= ELIST (2:467/888) =========================================================== Msg : 2875 of 2926 From : Vincent Coen 2:250/1 01 Jul 22 00:30:30 To : All Subj : Elist help =============================================================================== Quick Help for Moderators EList v5.3 - The Elist program Copyright (c) 2019 - 2022 by Vincent Coen. Note: The information in this guide was taken from A Moderator's Guide to ECHOBASE (c) Dana Bell, with changes by Ben Ritchey and then customized by Vincent Coen. This file may be designated as the file to be sent in response to fatal errors and requests for HELP. EList v5 is a database program that maintains a database of echomail conference information. This particular program was written to meet the need to maintain and distribute echomail conference lists within Fidonet and with other networks. The Fidonet Echolist published by this program include ELIST.NA a short, areafix uplink file format distributed monthly, ELIST.RPT, a longer descriptive file distributed on a monthly basis and ELIST.NO a short list of newly deleted echo's on a monthly basis. The last file ELIST.NO is now produced, as Ben did not produce it, may be it has out lived it's usefulness how ever. it will be a rolling list in that it will only contain deleted Echos with any renewed one's at any later date being removed. From v5.3 this listing will be discontinued as instaad of deleting echos they will remain on the system but transferred to the BACKBONE system. This makes the .NO file redundant. Moderators may add or update entries to the list by writing to ELIST or via Netmail, when these options are available as announced in ELIST. Currently such Additions, Updates or Deletions to the Echomail database must be sent as files as ECHOtag.RUL for any rules file and as ECHOtag.ECO as MOD-ADD, MOD-UPD or as MOD-DEL requests and these subjects must also be placed after the keyword SUBJect. Once Elist can process Netmail msgs they will be converted to a individual ECHOtag.ECO file and processed the same way without any more changes to the program. It is hoped that the same will apply to Emails The program will read these files and update the EList database, then post a reply to the ELIST conference and via Netmail. (Note: the Reply-to keyword overrides the FROM address if present) otherwise the FROM is always used. I must admit the REPLY-TO keyword is a bit redundant with the usage of FROM so might kill that off at some point. Address netmail messages To: ECHOLIST, (2:25/21) Subj: MOD-ADD or MOD-UPD or MOD-DEL It is hoped that Updates via Email will be also available some time in the future via elistmaint@gmail.com and this facility will be announced in the ELIST echo area once available along with any update to the email address used as well as usage of netmail to directly deliver such messages instead of using files. This email address is not being monitored at this time. NOTE that only dropping off the files tag.ECO and tag.RUL to 2:25/21 is supported for the moment. For the moment delivery of MOD-ADD, MOD-UPD and MOD-DEL messages MUST come as files only, along with any rules file with the following file names : For MOD-ADD, UPD and DEL as echotag.ECO For rules files as echotag.RUL Where echotag is the Echo area tag that is up to 36 characters in length. Note that for MOD requests you can also add the subject to the end of the extension i.e., MBSE.ECOMOD-ADD or MBSE.ECOMOD-UPD [ Note that there is NO space between MOO and UPD or ADD only a hyphen. ] Use the following keywords to set the fields of your echo list submission and note that only the upper case characters are significant e.g., only SUBJ is needed for SUBJect. All keywords shown starting with * are mandatory - they MUST be provided. For keywords FROM, MOD, COMODn and REPLY the following is the format for your contact address where text with {} are optional extras and as needed: Contact Address: A1 A2 A3 Sub field class name as used below. , [, ] Note the separating commas. A1 name = first last names i.e., Fred Bloggs - Compulsory [ note the space between name elements ] A2 node = zone:net/node {@domain} i.e., 2:345/678 - Compulsory. A3 email = name@emailaddress i.e., fbloggs@gmail.com You can use '{at}' or '=at=' in place of the at sign [@] and this will be the one used in ELIST reporting once email support is operational. You may omit the elements between [] but name is needed to respond to an update in the ELIST echo so that a problem or not, can be addressed to the specific poster along with the netmail address for sending a direct message as well. If omitted a posting could be addressed to SYSOP, UNKnown, 'No Idea' and other variations depending on where in the elist program the posting report is issued (helps in debugging). None of which, aids the moderator doing a search on their name to check the latest postings. KEYWORDS in use (where characters in UPPER CASE are relevant) in form of : KEYWord {one or more spaces} Sub keyword or other text Keyword Sub keywords or other text ------- -------------------------- *SUBJect MOD-UPD or MOD-ADD or MOD-DEL *FROM Details of the sender of message where any replies regarding errors or confirmation of status of submission is