Telegard Tips


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          Setting Up and Configuring Telegard 2.7
             for Novices and Experienced SysOps
                              
                  Updated December 05, 1992 
                       Completed v1.0
                    A version number?  Ha!                              
               Niteline @ The Crossroads BBS
                   A.K.A. John Kristoff
             (312) 587-8756 FidoNet 1:115/743
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Setting up TG for the first time?  Print this out and
read all of it (yes even if you don't understand some)
before installing TG!  It will help tremendously.

What it is

     Have you been thinking of setting up a Telegard BBS?
Maybe you would just like some customization tips?  Well
whatever your experience or intent with Telegard, this
document can most likely help.  Before I get started, let me
just say that I or any other Telegard SysOp, Renegade maybe
<snicker>, should be blamed for anything that could possibly
go wrong with your system.  I'm just trying to help, don't
blame me if your hard drive suddenly decides to take a
permanent vacation.  You can always get Telegard support
from the current Telegard support sites listed at end or by
calling my BBS, The Crossroads, at (312) 587-8756, or contact
me via FidoNet at 1:115/743.  The Crossroads is located in
Chicago, IL for those of you who are curious.  If you have
any comments or suggestions, please write me and I'll
include them this document next time I update it.

    Please note, you may see many "[...]" appearing in this
documentation.  This is because I'm not finished writing
this file and the more I work on it, it seems there is
always something to add.  So just ignore them and slowly
with updates they will disappear.  They are merely to
remind myself of what needs to be added.


Who This is For?

   If you're thinking of setting up a BBS, whether it be a 
Telegard BBS or not, or if you're currently running a Telegard BBS 
and would just like to browse this file for some fresh ideas then 
please read or skim this file, it will be helpful to any and all 
sysops.


Telegard History

    Origins, legality, the people involved with Telegard in my 
opinion are trivial matters.  Telegard may not be the perfect 
software, but it is pretty good considering all the negatives 
involved with it's history.  Many pirate boards have used it 
because it is a cinch to setup.  It can setup and ready to run 
within minutes with very little to do by the sysop.  The fact that 
many pirate/hackers/etc. have taken to Telegard only enhanced it's 
already tarnished reputation.  Many young people are attracted to 
it for those reasons and continue to use it for illegal purposes 
which most of the BBS community is aware.  My guess is that 50% of 
all the Telegard BBSs have a life expectancy of only a few months 
before either getting busted, simply going down from the sysop's 
boredom, switching to another BBS program, expense of keeping up 
with the other pirate boards, or other reasons.  That's not to say 
all Telegard boards are bad, but in my experience most have been.  
That is sad, but true.  Probably half the people who read this 
are probably running a pirate board, will, or have in the past.  
And from what I have seen, their opinions and discussion on 
Telegard from what I've seen in echoes, other BBSs, certain 
persons, other hack-authors, are showing their intelligence and 
ignorance every day, and I ignore it, because in the end, they 
never really matter, they are gone very fast with new losers to 
take their place everyday.


I. Getting Started
   A. Files needed
   B. Recommended files before installation
   C. Print and read the documentation
   D. System requirements
   E. Hard drive
   F. Directory structure
   G. Setting up the computer
   H. Multi-tasker
   I. Front end mailer
II. Installing Telegard
    A. Configuration basics
    B. Modem configuration
III. Preparing For Your First Caller
     A. Protocols
     B. Access levels
     C. Security
     D. Testing
IV. Up and Running
    A. Getting callers
    B. Posting ads
    C. Keeping callers
       1. become active
       2. reward vs. force
       3. suggestions
    D. Nightly events
    E. Other
V. Advanced Telegard
   A. Problem users
      1. duplicate accounts
      2. jerks
      3. hacks & crashers
   B. Secuirty revisited
   C. Files to help you run the BBS
      1. Telegard utilities
      2. DoorMaster
      3. Doorway
      4. Generic Chat
      5. Other
   D. Doors
      1. doors help
      2. Which Doors
      3. Other
   E. File base area
      1. directing traffic
      2. wish list
      3. protocols
         a. HS/Link
         b. Bi-Modem
         c. SZModem
         d. GSZ
         e. Other
         f. Delete unused protocols
      4. free downloads
      5. checking uploads
      6. Other
   F. Message base area
      1. Bluewave
      2. changing a prompt
      3. message help title lines
      4. full screen editor
      5. Other
   G. Additional tips
      1. originality
      2. differentiating
      3. ANSI
      4. Other
   H. Downsides & bugs
   I. Undocumented features
   J. Getting help
   K. Moving forward
VI. Closing


Getting Started

     Before you start installing your Telegard BBS, make
sure you have the following files as a bare minimum to get
the BBS up and running.

Files needed

     TG27.ZIP      - Main Telegard Program files
     TGBBSDOC.ZIP  - Telegard 2.5i documentation^
     BNU170.ZIP    - David Nugent's BNU FOSSIL driver
     DSZ1109.ZIP   - Chuck Forsberg's Zmodem protocol

^ Telegard 2.7 docs have not been completed by Martin
  Pollard at the time of this document's writing.

Recommended files before installation

     TGU_140.ZIP
     TGSEC17.ZIP
     TGPROT6A.ZIP
     TGPROT6B.ZIP

NOTE: The filenames may appear differently on another
      BBS, these are just the filenames I have the files
      and programs as.

The files mentioned above are current as of December 5, 1992.

Print and Read the Documentation

     Before you jump right in, you should (key word) read or
at least skim over the Telegard documentation.  Especially
the parts on installing a new BBS.  I will try to help where
the docs leave off, but if I leave anything out, it can
probably be found in the docs.  The one thing that bothers
experienced SysOps is when a trying sysop (notice small caps
<g>) call and bother us with petty little questions when the
answer can be found by taking a minute or two to read the
documentation.  We are all guilty of this, so this is just a
tip.  If you're having trouble, scan the docs thoroughly
before bothering the local sysop for help.  It will also be
to your benefit if you can learn as much as you can on your
own.  The Main.Doc and Upgrade.Doc should be skimmed before
any installation.  If you have a printer, I highly recommend
printing out the Main.Doc and Upgrade.Doc files before
starting so you'll have a reference handy, you should
probably print this one out as well.

System Requirements

     So you have your 486/66 with a 1.3 gig hard drive ready
to go with the Telegard software installed.  You just
purchased your U.S. Robotics Dual Standard and are ready to
roll.  Oh no, you only have 8 megs of RAM!  Don't worry,
there are still plenty of BBSs that are running off slow
systems.  A BBS that is running off a 386/25 or greater is
still gets a 'wow' from a lot of sysops. So your AT is fine.
You have an XT?  Well that's getting a little slow, but at
least you have a 2400 baud modem right?  Uh oh.

Hard Drive

     By now, you should have realized a hard drive is
necessary for a bbs.  (Well that's not entirely true, but
who runs a bbs from a floppy system now-a-days?)  How much
space is enough?  I can tell you this, too much is never
enough.  Some say a minimum of 40 megs, others 100, I say
get as much as you can.  I would recommend about 80 megs
minimum these days.  If you plan on having files for users
to download, you space will disappear quickly.  I currently
have a 210 meg HD and I need to find some more space to be
able to keep a large collection of files online.

     It is also a good idea to find a program that will
defragment your hard drive.  There are a couple of shareware
programs available, such as DOG316 or ORG30SW.  Norton
Utilities is a good commercial program that also includes
many other useful utilities.  I highly recommend Norton
Utilities.  Norton Utilities also includes other various
programs that can help and computer for any purpose.
Defragmenting your hard drive is a must to keep your
system running as smooth and as fast as possible.

     Other hard drive considerations are your backups,
when, how often, etc.  At first you can get away by backing
your hard drive less frequently, but as you gain more users
and more information, you will want to backup your system in
case of any problems.  This is where a tape backup system is
at it's best.  Also do regular tests with your hard drive
and system.  Again, Norton Utilities or a similiar program
with disk utilities will be a welcome companion.


     I try to run Norton's Disk Doctor, Speed disk and a
a backup to tape program about every week.  This will save
you in case of a real disaster and you'll only lose about
a week's worth of information.  That's still a lot but the
trade off is the cost of going through the backup everyday
which for most is unacceptable, but mostly because we're
lazy.  Don't try to set your clock or date back if these
kind of problems, you'll only be screwing up data files and
probably some of your door programs as well.  SRE is famous
for not welcoming a clock change.

    If your problems are so serious that your board crashes,
then visit some of the other local boards and leave a message
to the sysop saying your board is having problems and leave
a message to it's users in the general base.  This may have
people laugh at you, but at least you can keep in touch with
any of your other users that may visit that particular board
and you can keep them up to date as the re-building phase
takes place.

