Party motd's and faq's

Apr 23 17:05 UTC 1995

This item is to help design the text of the party "message of the day"
("motd") files and the party list of frequently asked questions.  It's
also the right place to discuss whether or not we want to *have* a party
motd, etc.  (The consensus in a discussion in the old co-op conference
was that yes, we do want to have a party motd.  But there was no way to
reach frequent partiers to ask what they thought.  [That's why we need
a party motd, in my opinion!]  I'm expecting that once the party motds are
in place, a number of regular partiers will have opinions to voice about
whether or not we want to continue to have party motds.)

To see the list of party Frequently Asked Questions, type "!party-faq".

Here's the current text of the party motd files.

The file that is shown *every time* anybody runs party is blank.
I can't think of anything world-shaking enough that people need to
see it *every time* they run party.


The file that is shown to each person *once*, each time it changes
has the following text in it:

------------
This is the party news file.
You will see it once each time the info in the file changes.

* To see a list of frequently asked questions about party, join party
  and type "!party-faq" 

* Looking for a certain noise that other people use?  Take an unusual word
  from the noise, for example "water", and type "!findnoise water" to see
  all noises that have the word "water" in them.

* There's a new series of muppet noises.  Check out /gonzo!
  Send e-mail to popcorn to suggest additional muppet party noises....

You might be interested to check out the following co-op discussions:
   Item 12: Do people want an /emote noise in party?
   Item 35: What should staff do about complaints about users?
   Item 36: Discussion of these party startup messages.
       (Item 36 is the place to tell people that you're annoyed to have to
        read this message.)
-------------




The message that is shown once, to new users the first time they run
party, is this:

-------------
This is the party message that is displayed to welcome new users.
You will see this message only once.

You are now entering Grex's party program.  Party is a chat program where
several people can talk to one another at the same time.  You'll find
different people (or sometimes nobody, or sometimes a LOT of people)
hanging out in party at different times.  If you find a dull crowd in party
please do check back again.  In an hour, you'll probably find a completely
different bunch of people here.

Grex (this computer system you are logged into) was created as a
conferencing system.  Party is a sideline.  It's a very *popular* sideline,
but a sideline.  To see the conferences (Grex's main reason for being),
type "bbs" at a shell prompt, or choose "Conferences" from a menu.

To talk, press the spacebar.  That will bring up a ">" prompt.  Type a
sentence and press Enter.  The sentence you type will show up on
everybody's screen.

Sometimes people make "party noises".  For example, if your name is nephi
you can say  <nephi hugs suzie>  by typing   /hug suzie.
To see the list of all noises, type  /  and press enter.  And stand back:
the list is several hundred lines long.
If you want to add a new noise to the list, e-mail the noise to popcorn.

The things you say in party stick around for about two weeks.  Other people
who weren't in party at the time can look back later and see what was said.

Type   !party-faq   to see a list of frequently asked questions about party.
-------------


(I'm planning to go back and edit the files a bit to smooth out some of the
rough spots, but this gives you a general idea of what's in them.)

response 2 of 51:

Apr 24 00:14 UTC 1995

A couple of technical points.  I'd make an effort to get all messages
down to less that 24 lines, so they'll fit on a standard-size screen
without scrolling off.  Also -- and maybe you're already planning on
this -- After the message is displayed, make the user hit a key (e.g.
<return>) before they get dumped into party, so that the message
doesn't immediately scroll off the screen if the party action is
fast and furious.

response 4 of 51:

Apr 24 14:08 UTC 1995

(Btw - thanks!)

response 6 of 51:

Apr 25 00:28 UTC 1995

        I dislike the wording regarding party being "only a sideline", and the
conferences being the REAL grex. DO you have any idea how many partiers
NEVER reach the conferences, many not due to ignorance of the conf's
existance, but because they DON'T WANT TO. Telling them that they aren't using
the real grex is like calling them only half-grexxers.. inferior citezens,
because they don't want to Conference..
        Knock that part out, and you'd be closer to 24 lines, too..

response 8 of 51:

Apr 25 10:26 UTC 1995

(Party is a real-time conference.)