made to. x36. +*TITLe x72. +*DESCription 15 lines where the text is a maximum of 75 characters (not including the keyword 'DESC'). Do not provide any usage rules see RULETEXT. As of elist v5.3 a description file can be submitted in the same manner as a .RUL file, in that a file containing the contents of the DESC keyword but without the keyword can be supplied where the file name is in the format of : AAA.BBB.DES Where AAA = from GROUP keyword, BBB = EchoTag name Followed by '.DES' { but without the '. } This file only needs to be submitted for a MOD-UPD if there is any changes from the one cuurently in use. RULEs x36 { NOTE SIZE CHANGE Can also be DELETE | NONE | spaces DELETE will remove any existing rule file and then be treated as if NONE was supplied. NONE There are no rules for this echo. Can be omitted, also see RULETEXT. If both RULES and RULETEXT omitted then there are no rules. If both are supplied, the content from RULETEXT overrides. NOTE that the above symbol '|' means or, i.e., a choice. +*MODerator Contact Address. This keyword MUST be submitted before any COMODn keywords. COMODn Where n = 1, 2, 3 or 4. This keyword allows the moderator to control precisely where each Co-Moderator sits in the list of four. Next word can be DELETE which will clear all contact information for that Co-Moderator. *PASSword , x36, x36. [Note the required space after the comma (',') if new password is used.] VOLume nnnnn per month. Use a realistic number. Anything after the number is ignored as per month is automatically assumed. RESTrictions (only first four letters are needed) and / or text> x72. You can have one, two or all three of these predefined values and you can add additional text at the end an example is : /SYS Region 1234 write access only. ORIGin x36. More used in the days where almost all posts originated from one netmail address. DISTribution Any text describing x72. GATEway Any text describing x72. *GROUP {, Language Character set } X16 One or more character sets used for a specific language other than English. If more than one specified separated by a comma. This is to offer extra support when the language used needs special char sets to support it such as for accents etc. Use sets for both Windows, Linux & other *nix based systems. Also see keyword LANG. E.g., UTF-8. UTF32, UTFabc, CP987, CP1094 etc. RULETEXT MUST be the LAST Keyword that finishes with the end line '---' or '-+-' x75 wide but NO line limits - as many as you need. This will generate a file as TAGname.RUL. It will be treated exactly the same as a .RUL file and will in fact create one, replacing any existing rules file. any and all lines consisting of spaces will be included. Note you can submit a .RUL file at any time whenever there is a change of text. There is no nead to also supply a MOD-UPD. HELP The latest version of this file ! * Means these are compulsory - they must always be supplied. + Compulsory as for * but, NOT when modifying an echo (MOD-UPD), i.e., not required. xnn is the maximum size in characters of the field after the keyword. New Changes to modes of operation: ================================= # In the first character position of a line that is NOT in a RULETEXT block. The line will be ignored Spaces When not in a RULETEXT block will also be ignored and is in the first position. A minimum example ADD file might have this : SUBJ MOD-ADD TAG ECHOES GROUP FIDO FROM Joe Sysop, 1:234/56 PASS password LANG ENGLISH TITL FIDONet echoes discussion MOD Joe Sysop, 1:234/56 DESC Discussions about echoes DESC and moderators. --- Which will create a new echo entry for ECHOES for the FIDO network using the English language created and moderated by Joe Sysop. A minimum example UPD file with no changes is : SUBJ MOD-UPD TAG echo-name GROUP FIDO FROM Joe Sysop, 1:234/45 PASS password --- Likewise for a DEL file just replace SUBJ with MOD-DEL for the above example. This is actioned during the next expiry warning run The keywords are truncated prior to checking, so matching will only be done for the capitalised portion of the keyword. Keywords may be capitalized or lower case. The following three entries will have the same effect. TAG BOARD_GAMES Tagname BOARD_GAMES tag BOARD_GAMES However the capitalised text in the keyword descriptions above show the elements of a keyword that MUST be supplied regardless of the case supplied in the submission. Optionally end the message with --- or -+- (three-dashes or dash, Plus symbol, dash) indicating the end of the message file. This should be supplied if using keyword RULETEXT otherwise is not needed. With the exception of the DESCription field, only one entry is allowed per field. If multiple entries are included in the text, processing will continue but only the last one will be saved. If you don't have an entry for a field, there is no need to include the keyword (specifying JUST the keyword will erase/blank any existing value(s) for keywords REPLY, REST. DIST, ORIG, GATE. COMODn must use DELETE to remove any existing details for that co-mod. Only the GROUP. ECHOtag, SUBJect, FROM and PASSword are necessary for updating. Update submissions to the Echolist that don't require any changes may be done by including the above mentioned