                                 The Newsroom
                                 ============

                            Copyright 1992 Gaiasys
                          Written by Bryan D. Elliot



INTRODUCTION
------------

        The Newsroom is an Online Newspaper Editing and Distribution System
for The MajorBBS, version 6.0 and above.  Using it, Sysops and other
Sysop-appointed Editors can post news articles, system announcements, and
other "broadcast media"-type messages which are meant to be distributed to
many users at once.  Each article has its own headline, and can be as short
or as lengthy as a standard E-Mail message.  At your option, Editors can also
imbed special ANSI codes in both the headline and the body text to create
special effects such as multi-colored text and flashing.

        Each news article can optionally be assigned a lock, so that only
users who possess the specified key will be shown the article.  This allows
for a virtually unlimited number of separate newspapers to be distributed to
different groups, each with their own editor(s) and reader base.

        News articles are distributed at logon;  that is to say, every time a
user logs on, The Newsroom checks to see if he or she have any new articles
to read.  If indeed there are new articles to be read, then The Newsroom will
take action, specified by a Configuration option.  This action can be to
Remind the user that there are new articles to read, to remind and Ask the
user of he/she would like to read the article(s) presently, or to
automatically Show any new articles immediately, with no questions asked.

        When regular users actually enter the Newsroom module, they find
themselves in a "News Library", where they can step through past articles,
reading them again if desired.  For Editors, entering the Newsroom module
brings them to the "News Editing Room", where they can also add new articles,
or modify, delete, or renew old ones.

        After a sysop-specified number of days, news articles will be
considered "old news", and will no longer be automatically displayed to users
at logon.  Of course, they can still enter the News Library and read them. 
After another sysop-specified number of days, news articles will actually be
deleted from the Library, thereby freeing up disk space.



INSTALLATION
------------

        Installing The Newsroom is extremely easy and straightforward.  Just
follow these steps:

        1)  With the installation disk in the drive, type "A:INSTALL". 
Follow the instructions given in the install program to select the proper
source and destination directories for installation.

        2)  Select "2 = Design Menu Tree" from the main MajorBBS off-line
menu. Using the Menu Tree design tool, add "The Newsroom" somewhere on your
menu tree so that it will be loaded into the system, and your users will be
able to access it.  When finished, exit the Menu Tree design tool.

        3)  Select "3 = Security & Accounting", and "4 = Configuration
Options" to customize The Newsroom to suit your particular needs.  The
configuration options available to you are outlined in the next section.

        4) You're finished!  You can now bring up your system and begin using
The Newsroom!



CONFIGURING THE NEWSROOM
------------------------

Security & Accounting Options (Configuration Level 3)

ACTIVATE - Your Activation Code
        In the space provided for this option, please enter your personalized
Activation Code for the Newsroom.  You should have received this Activation
Code with your original Newsroom disk or via phone from the distributor 
from which you purchased this product.  If you are upgrading from a prior
version of the Newsroom, please contact the distributor from which you
purchased it to obtain your Activation Code.

EDITKEY - Key Required to perform Editor functions
        This option is the lock to be placed upon the Editor functions (add,
modify, renew, and delete).  In order for users to have access to these
functions, they must be holders of the key specified here.  Default key:
EDITOR

Configuration Options (Configuration Level 4)

HOWLOGON - How to handle New Articles at Logon
        This option specifies how you would like your system to inform users
at logon that they have new articles to read.  Specify "SHOW" to forcibly
show users any new articles when they log on.  Specify "ASK" to ask users at
logon whether or not they'd like to read the new news articles at that time. 
Specify "REMIND" to merely remind users at logon that they have new articles
to read.  Default: ASK

PAUSBTWN - Should the Newsroom pause between each article at Logon?
        When displaying several news articles to users upon logon, would you
like the Newsroom to pause between each message, requiring the user to press
Enter?  This is useful to force users to read news articles instead of
allowing them to simply scroll off their screen without a second glance.

DAYSLIF - How long (in days) are articles considered "Important News"?
        For how long should news articles be considered "important news"?  
Articles which are older than the specified number of days will no longer be
shown to users at logon.  For example, if you set this number to 90 (three
months), then when a user calls who hasn't been on for a while, she/he will
only be shown new articles that have been posted in the last 90 days. Specify
"0" to ALWAYS show unread articles to users, regardless of how long ago the
articles were posted. Default: 0 (always)

DAYSDEL - How long (in days) until articles are deleted?
        How long would you like news articles to "hang around" on disk before
they are automatically deleted?  Specify a number of days here, or specify "0"
to keep articles around forever.  Default: 0 (forever)
 
XCARAT - Should the carat ("^") character be translated into the Control key?
        Would you like the carat symbol ("^", or shift-6) to be treated as a
control character in article headlines and texts?  You may use this feature
to imbed ANSI color changing sequences in your articles, for example. 
Default: YES

WRT2TXT - Should the Newsroom append newly posted articles to a text file?
        Would you like the Newsroom to automatically append new articles to
a text file?  This is useful if you want a permanent archive of your news
articles.  It is also useful for inclusion into QWK mail packets, if you have
MjrQWK.

WRT2FN - To what filename should articles be appended?
        Enter the filename to which you would like to append newly posted
articles.  You may enter a complete drive letter and pathname, if you wish.
If the drive and path are omitted, the file will reside in your BBS runtime
directory (usually C:\BBSV6).

WRT2KY - Should the Newsroom only append articles locked to a certain key?
        If you only want to append news articles to the file if they are
restricted by a particular key, then enter the key here.  Leave this field
blank if you want to write ALL news articles to the text file.


USING THE NEWSROOM
------------------

        Using The Newsroom, whether as the Editing room (for editors), or
simply as the reference library (for regular users), is relatively
straightforward. Following is a list of commands.  Note that the file
GSSNEWS.DOC contains a copy of this command set, which will automatically be
included in the file BBSUSER.DOC (your on-line user's manual).

(Commands available to all users)

<ENTER> - Read the Current Article
        While browsing through the article titles, pressing <ENTER> by itself
will read in full the currently selected article.

<#> - Jump to the specified Article number
        If you enter a number (i.e. "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.

<Date> - Jump to article of the given date
        If you enter a date (i.e. "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.

U - List all Unread Articles
        This command will produce a brief listing of all articles in the
database, in order from the oldest article you haven't yet read, 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)

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.



CONCLUSION
----------

        That covers the usage of The Newsroom!  Please feel free to call us
for any technical questions regarding installation, configuration, or usage. 
We also welcome any comments or suggestions for future versions of The
Newsroom!

Bryan Elliot
Gaiasys