     Overall, take care of your PC.  If it crashes, you
should have backups to restore lost info.  Ask around your
local boards and see what they recommend.

Directory structure

If you're installing Telegard for you first time with the
help of this document, don't go any further until you have
read this section.  Or if you've just installed it, you
should read this section before allowing anymore users onto
your system.  You may need to re-install your system based
on the recommendations to follow.

       This is a key portion in installing Telegard.

Directory structure for your BBS is very important,
especially where security is concerned.  This might be a
good time to browse through the TGSEC17 file you downloaded
(download it before going any further if you haven't
already).  As you have read or will read in TGSEC17, keeping
your directory structure hidden from your users is
imperative.  If a hacker knows your directory structure he
has a chance at getting into DOS without your permission.
To make a long story short on how this is done, suppose you
have a file called XYZ.ZIP on your BBS for downloading, it
isn't a popular file, so your hacker after knowing your
directory structure uploads a program and tries to get you
to run it.  If you run it, it may do something like copy one
of your BBS data files (user.lst for example, which is bad
because it has passwords in it) over XYZ.ZIP.  Now all the
hacker has to do is download XYZ.ZIP and it is actually your
data file.  How the hacker's program does this isn't
important, but that it can be done, and has been done is
important.  You have been forewarned.  The moral of the
story is to protect the secrecy of your dirctory structure.

     Follow the advice given here and in the TGSEC17 archive
and you will be a heck of a lot better of than most sysops
running TG or otherwise.

     Much like you should have a map handy and planing your
basic route when going on vacation, you should decide on
what the basic directory structure of you BBS is going to
be.  First, decide upon a directory name of your root
directory of your hard drive (I hope you have a hard
drive!).  It's suggested and highly encouraged that you pick
a directory name for you BBS that is not obvious like C:\BBS
or C:\TELEGARD.  It doesn't matter what you call it, but
for security reasons discussed elsewhere, make it something
that a hacker would not guess.  There will be a couple other
directories that will branch off your root directory, but I
will discuss that shortly.

     Some other directories to prepare for are the ones you
need to keep other programs that you will use for the BBS.
You can keep most of your programs, such as utilities in
your main BBS directory but I don't recommend this because
then that directory will become very cluttered, and since
I'm a systems/business person, I like structure.  So create
directories for utilities (i.e. C:\Utility), one for your
protocols (i.e. C:\Protocol), one for you door programs
(i.e. C:\Door), your download/upload files area (i.e.
C:\File), and if you plan on joining a network like FidoNet
you'll have yet another directory structure to think about
for your front-end mailer.

Setting up the computer

     Before actually running the install program, first you
should add some basic configuration commands and utilities
to your computer.  You can find this information in the
Upgrade.Doc as well.

   In your Autoexec.Bat add this line:

     SET DSZLOG=C:\BBS\DSZTEMP.LOG ;path to your bbs        
                                   ;directory or any path you
                                   ;want to keep log files in

        This line writes a log of file transfers using Omen
        Technology's DSZ program.

   In your Config.Sys add:

     DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS

        ANSI.SYS is a device driver that comes with DOS and
        is required to be able to see all the nice color
        graphics in Telegard.  There are replacements for
        DOS's version which are much faster and protect
        against ANSI bombs (bombs are discussed in security).
        A good replacement comes with TGSEC17, you should
        use it if you can.

Don't forget these minimum settings in your CONFIG.SYS file
as well.  FILES tells your computer how many files it can
have open at a time.  Usually BBS programs hold data files
and log files open when the user is online, so higher
settings are usually needed than a default DOS system.  If
you're using a multi-tasker such as DESQview you should set
it even higher.

     FILES=30                      ;minimum
     BUFFERS=40                    ;minimum

In order for Telegard to answer the phone you'll need to
install a FOSSIL driver.  I've suggested you use BNU by
David Nugent, but there are others such as X00 that works
just as well.  You probably won't need to worry about
how the FOSSIL driver works or what it does, but very
basically it handles the communications between your modem
and Telegard.  Telegard in prior versions had it's comm
routines built in and didn't need a FOSSIL driver but for
ease and efficiency, Martin Pollard switched in Telegard
2.7 using an external program to handle those functions.
For a better description of what a FOSSIL driver does,
please refer to the FOSSIL driver's documentation.

For a simple 2400bps Telegard board, you can probably just
load BNU.COM from your autoexec.bat file or anytime before
starting up TG.  For a US Robotics 16.8k here's what I
use with an explanation:

   Bnu.Com /L0:38400 /T:1024 /R:1024 /M- /F+

   /L0:38400    locks the port rate to 38,400
   /T:1024      sets the transmit buffer to 1k
   /R:1024      sets the receive buffer to 1k
   /M-          turns of the display messages
   /F+          enables fast ANSI writes

The transmit and receive buffers may differ a little from
what you want to use.  A lower buffer is good for those
low speed callers so they can abort TG's screens quicker.

Carrier Watcher

    A Fidonet sysop's nightmare is going on vacation on
Friday at 6:00 p.m. and returns on Monday at 5:00 p.m. only
to find that the BBS crashed and was hung since Friday 6:02
p.m.  Almost in the same category as Death and Taxes, crashes
will occur and there isn't much you can do to stop _all_ of
them.  You can eliminate most of them with a well setup and
maintained system, but anything can happen, and will.  One
thing that can help is a utility called a carrier monitor.
It monitors you phone line for activity, rings, or however
it's programmed to work.  Usually most of them are programmed
to reboot after a certain number of rings, usually around 8
for the idea that if your modem doesn't answer by then, it's
because it can't, i.e. crashed.  There are a number of
carrier carrier watches and I will not try to recommend any
of them now.  I've seen WATCHDOG, WATCHKIT, DVGAUARD, ABOOT,
PHONEV4 and so on.  Most of them have proven to have limited
success in my experience.  If you system crashes hard enough,
in that it needs a cold boot, these utilities will not save
you, because they have crashed along with your system.  Having
a roommate, being home a lot or teaching your mom how to turn
your computer on and off is the ultimate protection.

Multi-tasker

     If you want to use Telegard with a multi-tasker such as
Windows or DESQview (which isn't a bad idea if you only have
one computer) then you will have to do a little extra
configuration with your computer's system files and setup.
Basically the Telegard setup doesn't need to be changed, but
the way you start up the computer does.  I tried once to run
Telegard in Windows but didn't have much success with it
(Windows 3.0).  I've switched to DESQview and haven't had
any major problems setting it up or maintaining it.
If anyone has some specific information on settting Telegard
up with Windows or OS/2 please submit to me the information
and I can add it to the next release of this document (if there
is one hopefully).  From what I have still heard, it is still not
worth it to try to run Telegard under either Windows 3.1 and OS/2
v2.0.  Prove me wrong all you 'gonna run the latest everything
gurus'.

4DOS

    I'm currently in the process of _finally_ moving to using
something called 4DOS.COM which is a direct replacement of DOS's
COMMAND.COM that is used as your operating system shell.  4DOS
is a better DOS basically.  I don't need to repeat anything that
you can read in 4DOS's documentation, but overall, it's a must
have for people who use the command and lots of batch files like
us sysops do.  TG even supports the .BTM batch file extension
that 4DOS can use.  Look for it or find out more info from the
4DOS conferences on the networks.

Front end Mailer

     A great way to really get involved in the BBS community
outside of your own computer is to join a network, or
various networks.  This is more of an advanced feature if
you are just starting out, but try to keep it in mind, it
will change your life forever.  If you're already thinking
of joining a net or are a part of one, my setup and help is
at the end of the document (using Frontdoor and a USR 16.8k
modem)  I may be switching to using BinkleyTerm soon and if
that goes well (and I enjoy it) I'll add that info here when
I get it running perfectly.

II. Installing Telegard

So now you've created a totally ridiculous name for your BBS
directory, and are ready to get things up and running.  The
Upgrade.Doc file explains how to install Telegard easy
enough, so there is no reason I should have to repeat it
here.  One thing to keep in mind, is to change the location
of your Download Directory to something like C:\Files or
similiar.  Put it off your root directory is the key.

When you start the install program, first check the path
names (1) and change them to suit your needs.  You probably
shouldn't change any of them except (0) base directory,
(4) system/chat logs..., (7) temporary files, (9) download
directory.  The others may be needed to stay directory off
the main BBS directory with their associated names as many
TG utilities will have to find files in these directores and
not be smart enough to know they aren't the default sub-
directories off the bbs root directory.

Goto the Configure BBS Options (2) and put in your name and
all the personal info, making sure you select the proper COM
port for you modem and highest bps rate you support.  If you
can't do that, you shouldn't be reading this or attempting
to run a BBS yet.

