OFFLlNE MAILING ON BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS IN SOUTH AFRICA - A NODDY GUIDE by David Segall [a.k.a. Scuttle] (c) 1994 25 September 1994 Version 3.0 ======================================================================== PRELIMINARY STUFF Please read the Legal Stuff at the end of this guide. The EXE version of this guide was created using a registered version of Simply Docs v2.1, the shareware evaluation version of which is SIMDOC21.ZIP. ======================================================================== 1. INTRODUCTION ___________________ Very few people read guides and manuals. I seldom read them, so I know how you feel. However, I hope that you will find a thorough reading of this primer on offline mailing to be helpful and that it will make your BBSing life a lot easier. The bulletin board system ("BBS") that you dial carries a large selection of files for downloading. The BBS also has an electronic mailing facility which enables you to communicate with the BBS's system operator ("sysop") and users of the BBS, other BBSs and other types of systems, locally and internationally. This is a beginner's guide, a Noddy Guide, which is intended to explain to you how to mail offline, especially to and from the Internet, in as simple terms and to get the most out of the mailing facility on the BBS. The guide will attempt to answer the following frequently asked questions (FAQ) and to explain what the various terms mean: 1.1 How do I find details of the BBSs available? 1.2 What software do I need to use for BBSing? 1.3 How do I read and write mail offline, i.e. when I am not logged onto the BBS? 1.4 How do I download mail from and upload mail to the BBS? 1.5 What mail is available on BBSs? 1.6 How do I send private mail? 1.7 How do I send Internet Email from a BBS? 1.8 How do I mail to someone on Compuserve? 1.9 How do I send public mail in newsgroups? 1.10 What is a mailing list and how do I subscribe to one? 1.11 Where can I find out more about Internet? 2. FINDING A BBS ____________________ Roblist is the most comprehensive database of South African BBSs. This is a file published by Rob Fisher, probably the country's best known BBSer, at the beginning of each month and it is available on most boards around the country. The filename is RFyymm.ZIP where yy is the year and mm is the month. For instance, the filename for September 1994 is RF9409.ZIP. Roblist tells you, inter alia, all the BBS names, sysop names, telephone numbers, what BBS software is run and which mail networks each BBS carries. This file is considered to be essential in the life of a South African BBSer. Download the latest version at the beginning of each month. You will usually find the name of the software running the BBS as you log in, before you enter your name and password. The most commonly used BBS software types in use in South Africa are PCBoard and Remote Access but there are many others. This guide is written mainly for users of PCBoard systems. It is recommended that you spend a little time trying some of the menu or command options on the BBS. For instance, you download files from a PCBoard by issuing a command like this: D FILENAME.ZIP You probably knew that if you managed to download this file. Remote Access BBSs usually have a Files submenu on which there is a download menu option. If you select the Download option, it will ask you to type the file name. 3. CHOOSING SOFTWARE FOR BBSING - SETTING UP ________________________________________________ Besides your PC and modem, you need a communications package to dial the BBS. Your modem probably came with a disk containing a comms package and your might be quite happy using this package. However, there is a quite a large range of comms packages for you to evaluate. In my opinion, the best communications for BBSing are actually available on bulletin boards themselves. I recommend Telix [TLX322_1.ZIP] as a comms packages for the beginner. Open a separate directory (e.g. C:\FILES or C:\TF) for your file downloads. You may want to have a separate directory for uploads as well. Your comms package has a configuration option for changing filenames and paths. Make the directory in your comms package the same as the one you have opened for file downloads. Every BBS keeps all its files in compressed form, using a compression program such as PKWare's PKZIP. The filenames carry an extension *.ZIP. If you don't already have the latest version, download the self-extracting file, PKZ204G.EXE. Run this file so that the files included in these EXE files are placed into a directory (e.g. C:\UTILS) in the PATH statement of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You will find that PKZIP and PKUNZIP (included in this EXE file) are central to your BBSing. Some BBSs, however, also use Jung's ARJ program, ARJ241A.EXE and there are many other compressor programs in use. While you are logged onto the BBS, download SLMR21A.ZIP (a simple and intuitive offline mail reader) if you are using a PCBoard BBS. If you use a Remote Access system, download BWAVE212.ZIP. This reader is also good for mailing on PCBoard systems. Create a separate directory for either of these programs and PKUNZIP these files into the directory, for example: MD READER CD \READER PKUNZIP C:\TF\SLMR21A.ZIP where C:\TF is the directory into which you have downloaded the file. There is a large range of shareware utilities and programs to make your BBSing life a lot easier. One of the major advantages of BBSing is that you can download and evaluate shareware programs until you find the programs which are most to your liking. º It's important to learn very quickly in the BBSing world that you º should never be shy to ASK QUESTIONS to the sysop or other users. º Sysops and users are usually only too happy to help you along as this º is very much part of this hobby's culture. 4. MAILING OFFLINE ______________________ As you navigate around the BBS, you will see that there are file directories or areas in which the files available for download are located. PCBoard systems have an F command which enables you to list the file directories on the board. If you select a number with the F command [e.g. F 26], you can see the file names and descriptions of each file in that directory. Remote Access systems have a similar menu option for browsing file directories on the Files submenu. There are also mailing conferences on the BBS. If you type the J command on a PCBoard, you will be able to access a list of the conferences or of the networks on the BBS. Remote Access systems have a Messages option on the main menu. Each BBS has at least a main board or local conference in which you can enter messages to the sysop and to other users on that BBS. You may select to enter these messages as public or private. On a PCBoard system you can enter a private message to the sysop using the C command. Use E to enter messages online to ALL or to other users by their name. Most commonly, the BBS will also have mail conferences which carry messages to and from other BBSs, often internationally. The messages in these conferences are transferred to and from the BBS when it connects to (i.e. dials) either another BBS (the hub) or an Internet service provider, such as PiX or Compustat. Your BBS is probably a member of at least one BBS mail network, such as RsaNET, ILink or Fidonet. A mail network consists of a collection of conferences covering pre-defined topics of discussion. ³ Conferences in the mail networks are also referred to as "echoes" ³ (especially in the Fidonet network) or "newsgroups" in Usenet ³ terms. Usenet is, broadly speaking, the public mailing area of ³ the Internet. ³ ³ These conferences, echoes or conferences are public areas of ³ interest and deal with a specified range of discussion, called ³ the conference or topic discussion. For example, there are chat, ³ shareware, comms conferences and many technical conferences, and ³ many others. ³ ³ The topic discussion is defined in a set of network rules or a ³ FAQ (frequently asked questions) ASCII file, usually available ³ as a download. The best way to find out about the conference ³ topic is to read quite a lot of the messages in that conference ³ first before entering messages. ³ In addition, your BBS may have Internet mail. The Internet is a huge and complex system (it has been described as "a network of networks", hence "Inter" and "net") through which, inter alia, you can send private mail to users on various systems (not only BBSs) around the world. Some BBSs have a fast and more direct access to the Internet, e.g via organisations like PiX and Compustat. The frequency of access to Internet varies from BBS to BBS but this is usually very regular and several times a day. Generally speaking, BBSs do not mail live to the Internet and your messages are received and sent on a "store and forward" basis. If your BBS does not have this fast and direct access, Internet private Email messages may be sent from all BBSs carrying the Fidonet and the Unitynet mail networks. The method in which messages are sent via these networks is explained below. Most mailing is carried in a public forum but you can also send private messages to the sysop or other users in the main board conference. In most cases, unless you specify (as indicated below) that a message is private, all the users on the BBS can read the message, even if you address it to someone else on the BBS by name. MAILING ONLINE You can read and write mail messages while you are logged onto the BBS but this is the most inefficient way of mailing as you are merely contributing to Telkom's coffers and it is many times more cumbersome than using an offline mail reader (OLMR). Mail readers have many advantages, including that you can save your messages easily for later reference. