RELAY INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE EXCHANGE (RIME) USER'S GUIDE Revised 09-15-1996 INTRODUCTION This manual deals with how you, as a user, can realize the most from the RIME network. Hopefully answer your questions on how to use the network to your best advantage. As you read this manual please remember that if there is a subject you do not understand, the NEW USERS and COMMON conferences are always available for all questions. Never be embarrassed to ask a question on this network. We were all new users once too. No question is ever considered too dumb-- and really, we are a friendly lot! A conference is grouping of messages by subject. RIME provides user support for a wide variety of special interest groups (conferences) and product support for a wide variety of products. This network of bulletin boards has one common goal: To provide a environment for the friendly exchange of messages with others all over the world. WHAT IS RIME? RIME is a private organization, for the purpose of worldwide independent electronic message exchange. RIME is made up of: 1. A central body governed by a volunteer Administrative Council (AC), and many others who assist them in various capacities. 2. Independently owned and operated Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) who agree to carry the RIME network. 3. You the subscribers to those BBSs, who agree to abide by the rules set by the (AC). WHO IS IN CHARGE? RIME is also a group of very committed professional SYSOPs who have made the resources of an international BBS network available to you. Each BBS has it's own rules of operation, qualifications for membership, and services being offered. Those should be obtained from the SYSOP of your own BBS, and are not dealt with, in this document. The function of the (AC) is to establish and maintain the flow of messages within the network, maintain the NetHub (MOONDOG BBS, Brooklyn, NY, USA) and determine the various methodologies of accomplishing this task. In addition the (AC) will determine the various message conference areas, grouped by subject matter. The (AC) will established rules for maintaining a standard of "excellence of content" in those conferences. The (AC) will assign one or more of RIME's members as a Conference Host and moderator in order to insure that those rules are being met. The RIME Administrative Council and their RIME BBS number, as of 09-15-1996 consists of: Chief Administrator - Don Barba - #35, MOONDOG First Administrator - Rex Hankins - #5, IBMNET Conference Administrator - Garry Baker - #1279, BLKGOLD FTP Administrator - Sue Moore - #5012, SVIS PR Administrator - Bob Sasso - #35, MOONDOG Statistics Administrator - Roy Wilson - #35, MOONDOG FTCS Administrator - Rick Cowles - #5690, WRITERSBLOCK If you need to send them a message, you may leave your question in either the COMMON or RelayUser conference. THE STRUCTURE To help you understand some of this terminology: NODE: A bulletin board system (BBS) that calls another bulletin board system (called a Hub) in order to transfer mail. A node does not receive mail directly from any other BBS. (that is, no one calls it to transfer mail.) SITE: A site is the same as a NODE, a BBS. Each site is designated by its own unique site number. The site number appears in the tagline area of every message that is exported from a board. HUB: A bulletin board system (BBS) that calls a higher level Hub to transfer mail, and is called by one or more nodes to transfer mail. SUPER-REGIONAL HUB: BBSs that are called by other HUBS NETHUB: The "home" of RIME, operated in New York by Don Barba. All SUPER-REGIONAL HUBs call the NetHub for their mail packets. ID CODE: A two to twelve character string which contains letters or numbers. Each node has a unique IDCODE which is used to identify that node in the network. The IDCODE appears at the bottom of every message that is "relayed" throughout the network. SITE NUMBER: The number of each individual site. The site number is the most convenient way to route to a particular board in the network. Then there are the conference hosts. A conference host is in charge of a particular conference (defined later), assisting the RIME Administrative Council who is in charge of the network. On our Network, coordinating the conferences is a big job, and is currently handled by several people. You should familiarize yourself with who does what: Garry Baker (IDCODE=BLAKGOLD SITE 1279) is the Conference Manager, the person that handles all intra-conference problems. If you are experiencing some problem in a conference, Garry is the one to get in touch with. Garry is also the conference coordinator and responsible for assigning hosts to conferences and keeping track of conference numbers - in other words, he is the man to see if you want to become a host on RIME. Greg Birosh is our Scouting Coordinator, responsible for managing all scouting activities. He and Garry work closely together to bring you the best and most interesting conferences that we can offer. Last but not least are the real, unsung heros of the network, the SYSOPs! These are the people who go to great expense providing equipment and phone lines so you can converse with the world. The SYSOP is always the first line of defense in case a problem arises. HOW DOES MY MAIL GET TO ME? Think of the network as a solar system. The