HELPTEXT

[/w|ho,who,/i|dle,idle]
The /who and /idle commands are used to list users on Phoenix.  Both /who
and /idle take identical arguments, but the output differs.  /who will give
more information, while /idle will give a more compact presentation.

Both /who and /idle will accept either categorical keywords or strings to
match against names and discussions; all matches found are listed.  If any
discussions are matched, all users in the discussions are listed.  The known
categorical keywords for /who and /idle are:

   here   away   attached   active     idle     privileged   all
   busy   gone   detached   inactive   unidle   guests       everyone

The categorical keywords match users in the given state.  The "active"
state is special, and defined as follows:

   "here", attached, idle < 1 hour; or
   "here", detached, idle < 10 minutes; or
   "away", attached, idle < 10 minutes.

The keyword "all" is treated as "active,attached", while "everyone"
matches all users.  "unidle" matches users with idle < 10 minutes.  The
default if no arguments are given is to match "everyone" for now.  (When
more people are using the system, the default will change back to "active".)
Match strings and multiple categorical keywords can be piled together as
desired.  When only a single person is printed by /who, long blurbs are
printed in full.
[/bl|urb,blurb]
The /blurb command allows you to set a descriptive "blurb".  It is usually
printed along with your name in most messages and notifications.  There is
no set limit to blurb length, but out of courtesy, try to keep it short.
Under 30 characters is a good size.  Long blurbs are normally truncated in
/who and /idle listings, so your entire blurb may not be seen at all times.
When only one person is printed by /who, long blurbs are printed in full.

Syntax: /blurb [blurb]
        /blurb "blurb"
        /blurb blurb

"/blurb off" turns off your blurb.  "/blurb" alone reports your blurb.

In many cases, it is preferable to use one of the away-state commands (/here,
/away, /busy, /gone) instead of /blurb.  All of the away-state commands will
take blurb arguments exactly like /blurb, but will set a meaningful status
at the same time, so their use is encouraged.  Also, every away-state command
may be abbreviated to a single letter, while /bl is the minimum abbreviation
for the /blurb command, since /busy abbreviates to /b.

See also: /here, /away, /busy, /gone.
[/h|ere,here]
The /here command accepts /blurb arguments to set the blurb, and then sets
your away status to "here".  Even if you are already "here", others will
still be notified that you are now "here".

Being "here" implies that you are willing to engage in new conversations,
and that you are reasonably likely to respond to messages quickly.

If you wish to actively talk to certain people but not anyone else in general,
then you should use /busy instead.

Since people sometimes forget to set a new away status when they leave, the
default /who target of "active" will only list "here" people if they are
under one hour idle if attached, or if they are under ten minutes idle if
detached.  (On the assumption they intend to return almost immediately.)
Overly-idle "here" people aren't normally listed, so their away state is
not changed due to idle time.

The /here command may be abbreviated to /h.

See also: /blurb, /away, /busy, /gone.
[/a|way,away]
The /away command accepts /blurb arguments to set the blurb, and then sets
your away status to "away".  Even if you are already "away", others will
still be notified you are now "away".

Being "away" implies you are either gone for a brief period (maybe around
5-10 minutes), or you are around but likely to be inattentive.  It implies
you are not unwilling to engage in new conversations, but may well be slow
to respond.  "away" is a good state to use if you're reading Usenet news
in another window, watching TV across the room from the keyboard, or taking
a shower.  Your blurb should reflect your present activity, ideally.

If you wish to actively talk to certain people but not anyone else in general,
then you should use /busy instead.

Since people sometimes forget to set a new away status when they leave, the
default /who target of "active" will only list "away" people if they are
attached and under ten minutes idle.  Overly-idle "away" people aren't
normally listed, so their away state is not changed due to idle time.

The /away command may be abbreviated to /a.

See also: /blurb, /here, /busy, /gone.
[/b|usy,busy]
The /busy command accepts /blurb arguments to set the blurb, and then sets
your away status to "busy".  Even if you are already "busy", others will
still be notified you are now "busy".

Being "busy" implies you are either engaged in conversation with others
on the system, or around but busy doing something else.  In either case,
"busy" implies you would not appreciate interruptions that aren't very
inportant, especially if they would require a reply.  Those whose messages
are welcome would already know so.  Don't bother a person who is "busy"
without having a reason to do so.  "busy" is a good state if you're in a
deep conversation with someone, or if you're washing dishes, for example.
Your blurb should reflect what you're busy with, ideally.