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ I am AMAZED to see how many BBSers, often on a long distance ³ ³ call, still do mailing online on a regular basis when there are ³ ³ so many good mail readers around and offline mail is so easy to ³ ³ learn. ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ MAILING OFFLINE PCBoard has an internal feature (the QWK command) which allows you to download and upload mail packets. It is recommended that you avoid using this command as the mail door is more efficient, versatile and easier to configure. Using the mail door, you can usually include with the mail messages in your mail packet a list of the new files on the BBS, system news and bulletins which carry all kinds of useful information. The mail door is essentially software, separate but compatible to the BBS software, which allows you to select conferences, upload and download mail packets and do all kinds of other things. ³ The commonly used mail doors in South Africa are QMail and Kmail ³ ³ [on PCBoard BBSs], Blue Wave and JC-QWK [on Remote Access boards] ³ ³ and TriMail on TriBBS. ³ You will find the mail doors on Remote Access and TriBBS boards in the menus, i.e. these doors are menu driven. On a PCBoard bulletin board, which is command driven, type QM or QMAIL to run QMail, or KM or KMAIL to run Kmail. The mail door on PCBoard can also be activated by typing the OPEN command at the main board prompt. The operation of the mail door will be explained in detail below. MAIL FORMATS QWK is the most common BBS mail format. You will notice that your downloaded mail packet has the extension QWK and the filename corresponds to the name of the BBS from which you are mailing. The Blue Wave mail door produces a mail packet in its own format with an extension relating to the day it was downloaded (e.g. TU1 for the first packet on Tuesday) or you can configure it to be a sequential number. When you generate your own messages offline, you will see that the QWK format produces a reply packet with a *.REP extension and Blue Wave packets produce mail reply packets with a *.NEW extension. These packets are uploaded to the BBS using the mail door. Once uploaded, these messages become available for reading by other BBSers. 5. OFFLINE MAIL READERS (OLMR) __________________________________ An OLMR is a piece of software which will enable you to read the contents of the mail packet you have downloaded and to respond to messages in the various conferences, echoes or newsgroups you have selected. The best readers for beginners are SLMR21A.ZIP and OLX-TD.ZIP (also found as OLX21.ZIP or OLX-TD21.ZIP) for QWK packets only, and BWAVE212.ZIP for either Blue Wave format or QWK format packets. If you would like to maintain a database of your messages downloaded and you have sufficient hard drive space, have a look at SPEED140.ZIP. These readers are simple to learn how to use and are carried by almost every BBS. The documentation is easy to read and there is sufficient context-sensitive help available by pressing F1. As you progress and become to used to the whole concept of offline mail reading, you may want to try other DOS readers. There are also a number of good readers running under Windows. There are many bulletin boards around the world which have access to Internet/Usenet mail and, therefore, some readers have some very useful features for handling Internet/Usenet mail. My personal favourite is SPEED READ as a mail reader and SEDIT as an ASCII editor. SETTING UP YOUR MAIL READER 5.1 Open a directory for your chosen offline mail reader. PKUNZIP the ZIP file into the directory, e.g. CD \SLMR PKUNZIP C:\TF\SLMR21A.ZIP 5.2 Run the *.EXE file (e.g. SLMR) and try pressing the F1 key to see the online help in the reader. 5.3 You will need to go into the configuration section. Execute ALT C in SLMR or SPEED, ALT N in OLX Test Drive. In Blue Wave, the opening menu has a Setup Parameters option. If you are somewhere else in the reader, hit ALT C. Set the directories where you download and upload files to be the same as you have in your comms package. 5.4 SLMR and OLX both come with a decent ASCII editor. As the Blue Wave documentation tells you, the reader files are accompanied by a file called TED3.COM, i.e. Tiny Editor. SPEED does not come with an ASCII editor at all. I recommend that you download an ASCII editor like QEDIT3C.ZIP, AUROR120.ZIP or SEDIT110.ZIP (there are several others) as soon as possible. Mail messages require wordwrap as a feature and, therefore, program editors and DOS's EDIT will not be much use. The location of the ASCII editor is also configurable. If you are using SLMR or OLX, leave this for the moment. If you are using Blue Wave or SPEED, you will need to configure this before you carry on. Find the Editor line option and enter the path and command for the file which runs your ASCII editor. For example, in Blue Wave, the Editor line option would be C:\UTILS\Q.EXE @F 5.5 Now you are ready to dial the BBS to configure the mail door, select conferences and download a mail packet. 6. THE MAIL DOOR - CONFERENCE SELECTION ___________________________________________ 6.1 You are now ready to configure the mail door and select the conferences you want to read. Log into the BBS to the main board prompt [on PCBoard] or to the main menu. º Remote Access systems have a menu option to access the mail º door. Some of these systems have both a Blue Wave mail º door and QWK door. Start off by selecting the Blue Wave º door. On the Blue Wave door menu, choose Configuration and º Choose Areas. The menus will guide you back to the main º menu of the mail door and to the BBS itself. 6.2 On PCBoard systems type QMAIL or QM to access the QMail door, or KMAIL or KM to access the KMail door, followed by ENTER. You can see which door the BBS has by first typing OPEN at the Main Board Prompt. QMAIL CONFIGURATION (see KMAIL below) Type C to get to the configuration menu. QMail will then show then show the following: ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ (1421 Mins. left) Node 8 Qmail Command? C Options and commands 09-21-94 1. D/L your replies.......... ON 12. Delay prompts one second....... OFF 2. D/L packets without msgs.. OFF 13. Clear keyboard buffer.......... OFF 3. Logoff after U/L replies.. OFF 14. Enable "QwikStart"............. ON 4. Send the WELCOME screen... OFF 15. Repeat scanning................ OFF 5. Send the system NEWS...... ON 16. Replace @variables............. ON 6. Scan for new BULLETINS.... ON 17. Selected confs in CONTROL.DAT.. OFF 7. Scan for new FILES........ ON 18. Capture reply insertion........ ON 8. Send the GOODBYE screen... OFF 19. Do not create .NDX files....... OFF 9. Send the DeLuxe menu...... OFF 20. BBS time stamp on replies...... ON 10. Send SESSION.TXT.......... ON 21. Message Counts in CONTROL.DAT.. OFF 11. Use extended prompts...... OFF 22. Resume repeat scan w/last conf. OFF ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ A Autostart command P Select a protocol ³ ³ ARC Archivers R Reset message pointers ³ ³ L Limit packet size S Select conferences ³ ³ M Toggle graphics SER Qmail Door services ³ ³ O Page the sysop Q Quit configuration ³ ³ OPT Qmail Door options G Goodbye ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ (1421 Mins. left) Node 8 Qmail Configure Command? ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ By typing the numbers, you can toggle the various options off and one, e.g. you set whether you want your messages uploaded to be returned to you by typing 1. Type S to get to the conference selection submenu. This will give you a partial list of the conferences as follows: ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ (1421 Mins. left) Node 8 Qmail Configure Command? S Scanning conferences... * 0 Main Board 18 C-Language 38 RsaBBS 1 Midi 19 Cd-Roms-ILink 39 Eurochat 2 Sunday Times 20 ILink-SA 40 Netnews RO 3 Ansi-Art 21 Medical 41 CSSA 4 Assembly 22 BBS-Zone5 42 ILink 5 Aviation 24 PCBoard 43 Virus 6 Astronomy 25 PCBoard-ILink 44 ILink-Info 7 Forsale 26 Technical 45 Doorway 8 Netmail 27 Gossip 46 Pkware 9 Laptops 28 Comms 47 Soundblaster 10 Clipper 29 Uplink 48 Comedy 12 Digitec HELP 30 Beyond 49 Simulate 13 Adult 31 Telix 50 QMail 14 Rock-n-Roll 32 Mod-&-User 51 Unix 15 Religious 33 Pets 52 HST-Modem 16 Tags-r-us 36 SaComputerBuy 53 SLMR 17 LAN 37 Windows-Fido 54 DOS6 ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Select a conference by typing the conference number and you will get the following (e.g. if conference number 9 is selected) on your screen: Conference: (9) Laptops Network: ILink High message on file: 1,023 Last message you read: 1,012 Scan [A]ll or only [Y]our messages? Your options are as follows: 6.2.1 all messages in the conference [(A)ll] Hit A ENTER 6.2.2 only messages to you [(Y)ou] Hit Y ENTER 6.2.3 and messages to your own name and the addressee ALL. Type YA ENTER The difference between this option and 6.1.1 is that, in this case, you will not receive messages addressed between other users and you will only receive messages addressed to your name or to the addressee ALL. 6.2 You will then be asked how many messages you last read. Push ENTER for the moment. If you want to limit the number of messages to download the first time, you can set the "last message you read" to a higher number than reported. 6.3 You may choose more conferences on the partial list presented to you or you may press ENTER to get more of the list of conferences. If you are finished selecting conferences, type Q to get out of the conference selection and Q again to get out of the configuration menu. You are now ready to download. See 6. below. KMAIL CONFIGURATION 6.4 When you type KM or KMAIL you get the main door menu as follows: ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ (F) Send New Files List? -> Yes (A) Archive Method -> Zip (N) Send System News File? -> Yes (T) Transfer Protocol -> Zmodem (B) Send Bulletin Files? -> Yes (X) Expert Toggle (H) Help Information (O) Download Own Msgs? -> Yes (D) Download Messages (C) Select Conferences (U) Upload Messages (R) Reset Msg Pointers (W) D/L all MSGS addressed to YOU (S) Set all Last-Read ptr's (P) Process PNT File (M) Message Limits (E) Extended Options (G) Goodbye - (Hang Up) (Q) Return to PCBoard (1 used, 29 left) Kmail Command? ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Here you can set some toggles, e.g. type O to get the messages that you upload back in your QWK packet. When you type C, you will get the following: ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Conference Selection Options: 1. Press [Enter] alone to receive a full list of conferences, you may select the ones you are interested in from the menu screen. 2. Enter a conference [#] to begin selecting conferences at that point. 3. Enter [B] to perform block select and un-select operations. [After typing ENTER] and scrolling a few screens by pushing ENTER again: (Select Conference) Last High Last High Num Conference Read Num. Flg Num Conference Read Num. Flg ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ 490 Virus 0 11550 505 IL-Aviation 0 3449 491 Virus Info 0 14927 506 IL-BBS-Polic 0 140 492 WHO 0 0 507 IL-Beyond 0 3690 493 Windows 0 7 508 IL-C-Languag 0 4078 494 WordProcesso 0 2 509 IL-CD-Rom 0 3989 495 WorldTalk 0 2794 510 IL-Clipper 0 2480 496 Z5.Soft 0 120 511 IL-Coconuts 0 0 497 ZyXel 0 821 512 IL-Comedy 5297 8838 498 513 IL-Consultin 0 2362 499 514 500 IL-NovellDOS 0 1577 515 501 IL-Africa 4062 4664 516 502 IL-Ansi_Art 1628 3320 517 503 IL-Assembly 0 1690 518 504 IL-Astronomy 0 1744 519 ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ (Select Conference) Enter Conference #, [Q]uit, [Enter]=More... As an example, if you want the IL-Africa conference, type 501, and you will get: (Select Conference 501 Options) (D)eselect, (A)ll, (P)ersonal, (T)o All + Personal, [Enter]=All This is self-explanatory. If you want everything in the conference, press your ENTER key. If you want all messages to you and to the addressee ALL, press T. You will then be asked: Enter your new last read message # [Enter]=No Change and there will be a ____ next to your Last Read. Here you can set how many messages you want to download, i.e. make your packet smaller, by increasing the Last Read. Scrolling Conferences and Ending the conference selection is also done by entering ENTER or Q. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ TIP: It is a good idea to configure the mail door to give you ³ ³ back all of your outgoing messages. ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º When you have selected your conferences on the mail door, it º keeps your selection until you change it. To change the º selection, go through the steps in 6.1 to 6.4 again. 7. DOWNLOADING A MAIL PACKET AND READING ____________________________________________ 7.1 Now you are ready to download a mail packet. Type D to start the download process. You will see all of the conferences you have selected and how messages are being prepared in each selected conference for your download. When you are asked whether you want to download the messages, hit Y to actually download. At this point, the door will tell you that it is preparing your messages and archiving the mail packet. It will then tell you do to download the mail packet using Zmodem. Your comms package may require that you hit a download keystroke like PageDown or ALT R. Many comms packages, however, will start a Zmodem download automatically. º Your first packet might be quite large because you are º downloading the entire message base of each conference. º You might want to select only a certain number of messages º in each conference according to the speed of your modem and º time available, both for download and subsequent reading. º Your subsequent mail packets won't be as large and you will º soon get an idea of how much mail you can cope with. 7.2 Log off from the BBS, exit the comms package and run the mail reader. Highlight your packet for reading and it will PKUNZIP its contents to make it ready for you to read. The opening screens on the mail reader will guide you to where you start. Your mail packet will contain the welcome screen for the BBS, system news, bulletins and the mail messages. BBSs with Internet access may have a bulletin with Internet related information, such as the newsgroups carried on the BBS. 7.3 Read the messages in the conferences you have selected and skip to the next message by hitting the ENTER or the SPACEBAR key. You will soon get a feel for how you read messages using the offline reader. It's somewhat easier than reading them online and you are not adding to your telephone bill while you are doing it. º BEGINNERS' NOTE: º º It is strongly recommended that you start by reading quite a lot º of messages in conferences before you actually respond. You º will get an idea of the type of topic or message content in each º conference and also the style of the messaging. º ACRONYMS AND EMOTICONS: º º You may notice a lot of emoticons like :-) and :-( and a lot of º acronyms like BTW, FAQ, FWIW, ATM, AFAIK in messages. The º file ACRONYM4.ZIP contains a pretty comprehensive listing of º these. Hit the F1 key to see the help which will indicate, inter alia, how you can save a message to an ASCII text file or print it out. REPLYING TO A MESSAGE: 7.4 Hitting the R key over a message will (R)eply to a message and swap you into the ASCII editor. You may find the message header first. This is a specimen message header generated as you respond to a message with the R key: MESSAGE HEADER É New Reply Info ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º º º From: DAVID SEGALL Private: No º º To: JOE SOAP Carbon copies: No º º Subject: Typical Mail Header º º º º Conference: 0 Main Board º º º º º º º º F10-Ok ESC-Cancel F1-Help F2-Picklist º º º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Press F10 to edit reply ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ Message headers vary slightly from mail reader to mail reader but the basics are the same. This header contains: * your name as From: * the name of the person who generated the message (which you can change if you want) in the To: * the subject heading, * the conference name and number, which you can also change but don't do so for now * toggles for private and public mail. Try navigating around the mail header with the cursor up and down keys and ENTER. You are, generally speaking, free to respond to public messages, even if they are not addressed to you, if you feel that you have something to contribute. Your mail reader will give you the option of making a message private but this will ultimately not work on most of the conferences, except for main board and some specific conferences. Public messages that you enter will appear as personal mail to the recipient but everybody else can read them, if they browse through the conference in their mail packet. THE MESSAGE ITSELF 7.5 When you are satisfied with the message header contents, swap into the ASCII editor. As indicated in the above example of the header, you would hit F10 to do so. This keystroke varies from reader to reader. 