bboard

The bboard is a threaded multi discussion bulletin board. It goes back when then original SDF was just a BBS. You may think of it as a corkboard at a community center where members post notes with thumb tacks. It is, along with commode, one of the best ways to get help and news from SDF-EU. Voting of new features and changes on SDF-EU policies also take place at the bboard (ARPA membership or above required).

• To ask for help, use <HELPDESK>.
• All system notices are posted on <ANNOUNCE>.
• Current discussions about SDF-EU happen on <SDFEU>.
• You can make requests for new software at <REQUEST>.
• <ARPA> and <META> boards are used for ARPA and MetaARPA related questions.
• Member services (such as VPN or VOIP) have their own board for questions and support.

Type bboard on your shell. You will be presented with a list of current bboards (Boards Listing), sorted by most recent activity.

S D F - 1  Bulletin Board
================================================================================
[BBOARD]    [POSTS] [TOPIC]
================================================================================
SDFEU        [0066] SDF-EU User discussions
META         [0022] No Description
HELPDESK     [0690] Users Helping Users
NETWORKING   [0008] No Description
ARPA         [0148] ARPA members helping ARPA members 
REQUESTS     [0534] Software Updates and Installs for SDF and SDF-EU

[ SCROLL (F)ORWARD, (B)ACKWARD - (G)OTO or (Q)UIT ]

To navigate the boards listings, use F (Forward) and B (Backward) keys to go up and down. When you reach the end of the list (or you press Q), you will enter in Command Mode, and a prompt will be presented to you. Every time you run bboard you are placed in the <GENERAL> board by default, hence the prompt <GENERAL> Command: .

Say you want to review the <SDFEU> bboard for news about SDF-EU. On the Command Mode, type G (GOTO) followed of the name of the bboard (in this case G → SDFEU). You will enter in Posts Listing, with all entries at the <SDFEU> bboard sorted by activity (most recent first).

================================================================================
[ID]     [DATE]          [AUTHOR]  [REP]  [SUBJECT]
================================================================================
[1]   03-May-12            [john]    [0]  New feature: SDF-EU intertubes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2]   02-May-12            [jane]    [0]  SSH Port Forwarding question
      02-May-12             [jim]    [1]
      02-May-12           [james]    [2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3]   02-May-12            [jess]    [0]  Meetup at EuroBSDcon
      02-May-12          [joshua]    [1]
      02-May-12            [jack]    [2]

[ SCROLL (F)ORWARD, (B)ACKWARD - (T)YPE, (R)EPLY or (Q)UIT ]

Like in the Boards Listing, you can navigate the Posts Listing with keys F and B. Pressing Q will return you to Command Mode.

Post #3 “Meetup at EuroBSCcon” caught your attention. To read it, press T (TYPE), followed by the post number (in this case T → 3) This will put you on Reading Mode at the first message from the thread. You could also start reading the thread from a specific message; simply enter T → 3.2 if you want to start reading the thread #3 from the second reply.

TACKER:  jess (Jessica G. Doe)
SUBJECT: Meetup at EuroBSDcon
DATE:    02-May-12 21:44:05
HOST:    odin

Anybody wanting to organize a meetup @EuroBSDcon?

<SDF.3.0>(3)[ <ENTER> to follow thread, (R)EPLY or (Q)UIT ] 

To post a new thread on the bboard you are currently in, press P (POST) and enter a subject. To publicly reply to a post, press R (REPLY). If you are in Reading Mode, you will reply to the thread you are currently in. If you are in Posts Listing, you will be asked for the post number you want to reply. Either way you will end up in the pico editor ¹⁾. Write down your reply and press CTRL-x to finish your post.

<SDFEU.1> Command: POST

Subject: Timezone?

You have written:
-----------------------------------------------------------
In which timezone(s) SDF-EU servers are?

This BULLETIN contains 40 characters in 6 words of 2 lines.
-----------------------------------------------------------
POST your BULLETIN? (y/n)
% Rebuilding symbol table for BBOARD:<SDFEU>  [QUEUED]
Would you like to add a READERS POLL? (y/n)

<SDFEU.1> Command: REPLY (A NUMBER) 3

REPLY to "Meetup at EuroBSDcon" ? (y/n)

You have replied:
-----------------------------------------------------------
I would love to!

This BULLETIN contains 16 characters in 4 words of 2 lines.
-----------------------------------------------------------
POST your REPLY? (y/n)

Now that you are confortable with the bboard, try exploring additional features:

• Post (P), reply (R) and depost (D) a message (use the <TEST> board for that).
• Review current voting polls (V) or propose your own.
• Explore the archives (A) and acquire ancient wisdom.
• See how many people are reading the bboard (W) and get amazed by their idle times.
• Read the the intro (?) and the list of commands (H).
• Check the man page (type man bboard at your shell) for a complete reference of settings at startup.