The default /who target of "active" will never list "busy" people on the
assumption that they do not wish to be unduly disturbed.  Idle time will not
cause the away state to change, but if you become unidle while "busy" and
at least ten minutes idle, you will get a warning message that you are still
listed as "busy", in case it no longer applies and you forgot about it.

The /busy command may be abbreviated to /b.

See also: /blurb, /here, /away, /gone.
[/g|one,gone]
The /gone command accepts /blurb arguments to set the blurb, and then sets
your away status to "gone".  Even if you are already "gone", others will
still be notified you are now "gone".

Being "gone" implies you are gone and should not be expected to respond to
messages at all until you return, regardless of whether you are attached or
detached.  "gone" implies you are not having any conversations at all, and
all messages received will be seen later, much like an answering machine.
"gone" is a good state to use if you're asleep, off to work or class, etc.
Your blurb should reflect where you went, ideally.  (e.g. "/gone [-> work]")

If you wish to actively talk to certain people but not anyone else in general,
then you should use /busy instead.

The default /who target of "active" will never list "gone" people on the
assumption that they are truly gone.  Idle time will not cause the away state
to change, but if you send a message while "gone", you will be warned,
for every message you send while "gone".

The /gone command may be abbreviated to /g.

See also: /blurb, /here, /away, /busy.
[/h|elp,help]
The /help command is used to request helpful information about commands or
concepts.  For example, for help on the /gone command, you can type either
"/help gone" or "/help /gone".  If the slash form for command help is
used, the command name may be abbreviated in the same way as the actual
command.  Since the minimum abbreviation for /gone is /g, "/help /g" is
sufficient, although "/help g" is not.
[/s|end,send]
The /send command is used to redirect your "default sendlist".  Simply type
"/send <sendlist>" and <sendlist> becomes the new destination for any
message which does not contain an explicit sendlist, including recognized
smileys.  (See "/help smileys".)  "/send off" will turn off your default
sendlist completely.  "/send" alone will display your current default
sendlist without changing it.  /send may be abbreviated to /s.
[/bye,bye]
The /bye command is used to leave Phoenix completely.  If you sign off, you
will be disconnected from the system and unable to receive messages at all.
You may wish to consider using the /detach command instead.
[/wha|t,what]
The /what command is used to list currently existing discussions.
[/j|oin,join]
The /join command is used to join one or more discussions.
[/q|uit,quit]
The /quit command is used to quit one or more discussions.
[/cr|eate,create]
The /create command is used to create a new discussion.
[/des|troy,destroy]
The /destroy command is used to destroy one or more discussions.
[/per|mit,permit]
The /permit command is used to permit one or more members to a discussion.
[/dep|ermit,depermit]
The /depermit command is used to depermit one or more members from a
discussion.
[/app|oint,appoint]
The /appoint command is used to appoint one or more moderators to a discussion.
[/unappoint,unappoint]
The /unappoint command is used to unappoint one or more moderators from a
discussion.
[/rename,rename]
The /rename command is used to change your name in the system.  There are
currently some bugs with this, so use of /rename is presently discouraged
until those bugs are fixed.
[/cl|ear,clear]
The /clear command simply clears the terminal screen.

Alternatively, type Escape then Control-L to clear the screen.
[/unidle,unidle]
The /unidle command simply resets your idle time as if you sent a message.

Alternatively, send a line consisting of a single space only.  There is a
slight difference in that <space><return> is silent if idle under one minute,
while /unidle will report that the idle time was reset.  For both, if the
idle time was at least one minute, it is reported before being reset.

In general, when you become unidle, you will receive a report of the previous
idle time if it exceeded the normal threshold of ten minutes.
[/det|ach,detach]
The /detach command is used to disconnect from Phoenix without signing off.
You can still receive messages while detached, to be reviewed later.  When
the /detach command is used, others are notified that you intentionally
detached.  If any other event causes you to become detached (e.g. network
failure), then others are notified that you accidentally detached.