NetHub is the sun, the HUBs are planets, and the Nodes are moons. Each day your local bulletin board calls its Hub, usually in the middle of the night. At that time, all new messages that users have entered on the BBS are uploaded to the Hub. Then, that board downloads a packet which contains all the public and routed messages from every other BBS on the network. The Hub takes this packet and adds it to packets from other boards connected to it and creates larger, more complete packets. These packets contain messages, files and requests from each board that calls the Hub. At least once a day, usually two or three times, the Hub calls the Super-Regional Hub, which, in turn, calls the NetHub. The NetHub takes the incoming packet of hub mail and returns to the Super-Regional Hub all the mail it received since that Hub last called. The NetHub then adds the new mail it received to the waiting mail for all other HUBs. This is all done automatically. Then you call your local board and either download the mail to read using your off-line reader or read and reply to the new mail on the board. FEATURES AVAILABLE TO USERS A conference is a message area that is specific to one particular topic of interest. There are many conferences currently defined on RIME. Your BBS may not all of the conferences as the disk space required for this may be high. Your SYSOP may carry conferences that are both relayed and not relayed. If you have any questions about whether a particular conference is relayed, please ask your SYSOP. When you enter your message in a relayed conference you may be asked if you wish to "ECHO" the message. If you say "Yes" your message will be sent out to all other participating bulletin board Systems. If you answer "No" the message remains on your local bulletin board and is not transferred within the network. When you relay your message, please remember that it is being copied to all RIME member boards. Although there may be reference numbers on the message, it is considered polite to quote a few lines from the message you are responding to. That helps the recipient remember the "conversation" even if he reads the message days later. Please be aware that every participating bulletin board system will have a different set of reference numbers for the same set of messages. This is due to the different times that each board started receiving the particular conference. Therefore you should not mention a reference number unless you are talking with someone on the same bulletin board. TYPES OF MESSAGES RIME supports both PUBLIC and ROUTED MESSAGES (R/O) and R/O private. R/O messages and their use is to a great degree dependant upon the mail transfer method your local SYSOP uses. Several are possible with RIME. Check with your SYSOP to see which one your BBS uses. Then read one of the following RIME documents for the specific instructions for that method. PostLink = RO-PLINK.TXT QWK = RO-QWK.TXT FTCS = RO-FTSC.TXT When you use the Receiver/Only (R/O; private) of specialized message function on RelayNet(tm) (RIME) you are agreeing: - To hold the net blameless for the release of the message as a public message. - To allow people who normally have sufficient security to read your message. - NEVER to use a private message to speak of or conduct any business that may be contrary to network policy or considered illegal in the outside world. - That the message you enter is not the same private message described in the recent ECPA rulings. Remember, the SYSOP of the receiving system and of the sending system, as well as all other users on each system who are qualified to read private mail can read all routed messages. There is no such thing as a message that a SYSOP cannot read and a user can read. USING OFF-LINE READERS Off-line readers are a method by which you may read messages from a BBS while off-line (i.e. not logged on.) You start by logging on to a bulletin board, briefly, to download your messages. Then, by using one of the off-line reader programs, you may spend all the time you need reading messages, entering replies and any new messages you may come up with. When you are finished, you log back on to the BBS, briefly, in order to upload your replies and any new messages you may have created. The process of uploading and downloading messages may be done in one phone call. Log on to the BBS, upload your new replies, download the new messages that have been entered since the last time you were on, then log off the BBS. Those of you who call long distance may prefer this approach, as it helps to reduce long distance changes by doing the whole process in one phone call. The use of an off-line reader may save you telephone charges by also shortening your daily total on-line time, and, at the same time, it allows more users per day to access your local BBS. GENERAL CONFERENCE RULES: Please refer to the companion to this document RIMECONF.RUL for the current rules. Conferences with special rules exist. Those rules can be obtained from the Conference Host of the conference. GENERAL DISCLAIMERS - LEGAL AND MEDICAL: Neither medical nor legal advice may be officially given by any user, CH or Administrator on this network. Because we cross state and national boundaries, pertinent legal advice varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. RIME could not guarantee that any advice tendered is