keywords. Full details already in the database will remain the same. New echos, will again require the above mentioned keywords at a minimum. In order to delete an area from the list, you must use the subject MOD-DEL. When submitting an entry with the DESC field, be sure to begin each line with DESC and end it as with any other keywords with a hard carriage return. Note that there can only be one line with a RULES keyword. For multi line rules use the keyword RULETEXT see below. (Some editors may word wrap all messages and strip carriage returns when saving. Some of these editors, however, may allow you to force carriage returns by indenting.) Avoid any that use the TAB as it is not honoured and any will be replaced by space. Using RULEs DELETE will clear content of rules AND delete any existing .RUL file. NOTE: blank lines after DESC keyword will RESET everything to null, as with all text based keywords. For RULETEXT, every line is included as is. You can insert the content of your Mod Rul text file (just the body of text) on the next and following lines right AFTER the RULETEXT keyword at the END of a MOD UPD submission (naturally for the same Tag name). The content of RULETEXT will create a .RUL with the same Echo tag name (as upper case) followed by the extension .RUL, again in upper case. The following is a List of possible error or warning messages ------------------------------------------------------------- These can appear as a response to a MOD-ADD, MOD-UPD or MOD-DEL submission to the system and hopefully do not need explanations. Most messages are preceded by a letter/number combination however a few do not and these are used with other text messages. All error messages result in the submission being rejected. Some warnings may not, but it is recommended to fix the problem and resubmit. Error EL213 is issued if you attempt to Update a echo that does not exist. Error EL214 is issued if you attempt to Add a new echo when it already exists. These are used to protect if a Moderator was using cut and paste when building a new submission from another echo area and made a mistake with the Echo name. ==> WARNing n of n: This Echo is expiring, please Update. Expiration WARNing n. EL201 ==> WARNing: Echo has Expired & will be Deleted very shortly. EL202 Error TAGname not specified. EL203 PASSword not specified. EL204 Error Messenger (From) is missing. EL205 Error PASSword validation failed. EL206 ==> Expiration Warnings have been Reset. EL207 ==> Pending Delete has been Cleared. EL208 Error Too many COMODerators (only 4 allowed). EL209 ==> Echo has been Flagged for Deletion. EL210 ==> Rules file { TAG name } { followed by one of these 4 messages ] has been Purged. has been Created. has been Updated. Had error when creating - Deleted. ==> Echo Successfully Updated. EL212 Error Missing Mandatory Keywords (FROM, TITL, MOD or SUBJ). EL213 UPD to non existing area - Rejected. EL214 MOD-ADD to existing area - Rejected. EL215 Error Invalid or missing TITLe. EL216 Error Invalid or missing MODerator. ==> Echo successfully Added. EL218 HELP File Requested: EL219 Error Unknown keyword found: EL220 Warning Too many Description lines, Max 15 lines truncated. EL221 TAG {Tag name ] Has been deleted . migrated to backbone EL224 Error missing SUBJect. EL225 Invalid (Co)MODerator given in FROM, Echolist Update. EL228 Error INVALID contact Address in: EL229 Warning Invalid address changed to MODs Name EL230 Errors found in MOD submission, see messages: EL231 Ruletext rejected due to other reported errors EL232 Unknown Echo Group EL233 Error GROUP not specified. EL234 Error Invalid SUBJect EL235 Contact name Invalid These are warnings only but the process has still completed. They are usually preceded by the Echo tag name. I hope the above information will answer any questions you might have but if not, ask in the ELIST or ECHOLIST echos and will if needed update this file. + -------------------------------- + For latest changes also see the document README-Elist where more information may be present to extend these details. Address any questions to the ELIST controller Vincent Coen at 2:250/1, by choice at the Echolist echo itself, [ELIST] or via Email to vbcoen@gmail.com for a faster response. -=:{ End of EListHlp.Txt }:=- This document last updated : 2020/03/24 Vincent Coen, 2:250/1 or vbcoen@gmail.com Updated content for readability, helpfully. 2020/04/12 Tidy up explanations on keywords. 2020/04/19 Spelling errors mostly on the original. 2020/05/08 Updated version of Elist to current. 2021/06/16 Added missing keyword CHARSet and removed changed keywords as in main text body. 2021/09/10 Changed compulsory keywords with modifier + for keywrds not needed with MOD-UPD. Included list of warning and error messages. 2021/11/01 Added comment regarding some warming/error messages are with/without preceding letters/numbers. 2022/01/27 Aded extra space between keyword and rest of text matching 5.2.035. 2022/02/16 v5.3 - Removed keyword REPLY-TO and reduced size of RULEs text to 36 and included note about a .DES {description text file}. 2022-05-05 Removed a reference to sending mail to 250/1. --- MBSE BBS v1.0.8 (Linux-x86_64) * Origin: The Elist Maintainer (2:250/1)