Then when you are absolutely sure you have everything setup
properly and the way you want, go ahead and Start the install
by pressing 3 from the install main menu.  You're off!

Recreating your STATUS.DAT will be explained later, so don't
delete your install.exe file when the install process is done.

Don't worry if you screwed up any of the directories or info
about who you are, your network (if any), BBS name, etc.  You
can change that in TG as you will see later.

     To start up Telegard, you're in the main BBS directory,
just type 'Telegard -k' without the single quotes.  The -k
tells the BBS to ignore the modem for now.  We will
configure the modem later.  Normally you would just enter
'Telegard' without the single quotes to start, and Telegard
would try to initialize the modem.  Since setting up the
modem is usually the trickiest part for most new SysOps,
we'll attack that later in this file.

     Well how do you like the way Telegard looks?  If you
don't, don't worry you can change that screen, but that's
for another day.  Most importantly is that you start
configuring your BBS so it can start taking calls right
away, right?  Well sort of, we need to make sure everything
works, and is setup the way you need it to be, so don't get
impatient in the next few lessons.

     You can logon to your BBS now as a local user.  As it
says in the Waiting For Caller screen (WFC screen) you just
hit the spacebar.  Take your time, you don't want to miss
anything.  It'll prompt you Y/N/F which stands for Yes i
want to logon, No i don't want to logon, or Fast logon
(which skips all the opening screens and formal
introductions that the normal user sees.  You'll need your
personal password and the system password to logon when
answering Yes from the Waiting For Caller screen (WFC
screen).  Unless you've already changed it, your password
should be SYSOP and the system password is also SYSOP and
you'll need the last four digits of the phone number, unless
you've changed that one, it'll be 0000.  We'll change these
shortly.  You should press Y to logon normally.  Assuming
you have ANSI.SYS or compatible driver loader you can go
ahead through the welcome and introductions.  Read your mail
from the Telegard team, and configure your account when it
asks.  Now take some time to look around the BBS, Don't mess
with too many of the commands yet, especially if you're not
familiar with them.  Just browse through the menus so you
can see how it looks.  Pretty generic looking huh?  Well
we'll change that later.  For now, just be psyched that you
are the first user of your own BBS!

Configuration basics

     Let's take care of a few things right off the bat,
after you've logged off your BBS, let's add some pertinent
info that will be needed.  First let's enter in the User
Editor who you are.  From the Waiting For Caller screen (WFC
screen) hit 'U'.  You will now see a pile of information for
a guy named SYSOP.  Hey that's you!  Well let's make it a
little more personable and tell him your real name, and
other information, oh  yeah, most importantly, change your
password!!  If you leave it at SYSOP you're asking for
trouble.  You can hit '?' without the single quotes at the
User Editor prompt for help.  For starters just get your
basic information (address, name, handle, password, phone
number, date of birth, etc.) you can learn what the all the
other stuff does by re-reading Main.Doc at a later time.
The user editor in Telegard isn't very attractive and it'll
take some time to remember all those commands, you might
want to learn a couple of the basics before you begin.

     One more place we want to configure really quick is
where Telegard specifies the system password.  From the WFC
screen hit 'P' for System Configuration.  From the System
Configuration menu hit 'B' for File Paths & BBS
Configuration.  You'll be at another menu and command
prompt.  Now hit 'F' for BBS passwords.  You'll see three
choices (A, B, and C).  The most important for now is A.
Select it and change it to a new password that only you will
know.  When finished, you can Quit (pressing Q) until you
get back to the WFC screen.

     I hope you're remembering or writing these passwords
down.  The first one we changed was your personal password,
the second one was a system password.  There is a
difference.

Modem Configuration.

     Welcome to (probably) the most difficult part of
configuring Telegard.  If you can setup up the modem
properly without too much hassle, consider yourself lucky.
But if this part takes you longer than you had hoped, with
lots of frustration, you weren't alone, most SysOps
experienced your same pain and disappointment.  If you don't
know much about modems and the AT command set you will start
learning.  I still am not much of an expert on the subject,
but I have become fairly proficient as compared to when I
first started when I knew nothing.

     Remember, patience is key.

This is probably going to be as hard to write as it is to
setup for each individual.  I hope that any advice I can
offer will be somewhat useful.  Any experienced Telegard
users that are modem configuration wizards are encouraged to
submit your help with this section.

If you read through this, all the modem manuals you have,
the MAIN.DOC, UPGRADE.DOC your Archie comics and still have
no clue why it isn't working then try to find a fellow TG
sysop (a friendly one, many hate to be bothered with the
new-starts) or find a TG board that carries the ITCnet which
supports Telegard or a TG beta site that carries the private
Telegard Support area linked directly to the author Martin
Pollard.  It may take you awhile before you get everything
to work properly, so please don't start posting all kinds of
ANSI ads after you installed TG.  Get a couple people you
know who are willing to try calling dozens of times to connect
to your system over and over.  They'll also have to test out
all your door programs, protocols and whatever else you're
doing.  So make sure everything works before opening shop.
Any BBS that doesn't have Zmodem working because the sysop
hasn't figured it out yet gets me to say goodbye faster than
anything I know.

     First let's make a basic check.  You have installed a
FOSSIL driver in your Autoexec.Bat or your Config.Sys,
whichever applies.  You may need to reboot your system for
the FOSSIL to activate if you haven't already.  You also
have a modem installed and working (You had better not
be reading this if you don't <g>).  Have your modem manual,
Main.Doc and your rabbit's foot handy.  If you have a
standard 2400 hayes compatible modem, try starting Telegard
normaily by entering Telegard from the main BBS directory
and seeing if the modem initializes properly.  If you see
that a string of about 30 characters doesn't go away after a
short while, chances are you have some work to do.  If it
does, you probably still have some work to do, but it
shouldn't be too bad.

     The modem setup in Telegard is accessed through P -
Sysetm Configuration from the WFC screen.  Then from there,
it's selection A - Modem Configuration.  This is where the
fun begins.  Learn this screen well.  If you feel a little
uncomfortable with this screen, take time to scan through
your modem manual taking in all the jargin.

     You'll want to make sure of a couple of things right
off the bat.  Where is your modem located?  If it's not
COM1 then find out which port it is if you don't know.
Another option you need to know is the maximum baud rate
of your modem.  2400 is usually the standard for most
SysOps and it was for me when I started.  If you have a high
speed modem,  call my system or another support BBS for
a text file on setting up Telegard with a high speed
modem.  You can probably still get through this without
it though.

     Telegard needs for the modem to return numeric codes
instead of verbose codes.  When you call a BBS it usually
will say CONNECT 2400 or similiar, that is a verbose
code.  A numeric code is just a numeric number representing
that same response.  The AT command for numeric codes is
V0 which is already set in the default modem initialzation
string.

     Another AT command to keep in mind is the Echo command.
Use E0 in the initialization string to turn the echo off.

If you're reading this and saying 'AT commands?  What are
those, you're in trouble.  But if you're a glutton for
punishment and you still want to go on, they are commands
sent to your modem telling it how to act.  In a nutshell.

Here's a list of common registers that you will want to
check and setup accordingly.  Double check with your modem
manual that these are the same for your modem.  I'll try
to explain what some of the command S registers do.

   S0=0  usually the standard setting, this says, set the
         amount of times the phone rings before picking up.

   S7=60 sets the amount of time that the modem waits for
         a connection, this says 60 seconds. 30-60 are common.

And some command command settings:

   E0    sets the echo of modem commands to off

   M0    sets the modem speaker off

   V0    sets result codes to numeric (for TG, mailer may be
         different)

These are very simple settings and are almost included in all
modem init strings for all modems when using Telegard.  The
ton of other commands are harder for me to recommend.

Some common tips:

If you have a 2400 with MNP or v.42bis, you may want to
disable both protocols (MNP and v.42bis) because most of your
files that you transfer to/from users will be in compressed
format and will be actually be slower in transfer speeds using
those protocols.

If you have a high speed modem 9600+ you should lock your COM
port at the highest port speed supported.  Dual Standard 16.8ks
can use 38,400 and DS 14.4 can use 19,200.

Keep studying that modem manual.

     If you are still having problems with Telegard and your
modem, contact your closest Telegard support for further
help.  Don't give up to easily.  There's nothing wrong
with experimenting with different initialization codes.
Just write down each one and note the effect it had so you
can learn from what you're doing.  Once you conquer this
part of Telegard, everything else will fall into place.

III.  Preparing for your first caller

     You finally got your modem to initialize, you're had
your friend call your BBS to see if it would answer the
phone and it did.  Now, you have other problems and things
to worry about.  What now you say?  Well how about all
the different protocols, beefing up security and creating
the access levels to assign to your users.