correct for your jurisdiction nor that anyone claiming to be a lawyer, is in fact, a lawyer. We ask that you not use this network to obtain legal advice or that you imagine that anything said to you on this network constitutes valid legal direction. Proper legal advice can only be obtained from an attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction who is competent in the specialized area of the law that you have questions in, whom you consult and hire, and who then assumes the obligation to protect your rights and explain your responsibilities. Adequate medical diagnosis and treatment is dependant not only on history talking but on a physical examination and pertinent laboratory tests. RIME could not guarantee that any medical advice tendered would be correct for your situation nor that anyone claiming to be a physician, is in fact, a licensed practicing physician. We ask that you not use this network to obtain medical diagnosis or treatment or that you imagine that anything said to you on this network constitutes valid medical diagnosis or treatment. Proper medical care can only be obtained from a physician licensed to practice in your state or country, whom you consult in person, and who has the ability to perform the proper medical examinations related to your difficulties and then render proper medical treatment with correct follow up care. USER COURTESIES Did you know that if you use all upper case letters, that other users think you are shouting at them? Remember to turn off your CAPS LOCK key when you go to enter a message. Some users think that the way to get started is to answer every message they see. That sometimes works but often it serves to annoy the other users who are already engaged in some kind of dialog in the conference. When you enter a conference for the first time, feel free to say hello and introduce yourself. Then sit back and read a few days worth of mail. In that time, you will probably discover the trends of the conference and that you have something substantial to add to the discussion. The conference host is a valuable asset in a conference. The hosts run the conference, introduce topics of general interest to the conference members to enlarge discussions, oversees that the messages stay on topic, provides information and act as a liaison between users and the powers that be above him/her. When a CH (conference host) asks you to end a thread, or move the discussion along, please be aware that they can enforce the conference rules in their conference. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly, there are recourse open to you. But these do not involve public discussion in the conference itself. While quote boxes can be nice looking, some computers cannot handle them, special readers such as for the visually impaired often do not handle them well, and they can lead to problems in general readers as well as corrupt mail packets. We ask all users to reduce, if not eliminate, the quote boxes in the interest of fairness to all the other users of the network. If someone sends you a R/O, routed message, it is considered polite to reply with a R/O, routed message. While we do not guarantee privacy of messages, we do ask that each user extend the courtesy of replying to R/O, routed mail, with R/O routed mail. We also ask that users, under normal circumstances, do not make R/O, routed mail public. It is considered rude to discuss R/O, routed mail in public. Because R/O, routed mail cannot usually be seen by a majority of users, moderation on content, is very difficult. However, if a SYSOP notifies the network that a user is sending R/O, routed messages that are illegal, moderation and/or suspension will be considered for this very serious offense. WHEN A PROBLEM ARISES A problem arises? You need some sort of help? Here's how to get the answers that solve your problem. If it is a system problem or a general question, ask your SYSOP first! Most times he/she will have the answer you need to solve your problem. Leave them a Comment. This is a private message to your SYSOP. If you leave such a message in a relayed conference it will usually not be transmitted across the network. Your SYSOP may not read every conference he relays, so leave him/her a comment on the Main Board. Most SYSOPs read their own Main Board. If it is a conference specific question leave a message to the conference host of that particular conference. If the conference appears to have no host or you are unsure exactly who the host is, leave a message to Garry Baker (IDCODE=BLAKGOLD, SITE 1279) in the Common conference - our "network bulletin board" and ask him who the conference host is. If you are experiencing a problem with a conference host, or feel that the problem you have needs resolution at a higher level, leave a message for Garry and tell him what your problem is and see if he can help you out. Again, they both hang out in COMMON. If you still have a question and it has not been resolved by the steps above, write a message to an RAC member and leave it in the Common conference or if it is available on your BBS join the Relay Users conference. The RIME Administrative Council can be found monitoring both conferences for any questions that users might have. ALL DECISIONS OF THE RIME Administrative Council ARE FINAL. THE RECENT ECPA RULINGS AND PRIVATE MAIL There is always lively