command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Selected conference download only the last (nnn) messages. . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Selecting a mail packet by the date of messages. . . . . . . . 107 Selecting conferences by DATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Send user information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Sequence of commands JumpStart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Session copy of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 SESSION.TXT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 copy of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 163 SET ABS MAX script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 SET COMPRESSOR script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 SET MAX CONF script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 SET MAX PACKET script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 SET OPTION script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 SET TPROT script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Shouting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Signature line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 SIZ command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100, 112, 117 Size limit packet size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100, 111 Skipped conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Small CONTROL.DAT file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Smartnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 5, 12, 83, 129 Smiley Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 Sort by subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 logic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Sound Of Music BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Sparky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Special services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Stack commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53, 97 SUBJECT field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Subject heading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 changing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 changing, effect of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 choice of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 default. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 offline configuration message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 selecting messages to read by. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 sort by. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 SUCCESS script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Support, technical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Sysop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 164 Sysop (glossary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Sysop Chat Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 Sysops associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13, 14 T command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Table of Contents, using as a guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Tagline choice of reader tagline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 juxtaposition with message text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14, 20 reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 stealing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 text of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Taglines order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Tearline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Technical support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 83, 129 Terminals, freezing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Terminology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2, 9 Test Drive RoseMail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 RoseReader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7, 8 Text editor view capture files from. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 Thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 by message number. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 by subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 in echo conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 moving message out of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 PCBoard method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Threading order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Time allotted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44, 100, 101 TIME EXPIRED script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 TO field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Expert mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60, 62 Toggle door option offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 165 Toggle PCBoard expert mode offline configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Toggle RoseMail expert mode offline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Topic conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Traditional message-writing Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Transfer protocol select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41, 62, 63 U command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 U'NI-net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1, 12, 14, 15, 20, 83, 129 Unarchive (glossary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Unpack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Unpredictable results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48, 83, 102 UNSUCCESSFUL script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 UNZIP (glossary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 UP ERROR script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Update message pointers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Upload BBS.REP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 cue to start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 replies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 script prompt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Upload BBS.PTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Upload BBS.REP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76, 79 Upload directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76, 93, 94 Upload file listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Use current date/time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 Use fast start sequence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96, 113 Use script commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 UseNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 User Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 User information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Using <protocol name>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 Welcome screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 WHATSNEW.200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 X command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc. Caller's Guide to RoseMail Page 166 Your mail - message selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Y]All. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 ZIP (glossary) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Zmodem protocol crash recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Copyright (C) 1992-93 by Rose Media Inc.