> Jason Spencer wrote:
> > There are certain central and less-than-central topics that
> > are repeatedly
> > brought up on this list. Perhaps we should compose a list of
> > these topics
> > and put it on the web, linked in to the list registration page. The
> > intention would not be to discourage discussion of these
> > topics on the list
> > but to let people know that these topics should be approached
> > thoughtfully
> > and probably with essay-length submissions..
> >
> > If any of the long-time readers think that this would be
> > useful, I'm sure
> > you could rattle off a list of such topics better than I..
>
> Now this is an idea I could see implementing. All it requires is a
> little space on the ExI Web server, a little HTML work, and some
> writing - no programming, no ongoing maintenance, and no dollar
> costs at all. I'm sure we could get volunteers to generate a list
> of "important, contentious issues", and to write a summary of each
> side's position on them.
>
> Does ExI have the extra server space for such a project (I'd think
> <1 MB)? And does anyone at ExI have time to coordinate such a
> project?
>
> Billy Brown, MCSE+I
> bbrown@conemsco.com
Brent Allsop
Having a valid e-mail address with a submitted supporter is important for the "team" to be able to work together and is therefore required. When you submit support there is no formal check to verify that the e-mail address you submit is valid. If anyone discovers that the e-mail address of a supporter is not valid an administrator should be notified and the offending entry should be removed from the database.
Obviously anyone can cause great problems and mess up this process. If your going to participate please make an attempt to be a good citizen and work to improve the FAQ. If you have any suggestions as to how to improve this process, or notice what you think is a defect in the server, I'd love to hear about it. (And feel free to send any great FAQ maintainers $35 if you greatly benefit from their efforts! ;) ;) ;) Don't you think they deserve it? I "vote" for professional FAQ maintainers. ;)
Good luck and happy converting!
This file contains a description of how to use the interactive FAQ server (intfaqserv program). It contains a description of the textual commands that can be e-mailed to an operating intfaqserv program. It has 3 sections:
1 Typical major commands indicating required sub commands:
2 Some prose about interactive FAQ server philosophy:
3 Alphabetical listing of commands with descriptions:
The first section contains a few template like examples of common commands. Pick out the command you want from the list of 4 things below and see this section for a template of the required sub commands. If your going to submit a question, a response, or support for a response please read section 2 first. Section 3 is primarily for a reference of all commands. Here is a list of the primary things you can do with the associated major command:
Get a current report: 'Report:' Submit a question: 'Submit-question:' * Submit a response: 'Submit-response:' * "vote" for a response: 'Submit-support:' * * There are several required sub commands for these commands.In order to submit a FAQ you must at the same time submit a response and have the associated initial supporter of that response; And similarly In order to submit a response you must have an initial supporter. See below for more detail about required sub commands and example templates for major commands. Don't forget the ':' at the end of each command.
Typical major commands indicating required sub commands:
This 'Help:' command has no subcommands and simply responds by returning this help file.
This 'Report:' command is the standard way to get the FAQ in it's standard current form. This default version doesn't include any unsupported questions, responses, or traitors.
FAQ: all Response: all Names: all Reply-to: allsop@hpfcla.fc.hp.com This version of the 'Report:' command will give you all theinformation contained in the FAQ database. The optional 'Reply-to:' command indicates that the response should be sent to allsop@hpfcla.fc.hp.com and not the return value specified in the e-mail header. The 'Reply-to:' command may be included in any e-mail command. Some e-mail sending programs may use an e-mail header format for which the intfaqserv program can not find a return e-mail address. In this case a 'Reply-to:' command is required.
dbVersion: 1 <- required! Question-number: 2 <- required! Response-number: 1 <- required! Supporter: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required! This 'Submit-support:' command has all the requiredsubcommands and will submit (Brent Allsop) with an e-mail address of <allsop@fc.hp.com> to response #1 of FAQ #2. If (Brent Allsop) or someone with that name is supporting another response to this question they will be moved to the traitor list for that response. This is why having a unique name is important. If you are submitting anything be sure you have a unique name. (see 'Name-change:' command about how to do this.) Remember that this FAQ server is not sensitive to case. Remember to put ()s around names and <>s around addresses.
dbVersion: 1 <- required! Question-number: 2 <- required! Response-number: 1 <- required! Supporter: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required! This 'Remove-support:' command has all the requiredsubcommands and will remove (Brent Allsop) from the supporter list of response #1 of FAQ #2 and add him to the traitor list of the response.