Protocols

     When you first starting calling BBSs, what were you
looking to get out of the experience?  Most likely it was
files, and lots of them.  Ok, so now you need to install
your protocols so your users can get some of your files
you have leeched from other BBSs in preparation for your
BBS.  (I'm assuming you can figure out how to put files
online to your BBS, if I should have added this to the
documentation, someone let me know and I will, but this
should be fairly easy enough for most of you to figure out
by yourself if you've gotten this far.  Look in MAIN.DOC
for info).

     Did you get TGPROTA and TGPROT6B like I suggested?
If yes, then fine, you can install that, if not, that's
ok too because you don't need it.  Remember to get a
copy of DSZ?  Good, you'll need it.  Go through your
DSZ manual and become basically familiar with how it
works and some basic commands introduction (Also, please
consider registering this program in the future, you'll
use it, so you should be paying for it.)  If you install
the TGPROT package or you just look at all the default
protocols that are setup in Telegard, you might be
wondering if you need all these.  This depends on you
and your users, I currently only have about 4 or 5
protocols.  Zmodem, Ymodem, Xmodem, and HS/Link. I
haven't had any complaints as to where all my protocols
are because the others are rarely used.  Keep them
all for now, but keep in mind that you will probably
want to delete the unused ones later.  If any of them
are giving you trouble, you can toggle them inactive in
the protocol setup from the WFC screen.

    Before moving any further with protocols, you might
consider using GSZ.EXE instead of DSZ.EXE.  Why, and
what is it?  GSZ is basically the same as DSZ with a few
small differences.  The most notable difference is the
graphical interface.  GSZ displays a bar graph of the
transfer on your end so you can see how far along the
tranfser is coming, it just looks nice basically.  It also
has MobyTurbo which provides a little bit of enhanced
performance and is compatible with DSZ in almost every
respect.  For more information, locate a copy of it as
GSZxxxx.ZIP on your favorite BBS.

     Before you start allowing file transfers, setup your
batch protocols as speciifed in the TGSEC17 file.  This
is important for the secuirty of your BBS.  The rest of
your protocols should be working fine as long as you have
installed DSZ properly and, if you wished to install the
TGPROT package, it should install everything for you as
well.

     For further help in setting up your basic protocols,
contact a Telegard support site.  Don't forget to have a
little patience, read the docs, and give it a few tries
before bothering the other SysOps.  A llttle bit on
HS/Link and Bi-Modem will be discussed later.

Access Levels

     You should figure out what kind of security levels you
want for your users.  Take this time now to review the
Main.Doc file for a discussion on security levels (i.e. SL).
Once you have the basic understanding of what a security
level is you'll want to define your security levels for your
system.  There are two main security levels for your users.
These are called a validated user security level, and a
unvalidated user security level.

A validated user is a user that you have verified (by whatever
definition that means for your standards) and have given a
default 'normal' user access level.

A unvalidated user is one who is usually on for the first
or whom you haven't approved for full 'normal' user access
as of yet.

Security levels can go from 0 to 255 with 255 being the
sysop (you).  Only one person should have 255 and when first
opening your BBS, don't give anyone a access level of 100
or more until you know what you're doing.

     Again, plan out what kind of general access levels you
would like to have on your board.  How many different levels
of access do you want?  As a start you use the two basic
validated and unvalidated to start.  You can define other
higher levels for special users (such as visiting SysOps)
later.

     Now what should you allow unvalidated and validated
users access to you?  Well it is up to you, but I suggest
for now, you should only allow minimal access to unvalidated
users.  This is in case a hacker has discovered you as a new
SysOp and tries to take advantage of you.  Later when you
have your board under control you can allow more access to
new users if you'd like.  I allow access to everyone on my
board (just about) to new users.  (fyi)

     Now how do you allow access to various functions, menus
and commands?  Well I don't have to go into this, it's all
in the Main.Doc that comes with Telegard.  Please refer to
this on how to use them.  Keep in mind that there are
different places you can allow access to certain things.
For instance you can define a command to allow access to
anyone with a security level of 20, let's say the command to
leave e-mail.  You can also restrict this command for each
individual user in the User Editor.  Search around the board
and you'll discover all the various ways of using these
types of things.

Take the time to look over the TGSEC17 file for setting
up the security levels.

You can get fancy and as complicated as you wish, check
out the TG support echoes mentioned earlier for help in
customizing your system.

I tend to give access to file downloading/uploading to
new users.  Most of my door games and only the local
message bases.  I have not yet had a hacker crash or
hack this setup (but it still may be possible, all 
hacker and crasher types, please try to hack my system,
I enjoy a good game of who is smarter).  I figure I
should not let unvalidated users access networked and
personal mail for the main reason that they could put
all kinds of unwanted junk in them before I get a chance
to stop them from going out.  Say a user posts 10 messages
of juvenille foul language in the Communications echo
on FidoNet, well that is gonna make my BBS look pretty
bad if it's echoed out all over the world.  Just be
smart people.  Don't give them a chance to make you
look stupid, on the other hand, people don't like to
waste a call to a system that is closed so tight they
can't do anything but leave you a comment and logoff.
Oh, and if you're wondering why I allow new users to
post in my local bases, well you'd have to see my regular
users to see why it wouldn't bother them no matter what
people posted.  The more rank material for them, the
better.

Security

     One thing about Telegard is that security can be a
problem.  There are a lot of ways a hacker can crash or
get into your operating system with a generic Telegard
BBS setup that hasn't been fixed or secured from abuse.
But all (that I know of at this time) ways of a hacker
trying to wreck havoc on your system can be overcome just
by tweaking certain things just a tad bit.

     You really need to take every precaution in protecting
your BBS.  The most important file to help you in this
situation is to read and use TGSEC17.  You should have
obtained a good copy of this file already.  It includes a 
alternative ANSI driver that will prevent ANSI bombs (that
is when ANSI commands change the screen colors to black on
black for example, which is not good if you want to see
what's going on, or ANSI commands can also redefine keys so
hitting <ENTER> may actually be sending a /G to Telegard.
not good, it doesn't hurt anything, but it sure can be
frustrating).  It also includes a directory file that you
should put in your GFILES directory, and add to your files
bases with only you the SysOp having access.  It will help
prevent uploads of certain filenames that could crash your
system (don't forget to toggle Search for duplicate file
the setup.

     Just some other tips from my experience with security
that are not included in TGSEC:

     1.   In the message base editor from the WFC screen,   
          type 'B' and change the minimum security levels   
          for email.  The reason for this is simple.  One
          problem with the current release of Telegard 2.7
          is that if a new user has access to personal mail,
          he can delete his own new user application.  This
          may not cause a problem for you, but why would you
          want him to do that.  You can still allow them
          access to post personal mail, but not read it.
          They wouldn't have any to read anyways.

     2.   Be very careful when you recieve uploaded files.
          The only way you can totally protect yourself from
          a virus infection or malicious file is to not run
          it.  I personally use very few files that are     
          uploaded to me for a couple of reasons.  Basically
          because I have obtained all the files I want or   
          need on my own.  But to be safe there are a few   
          precautions you can take.  You can setup a program
          that will test and check all you uploaded files   
          for integrity or viruses (more on this later).    
          Keep in mind, that whatever method you use, you
          should make sure the upload verifier is accessing
          your archive utilities, virus scanning from a pre-
          defined directory.  This is because if the user
          uploads SCAN.EXE in one of his archives and it
          contains a virus, the upload verifier could run
          the SCAN.EXE that's infected if it doesn't run
          it from a specified directory.

          You can also not validate files until you
          manually inspect them.  If they look at all       
          suspicious, you can just delete them.  If you feel
          guilty, you can still give your user upload       
          credit, but it doesn't mean you have to keep the  
          file.  Someone tried uploading a virus to me
          once, and that was a mistake.  What I usually
          do is first see who uploaded the file, I never
          validate a file based on who uploaded however,
          just because they may be your best friend, doesn't
          mean their files aren't infected.  But if you
          know who uploaded the file personally, at least
          you have someone you can hold accountable.

          Next, unarchive the file in it's own directory,
          it's an executable file, I don't touch it, I
          usually delete them saying .EXE, .COM or other
          similiar extension is not an allowed upload.
          Some programs do come as .EXE but you can get
          those yourself so you can protect yourself.

          Scan the file for viruses, set your archiver to
          scan all files not just certain extensions such
          as .EXE, .COM, .OVR.  That way, if someone
          created a file with a virus and renamed it with
          a different extension in order for a install
          program to rename it back to a executable, you'll
          protect yourself even further.

          Next, I use a utility that dumps all text of the
          .EXE or .COM file.  This takes all readable text
          and I can examine it to look for strings which
          may indicate a virus, hacked program or similiar
          occurence.  This is how I located a trojan program
          that SCAN.EXE didn't detect.  It contained some
          nice swear words and it told me how dumb I was.
          Good thing the uploader was dumber than I was.