7.6 The contents of the message will be imported into the ASCII editor, with the initials [and a quote string like > or >>] of the person who generated the message. The idea is that you delete as much of the quote as is *no longer relevant* and enter your own comments in between. Quotes are meant to jog the memory of the other people reading in the conference. It is a good idea to get into the habit of not overquoting as this increases the size of your uploads and everybody else's downloads. Press F1 to see what help you can get in the ASCII editor. Enter your comments and notes as you would with any word-processor. Most ASCII editors have wordwrap as a feature but they do not reformat a paragraph automatically as you re-edit that paragraph. The ASCII editor requires a keystroke to do this - check the F1 online help. º Leaving a line blank between the quotes and your response º makes the message a lot easier to read. 7.7 When you are finished your message, exit the ASCII editor and save your message. This is usually done by hitting an ALT X but you may have to check how to do this in the online help by hitting F1. 7.8 You should now be back to the mail reader; probably the message header again. Save your reply. Navigate the mail reader and try to find where your reply is - you should be able to see what it will look like before it goes out. Note that the mail reader has also generated the date and time you created the message from the the date and time on your computer. 7.9 You can also initiate an entirely new message by typing the E key instead of the R. When this happens, the To: entry and the Subject: entry in the message header will be blank and you will have to enter these yourself. Most OLMRs have a picklist, i.e. you can generate small database of the recipients of your message and the subject heading. When you swap into the ASCII editor, it will be blank, i.e. there will be no quoted message. 7.10 When you are finished reading the mail packet, exit the mail reader and, if you have generated your own messages, you will see a *.REP or *.NEW packet in the transfer or uploads directory. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ TIP: ³ ³ ³ ³ Re-read your outgoing messages in the mail reader before you ³ ³ exit to ensure that everything looks OK. ³ ³ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ 8. UPLOADING YOUR REPLIES _____________________________ 8.1 Dial the BBS, log in, get to the main board prompt and activate the mail door, e.g. enter the QM or KM command. 8.2 Upload your messages using the U option. The board will call for an upload of your REP or NEW packet. 8.3 When you upload, do not forget that your communications package has a keystroke for uploading a file. When the BBS tells you that it is ready to receive your REP or NEW file, you must hit a keystroke to upload the file. In most programs, the keystroke is PageUp or ALT S to send or upload a file (PageDown or ALT R to receive or download) and Windows communications packages may have an icon you have to click with the mouse. 8.4 The comms package will then ask you which protocol (e.g. Zmodem) you want to use and to tag the file you want to upload. You tag the REP or NEW file you want to upload and then, if necessary, push whatever is required to start the upload - this may just be an ENTER key or, in Telix, it is F10. º VERY IMPORTANT: The BBS _does not_ automatically find and º upload the REP or NEW file on your harddrive. You must go º through the upload keystrokes in order to send your reply º packet when the BBS calls for it or abort the process using º CTRL X several times in succession. 8.5 At this point, you might want to select some new conferences and deselect others that you don't want. If so, re-read section 5 above. º BEGINNERS' NOTE: º º At first, you will almost inevitably be deselecting some of º the conferences you initially selected and selecting new º conferences to evaluate. In time you will have a more or º less constant selection of conferences and your mailing º process will consist of downloading a mail packet, reading, º responding, generating your own messages and uploading a º reply packet. º º You should become as familiar with configuring the mail door, º downloading mail packets and uploading reply packets as º quickly as possible. The most common method of doing this is º to spend time fiddling. There isn't much you can break. 8.6 You can now also download a new mail packet to read it. See the steps in section 8. above. ³ You can also do some of your configuration of the mail door ³ (including selecting conferences) offline but this is ³ something you should ask other users. 9. INTERNET/USENET MESSAGES _______________________________ 9.1 Before you actually enter Internet (private) and Usenet (public) messages as per sections 10 and 11 below, you will need to know how to recognise the conferences on your BBS and how Email addresses are structured. 9.2 "Email" is a type of generic term used for electronic mail. However, in the BBS context, Email is private electronic mail sent via the Internet. We attempted to define (above) the Internet as "a network of networks" ["Inter" and "net"] but it is a large and hugely complex system of world private mailing with many different types of systems, other than BBSs, on it. 9.3 If your BBS is not running Remote Access, it should have an Email conference. For example, this Email conference may be found on some of the BBSs running PCBoard as follows: Conference Number Baudroom 100 Connectica 1 Digitec Online 112 Educare BBS 48 LeClub 400 Netline Flagship 75 Software Connection Online 200 VC BBS 399 9.4 If your BBS is not running PCBoard, ask your sysop exactly where and how to enter private messages. On some BBSs, you enter your private Email messages in the Netmail conference. In the subject header you address the message to UUCP and the netmail address (use the Blue Wave reader on these boards) to send to is 10:1/1 The BBSs which do this are: CDS Online Spectrum BBS The Lair Enviro_base 9.5 It is also possible to send messages from a BBS carrying Fidonet or Unitynet private netmail. The message is addressed to UUCP in the To: part of the message header. The netmail addresses for this in Fidonet is 5:7104/2 and in Unitynet the address is 71:1041/0. 9.6 In addition, your BBS is probably also carrying Usenet newsgroups. These are the public conferences on the Internet. The conference names contain periods (.) in the names but you usually find that the BBS software does not have sufficient space for the full name. The following are typical newsgroup names and the type of names you might find for the conferences on the BBS: ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍËÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Newsgroup name º Conference name º Conference number º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÊÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ alt.alien.visitors Alien.visitor 201 alt.atheism Atheism 202 comp.os.ms-windows.apps Windows.apps 214 comp.os.ms-windows.misc Windows.misc 215 comp.os.os2.advocacy OS2.advocacy 220 comp.os.os2.apps OS2.apps 221 comp.os.os2.bugs OS2.bugs 222 comp.os.os2.misc OS2.misc 223 comp.os.os2.setup OS2.setup 226 talk.origins Talk.origins 241 The above is an example of the bulletins in your mail packet which may be a cross-referencing between the real name of the newsgroup, the name of the newsgroup on the BBS and the conference number. 9.7 There are over 4000 available newsgroups and there is a comprehensive file of all the newsgroups available. Ask your sysop for the filename of this list and, if you fancy a newsgroup not already on the BBS, ask your sysop if (s)he won't mind carrying the newsgroup. If you ask for a newsgroup and subsequently find it not to your liking, it is courtesy to inform the sysop so that (s)he may drop that conference if nobody else is likely to read that newsgroup. 9.8 Besides Usenet newsgroups, the BBS may also carry conferences or echoes from other networks, e.g. RsaNET, Fidonet, ILink, TopNet, Pipemail and UnityNet. Unlike Usenet newsgroups, the conferences on these networks are to be found only on BBSs. ³ SLMR and OLX - LONG POSTINGS ³ ³ SLMR and the test drive version of OLX, recommended in this ³ guide, have the limitation that they cannot allow you to read ³ more than 150 lines per message. Your messages will appear ³ to be cut off. ³ ³ If you find this happening, you should download another ³ reader, such as Blue Wave or SPEED. 