Supporter: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required!
Question-text: <- required! Is a dbVersion required to submit a question? End-text Question-author: (Malia Allsop) <m_allsop@fc.hp.com> Response-text: <- required! I don't know. End-text Response-author: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> This 'Submit-question:' command submits the question: "Is adbVersion required to submit a question?" with the response: "I don't know.". It is pointless to have a question without a response so an initial answer is required (along with a supporter) to be submitted with a question. If the optional Author commands are not given the values are taken from the required 'Supporter:' sub command. An "Empty" author command with no values may be given if author anonymity is desired. ('End-text' cannot have any space before it and is only this way here for ease of reading.)
dbVersion: 1 <- required! Supporter: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required! Question-number: 2 <- required! Response-text: <- required! No. A dbVersion is not required. to submit a question. end-text Response-author: This 'Submit-response:' command submits the response: "No. AdbVersion is not required." to FAQ #2. An initial supporter value is required. The "empty" 'Response-author:' command results in a nill or anonymous author value. If an author command is left off completely the values for the required 'Supporter:' sub command are used. ('End-text' cannot have any space before it and is only this way here for ease of reading.)
Old-name: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required New-name: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@hpfcla.fc.hp.com> <- required This 'Change-name:' command is for changing the name and/oraddress of an entry. If the 'Old-name:' values match identically, not counting case differences, the old values are replaced with the New-name: values in the database. The subcommands used to control the 'Report:' command may also be used here. However, the default value for the Change-name: command is to change all matching names not just values in supported entries like the default 'Report:' command. A report of each replacement and a total number of replacements is returned.
Old-name: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required New-name: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@hpfcla.fc.hp.com> <- required FAQ: 2 Response: 3 Names: supported This version of 'Change-name:' will only change the author ofFAQ #2 and Response #3 and any supporters of this response with a matching name and address.
Old-name: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required New-name: (Brent Allsop) <allsop@fc.hp.com> <- required The 'Change-name:' command with identical 'Old-name:' and'New-name:' values returns a report of every existence of the name and address. Remember this server does not distinguish between case of letters. If you are submitting for the first time you must use this command first to be sure your name is unique. Once you pick a name that isn't already used always use that name.
Alphabetical listing of commands with description:
This command is used to change author and supporter name and address values. If the values in the 'Old-name:' match identically (other than case differences) the 'New-name:' values will replace them. This command can also be used to check for a unique name and address combination by having the 'Old-name:' and 'New-name:' values identical. The number of name changes along with which name changes is returned in a report. "+Report control" commands can be used in a similar fashion to the 'Report:' command to specify particular names to change. The default value, however, is everything including unsupported and traitor entries unlike the 'Report:' command which defaults to only includes supported entries and supporters. In other words if no "+Report control" commands are given all identical matches with 'Old-name:' values are changed to 'New-name:' values. dbVersion: Every time the FAQ database is sorted a new dbVersion number is stored with the Database. Major commands which reference specific FAQs and/or Responses must include this command and the number must match the value stored in the current database. The command will fail otherwise. Each report produced by the 'Report:' command indicates the dbVersion value when the report was generated. This is a global command so only one dbVersion is required per e-mail submittal. So this is more like a *major command and, unlike other 'sub commands', may appear before other *major commands. +FAQ: <support indicator> There can be more than one of these per 'Report:' command. See <support indicator> specifications below. *Help: This command will return a copy of this file. Names: <support indicator> The <support indicator> indicates which lists of names (supporters, traitors, none[0] or all) to include in the report. A single number <support indicator> is not valid here. See <support indicator> specifications below. New-name: (name) <e-mail address> This is a 'Change-name:' sub command. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. See 'Change-name:' for more info. Old-name: (name) <e-mail address> This is a 'Change-name:' sub command. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. See 'Change-name:' for more info. Question-author: (name) <e-mail address> This command indicates the author of the question being submitted. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. This command is optional and if not included the 'Supporter:' values will be used. If anonymity is desired the command may be included with no values. See 'Supporter:' for more details. Question-number: # This command indicates which FAQ the major command will apply to. Question-text: Everything following this command until a 'End-text' at the beginning of a line is taken as the question text. Each line must be less than 80 characters in length and there can't be an 'End-text' string at the beginning of any line in the actual text since such will be the end of the command. *Remove-support: If you are not a supporter of the specified response to a FAQ the command will fail. If the 'Supporter:' is a supporter of the specified response then the name and address will be moved to the traitor list of the response. 'dbVersion:', 'Question-number:', 'Response-number:', and 'Supporter:' are all required sub commands. Reply-to: <e-mail address> This 'Reply-to:' command specifies which e-mail address the response should be sent to. If not given the "Reply-to:", "From:", or "from" value in the e-mail header are used in this order. Some e-mail sending programs may use an e-mail header format for which the intfaqserv program can not get a proper return e-mail address. In this case a 'Reply-to:' command would be required. This command can be included with any command. *Report: This command returns a FAQ report. With no "report control" commands (indicated with +) a default report will be generated including supported questions, responses, and the associated supporters. "Report control" commands (see below) are required to get unsupported answers, responses, and traitor information. +Response: <support indicator> This command can be repeated more than once for each 'FAQ:' command. See <support indicator> specifications below. Response-author: (name) <e-mail address> This command indicates the author of the response being submitted. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. This command is optional and if not included the 'Supporter:' values will be used. If anonymity is desired the command may be included with no values. See 'Supporter:' for more details. Response-number: # This command indicates which Answer the major command will apply to. Response-text: Everything following this command until a 'End-text' at the beginning of a line is taken as the response text. Each line must be less than 80 characters in length and there can't be an 'End-text' string at the beginning of any line. *Submit-question: This command submits a FAQ, a response, and the associated 'Supporter:' of the response. 'Supporter:', 'Question-text:', and 'Response-text:' are required sub commands. 'Question-author:', and 'Response-author:' are optional commands. *Submit-response: This command submits a response to a FAQ with the associated supporter. 'dbVersion:', 'Supporter:', 'Question-number:' and Response-text are required sub commands. 'Response-author:' is an optional sub command. *Submit-support: This command adds the 'Supporter:' name and address to the supporter list of the 'Response-number:' response of the 'Question-number:' FAQ. 'dbVersion:', 'Question-number:', 'Response-number:' and 'Supporter:' are required sub commands. Supporter: (name) <e-mail address> This command specifies the supporters name (everything within the '()'s and e-mail address (everything within the '<>'s for the associated major command. Remember to use consistent values here that don't conflict with other peoples names. A good way to check if your name is unique is to submit a 'Change-name:' command with identical 'Old-name:' and 'New-name:' values. To: Same as 'Reply-to:'. Traitor: (name) <e-mail address> Similar to 'Supporter:'. * This indicates a major command. Most other other commands must appear in the context of (or after) a major command. + This indicates a "report control" sub command and must appear after a 'Report:' command or a 'Change-name:' command. The "report control" commands are: 'FAQ:', 'Response:', and 'Names:'. They use <support indicator> values to control which entries are visited for reporting or name changing. <support indicator> values: All: Both supported and unsupported (traitor) entries. Supported: Only supported entries.
Unsupported: Only un supported (traitor) entries.
<positive #> Indicates single question or response. Not valid as a value for the 'Names:' command. 0 Neither supported nor unsupported (traitor) entries.
+Report control commands BNF:
[ Report: | Change-name: [ FAQ: [ All | Supported | Unsupported | 0 | <positive #> ] [ Response: [ All | Supported | Unsupported | 0 | <positive #> ] [ Names: [ All | Supported | Unsupported | 0] ] ]* ]* ]* ============================================================================ Alphabetical listing of commands with description: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Change-name: This command is used to change author and supporter name and address values. If the values in the 'Old-name:' match identically (other than case differences) the 'New-name:' values will replace them. This command can also be used to check for a unique name and address combination by having the 'Old-name:' and 'New-name:' values identical. The number of name changes along with which name changes is returned in a report. "+Report control" commands can be used in a similar fashion to the 'Report:' command to specify particular names to change. The default value, however, is everything including unsupported and traitor entries unlike the 'Report:' command which defaults to only includes supported entries and supporters. In other words if no "+Report control" commands are given all identical matches with 'Old-name:' values are changed to 'New-name:' values. dbVersion: Every time the FAQ database is sorted a new dbVersion number is stored with the Database. Major commands which reference specific FAQs and/or Responses must include this command and the number must match the value stored in the current database. The command will fail otherwise. Each report produced by the 'Report:' command indicates the dbVersion value when the report was generated. This is a global command so only one dbVersion is required per e-mail submittal. So this is more like a *major command and, unlike other 'sub commands', may appear before other *major commands. +FAQ: <support indicator> There can be more than one of these per 'Report:' command. See <support indicator> specifications below. *Help: This command will return a copy of this file. Names: <support indicator> The <support indicator> indicates which lists of names (supporters, traitors, none[0] or all) to include in the report. A single number <support indicator> is not valid here. See <support indicator> specifications below. New-name: (name) <e-mail address> This is a 'Change-name:' sub command. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. See 'Change-name:' for more info. Old-name: (name) <e-mail address> This is a 'Change-name:' sub command. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. See 'Change-name:' for more info. Question-author: (name) <e-mail address> This command indicates the author of the question being submitted. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. This command is optional and if not included the 'Supporter:' values will be used. If anonymity is desired the command may be included with no values. See 'Supporter:' for more details. Question-number: # This command indicates which FAQ the major command will apply to. Question-text: Everything following this command until a 'End-text' at the beginning of a line is taken as the question text. Each line must be less than 80 characters in length and there can't be an 'End-text' string at the beginning of any line in the actual text since such will be the end of the command. *Remove-support: If you are not a supporter of the specified response to a FAQ the command will fail. If the 'Supporter:' is a supporter of the specified response then the name and address will be moved to the traitor list of the response. 'dbVersion:', 'Question-number:', 'Response-number:', and 'Supporter:' are all required sub commands. Reply-to: <e-mail address> This 'Reply-to:' command specifies which e-mail address the response should be sent to. If not given the "Reply-to:", "From:", or "from" value in the e-mail header are used in this order. Some e-mail sending programs may use an e-mail header format for which the intfaqserv program can not get a proper return e-mail address. In this case a 'Reply-to:' command would be required. This command can be included with any command. *Report: This command returns a FAQ report. With no "report control" commands (indicated with +) a default report will be generated including supported questions, responses, and the associated supporters. "Report control" commands (see below) are required to get unsupported answers, responses, and traitor information. +Response: <support indicator> This command can be repeated more than once for each 'FAQ:' command. See <support indicator> specifications below. Response-author: (name) <e-mail address> This command indicates the author of the response being submitted. Everything within the '()'s is taken as the name value and everything withing the '<>'s is taken as the e-mail address value. This command is optional and if not included the 'Supporter:' values will be used. If anonymity is desired the command may be included with no values. See 'Supporter:' for more details. Response-number: # This command indicates which Answer the major command will apply to. Response-text: Everything following this command until a 'End-text' at the beginning of a line is taken as the response text. Each line must be less than 80 characters in length and there can't be an 'End-text' string at the beginning of any line. *Submit-question: This command submits a FAQ, a response, and the associated 'Supporter:' of the response. 'Supporter:', 'Question-text:', and 'Response-text:' are required sub commands. 'Question-author:', and 'Response-author:' are optional commands. *Submit-response: This command submits a response to a FAQ with the associated supporter. 'dbVersion:', 'Supporter:', 'Question-number:' and Response-text are required sub commands. 'Response-author:' is an optional sub command. *Submit-support: This command adds the 'Supporter:' name and address to the supporter list of the 'Response-number:' response of the 'Question-number:' FAQ. 'dbVersion:', 'Question-number:', 'Response-number:' and 'Supporter:' are required sub commands. Supporter: (name) <e-mail address> This command specifies the supporters name (everything within the '()'s and e-mail address (everything within the '<>'s for the associated major command. Remember to use consistent values here that don't conflict with other peoples names. A good way to check if your name is unique is to submit a 'Change-name:' command with identical 'Old-name:' and 'New-name:' values. To: Same as 'Reply-to:'. Traitor: (name) <e-mail address> Similar to 'Supporter:'. * This indicates a major command. Most other other commands must appear in the context of (or after) a major command. + This indicates a "report control" sub command and must appear after a 'Report:' command or a 'Change-name:' command. The "report control" commands are: 'FAQ:', 'Response:', and 'Names:'. They use <support indicator> values to control which entries are visited for reporting or name changing. <support indicator> values: All: Both supported and unsupported (traitor) entries. Supported: Only supported entries.
Unsupported: Only un supported (traitor) entries.
<positive #> Indicates single question or response. Not valid as a value for the 'Names:' command. 0 Neither supported nor unsupported (traitor) entries.
+Report control commands BNF:
[ Report: | Change-name: [ FAQ: [ All | Supported | Unsupported | 0 | <positive #> ] [ Response: [ All | Supported | Unsupported | 0 | <positive #> ] [ Names: [ All | Supported | Unsupported | 0] ] ]* ]* ]*