------------------------------------------------------------------- Supplemental Help Topic: TALKERS (written for TalkerOS) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Talkers, in general, are programs that allow users on the Internet to interact and talk with each other. Many people call places such as this "chats," but that is a general term. Most talkers run on a port--a specific connection at a server. You connect to these ports through telnet. Telnet is a part of the Internet and usually requires some type of client to connect. Clients (some complicated and advanced while others are very simple) can be downloaded FREE from http://www.shareware.com When someone connects to a talker, they enter their username and a password of their choice, which then logs them into the talker program. Each user has their own account--usually free, but some talkers charge money for an account. The accounts keep individual statistics on each user. You usually are required to perform an .accreq (account request) where you provide information such as your email address before an account is issued. Sometimes you will be asked to perform some other actions as well as .accreq. At this time, please take notice that this file is written for users of NUTS-Based talkers. NUTS talkers operate *mostly* the same way and the original code was created by Neil Robertson. There are many other types of talkers. Talkers usually consist of many rooms. You can move around in NUTS by using the ~FG.go~RS command followed by the room's name. Rooms allow users to separate themselves to have a private conversation, for example. Rooms usually have seperate themes or settings, to provide users with a choice of "virtual surroundings." Talkers are also level-based. That means each user at a talker that has an account also has a level. Levels control what commands you have and what special things you can do. Some levels give users limited control over other users. These levels are called superuser levels, administration levels, or wiz (short for wizard) levels. You will start out as a very low level when you first join a talker, and will move up over time, depending on the requirements. To perform actions on a talker, you will use commands. Commands allow you to look up information (.status and .examine), perform an action (.think and .emote), and set statistics on yourself (.desc and .profile). You can get a list of commands by typing ~FG.help commands~RS on NUTS-based talkers, or ~FG.commands~RS on TalkerOS-based talkers. If you have any other questions about the basics of a talker, feel free to ask an admin (aka wizard) that's currently logged in. If one isn't available, try asking anyone else. Most people on talkers are very friendly, and even more-so when you get to know them.