10. INTERNET ADDRESSES _________________________ 10.1 Everybody with Internet access of some sort has at least one address to which messages are sent. The general formula of any address on Internet is: name@domain The name is often the first name and surname of the recipient but this is not always the case. The first part of the address may be an organisation [including a BBS] and the latest part may be a country but, as indicated below, domain addresses vary quite dramatically. The domain may be an academic (ac), military (mi) or commercial (com) or alternative (alt) site or you may see .com or *.org for commercial and organisation sites. Internet addresses are wide in variety but all Internet addresses must have the @ in them and at least one period (.) in the domain address. 10.2 For instance, my Email addresses include: david.segall@digitec.co.za david.segall@nez.com scuttle@cds.alt.za david.segall@softconn.iaccess.za Notice the structure of BBS addresses, i.e. firstname.surname@bbsname.proxima.alt.za, firstname.surname@bbsname.iaccess.za; or firstname.surname@bbsname.co.za You will also find that some BBSs overseas have access to Internet with similar addresses. In the USA, .com and .org are common at the end of BBS domain names. 10.3 CompuServe and Genie Addresses: Compuserve and Genie are widely used systems on which users may mail to and receive mail from the Internet. A CompuServe (CIS) ID or account number is typically in the format: 71355,470. The Internet address of somebody with a Compuserve account is obtained by converting the comma to a period and by using compuserve.com as the domain. For example, the address of the person with this ID on Compuserve would be: 71355.470@compuserve.com If you have the CompuServe ID of the person, you should be able to send messages to that person. The domain address on Genie is @genie.geis.com. The name part of the address varies but it is usually a form of the name, e.g j.doe1@genie.geis.com Note the number in the name portion of the address. Internet is also available in Delphi (@delphi.com) and America On Line (@aol.com) 10.4 Fidonet Fidonet, the largest BBS amateur network in the world, also has a means of private mail called Netmail (ask your sysop whether his board carries Fidonet, what the address of the BBS is). It is possible to send messages between an Internet address and a Fidonet address and vice versa, although this does not seem to work in all countries (it works all over South Africa and at least the greater part of the USA) around the world. A typical Fidonet address is 5:7107/18 or 1:107/203 The first number (the 5 or the 1 above indicates the zone (roughly the continent), the number after the : is the host and the number after the / is the node and each BBS in Fidonet has an address like this. Zone 1 is the USA and Zone 5 is Africa. An Internet address of user on a Fidonet node (using the above as examples) is: joe.africa@f18.n7107.z5.fidonet.org chuck.america@f203.n107.z1.fidonet.org Note how the Netmail address is switched around in the domain part of the Internet address. The addresses to users of the Unitynet network work much the same for Fidonet. 11. SENDING INTERNET PRIVATE INTERNET EMAIL MESSAGES ________________________________________________________ 11.1 If you have the recipient's address, you can send an Email message via Internet as follows: 11.1.1 Enter a message in the Email conference (see section 10. above), ³ IMPORTANT: It is a quite common mistake to enter Email messages ³ ³ in the wrong conference. Messages other than in the Email ³ ³ conference will not reach their destination. Remember to ³ ³ change the conference to Email when you redirect a message from ³ ³ a public conference or newsgroup to private Email. ³ 11.1.2 Put the name of the person in the To: part of the message header. The name is usually not important but you need to have something there. 11.1.3 Enter a subject in the subject heading. 11.1.4 Flag the message as Private. 11.1.5 You are now finished with the message header, go into the ASCII editor. 11.1.6 In the top line starting in the left margin of the *message itself*, enter To: accompanied by the Internet address of the recipient. This is important as it determines the exact destination of your message. It is ESSENTIAL that the syntax of the address is correct. If it is not correct, your message will not reach its destination. ³ IMPORTANT: MANY USERS MAKE THIS MISTAKE: ³ ³ ³ ³ Although this may work on some systems, do NOT enter the ³ ³ Email address in the message header. In other words, the ³ ³ Email address does not go where the *name* of the person to ³ ³ whom you are mailing is entered in the message header. ³ ³ ³ ³ The Email address goes in the actual message in the first ³ ³ line. If you are not entering this address using the ASCII ³ ³ editor, you are probably doing this wrong. ³ ³ ³ ³ Some of the "feature-rich" editors do this for you, usually ³ ³ by having an address book database or they can detect an ³ ³ Email address in messages. In the beginning, however, it is ³ ³ strongly recommended that you get used to the feeling of ³ ³ entering this address in the message itself manually using ³ ³ the ASCII editor. ³ 11.1.7 Leave a blank line. 11.1.8 Write the message as normal, quoting if available. Example º ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ º º The lines are the left and top margins of your º message in the ASCII editor. Do not draw them in. º º ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ º ³To: david.segall@nez.com º ³ º ³Hi David º ³ º ³This is a test message. I think your text file on Internet º ³access via BBS is ....blah blah blah º ³ º º º YOUR FIRST MESSAGE: FEEDBACK TO ME: º º You are welcome to send me your first test message to the º above address. One of my simple pleasures in life is to º receive a message, with an offline mail reader signature, º from someone telling me that they have learned how to mail º using this guide. º º I suggest that you test out the message from one system to º another. For instance, if you are reading this on Digitec º Online, send me a message to one of my addresses other than º @digitec.co.za. º º Comments, criticism and suggestions are also very welcome! I º would love to hear feedback on what you found useful and º missing in this guide or a simple note to say that you have º read this file. º º I acknowledge all messages received. If you don't receive a º response within about two days, check to see what you have º done wrong and try again. 11.2 This format must be followed in each and every Email message. If you are responding to a received Email message or you are responding in private to a public message in a newsgroup, you will notice a whole lot of control information at the top. If you are lucky, you will find a Reply-To: line in that information. If so, edit out the quote initials and the Reply- part of it and that is your outgoing address (top line, left margin of course!). Other messages will have at least one From: line. These can be edited to say To: and the Internet address. º IMPORTANT NOTE: º º You do not enter an Email address in a public conference º message, i.e. other than in the Email conference. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ ³ ³ You might want to try a program which will automatically strip ³ ³ out some of the incoming header stuff at the top of ³ ³ Internet/Usenet messages before you open each QWK packet. I ³ ³ strongly recommend CLEANQWK, a program written by Joe Malkin here³ ³ in South Africa. The current version of this program is ³ ³ CLQWK100.ZIP. Please read the DOC and CFG files carefully as ³ ³ there are quite a lot of changes you can make to a QWK packet to ³ ³ make reading messages easier. ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ 11.3 Do not use high ASCII, i.e. less than 32 decimal or more than 127 decimal (consult an ASCII chart which is included in quite a lot of ASCII editors but, as a rule of thumb, if it is not on your keyboard don't use it) in Internet/Usenet messages because characters outside of this range will probably be stripped out of the message or changed automatically. This range of ASCII is also applicable to all messages in the Fidonet network - usage of high ASCII in Fidonet will ensure that you incur the wrath of a Fidonet moderator. 