The Newsroom ============ Introduction ------------ The Newsroom allows your System Operator, as well as any "Newspaper Editors" appointed, to post news articles containing important information which he/she deems that every user should read. Every time you log on to this system, you will be promptly informed if any news articles have been posted since your last call. You may also enter the Newsroom yourself, which will act as a sort of "library" of past news articles for you to browse through. In this article browsing mode, you may move forward or backward in time through previously posted articles, obtain a brief listing of all articles, and read those that you choose. Here is a list of commands available to you when inside the Newsroom: Command List ------------ ... Read the Current Article While browsing through the article titles, pressing by itself will read in full the currently selected article. <#> ... Jump to the specified Article number If you enter a number (ie. "54"), then you will jump right to that article, if it exists. If the specified article does not exist, then you will jump right to the first article above the given number. ... Jump to article of the given date If you enter a date (ie. "10/3", or "4/10/91"), then you will jump right to the first article posted on, or after, the given date. L ... List all Articles This command will produce a brief listing of all articles in the database, in order from oldest to most recently posted. N ... Go to the next Article This command will step you forward to the next article in the database. If you press "N" when you're already at the "top" of the database, then you will wrap around to the oldest article posted. P ... Go to the previous Article This command will step you backward to the previous article in the database. If you press "P" when you're already at the "bottom" of the database, then you will wrap around to the most recently posted article. ? ... Re-display the menu If you forget what all of these commands are, then pressing "?" will re-display for you a brief menu. X ... Exit the Newsroom Press "X" to leave the Newsroom and return to the main system. Commands for Editors Only ------------------------- The following commands are only available to sysop-appointed News Editors: A ... Add a new article Use this command to post new articles. After writing the article, you will be asked if you'd like to "lock" the article. You will be presented with a list of "keys", and if you select one, then only users who hold the specified key will be able to read the article. If you select "0" for "no key required", then the article will be available to ALL users. As soon as you finish up and save the article, it will immediately be available for viewing by other users. M ... Modify an existing article Use this command to change the body text, headline, or the lock for any article. IMPORTANT NOTE: Just modifying the article will not "renew" it to be viewed again by users; that is to say, if a user reads the article at logon, and then you modify it, then the user will not automatically see the newly modified article. To accomplish this, use the RENEW command below. R ... Renew an existing article This command allows you to "refresh" old articles so that they are again displayed to all users the next time they call. This command is useful in conjunction with the Modify command, when an old news item needs to be revised and re-posted. D ... Delete an article This command will irrevocably delete an article from the database.