          Next, if you've gotten this far, I would check the
          file's documentation, if it doesn't have any, I
          throw it away.  Not too many programs (if any)
          come without documentation.  This may indicate
          a pirated version of some commercial program.

          I may inspect it a little further, but if it
          passes all that I usually validate it if it's a
          worthwhile file to take up my hard drive space.

          That's a lot of work to go through to validate
          files, but so far I've been completely safe and
          have had only one file that was really considered
          dangerous uploaded.  Sometimes hacks get through,
          but that's life.  I catch them eventually.

          Since I take so long to validate files because of
          this process, my users joke with me about it, but
          I don't run mainly a file board so it's no big deal.
          If this is too anal for you, a good upload verifier
          should be ok for your needs.  Just be extremely
          careful when you run any program that a user uploads.

     3.   Install a reboot manager.  This is a program that
          will watch monitor your phone line, and if your   
          phone rings more times than it is supposed to,    
          your computer will reboot.  You should have your  
          BBS to start up automatically when you reboot.    

     4.   Carefully look at each new user's application and
          new user information.  Examine their Personal Info
          and make sure they didn't enter anything stupid in
          the application that suggests a loser who does
          nothing but bother sysops.  Make sure they are
          here for the usual BBS purposes.  Any misleading
          or anal behavior shouldn't be tolerated.  You can
          optionally verify every user by giving him/her a
          voice call to make sure they entered the phone
          number correctly.  Many SysOps do this, many do
          not, it's up to you if you would like this extra
          sense of protection.

     5.   Use a external chat program.  Telegard's chat
          has has a major security leak for the unaware
          SysOp.  When you are in Telegard's chat, you can
          type '/' without the single quotes followed by
          a few different commands.  One will type out any
          file to the screen.  So if a user created a macro
          that you were unaware of, and suddenly you chat
          with him, and he runs the macro to display one
          of your files that contains secret information,
          he could grab a lot of passwords (as an example).
          To be on the safe side, only use Telegard's chat
          with someone you really trust.  How to install
          another chat program is included later in this
          document.
          
     6.   More advanced tips and explanations later.  This  
          was to give the new SysOp a basic introduction,   
          and what to be aware of.


Testing

     Now for Beta testing.  Find someone that is willing to
call your BBS and see if it is working.  If you have a
second computer with a modem, you can do this yourself (This
is a great benefit to those that do!).  If you've installed
your FOSSIL driver, your ANSI driver, and setup your modem
and the modem commands properly, Telegard should pick up the
phone and accept the caller.  If you're having problems with
users connecting or your modem picking up the phone, re-read
your modem manual and keep in mind the things that your
modem should be doing in the initialization string mentioned
earlier and in the Main.Doc file.

     A good thing to have on hand at this time is a copy of
the SysOp function keys.  These are the keys that you can
use when someone is online.  They are useful for many things
as you will read.  For now, F10 is to chat, F1 is to modify
some basic information, and you can use ALT-J to shell to
DOS if you need to.  If the user is welcomed with a Shuttle
Login Menu (that you forgot about) then he will only be able
to apply for access, he will not be able to access the BBS
without the proper password.  The default is MATRIX which
you should change later if you plan on using the shuttle
logon menu.  You can also auto validate the user when he/she
is online with ALT-V.  You will probably do this for your
friend because you know them already.

*The shuttle login is not discussed in this documenation
 because in my opinion it's absolutely a threat to open
 systems ideas which I subscribe to.  Anyone who makes
 you call their system to apply for access without even
 being able to look around at all is just too anal in my
 book.  I really don't think it's necessary, but if you
 feel the need to use, it isn't hard and is covered fully
 in TG's documentation*  - for SLR

     Have your friend look around the BBS, trying out
different features and commands, when you're ready, have
them upload or download a file if you think you're ready.
You should have this all setup now.  If there are any
commands that don't work, take note of what they are so
you can correct them later.  For now, it's important that
the system is basically useable.

     The rest of the basic configuration of your BBS will
not be included.  You should be able to complete this
yourself.  This is to encourage you to learn your system
rather than me walking you through every little thing of
Telegard.  Just take it slow before you start advertising
your BBS to others.  Get all the basic things working and
functional.  Take out all the commands you don't need or are
only there for examples (such as the online menu choices).
Most new users will get turned off by a BBS that is poorly
run, and at first yours will most likely be poorly run.
So have pa.... and work hard to get things rolling along.

IV.  Up and Running

     Ok, you've finally got your board up and running with
everything online working.  Things are still a little
generic looking and it's not fully customized, but you're
ready to start getting people to use your system.  You want
to see files uploaded, messages posted, games played, etc.
Well continue reading and I'll help you to get and keep
those new users.

Getting callers

     One of the most popular ways of getting new callers, is
to call the BBSs that you can and tell people you have a new
BBS.  If you make it sound interesting enough, they just
might call.  Make sure you tell people some basic
information:

     BBS name
     SysOp Name
     Software (Telegard 2.7)
     Phone number
     Highest modem speed supported
          if it's 300 baud, you probably won't want to      
          mention it.
     Specialty, uniqueness or features of your board
          basically tell them why they should call, if
          it's just that you need new users to make a
          great board, that's fine.  If it's free downloads
          that's ok too.  Just make sure you have something
          that users want.

Posting ads

     Before you do start posting your ad on every BBS in N.
America, and posting in every single message base, ten times
each, you should ask the SysOp if it all right to post a
message about your BBS on his BBS.  He might already have a
special message section for that purpose only, then put it
there.  If he/she has a BBS list, then for god sakes put it
there.  Most SysOps will welcome your ad in a general
message type area as long as you are polite and post just
one message.  There's nothing more annoying then seeing 7
ads for the same BBS in the Sports message section, and
worse, those who upload 10 ANSI ads in the message base.
2400 baud'ers and Offline mail people don't appreciate it.

Keeping callers

     For the first few months, you are going to question
your BBS.  You probably are getting hardly any callers per
day, or maybe they just logon for a quick second and see
what you have for files then logoff.  Have pati....  It
usually takes a BBS a few months to get any regular callers.
You have to pay your dues and prove to the BBS callers of
your community that you are not only here to stay but that
your BBS is the one to call.

Networking

      Try to get to be good friends with a few of your local
sysops.  Possibly form some kind of group that you can all
share information, tips with, recommend to users the other's
BBS.  Don't be too jealous to recommend another BBS.  Hardly
any user alive will call only one BBS, so why not make it a
group of BBSs which will support you the same way.  You might
form a network of local sysops and compile newsletters, make
simple logoff screens telling users to call these 'other'
great BBSs (that's how I started finding other BBSs to call).
Don't think you can provide your users with everything.  They
need other BBSs, so give your users at least one reason to use
yours.

Become active
     The best BBSs that I have ever seen are the ones where
the SysOp is not just a SysOp but also a user.  The SysOp
should (time considering) join in the message bases and
encourage conversations, join in some of the online games,
and chat with the users when you have the time.  I have
found these three things to be the success of my BBS.  Of
course files are important, but if the users see a real
person on the other end of the line, it really gives them a
sense of belonging.

Reward vs. Force

     There are so many BBSs that force users to upload 1
file for every so many files, post a message for so many
call, etc.   No user likes these ratios.  But sometimes
limits do have to be set.  Especially for files.  Usually
the BBSs that enforce a post/call ratio are very boring
BBSs.  The SysOps have to force the users to enter messages
for each call.  Usually this degrades the board because the
messages will look like this:

     "HI, SysOp here, this is the Sports base, so how about
     them Cubs.  By the way, why don't you guys post?"

     "I'm just posting this message because I have to.
                                   -Joe user"

     Look familiar?  Compare it with this:

     "Hi, welcome to the Sports message area.  Did you see  
     that Cubs game last night?  Holy Cow!  Andre has being
     really playing bad lately.  I don't think he should    
     make the All Star team this year.  I missed the last 2
     innings, did anyone happen to catch them so you can    
     fill me in?"  -SysOp

     "Hey SysOp, yeah I saw the game, it was a close one.   
     Andre ended up hitting a homer in the 9th.  So I guess
     that kinda blows your All Star team theory.  By the    
     way, do you have any sports related software online?   
     Or maybe a sports online game?  - Joe User"

     Notice the difference?  Of course it won't go perfectly
like that everyday of the week, but it'll catch on if you
encourage it.

