GEnie Livewire e-zine/LW9410MM.ZIP/MAGIC.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-23 | 9.4 KB | 248 lines

You know, some people online only use GEnie to
chat. They have no use for the dash of multi-player
games and couldn't care less about massive file
libraries. They'd rather hear what you think about
the latest vampire movie or how Aunt Edna is
dealing with all of those new kittens. There is
nothing wrong with this, of course -- GEnie is
different things to different people -- but if you
haven't tried a Real-Time Conference or visited
Chat Lines, you really ought to drop in some
evening and see what the attraction is.

GEnie's Chat Lines and Real-Time Conferences (RTCs)
are means of communicating right now, or in
"Real-Time" as the computeratti put it. You type
out a line and hit [RETURN] and everyone in the
room with you sees the text, following your GE Mail
address. They type out their replies and hit
[RETURN] and everyone sees those after their
addresses, too. It's like a cross between the old
party line telephone service, CB radio, and the
typewriter.

There was a time when there were quite a few
differences between the Chat Lines, on GEnie Page
400, and the Real-Time Conferences that are a
component of every RoundTable. But the two are
becoming increasingly similar in form and function
and we'll probably see a day when they're
identical, because they're nearly the same even
now.

Setting Up

When you first enter an RTC, you'll see a listing
of available rooms and how many people are in each
one. Some people like to drop into empty rooms and
get set up, while others like to plunge directly
into a small crowd and see what they are talking
about. The choice is yours. On entry to any of the
available rooms, you may want to take a moment to
make a few changes in how you appear to others, and
how others appear to you.

Remember that all commands in Chat Lines and RTCs
begin with a slash (/) placed in the first
(left-most) position. Without a slash first, GEnie
thinks that whatever you type you want broadcast to
the whole room, so remember that slash whenever you
want to make changes.

Now, we were talking about changing things right
away, and you may be wondering why the default
settings aren't "good enough" for you. In fact,
they may be. GEnie is available to a wide variety
of computers, and it seems that each offers several
programs you can use for chatting, with its own
capabilities and features. There are some
incredible programs that are optimized for RTC and
chat use. Check in your Computing RoundTable to see
what's available and what's popular for your
machine.

One of the first changes you'll probably want to
make is to add your name to your GE Mail address.
The /NAME command (remember that slash) consists of
two parts, the command to change your name, and the
text you provide. Instead of seeing:

   <G.BUSH9> Wouldn't be prudent.

or...

   <B.CLINTON2> But, I didn't inhale!

...your words will be preceded by the text or name
of your choosing, up to twelve characters.

   <[George] G.BUSH9> Wouldn't be prudent.

or...

   <[Da Prez] B.CLINTON2> But, I didn't inhale!

Using a name is much friendlier than being known as
"K" or "M" but you don't have to actually use it if
you don't want to, even though that's what the
command is called. User Clinton, in the above
example, wants to be known as "Da Prez" today,
instead of "Bill" or "Bob" or whatever his name is.

Settling In

As you settle into a chat session, you may notice
it's difficult to keep up with who is saying what.
GEnie offers several solutions (which may end up
providing you with more than you want to know)
about what's going on in the room you are in. A
good place to start is with the /BLANK command.
Type in /BLANK (and again, remember that slash) and
GEnie will add an extra carriage return between the
lines from each chatter. Instead of seeing:

   <[Da Prez] B.CLINTON2> But, I didn't inhale!
   <[George] G.BUSH9> Wouldn't be prudent.
   <[NiceVice] D.QUAYLE> Huh?

...GEnie formats it this way, which many people
find easier to read as the text pours out onto your
screen:

   <[Da Prez] B.CLINTON2> But, I didn't inhale!

   <[George] G.BUSH9> Wouldn't be prudent.

   <[NiceVice] D.QUAYLE> Huh?

To turn the feature off, type /XBLANK.

Unless you tell GEnie otherwise, whatever words you
type will echo back to you in an RTC or in Chat.
Depending on your software setup, this will either
be a terrific feature, or a maddening distraction.
If you'd like to turn it off, type /XECHO. If you
find you like it, /ECHO will restore the function.