11.4 Also note that the system checks the validity of Internet addresses. If the outgoing message is incorrectly addressed, you will usually get an automatic response from a "daemon" telling you that there is a problem with the message. Also, you will be warned if the receiving system has not connected to the Internet after a certain period of time. If there are no warnings of this nature, you can be fairly sure that your message has gone through. SENDING AND RECEIVING BINARY FILES: 11.5 You can also send and receive binary (e.g. program or ZIP) files in Email by uuencoding/xxencoding them, when sending, or uudecoding/xxdecoding them, when sending. UUEXE525.ZIP is commonly used for this. This is something you may want to ask about (I have notes on this too) but you should CHECK with the SYSOP if this is allowed. Messages with UUENCODED files tend to get very large and it isn't fair to send these files in Email without asking the sysop first. ³ PRIVACY ³ ³ ³ ³ Email messages are never totally private. In general, sysops ³ ³ are capable of reading all messages on their boards but most of ³ ³ them simply don't have the time to do this. There are also ³ ³ various types of encryption and security, the most popular of ³ ³ which is PGP. ³ 12. PARTICIPATING IN NEWSGROUPS ___________________________________ 12.1 All messages in newsgroups should be addressed to ALL and not to the original sender. This is something you must always bear in mind because almost all OLMRs re-address the message back to the sender. Messages in conferences or echoes of networks other than Usenet are addressed to the original sender. ³ If you are replying to a message in the newsgroup (publicly and ³ not via Email back to the sender), the Email address must not ³ be included. In other words, the formula in section 11. above ³ applies only to private Email messages and not to public ³ newsgroups. 12.2 Edit out all the control information at the top, the signatures at the bottom and anything else you may think is irrelevant and respond to the message normally. All the control information you find at the top incoming messages will be entered automatically in your outgoing message. 12.3 Often the BBS software interfacing with Internet will enter a signature file into the message for you but you will not see all of this when you download your own messages. 13. ETIQUETTE/NETIQUETTE - A WORD OF CAUTION ________________________________________________ 13.1 It is *general* echomail etiquette _not_ to enter ALL of YOUR MESSAGE IN CAPITALS because this is used for shouting or emphasis. Messages enclosed in *'s or _'s are also emphasis as if you were underlining them or putting them in bold. 13.2 You will notice that the mailing atmosphere in Internet is fairly free. Nothing much will happen if you remain on the topic of the newsgroup. Many newsgroups in Usenet are not moderated at all. Moderation in newsgroups means that someone will check your message before it is posted to the newsgroup. You might [e.g. in the newsgroup rec.humor.funny] have to submit your message to the moderator's address in private Email. 13.3 Internet/Usenet is very different in philosophy, attitude, outlook and atmosphere to BBS carried hobbyist/amateur networks like RsaNET, Fidonet, ILink, Pipemail and TopNet. RsaNET, Pipemail and TopNet are South African BBS mail networks. Fidonet, as indicated above, is an international network with many nodes right around the world (the nodelist is a large download!) ILink is an international network, based in the USA, presently without any form of private mail. In RsaNET private messages are transferred in the RsaMAIL conference. º IN WHICH NETWORK ARE YOU? º º You may find that you are reading a conference and you would º like to know which network the conference is in, whether º messages are international and if you can contact someone in º private mail. º º Usenet newsgroups are generally international (except for º some za. newsgroups which are South African based but which º also reach some overseas systems) and these can be easily º distinguished from the BBS mail network conferences. There º is generally a lot of extra ASCII in the newsgroups, at least º one newsgroup name (Unix systems allow easy crossposting of º the same message into many newsgroups) in the message and an º Email address at the top (amongst a whole lot of control º information) of these messages. º º You can often determine whether a conference is international º or national by reading some of the message content in the º conference. º º If you look at the bottom of some messages you will see that º the last lines contain a tagline and, very often, a mail º reader signature. The very last line (called the origin º line) of a BBS network message indicates the source BBS from º which the message is generated. º º RsaNET (South African network) and ILink (international based º in the USA) origin lines contain the network name, the source º BBS, the location of the BBS and the telephone number. º º The other (Fido-styled) networks have origin lines with the º BBS name and a node address (usually X:YYYY/ZZ type º addresses) where each node corresponds, by and large, to a º BBS. Further details (e.g. telephone number and name of º sysop etc) are available on a nodelist file which is º constantly updated and is available for download from the º node BBSs. The location (both country and the actual network º on which the conference is carried) of the source is more º difficult to determine on Fido-styled networks but is usually º revealed in the X: part of the address. º º The Fido-styled networks also have addresses for points, º which are (essentially) private users who have special point º (comms and mailing software) to make mailing as easy as º possible. Points fetch their mail automagically from a node º BBS. Point addresses are usually X:YYYY/Z.T and each point º is allowed to give itself a name in the origin line similar º to the BBS name in node origin lines. Unlike BBSs, you º usually cannot access a point by dialling into it. º º If you do not see the usual Usenet control information or if º there is no origin line, the message is, more than likely, º generated from the same BBS on which you are mailing. The º control information and origin lines are generated or stamped º on the message after the message leaves the BBS. º º You will soon get the hang of finding the location of the º origin of a message as you read messages on these networks º but, feel free to ask *on the main board* if this is important. 13.4 One of the prime reasons for the difference between BBS mail networks and the Internet is that (in the case of the former) sysops have to pay the telephone cost of carrying messages and an attempt is made to reduce the volume of ASCII in messages. This does not apply to Internet/Usenet messages where the messages are usually carried by professional, academic, military etc organisations. BBS messages are still a small minority on the Internet. 13.5 On the BBS networks you are not allowed to use profane language, overquote, flame [i.e insult others] and these networks may generally not be used for commercial or business purposes. 13.6 Moderation on these networks (which occurs after the event) is usually stricter than the Internet. If you don't abide by the rules or guidelines of a BBS network and you fail to heed warnings of moderators, you are in the running to be suspended from a conference for about 30 days or more, or even (very rare) ultimately and permanently removed from a network. Disciplinary action does exist on the Internet as well but it is very rare. º AGAIN: º º It is strongly recommended that you read messages in each º conference or newsgroup before you start entering to get an º idea of the network in which the conference is, the message º content (i.e. the conference topic) and the atmosphere in º each network. Some networks even have a file setting out the º basic netiquette in the network. 13.7 Try not to be upset if someone insults or "flames" you on Usenet. It's very much part of the culture. Think carefully before you respond to an insult or a flame. Your outgoing messages reveal a lot more about you than the actual words and it may simply not be worth responding to flames or swearing at you. 13.8 Do not post chain letters or "make money fast" messages on any network. This could earn you an instant lock-out or suspension from the BBS you are mailing on. 14. OTHER PRIVATE MAILING ____________________________ FIDONET 14.1 As indicated above, Fidonet and Fido-styled networks have a system of sending private messages via the network from one node (BBS) or point to another in the network. 14.2 The Blue Wave mail door, in conjunction with the reader, generally handles Fido netmail a lot easier than others because the reader detects the Netmail conference and adds an extra item for Netmail in the message header. When you redirect a message from a Fido public conference to private netmail, the reader will detect the netmail address for you. 14.3 PCBoard systems generally require you to enter the Netmail address in the first line of the actual message but, until the To: address for Internet Email, syntax of this address varies quite widely from system to system. Examples for the first line, top left margin of the message are: >@5:7107/15 ;or (5:7107/18) It is best that you ask your system how to send Netmail before you attempt this. RIME 14.4 The RIME [Relaynet] BBS mail network also has private and public routed mail. You can enter routed mail in any of the conferences on RIME. If you want to be fairly sure that someone on a RIME carrying BBS will receive a routed message, your best bet is to send the message in the Common conference. Private messages will only reach the recipient but public routed messages can be read by all users on the sending and the receiving BBSs only. The private or public flag is set by you in the message header. 