Suggestions

     One thing that I like to make clear on my BBS is that
comments and suggestions are welcome.  Even criticism.
That's usually the best way to make your BBS better.  You
learn what pisses the users off ('hey how why do I have to
donate $50 to download 1 file?').
     You probably shouldn't listen too carefully either
('Hey why do you even have a download/upload ratio?').  Use
your best judgement when making those type of decisions.
Just remain available and helpful to the users and they'll
keep calling.

Nightly Events

     You'll want to setup at least one nightly event to be
run every night that will handle special maintenance
functions of your BBS.  Nightly events is one of the most
powerful and if used properly, a great asset to the inner
workings of any BBS.  You can do almost anything you can
dream up in the nightly events, but mostly it is used for
simple maitenance of statistical bulletins, online game
maintenance, Telegard data file maintenance and so on.
You can setup events to be run at any time of the day and
for any time of the week or month.  If you're using a
front end mailer, you will use it's events scheduler.

For a complete discussion of events, see the MAIN.DOC.
I can only recommend that you check out a bunch of TG
utilities to see what is possible to run at the nightly
event.

One problem with Telegard's nightly events is that if takes
less than 1 minute to perform, it will be repeated until 1
minute has gone by since the event started.  I once had a
event that just automatically posted a message to the users
once a week on the rules of the BBS.  Too my surprise after
the first run, I woke up the next morning and saw 6 copies
of the message posted to everyone.  You can overcome this
with a very small and simple utility that you can create
right now.  It's called WAIT.COM which will pause your
batch file for a number of seconds that you specify.

Save this script as WAIT.SCR (only what's between the lines)
and type:  DEBUG < WAIT.SCR

*Don't save the -!!!!!...etc. stuff

You will have WAIT.COM, syntax is WAIT <seconds of delay>

-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-<Cut Here>-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-
 N WAIT.COM
 E 0100 BF 5B 00 33 C0 33 C9 33 D2 BE 82 00 38 4C FE 74
 E 0110 2D AC 3C 0D 74 16 2C 30 72 F7 3C 09 77 F3 8B DA
 E 0120 D1 E2 D1 E2 03 D3 D1 E2 03 D0 EB E5 0B D2 74 0E
 E 0130 B8 B6 00 F7 E2 33 D2 BB 0A 00 F7 F3 8B F8 B8 40
 E 0140 00 8E D8 BB 6C 00 8B 77 02 03 3F 13 F1 8B 07 8B
 E 0150 57 02 38 4F 04 74 03 83 C2 18 3B D6 72 06 77 0E
 E 0160 3B C7 73 0A B2 FF B4 06 CD 21 74 E1 FE C1 8A C1
 E 0170 B4 4C CD 21
 RCX
 0074
 W
 Q

-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-<Cut Here>-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-

All TG sysops should have the Telegard Utilities package.
The latest is version 1.40.  If you don't have it, you
can download it as TGU_140.ZIP on most any Telegard BBS.
In your nightly events you should run these 3 utilities in
this order:

Zerouser.Exe
Namefix.Exe
Delemail.Exe

That's it.  Pretty simple.  This will help clean your TG
records data files, and orphaned messages.  Read the TG
Utils documentation for these files, which are found in
TGU_140 for more information on what they do exactly.

A small sample description of my nightly events to help
you with ideas is as follows:

CHECK ALL UPLOADS
DO ONLINE GAMES MAINTENANCE
CREATE USERS' AGE DISTRIBUTION BULLETIN
LOG USAGE OF ONLINE GAMES FOR BULLETIN
CLEAN UP FILE DESCRIPTIONS
CREATE A PRETTY USER LISTING
CREATE A TOP FILES DOWNLOADED LISTING
CHECK FOR DUPLICATE ACCOUNTS
DELETE INACTIVE USERS
PACK MESSAGE BASES
RUN ZEROUSER
RUN NAMEFIX
RUN DELEMAIL
CREATE ALLFILES LISTING
CREATE BBS ACTIVITY GRAPH
CREATE TOP USERS BULLETIN
SCAN FOR VIRUSES
....etc.

If some of that doesn't look familiar, it's just that I'm
running some sort of utility to perform certain functions.

V. Advanced Telegard

     This section is for SysOps who already have Telegard up
and running for a short while, or when you are comfortable
with your Telegard knowledge and now you want to really get
into the more advanced features and fun things of SysOping.


Changing WFCSCREEN

     This is actually very easy.  If you're into customiznig
the heck out of Telegard, change your WFC screen.  Just load
up the WFC ansi screen in TheDraw and edit it to your liking.
Pay careful attention to how it is setup, the stats at the
bottom need to be pretty much in the same spot so you can
read everything.

Problem users

     Experienced SysOps know what I'm talking about here w/o
even mentioning anything.  The problem is, what can we do
about those users that just keep bugging us and try try
aggravate our life.  First tip is, don't get too hung up over
those users.  They log on as new, they don't give you any
information in the new user app except 'l;akad;dfjadkfj,
bye.'  There are many solutions, not really perfect.  The
first, is to restrict access to all new users.  This is a
simple quick fix by either installing the shuttle logon menu
or limiting commands, or even as extreme as not allowing new
users.  Here's some of the other common problems I see and
what I try to do to slow them down.

Duplicate accounts
     A user who continuously logs in under different aliases
is frustrating.  A smart user might not ever caught get if
the SysOp doesn't voice validate his/her users.  There is a
utility designed to warn you of possible duplicate accounts
(DUPCHECK.ZIP) which you can get from a good Telegard BBS.
I try to examine carefully each new user and if I find any
of the information misleading, I don't allow access to that
account and write a letter to the user explaining what I and
he both did.  If I know it's a duplicate account, I will
delete it immediately unless it's a just forgetfulness on
the user's part, I will delete all other accounts and lock
them out of the BBS or degrade their access until they
defend themselves if they do.  Usually they'll just leave
because it's not worth it to them if you're the kind of
SysOp who runs a tight board.  There's many boards out there
with lack security and SysOps who doesn't care what comes
through.

Jerks
     Telegard SysOps have had their problems with jerk users
as well as any other type.  One problem with Telegard is
that is widely used for pirating.  (You might even be
running that board now).  The problem with this is that
a lot of the people who like to call Telegard boards are
in the 13-17 age group.  So some of these d00dz are still
having a problem with maturity.  "where's the elite stuff
stuff??" is a question I get asked often enough.  It
usually doesn't bother me, and I usually don't have anyone
telling me my board sucks, but I did when I was first
starting.  Best thing I can say is to ignore it.  But it
probably does suck if you're just starting out.  Don't
worry, it'll get better with time.  Just watch what other
SysOps do with their boards, steal their ideas and add
enough of your own to make it different.

Hacks & Crashers
     I don't know why, but there are people out there who
just want to do you no good.  Maybe you were an ass to them,
who knows.  But they are out there.  Not many of them, but
enough that you should be mildly concerned.  If you're a
fairly good guy all around, you probably won't have as
many problems as the SysOp who is rude and a ass on other
people's BBSs.  Follow the security tips I have outlined
in this document and always remember that it probably isn't
perfect all the time.  You will probably always have little
breaches of security, but if you make backups and keep an
eye out, you should be able to prevent and cure any of them.

More Security

     There is a lot of security that can be breached on a
ignorant SysOp.  But now that you are reading this, you
will be a little less ignorant than before (I hope).  The
following is a list of security tips and suggestions for
you to implenent, some are not really needed at all, but
they are nice to know if you ever need them, here they are:

     TG Hack for auto-validation.  There was a small text
file that was going around some of the elite boards about a
way to get auto-validated on Telegard boards.  It was a
sad attempt by some kiddies thinking there were some big
time hackers.

Here is the file with my embedded comments: (with /* */)
------------------------start----------------------------
/*
This is a text file that has been around for a while.  Pretty
childish whoever thinks this is such a great hack.  But it is
something to be aware of.  It's really simple to defeat, actually
if anyone even used this it really wouldn't damage your system,
so don't worry about it too much.  You can either stop it by the
way he mentions below or you might just simply look out for the
information as it is entered here.

Overall.  Whoever these losers are, they make themselves sound like
they are the greatest hackers ever.  Another Production by: .... blah
blah blah.  Yeah you guys are great.  Just like to say if you guys
any kind of a life and had some sense of what hacking is really about
you wouldn't be wasting your time showing your ignorance. */

/* Don't laugh too hard: */

             **********************************    
            * Another                          *   TWCS '92! proudly 
/* HA! */  *      Production by:                *  presents:  
            *         The West Coast Syndicate *   Telegard 2.7 Hack
             **********************************        

/* Copyright? */       Copyright (c) TWCS 1992
                                      
              TWCS '92! Members:                 /* Losers it should be */

/* Loser #1 */         -Iceman
/* Loser #2 */           -Hot Keys
/* Loser #3 */              -Rubic
/* Loser #4 */                -Snidely Whiplash
/* Loser #5 */                  -Dr. Wily
        
                                  
/* For the ignorant */                 =Disclaimer=
        
        This  text  file was produced for educational  and  informational 
        purposes only!  Neither the author or The West Coast Syndicate is 
        held  responsible for any of the reader's  actions.   Futhermore, 
        The  West Coast Syndicate and all it's members do not endorse  or 
        encourage illegal activity.  
       