To reattach to a detached session, simply sign back on with the same account
and name, and you will be automatically attached.  Currently, all pending
output will be output very quickly; local scrollback is highly recommended.
If you miss some of the detached output, do NOT press return, but disconnect
instead locally.  When you reattach, the same output will be reviewed again.
Output is only discarded when it has crossed the network (acknowledgements
are used) and the user has entered an input line.
[/how|many,howmany,how]
The /howmany command shows how many users are "here", "away", "busy"
and "gone", how many users are attached and detached, total number of
users signed on, and how many discussions are active.
[/why,why]
The /why command is pretty self-explanatory. (try it!)
[/da|te,date]
The /date command prints the current date and time like the date(1) command.
[/si|gnal,signal]
The /signal command is used to control whether or not to ring the terminal
bell when incoming messages arrive.  There are separate controls for public
and private messages.  The default is on for both.

Syntax: /signal [public|private] [on|off]
[smileys]
The following are recognized smileys:

   :-)   :-(   :-P   ;-)   :_)   :_(   :)   :(   :P   ;)

When a message begins with one of these recognized smileys, either alone or
followed immediately by whitespace, the smiley as assumed to be part of the
message and sent to the default sendlist, instead of attempting to interpret
the smiley as an explicit sendlist.  This does not attempt to special-case
every type of smiley, but it does attempt to catch the common ones likely
to be typed reflexively.  Only smileys containing a semicolon or colon are
an issue here, since a smiley like "8-)" will already go to the default.

In general, any message can be forced to be interpreted as either explicit
or default sendlist sending by proper use of a space.  If a space leads the
input line, it guarantees sending to the default sendlist.  If a space is
immediately following a semicolon or colon in what would otherwise be one
of the recognized smileys, it guarantees the explicit sendlist interpretation.
In all cases, a single leading space in the message text will be removed
if it is present, to allow such control over sending without changing the
body of the message.

Since this technique makes a single space alone on a line effectively the
same as a blank line, this special case was used instead to reset idle time
without actually sending any message.  (See "/help unidle".)
[/set,set]
The /set command is used to set both system variables and user variables.
System variables are specified with predefined keywords, and user variables
must be prefixed with a dollar sign.  (e.g. "idle" is a system variable
with a predefined purpose, and "$idle" is a user variable with no such
predefined purpose.)

Known system variables:

   uptime   idle     time_format
[/set uptime,set uptime]
Server uptime is a readonly system variable and cannot be set.
[/set idle,set idle]
The "/set idle" command is used to set an arbitrary idle time.  Arguments
are a time specification in the format used by /who. (<d>d<hh>:<mm>)  You
may not make yourself idle longer than you've been signed on.  Use of this
command is actually discouraged.  In fact, it exists solely to discourage
people from using idle time as a reason not to be active on the system.
Idle time has no inherent value, and to hoard it is silly.  Yet this has
been done, if only because of the time needed to build up a high idle time.
This command is intended to take all the fun out of this game by eliminating
the challenge of accumulating a high idle time, to discourage such misuse.
[/set time_format,set time_format]
The "/set time_format" command will set the current format used to display
times in a verbose context.

Valid options are: terse, verbose, both, default.
[/set *,set *]
No help available for "/set %s".
[/display,display]
The /display command is used to display both system variables and user
variables.  System variables are specified with predefined keywords, and
user variables must be prefixed with a dollar sign.  (e.g. "idle" is a
system variable with a predefined purpose, and "$idle" is a user variable
with no such predefined purpose.)

Known system variables:

   uptime   idle     time_format
[/display uptime,display uptime]
The "/display uptime" command will display how long the server has been
running, and may also display how long the machine has been running.
[/display idle,display idle]
The "/display idle" command will display your idle time, without resetting it.
[/display time_format,display time_format]
The "/display time_format" command will display the current format used to
display times in a verbose context.

Valid options are: terse, verbose, both, default.
[/display *,display *]
No help available for "/display %s".
[/al|so,also]
The /also command is used to send a copy of the last message to another
sendlist.
[/oo|ps,oops]
The /oops command is used to send an "oops" message to the (unintended)
recipient of the last message, and to resend the last message to another
sendlist.  The "/oops text <message>" form can be used to change the
text of the "oops" message.
[]
Known commands:

   /who     /blurb    /create    /permit     /clear     /howmany
   /what    /here     /destroy   /depermit   /unidle    /detach
   /why     /away     /join      /appoint    /date      /bye
   /idle    /busy     /quit      /unappoint  /set
   /help    /gone     /send      /rename     /signal

Type "/help <command>" for more information about a particular command.
[*]
No help available for "%s".