Details on connecting to the Bulletin Board will be found in previous editions of Informatics. If you have any problems accessing the Bulletin Board, contact Neill Jones, +44 191-519 0136.
Entering a message
[E]nter a message onto the BBS: This is perhaps the most important and frequently-used option. On entering this option you will be prompted to enter whichever conference you wish to leave a message in. You may list [L]at this point which conferences are available. Select the one you require. Alternatively, press [Return] on its own to select the current conference. You will then be asked to whom you wish to send the message. Enter the person's name here.
The system will then ask what the subject of the message is: enter something meaningful if possible. Leaving this blank will abort the message. You will be asked next if you wish to receive a Return Receipt, which is a short message back to you detailing when your message to recipient about subject was received. Decide if you wish to know when the recipient has received the mail and enter [Y] or [N] again (you are not given this option if you are sending to "all", for obvious reasons).
Next you will be asked for a decision on a full screen editor. [Y] is probably the best answer here. On entering [Y] you will be presented with a screen editor. Enter your message and when you have finished press the [Esc] key. A menu will appear at the foot of the screen which allows you a number of options. You may choose to abort the message or continue and save it.
[S] will save the message and forward it to the recipient(s) automatically.
[A] for abort will cancel the mail after checking your confirmation.
[C] will allow you to continue editing the message but in single line (non-full screen) mode.
[I] allows you to insert extra lines of text in the message (only really useful if the single line editor is preferred).
[L] lists the message.
[E] edits one line of the message (again, only really useful if the single line editor is preferred).
[R] sends the message you have edited and allows you to type a series of names of people to whom you wish to copy the message.
[U] allow you to upload a file of text from your disk into the message body (which saves time on-line). If you select this option, you will be asked to Please select a protocol: we recommend you select Zmodem. Once you have selected your protocol you will be given the message Ready to receive your file, please begin your upload now. Start to send the file from the software on your own machine (in Procomm for Windows, click on the Upload button and select the file you wish to send from the ensuing dialogue boxes). The textual content of the file will be entered into the message body. Note that the file should be in plain text format - a Word for Windows file, for example, will have lots of nonsense as well as the text that you typed. Once the upload is complete, you will be returned to the menu at the foot of the text editor screen.
[Q] allows you to insert text from a different message within your text. The text will be preceded on each line with a >.
[F] returns to full screen mode to further edit the text.
[D] deletes a line (again, only really useful if the single line editor is preferred).
The help option will give you several screens of help on how to use the editor and message facility more fully.