response 10 of 51:

Apr 25 19:23 UTC 1995

Its the playground - every community has one. And in all communities
lot of persons use only the playground. Others use resources like
the libraries, or museums, or educational resources, or community
centers, etc. Some people use both. But the major resources, and the
identity of the community, are not associated with the playgrounds.

response 12 of 51:

Apr 25 21:20 UTC 1995

Well, some serious discussions do take place in party, even though
that's not the predominant activity.  And some conferences are
playgrounds.  Should we put a message in each "playground" conference
telling people that the conference is not the primary purpose of
Grex?

response 14 of 51:

Apr 26 01:44 UTC 1995

It's probably a good thing that folks who are here mostly to
enjoy party (and who pay membership dues to support this being
available) aren't reading this discussion to see how they're
really not considered an important part of Grex.

99% of what Grex offers is recreation on one level or another.
Most of what's in the conferences is fluff, pure and simple.
So let's not get too smug and self-righteous about the 
differences between Grex conferencing and party.

response 16 of 51:

Apr 26 02:35 UTC 1995

   Hmmm.  I don't think anyone is sounding righteous about
conferencing.

   The fact remains that Grex was started as a conferencing
system however, and now the majority of active people here
are not users of conferences at all.  Many have never even
heard of the conferences here, and have been extremely
surprised to find out that Grex has anything beyond party
and email.

   I know, because people write me all the time; its gotten to
the point that when I've been root lately, I've had to turn
my write perms off so I could do rootly things.  I don't mind
getting questions from people, although I'm a little confused
about the number I get, since I've never turned on write help
perms.  Anyway, it keeps me in touch with whats going on here.


   One of the things I've noticed, which isn't surprising is
that most people getting here don't know a whole lot about
computers.  Thats cool--people are finally to the point they're
using computers without having to be nerds. ;-)  But, when I've
asked people about Grex, and why they're here, something interesting
has emerged.  I'd say at least half the people I've helped have
said that they're here for party, recomended by friends.  The
people I've asked about the conferences have usually not known
what they were.

   Now, I grant you that this is completely unscientific, my
totally informal census.  But I think it is still somewhat
valid; I'd be interested in hearing if others have gotten these
impressions too.

   This gets back to the question of "what is Grex?".

response 18 of 51:

Apr 26 07:35 UTC 1995

Ah,so then we all agree that those who are here to party are
not second class citizens and that their style of using Grex
is at least not unimportant, although how important has not yet
been decided. ;-)

That's all I was hoping to hear, clearly expressed.

response 20 of 51:

Apr 26 12:12 UTC 1995

Per Mary's suggestion, I've put a notice in the MOTD about this item.

Although it may be true that a lot of people who use party don't even
know about Picospan, there's more being entered in the conferences
than I can begin to keep up with, so one can't exactly say that the
conferences are languishing.

response 22 of 51:

Apr 26 19:24 UTC 1995

I think both facets of Grex are 'important'. The main reasoning behind my
opinion is that each user is important. Each user is also different, and will
get different things from the system. I know I mainly use the E-mail system,
secondly the conferencing, thirdly the chat feature and fourth, the party
feature. I don't think that anyone should be thought of as 'inferior' simply
because they get different things out of Grex than I do.
   However, I understand the original point that was made...Grex was 'created'
to be a conferencing system. Party was added later. I don't think anyone was
trying to imply that those who sign on for party are inferior, I simply think
it was a statement. Not a slam, not flame-bait...A statement.
*shrug*

response 24 of 51:

Apr 26 20:02 UTC 1995

Conferencing systems come with lots of features, conferences, party, chat,
file access, etc.  To attempt to prioritize how we value the different
"services" based on the the root of the term "conferencing system" is
something of a stretch.  If push came to shove and we could only support a
few of the usual offerings then we would indeed have to find out what the
users wanted - all users. 

But just maybe, instead of being concerned about how so many are
focused on party, and wouldn't it be nice if they spend more time
in the conferences?, I'd maybe put some thought into how the
conferences are going, and enriching that environment.