/* They endorse activities for the stupid */

       
                               =Telegard 2.7 Hack=
/* That's Loser #2 */             =By: Hot Keys=
        
        -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-
   
           There may be text files on this but they are all out-dated and
        just plain old so I'm writing this one to make users and even a few
        sysops (if they read this) aware of a very easy hack in telegard 2.7.
        This is not a hack that will drop you to DOS so you can fuck up the
        sysop of that BBS. This is really just a simple hack that will give
        you the sysop-defined auto validation settings.  (That way you don't 
        have to wait for the SysOp to validate you)  Its also pretty simple 
        too.

        Here's how...

        The first thing I must mention is that this does work but you will
        not see anything till the message bases are packed.

        ok the first thing you'll see is the 
        Enter user name:
        (put anything here you want)

        enter real name:
        (put your real name here... J/K)

        ok, next comes the tricky part.  You'll see something like this:
         enter the country your calling from:
           1. United States
           2. Canada
           3. Other <---- pick this one!
  
         after you pick #3 youll get a space to put in an address,
         city/state and phone number... put this in the spaces:
           Address: Western Hemisphere N. American  <-- "ican" not America
           City   : Planet Earth
           State  : Sol Solar System
           Zip    : GALMILKWAY
           Phone  : 7777777777 <-- no dashes

        and then, pick computer number 10 no matter what it is.

        Eveything else is done...  oh for the sysop letter you might want to 
        say something like:
        
        Hey haven't chatted in a while maybe you'll be around next time I call
        
        Anyway that's about it... The telegard 2.7 hack, this hack has been 
        there before but it was taken out of telegard and then brought back in.

        Oh and all those little PKUNZIP and stuff they have all been fixed.
        Sorry... those were fun, I know.

      So... How do you sysops out there defend aginst it?  Kill the Auto- 
      Validation settings... Put em all 0 and give them all the restrictions...

      Anyway thats it... that will work with 2.7. (maybe 2.5q)

      -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      A special thanks to TRIAX who although is not a member of TWCS is
      requesting membership.  He has helped me with a few of the technical
      stuff here in this text file.  
      -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
/* you have to be joking, the technical stuff?  Are you the guys 
that can't make that lamp in shop class or what? */

      For Info on TWCS '92! and more info on telegard technical help call:
      THE UNFORGIVEN BBS!       

/* Yeah I'll be there to rank on all of you */

      -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
                  
                                  TWCS '92!      
            Cyborg Systems                           The Unforgiven        
               566+3272                                 486-0891
            SysOp: Dr. Wily                          SysOp: Hot Keys
      
      -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

End rank mode.  I told you they are losers.  I hope one of them is 
reading this, please call my BBS so I can rank on you in person.

It's not much too worry about, only if you use the internal
message packer which no one should be using anyways.  They
call us lamos?

/* now this is a little more serious */

  New Security breach revealed!

      You must look out for this (especially since
I'm telling the general BBS public now).  I came across
this security breach in a hacker type magazine, and most
of the usual pirates don't read it, so they probably
don't know about it yet.  Well here it is.  Let's say my
username is JIMMY on XYZ BBS.  If HACK LOSER on another
board wants to see what JIMMY on XYZ BBS is up to, he can
logon on as new to the XYZ BBS and use the username JIMMY2
and guess what.  He will be able to read JIMMY's personal
email.  [...describe...] So now you have something to look
out for.  (I'm hoping this will prompt someone to write a
utility to scan the user list for this occurence)  Again,
as mentioned before, don't allow new users access to read
personal mail.  Before you validate anyone, you should be
sure that they are not trying this hack.  It will not mean
much for most boards, but if someone does send private
email with some rather personal information it could be 
a big downfall for someone.

    Telegard's internal chat program.  Many new SysOps and
even older ones do not know of a great risk they can be
taking by using Telegard's built in chat program.  You
might wonder what kind of harm could that have to you BBS
and I will answer plenty if you're not careful.  You can
even still use it after you read this, but you should know
about it's problems.  First off, the danger area.  TG's
chat program is unique because the user can actually use
some commands there were built into it.  One such command
it similiar to DOS's TYPE command.  Whereby the user or
SysOp can enter /TYPE from Telegard's chat program in the
first column (similiar to how the message editor works) and
then a space followed by the file name with optional path.
Think of this scenario.  Your user has created a macro that
executes this command.

/type c:\autoexec.bat
/type c:\config.sys
/type status.dat
/cls

You'll also notice the /CLS command.  It does exactly what
you think it does, clears the chat screen.  Now if a user
was to run this macro while you were in chat with him, and
maybe you left to go answer the door bell, he grabs some
very powerful information because your BBS path will most
likely show up in your config.sys and autoexec.bat file,
plus he'll grab some info from your status.dat file that
even holds your password.  So be careful when using TG's
chat.  If anyone ever tries anything suspicious, just hit
F5 to hangup on user immediately.

To find out the other commands, in chat type /? in the 
first column and it will display them for you.  The only
one to worry about is /type.

Files to help run the BBS

The following is a partial listing with description of
files and programs that I have found to be generally
helpful to Telegard SysOps.  For a complete list of files
that I have available, please call The Crossroads BBS and
download Filelist.Zip for free or if you're on FidoNet you
can FREQ FILES at 1:115/743.  There may be other boards
that carry more TG utils, so don't limit yourself to my
board for leeching (please!), but most of the ones I
have online do provide some use.  A lot of TG utils can
be shabby, poorly written, or require some ridiculous
registration fee for it's continued use.  Gimme a break,
a files list creator for $25?  Pretty sad.

TG utils
     AGE27.ZIP
           Age distribution graph generates a color graph
           of your users broken up into age groups.
     ANS-FIX.ZIP
           ANSI for Telegard 2.7 message bases.  Converts
           your ANSI drawings so they can be uploaded to
           Telegard 2.7 message bases correctly.
     BW270_TG.ZIP
           Bluewave Mail Door program, allows users to
           upload and download messages and request files
           along with them.
     CHCKUL10.ZIP
           Checks "Uploaded by" user in the file bases
           and replaces with a name you choose if he/she
           doesn't exist.
     COLCU101.ZIP
           Rewrites USER.LST to change all user's color
           setup so everyone's is the same.
     DUPCHECK.ZIP
           Scans user list for possible duplicate accounts.
     HS-TG1B5.ZIP
           HS/Link interface for Telegard.
     MDATE200.ZIP
           Deletes Messages older than a certain date.
     MFILE300.ZIP
           Listing of files available online generator.
     MGSUD151..ZIP
           Purge inactive user accounts
     MLHELP14.ZIP
           Help in setting up FrontDoor with Telegard
     MMAIL101.ZIP
           Adds mass e-mail back into Telegard 2.7
     MSGTK101.ZIP
           Tracks message use by area
     NETGIVE.ZIP
           Gives netmail credits to uses
     PASS271.ZIP
           Forces users to periodically change their
           passwords.
     PKEY_100.ZIP
           Global pause key reset for all users
     PWFILE27.ZIP
           User to user password protected file transfer
           door.
     QUOTEITB.ZIP
           Leave a quote to next caller utility.
     TFM26.ZIP
           Telegard file base manager.
     TG-M13.ZIP
           How to setup Telegard multi-node.
     TG2TOPED.ZIP
           How to setup TopEd with Telegard.
     TGAR101.ZIP
           AR flag modifier utility.
     TGFBCLNR.ZIP
           Capitalizes the first letter in every file
           description.
     TGM101.ZIP
           Telegard external menu editor.
     TGNEWS22.ZIP
           News manager/displayer for Telegard
     TGRSET16.ZIP
           Automatically update and initialize data
           and log files during a nightly event.
     TMAIL151.ZIP
           Network mail interface for Telegard.
     TOPFLS21.ZIP
           Generates most popular files bulletin.
     TUSERS15.ZIP
           Generates over 7 statistical bulletins.
     UMV2.ZIP
           External user editor.
     URWRD11.ZIp
           Awards users with file points when someone
           downloads a file they uploaded.

