Acropolis Online Help
NEW USER TUTORIAL
March 1993 - by Fred Gotfredson
October 1993 - Revised by Ryan Gesler
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> Welcome to Acropolis!
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Acropolis is a Bulletin Board System Software written by Ryan Gesler.
This help file is for newcomers to the software. Read this file if you
aren't quite sure how to use the BBS, or are relatively new to BBSing in
general.
You may have already noticed that Acropolis is very different from
most BBS software that you normally encounter. This, many times,
intimidates people; however, Acropolis is actually quite easy to use once
you understand the basics. This file contains a small tutorial on
navigating the Acropolis message base. It will be helpful if you print
out this file so you can read it as you go through the board.
> Introduction to BBSing
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The main point of BBSing is to talk with others, and share your ideas
and views with other people. This is exactly what the message base for.
In a message base, you can read others' messages, and reply to them. Most
BBSes have many different topics to choose from, and you can choose which
ones you like.
Another important part of BBSing is file transfers and games. Many
BBSs offer a file transfer area, where you can upload (send to the BBS)
and download (receive from the BBS) files. Online games range from
one-player action games, to multi-player RPGs. Many games require some
sort of emulation to play, so before you play make sure your
communications software supports the emulation that the game you are going
to play requires.
Please keep in mind though, that file transfers and games intended for
use by those who contribute to the BBS by acively participating in message
base discussions. Don't abuse your priveldges to file transfers and games
by not participating in the message base!
> Getting started with Acropolis
--------------------------------
There are many different ways to nagivate through the Acropolis
message base, and once you're familiar with Acropolis you can choose your
favorite style. For now, we'll concentrate on one of the most flexable
methods.
A few words before we begin. Commands will be indicated like this:
<R>ead <F>orward from [#]
You simply type the letters in the <> brackets and optionally the letters
in the [] brackets. Acropolis will show the rest of the characters
automatically so you need not type them. If you make a mistake while
entering a command, you can use the backspace or delete keys to erase the
last command. When you're finished entering a command, press RETURN or
ENTER.
When you first call the BBS, you will be asked to enter your name and
password, and then you will be greeted with some information about
yourself and the latest news bulletins. Of course, you must have gotten
this far already, or you wouldn't be here. Well, after that 'greeting,'
you will come to the first "room." A room is what Acropolis calls each of
its topics. A room may contain messages, file transfers, external
programs, or any combination of the three. Each time you enter a room,
you will see some information about it. For example:
Lobby:
50 Messages (1-50)
5 New
This is called the "room info" of the current room. If you are in a
room that contains file transfers or external programs, (in Acropolis,
they're called "wormholes") an extra line is added that informs you that
there are 'Transfers Available' or 'Wormholes Available.'
After the room info, you'll see the "prompt", which looks something
like this:
/T-60\ Lobby>
The prompt always has has a letter 'T' followed by the time you have
remaining that day, and the name of the room you are in followed by a
'room icon.' The room icon is there to let you know what type of room you
are in. The meanings of the icons are:
">" means that there is only messages in a room,
"]" indicates that there is file transfers,
"}" tells you that there are wormholes,
")" indicates a networked room. Messages posted in this room will also
appear on other boards in the Acropolis Network.
As you can see, "Lobby" is a message-only room.
You can start reading the new messages this room by typing <N>ew Messages,
(remember, you only need to type "N", Acropolis will automatically type
the rest for you). This command displays all of the new messages that
have been posted in this room since the last time you visited it. If you
don't visit a room for a long period of time, many messages can pile up.
if this happens and you don't want to read through them all, ou can ignore
all of the new message in a room (make the new messages old) with the
<I>gnore new messages command.
After you have read all of the new messages in a room, you can either
post a message, or go on to the next room. To post a message, type <P>ost
message. This brings you into the Acropolis text editor, where you can
enter your message. Once you're done entering the message, type </s> on a
line by itself and Acropolis will post your message to the room. After
you have entered your message, or if you didn't want to post, you should
go on to the next room. Do this by pressing <G>oto. At the next room, you
simply repeat the process of reading messages and posting.
If you come across a room that you don't like, and don't think you
will ever want to see again, you can simply type <Z>Forget room. The room
will no longer appear for you unless you . <J>ump to the room (by typing
'<J>ump <partial name>') and <X>Unforget Room. This is extremely useful
for rooms that you don't care to participate in.
> For more information
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You now should understand the basics of navigating through the board,
reading and posting messages. Once you are comfortable with this, you
should look through the other help files for detailed information on other
features of Acropolis.
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