14.5 The routing is placed in the first line of the message in the top left corner. The number or name [as indicated in the origin line of a message from the recipient's BBS] of the BBS is preceded by dash and greater than, i.e. -> For example, if you wanted to send a message to someone on Spectrum BBS [Pretoria] you would address the message to that person's name, mark it private [if it is public anybody on your BBS and on Spectrum could read it] and in the first line of the message itself you would put, either ->SPECTRUM or ->5609 and then you continue your message as you would otherwise, quoting if you want. If you put a <- on the end of the above routing [e.g. ->5609<-], you will receive a return receipt which tells you that your message has reached its destination. 15. MAILING LISTS/LISTSERVERS/MAIL REFLECTORS ________________________________________________ 15.1 Mailing lists are essentially Internet addresses you can write to ("subscribe") in order to receive, automatically, regular (often more than once a day) publications or messages addressed to the mailing list by others. Some mailing lists allow contributions from the subscribers to the list, some allow from anybody and some only allow from the administrator or "owner" of the list. A mailing list may be either moderated or not moderated at all. 15.2 The fine distinction (at least from a BBS point of view) between a newsgroup and a mailing list is that all messages in a newsgroup are addressed to ALL and they are in a public conference. Messages in a mailing list are received by each subscriber as personal mail at his/her Internet address. 15.3 If a mailing list is moderated, subscribers must submit each message to the moderator's address. The moderator reviews each message before it is mailed to all the subscribers on the list. 15.4 There are a wide range of mailing lists (ask around for a file with the list of mailing lists available) and variety of ways of subscribing which may differ from mailing list to mailing list. The list of mailing lists will tell you exactly to which address and what message to send to each. The basic formula is to send to a listserv@domain address and to issue the command in your message: subscribe listname yourfirstname yoursurname For example, if I was subscribing to a mailing list called Mailing and the subscription address given is listserv@nysernet.org, I would send a message with the following in the message: To: listserv@nysernet.org subscribe Mailing David Segall If this doesn't work, you can send the command: help [without quotes] to the listserv address. 15.5 You will usually receive an acknowledgment message from the listserv address, indicating that you are now subscribed and the purposes, rules and procedure relating to the mailing list. This will also include details of how to unsubscribe from the mailing list. You should keep this message carefully and keep it stored in an ASCII file for later reference. º VERY IMPORTANT: º º Mailing lists generate a lot of mail to you. This involves a º lot of hard drive space on the BBS and, most often, the º sysop's telephone bill. º º If you are subscribing to mailing lists, it is basic º etiquette to fetch your mail daily from the BBS or as often º as there are postings on the mailing list. º º If you find that you are not reading the mailing list, then º you should unsubscribe. Some mailing lists allow you to º postpone issues to you while you are away on holiday or if you º go through a time when you can't read mail. º º Please unsubscribe from all your mailing lists if you choose º to leave a BBS for any reason. 16. INTERNET - MORE READING ______________________________ 16.1 There are several files on BBSs which will provide you with a lot more information about Internet. 16.2 There are a whole range of facilities which are not available on BBSs. You will hear of terms like Telnet, TCP/IP, FTP, Archie, Gopher, MUD etc. These sort of facilities are becoming more and more available to the public. If you've read all about them and you want to know more about where they are available, ask the other users on your BBS. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ Access to some of these Internet facilities has become ³ ³ a lot easier in this country, via service providers like ³ ³ PIX and Compustat. I have specifically excluded ³ ³ usage of these facilities as being beyond the scope of ³ ³ this guide (originally intended to be as simple as ³ ³ possible and to be specific to Internet Email and Usenet ³ ³ newsgroups) in order to keep the guide as small and ³ ³ simple. ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ 16.3 The best way of finding help files on the Internet is to do a keyword search for "Internet" on the BBS and read descriptions. Many BBSs also carry FAQs (frequently asked questions) about or contained in various newsgroups but you will soon get an idea of what you are looking for. I have found the following files to be useful: * BGI13.ZIP : Beginner's Guide to the Internet (this is very Americanised but it gives you a good broad overview) * INFPOP27.ZIP : A file which gives a good definition of Internet terminology. Can be run as a TSR (apparently). There is also a Windows version of this file. * D_10INET.ZIP : Over 1MB file (hypertext) running under Windows covering a wide range of the Internet culture. * Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet. This comes in a variety of ZIP file names. I recommend that you do a keyword search for Dummy. The PCBoard command for doing this would be Z dummy A On other systems, a keyword search is usually one of the menu options. * Zen and the Art of Internet. Usually available as a ZEN*.ZIP file, most commonly ZEN10.ZIP In addition to files on BBSs, there is quite a selection of books available on the Internet. 17. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS _________________________________ 1. When I download a mail packet, I get an error message telling me something about "inconsistent headers". What does this mean? Answer: You are probably using the Zmodem protocol to do your downloading. This is the correct protocol to use. Zmodem has a built in recovery procedure. When you download files and there is a problem (e.g your modem loses carrier or you abort the download), this protocol is capable of continuing from when it left off. This is very useful for download ZIP files but you should be careful with it when you are downloading mail packets. Many comms packages have the ability to detect that there is already a file with the same name in your downloads directory. The file will be renamed with a higher extension. For example, if you already have BBSID.QWK in your directory, it will rename the second file to BBSID.QW1. Not all comms packages do this and some [like Terminate] have to be configured specifically to do it. You may also want to rename the packets that you keep manually but keep the *.QW* extension for later reading. Also, if you use a database reader like SPEED, Robomail [ROBOM13A.ZIP, ROBOM13B.ZIP and ROBOM13C.ZIP] or the Windows Reader, Orator v2.0 [ORADBD2.ZIP and ORADIC1.ZIP], your packets are automatically renamed when you have imported them into the reader's database and you should not have this problem. See the next question on how to recover from where you left off. 2. How do I recover lost messages or go back to where I was before in each conference? OR I've read some of my messages online. How do I go back and download those same messages so that I can read them offline? Answer: Don't panic. All is not lost. Firstly, on all mail doors there is a menu option for you to reset pointers manually and download the messages again. On QMail, this is QM then C and then R Mail pointers are the last message read for each conference selected. There is also an option on PCBoard mail doors to upload a pointers file from your previous mail packet, if you have configured the door to give you this file in your mail packet every time or this is automatic. The pointers file is a *.PTR (QMail) or *.PNT (Kmail) file inside your QWK packet. All you have to do is PKUNZIP this out of your previously successful QWK and you can upload this file by selecting the upload pointers file option on the mail door menu. If you are using QMail, use the R command in that door and you will be asked to upload the PTR file. Note the difference between this and the C and R combination which only allows you to reset pointers manually. When this file is successfully uploaded, you will be asked whether you want the pointers to be restored to the position BEFORE or AFTER that pointer. It is recommended that you select option 1, i.e. before. Once the pointers are restored, you can download again. If you are using Kmail, your pointers file, with the extension *.PNT, is similarly processed using the P menu command. As a general rule, if you are anyway going to read messages offline, don't read them first online. 