Okay, so now you're all set up. Whatever you want
to talk about, have at it. At some point, you may
want to visit another room. Typing /ROOM 3 will
take you to room three. Type /ROOM 1 to visit room
one, and so on. If you get interested in
conversations in two or more rooms, you can monitor
one room, while you're attending another. Type
/MONITOR 3 to "listen-in" on conversation in room
three. Typing /MONITOR 2 may be confusing, but it
will allow you to see discussion in room two, as
well as room three (and whatever room you're in,
too, of course). GEnie will precede everybody's
text with a reminder of which room they're in. If
it gets to be too much and you want to leave, say,
room two alone, you can type /XMONITOR 2. To drop
everything except the room you're in, typing
/XMONITOR will turn the function off completely.

Private Messages

So, who ARE these people? Typing /STATUS 3 will
show you room three's name, and any folks who are
there. If you type /STATUS without a room number,
you'll see the people in the room you are now in.
Notice the column headed "Job Number." This is a
handy way of tracking who is who in RTCs and Chat.
You can send a private message to someone using
their GE Mail address, or by sending it to their
job number. For instance, if you catch me in the
GENIEus HelpDesk some night, you might type this
in:

/SEND MARK.HIATT Hey! Write something about the
online games!

Or...

/SEND 4 Hey! Write something about the online
games!

These both accomplish the same task of sending me a
message that only I can see (assuming that I'm job
#4). Some people are more comfortable /SENDing to
GE Mail addresses, because they never change.
Others prefer the shorter method of /SENDing to job
numbers, and either one works well.

If you tend to forget which user goes with which
job number, you can enter Job Mode by typing /JOB
and leave Job Mode by typing /XJOB. This shows you
everyone's job number, along with their GE Mail
address (and their /NAME), but it can get
confusing, if you're monitoring two rooms, in Job
Mode. That's a lot of information coming your way
each time someone writes something:

 (Job 13) (Room 2) <[Fly-Guy] A.PILOT2> How about
 them Denver Broncos, huh?

You don't have to call up a /STATUS display, to see
job numbers or GE Mail addresses. You can also type
/WHO 23 to see the GE Mail address of Job #23, or
/SHOW HIYA.CHERYL to see what Cheryl's job number
is.

Everyone has their own favorite set of commands and
in time you'll find ways of participating in RTCs
and Chat that you prefer, too. Don't be afraid to
try a few new things now and then. You can't hurt
GEnie, by typing in commands!

Formal Conferences

One of the best uses of RTCs is when someone Way
Cool shows up on GEnie, to talk about their latest
book or movie or TV show or CD -- or their latest
CD-ROM, word processing program or other software.
Chatting about work, family members and How The Day
Went is fine, but nothing beats going to work in
the morning and saying, "So, I was talking to
Bigname Author last night, and..." As you can
imagine these events draw a pretty good crowd
online and that presents special problems.

It would be difficult to follow a conference with
dozens of people coming in, leaving, changing their
/NAMEs and so on, each asking their favorite
question of the guest. So what usually happens is
that instead of just chatting with the guest, the
conference is run a little more formally. It's a
bit more restrictive, but everyone gets their
questions asked and answered.

The way it works is like this. The leader of the
conference places the room in "Listen Only" status.
Only they can then talk to all of the people in the
room. If you try to type something, you'll be met
with a reminder from GEnie that the room is in
listen-only mode. If you have a question, you
indicate this to the moderator by typing /RAISE.
GEnie responds with a note that your hand is
raised. You'll then be called on, in turn, and
you'll be able to ask your question without someone
else interrupting. It's considered polite to have
your question typed out, and wait for a message
from the moderator saying that you can talk, so
others in the room don't have to wait while you
type. And, if it isn't obvious, signal the end of
your message with "GA" which has come to stand for
"Go Ahead."

Whether you intend to hear how a hero accomplished
an heroic deed or just want to find out how an
online friend spent the day, plan on dropping by an
RTC sometime this week, and see what all of the
noise is about. Many RoundTables hold regular
events, where you can get help with your hardware,
software, or discuss the latest rumors. Quite a
few, like GENIEus, hold regular HelpDesk RTCs, too.
If you forget any of the commands, type /HELP to
see a complete list.