discussion surrounding the issue of private mail on a BBS network. Below is the RIME policy regarding private mail: TO ALL USERS OF RIME Messages that are posted in any and all conferences on any BBS designated as a member of PostLink, RelayNet or RIME are relayed ("echoed") throughout the international network. RIME maintains the capability and capacity to send and receive routed messages that are flagged as "Receiver-Only". However, messages so flagged are NOT to be considered by any user as actual "private" messages. The purpose of the Receiver-Only flag for such messages is intended solely to provide for a means of limiting the possible number of BBS's that may have access to the messages for display purposes. The following is the official RIME policy regarding Receiver Only flagged messages. PURSUANT TO THE ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY ACT OF 1986, 18 USC 2510 et. seq., NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN TO ALL USERS OF THIS NETWORK THAT THERE ARE NO FACILITIES PROVIDED BY THE RIME INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR SENDING OR RECEIVING PRIVATE OR CONFIDENTIAL ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS. ALL MESSAGES POSTED IN RELAYED CONFERENCES SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE READILY ACCESSIBLE TO ALL NETWORK HUBS, NODES, SYSOPS AND USERS. Do NOT use RIME conferences for any communication for which you intend only yourself and one or more specific recipients to read. Consider that all node SYSOPs have the capability, capacity and potential to read all mail posted in this network, and, as a result, to post said messages as public messages on their boards. SYSOPs that do so are considered blameless as there is no guarantee of privacy on this network. All participating Network Bulletin Board Systems shall deem all messages posted within the RIME conferences to be readily accessible to the general public at all times. If you post a message within any RIME conference, your acceptance of this policy is heretofore implied. The RIME International Network and any participating bulletin board system assumes absolutely no accountability or liability whatsoever for any violations of this policy by any and all users of this network. To reiterate: This network provides the capability and capacity to flag messages as R/O. However, messages so flagged will not and cannot be considered or defined as "private communications" between two or more people. CONFERENCE HOSTING The following are the general duties of a conference host. These may vary from conference to conference. If you wish to host a conference, and all conferences are hosted by volunteers like yourself, these would be the general responsibilities of being a conference host. - Defining the operating rules of the conference. - Dealing with those users experiencing difficulty conforming to the set rules. - Encouraging discussion by either responding to messages or initiating pertinent topics for discussion. - Replying to ALL messages that, either explicitly or implicitly, call for a reply from the host. - Convincing SYSOPs not currently carrying your conference to do so. - Getting people who are leaving messages in other conferences appropriate to yours to join the discussions in your conference. - Coordinating with other conference hosts whose conference topics overlap with yours. STARTING A NEW CONFERENCE If you think that you have a good idea for a conference, or would like to host a conference, please send a message to Greg Birosh in the COMMON conference. In general, to start a conference you need to have the topic clearly defined, a conference host available that would be suitable for that conference, and the topic has to be approved by Garry & Greg. RULES, PROCEDURES FOR PROPOSING A NEW CONFERENCE ON RIME are contained in a RIME file called: SCOUTING.TXT THE CONFERENCE COORDINATOR IS GARRY BAKER, NODEID (BLAKGOLD SITE NUMBER 1279, THE CONFERENCE SCOUTING COORDINATOR IS GREG BIROSH, MOONDOG, #35 1. The (AC) reserves the right to establish specialized conferences, such as vendor support conferences, announced through the CC. 2. Removal of conferences. The CC will monitor on a monthly basis conference activity using reports generated by the NETHUB. Conferences that do not meet established activity criteria for that conference, will be subject to discontinuation by the CC. 3. Conference Hosts are designated by the CC. Conference Co-hosts can only be assigned with the advanced consent of the CC; Conference Hosts can only recommend and cannot appoint Co-hosts directly. HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER BOARD IN THE RIME NETWORK Some of you may decide you like this medium so well you would like to join the network with your own board. To do this the Network requires that: - You have legally Registered copies of the software involved in the setup of your board. - You download and familiarize yourself with the material contained in a file called RELAYNET.ZIP. - You allow no pirated or commercial software in your files sections. - You read and agree to the Network Bylaws. - You complete and return the RIME application form. If you meet these conditions you may join the network on a temporary basis until a probationary period has elapsed. A decision on your status will be made at the end of that probationary period.