3. How do I use shortcut commands if I want to upload a REP packet, download a QWK packet and log off when I am using a PCBoard system? Answer: You can combine commands in one line. I use the following combination just about every day: KM U;D;G on boards carrying KMail QM U;D;G on boards carrying QMail This goes into the mail door, calls for a REP file which you must select and upload, downloads the mail packet and logs you off the system. If you want a short cut to selecting conferences on a QMail door, type QM C;S from the main board prompt. Apparently, these commands also work if you have spaces instead of semi-colons. 5. How do I automate mail runs? Answer: You may want to select use script with your comms package. Script is a type of program which tells your comms package how to respond to commands on the board. You may have to write the script yourself if you are using comms packages such as Qmodem, Telemate and Telix. At the time of writing, Terminate does not have script but this is planned for later versions. There are some comms packages which automate mail runs for you without you having to write script. If you enter a script name in the dialling directory of Panther [PANTHER2.ZIP], it will attempt to learn the prompts on the BBS and how to respond to them. Robocomm [ROBO42-A.ZIP and ROBO42-B.ZIP] and Intellicom [ICOM201A.ZIP, ICOM201B.ZIP and ICOM201B.ZIP] require some set up but they are excellent programs to try if you really into automated mail runs. These programs also have excellent features for automating file downloads. 6. Which offline mail readers can I register locally? Answer: SLMR v2.1a is freeware and can be used without registration. OLX can be registered in South Africa at a number of places (ask!) and there is a much later version than the 2.1 test drive version. Blue Wave, 1st Reader and Robomail can also be registered locally. SPEED can be registered by sending your registration form in Email to the author. This may also be applicable to other readers. 7. How is mail transferred from system to system? Almost all mail is transferred automagically. The BBS has software which is programmed to run at a particular time to transfer the mail. Some transfers take place in the middle of the night when the BBS is otherwise quiet but many transfers (especially of Internet and Usenet mail) may take place even during peak BBSing hours. The BBS may be engaged during this time or, if there is more than one node, one of the nodes may limit its usage when it is about ready to do the next mail exchange. Sometimes a BBS or a node on a BBS will warn you that your time has been limited until the next event, which is often the mail run. Special mail processing software, depending on the type of software the BBS runs and the type of mail transferred (mainly the network), handles the transfer from one system to another. This all happens without you even knowing. Internet mail is transferred between the BBS and a service provider running a Unix box. The Unix box is connected to the Internet itself via a leased line - as you have probably gathered, this is rather complex. Generally speaking, other networks have a hub BBS which transfers mail between other hubs and to the member BBSs or nodes BBSs in the area of the hub. The member BBSs on that network send replies generated by the sysops and users to the hub and receive messages generated from other systems. 8. I've read all my messages now and I need to delete them from the BBS because there is no need for these messages to occupy harddrive space on the BBS. How do I remove these messages automatically? Believe it or not, this question has been asked more than once! You needn't worry. Messages - and this applies to all conferences - do not stay on the BBS indefinitely and you generally do not have to worry about how much harddrive space your messages - even your private messages - are using. The BBS software purges the message base regularly and the sysop can set the purging parameters to delete, say, messages more than 10 days old or when there are more than 1000 messages in the conference. Because of the amount of traffic involved, the Email conference may be purged more often. 9. I've entered a message in the wrong conference OR I've entered a public message and it should have gone out private. How do I kill this message so that it can't be read any more. On PCBoard, you (J)oin the Conference online by using the J Command, if the message is not on the Main Board conference. Use R F L [that's (R)ead (F)rom (L)ast] to scroll back to your message. When you find the incorrect the message, type K [for (K)ill]. If necessary/possible, phone the sysop and ask him/her to do this for you. If you can't do this on your own and if you can't contact the sysop by phone, upload a private message to the sysop with the heading *URGENT* and ask the sysop to delete the message as soon as possible or to make the message private. When you've done this once, you can be sure that you will be checking all outgoing mail carefully before you upload it in future and you will be downloading in your mail packet all messages which you have uploaded to the BBS. 18. LEGAL STUFF - MY LAWYER SAID SO - WELL SORTA ___________________________________________________ COPYRIGHT: This file has been prepared in the interests of promoting BBSing and echomailing (especially in Internet) in South Africa. Distribution and use of the file is encouraged. The file may not be distributed otherwise than in the form it was originally distributed. Any changes to the contents of the file or to the form in which it was distributed, is a violation of copyright which is strictly reserved. The file may, however, be distributed or carried on bulletin boards and other systems using a compression program other than PKWare's PKZIP. You are free to quote a *reasonable* portion of the contents of this file to anybody in public or private messages in order to help them with BBS but please acknowledge me as the source. If you find that you want to quote a lot, it's best that you recommend to the helpee that they download the file. DONATIONWARE: There is no charge for using this file, i.e. you are not obligated to pay any registration fee whatsoever. My primary interest is to promote offline mailing on BBSs and to make the offline mailing side of BBSing as easy and enjoyable as possible. I hope that you have found this file as useful and helpful as I intended. I will, however, not refuse any contributions offered in recognition of my time and effort but please discuss this with me in private mail. If you're a sysop: I prepare versions of this guide specific to BBSs. You may find that a BBS specific guide is easier for your users to read and understand than a generic guide like this one. Please contact me if you would like a specific guide for your BBS. There will be a site license fee for this service. DISCLAIMER: You use this file entirely at your own risk. I will not accept any responsibility or liability of any sort for any expenses, damages or costs, or any other loss you may incur as a result of using this file or from mailing or offline mailing in general. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º ADDICTION WARNING º º º º The world of offline mail reading and writing is highly º º addictive, probably more than any file you can download off any º º BBS. Also, many a marital dispute takes place over the mail º º reader and the modem. Be warned and be careful! º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ 19. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS _______________________ Many thanks to users who have made some fine suggestions and comments regarding this guide. Many questions from BBSers, subsequent to the previous version have been included. Special thanks to Joe Malkin, who suggested some significant grammatical and layout changes and to Paul Rossouw who introduced me to the whole concept of Information Mapping, the use of which I hope makes the guide much easier to read. All errors, however, remain my own. Please point them out to me as you find them. Happy BBSing, Echomailing and Internetting Cheers David Segall alias Scuttle