DoorMaster
     Once you start looking and trying to install a number
of door games, you'll find out how frustrating it can be.
This program can make things a little simpler.  What it does
is convert a door information file of one type to another.
For example, a door program written exclusivly for PCBoard
requires the information file PCBOARD.SYS (I hate that!).
Unfortunately, Telegard does't create that door file but the
good news is you can convert one that Telegard does create
to a PCBOARD.SYS.  There might be a lot of doors you'll need
to convert information files for.  So if you have had trouble
installing a door, get this utility.  There are other ones
out there, but this one seems to be the most complete.
Another one to consider though is QuikDoor because it does
create a couple information files that DoorMaster does not.
DMxx.ZIP & QKDOORxx.ZIP available at a BBS near you.

QUIKDOOR
    Another door info file conversion program.  This
particular program converts some extra files that
DoorMaster currently does not.  If you find you need a
certain file created or converted like EXITINFO.BBS
for example, try QUIKDOOR before giving up.

Doorway
     Another popular door program utility is this one.  It
can be a hard fix at some doors that you just can't get to
run, or to use another program as a door program, that was
never intended to be a door program.  This is for more
advanced SysOps and access might need to be granted to
trusted users only.  Overall a very nice utility.

BBS Information Door
    A nice little program that I have found that helps very
new bbs users to the world of BBSing and modeming.  You can
probably find it anywhere as BIDxxx.ZIP.  It is a simple
door program that contains short text files that you can
edit or create, ability to download files from within the
door and is very use for any user to use.  It comes setup
to explain some basic BBS concepts, lingo and manners.
It is good for the most inexperienced users (the 55 year
old types usually :) )

Generic Chat
     I currently use this external chat program rather than
Telegard's for two reasons.  One the security problem with
Telegard's chat interface discussed elsewhere in this
document and because it is simply better.  It is a fast ANSI
split screen chat that is DESQview aware and it is freeware.
The current version I am using lacks a paging feature but I
just use Telegard's internal pager or FX-Chat's and use a
GLOBATx.BAT file to access it.  The GLOBATx.BAT is a batch
file with the x equaling a number from 1 to 0.  In the batch
file you but whatever commands you want for whatever purpose
and anytime when Telegard is up and running you just press
ALT-x where x is the number in the batch file name and the
batch file will be run.  The good thing about using this
chat program this way, is that it doesn't take time away
from the users when chatting such as other external chat
programs do.  I have found this to be the nicest ANSI split
chat so far.  Others are Fx-Chat and Chat34.Zip (made
especially fro Telegard).

Installing another BBS as a door
     Can be quit tricky.  Depending on the other BBS program,
you might be able to run it with the D- command or using a
drop file.  It all depends.  On the other hand, there are
special utilities that will load up before your bbs and have
a menu for which BBS/program to load, and it will come back
to that menu when done.  I've never done any of this, so
any info from others that have, please forward it to me.

At the time of this writing the following is a list of door
programs that I use and are very popular.  You can get them
all from my BBS if you would like a copy.

Land of Devastation, Global War, Solar Realms Elite, The
Pit, TradeWars 2002, and Barren Realms Elite.

There's tons of doors out there, find a bbs where you can
leech for days and try them out.  The above 5 or 6 are a
good place to start are usually very popular on most systems.
See what the users in your area like.  Don't forget other
non-game doors such as a better voting program than TG's,
or a Quote door, etc.

Doors Help

     I get asked a lot for help with setting up doors.  It
is sometimes difficult for new SysOps to install certain
doors.  This usually passes with some experience but if you
are having any trouble, check here first, experiment, then
experiment some more, then ask a local SysOp for help.

     Telegard 2.7 does not create the entire DOOR.SYS file
if you haven't yet noticed.  It is missing a couple of
lines I believe and this will cause some door programs not
to run.  You can't use DoorMaster to create from a Telegard
DOOR.SYS either (fyi).  What I have found to be the best
drop file to use is DORINFO1.DEF.  Use this one whenever
you can.  It seems to be the most compatible and DoorMaster
even recently changed Telegard's default from DOOR.SYS to
DORINFO1.DEF.  DOOR.SYS will still work with some doors
but with fewer than it should.  If you still have problems
using a DORINFO1.DEF file it's most likely 1 of 3 things.
You're not calling the program correctly (i.e. the batch
file doesn't change to the door's directory and execute
from there or you are just making some simple error in the
way it is called), 2, the DORINFO1.DEF will not work
because the door program requires a RBBS DORINFO1.DEF which
is a little bit different than what Telegard creates (a
QuickBBS style), thirdly you are missing some other drop
files such as a EXITINFO.BBS file which Telegard does not
create.  For that, you'll need QKDOOR29.ZIP.  Those in
my experience are the most common problems for why a door
program will not run.

     Another problem you may have in running doors is that
you cannot run it locally but remote users can.  I have
seen this in a couple of doors but not very many.  If they
don't like to run locally or have an option for local use,
then write to the author and ask him if he'll add it.

     When you're having trouble gettng a door program to
run, try some of these steps:

     * Read the MENU.??? file from TGBBSDOC.ZIP to find
       out about the different drop files TG creates and
       which ones you may try use.

     * Read the documentation for the door game.  This
       sounds stupid, but if more beginning SysOps actually
       read the docs, they would have 1/3 less problems.

     * Check that you are copying the proper door info
       file into the door program directory.

     * Sometimes the drop files Telegard creates aren't
       compatible with what the door program required.  Try
       another drop file.

     * Make sure you are executing the door program from
       the door program's directory.  CD to the proper
       directory before executing it in your batch file.

     * Make sure you have the proper command line options
       specified.  Some doors reguire you specify a
       configuration file on the command line (for example
       DOOR.EXE C:\DOORGAME\DOOR.CFG).

     * Make sure you have enough memory, if not you can
       swap to disk or extended memory by specifying this
       in TG's setup.

     * Check to make sure you created the configuration
       file for the door game properly if it requires one.

     * Try setting up the program to use a different drop
       file.  Don't forget to change your batch files and
       your Telegard commands.

     * If the door program doesn't support a door info file
       that Telegard creates, you can use a program like
       DoorMaster to create one by conversion.

     * It just simply might not work with Telegard.  I
       believe there are some door programs that just will
       not work with Telegard.  If you know of a BBS that
       uses the door program, ask him for help, or contact
       the author.  You can probably get most any door
       program to work minimally with Telegard using
       even if you have to use DoorWay as a last resort
       but it might not be worth the trouble.

     One thing I found is that some door programs actually
screw up the local ANSI color on my computer.  I believe it
is Solar Realms Elite that has done it to mine but others
may not reset it properly either.  If you are noticing any
ANSI problems such as blinking ANSI not blinking, put the
command MODE CO80 at the end of the batch file that calls
the door program.  (For Color monitors of course, refer to
your DOS manual for more information)

    Something I've recently done to help me maintain my
doors batch files is to just create one door batch file.
The way this is done is instead of calling a seperate batch
file for each door (i.e. SRE.BAT for Solar Realms Elite,
TWAR.BAT for TradeWars) you create one batch file and when
you call the batch file, you specify the name of the door
as a parameter.  For example, When I call Solar Realms
Elite, I would specify this on the Telegard CMD line:

DOOR.BAT SRE

Then in my Door.Bat file, I would simply say:

Goto %1
Rem Put commands here
:SRE
Rem Commands to call Solar Realms Elite just like you
Rem would in a seperate batch file
Goto End
Rem More door commands here
:End
MODE CO80
CLS
Rem whatever other global commands you want
Rem End of Batch file

This saves a minimum of disk space, but most of all, makes
your door game batch files a lot easier to maintain and
standardized.  If you find it really difficult to run a
door this way, you can of course create it the old way with
it's own batch file, but you usually shouldn't have to 
this.

File base Area

Directing traffic
    Ever notice those Telegard boards that have their
unvalidated uploads scattered in all different directores?
Well there's a simple cure for that problem.  You want your
users to put the uploads in one directory right?  All's you
have to do, is put a command that is executed just before
they upload a file.  You can do this by adding another 'U'
command and make it execute first before to force the user
to switch to the proper file base.

Put this command in the Upload command in the batch menu
as well.  If you're using the TG utils that helps to use
HS/Link, then you'll want to do that for Download in the
batch menu as well.

If you want to limit certain types of files or you need
to say anything to users before they upload, put in a command
with U for upload before the regular command and have it
display a line of text (-L) or a file (-F).  You can tell
your users to upload only certain files with flashing ANSI,
you could create a question saying, you are about to upload,
do you agree to the above?  Get creative.

Here's an example of moving the user to the upload file base
when uploading:

1. Long descript :
2. Short descript:
3. Cmd letters   :U
4. ACS required  :"s10"
5. Cmdkeys       :FA
6. MString       :1
   Flags         :(H)idden
Q. Quit

It's that simple.  Make sure you put this command just before
your Upload command, so it'll get executed first.  Now
everytime someone types U to upload, they are first moved
to your Uploads directory.  Assuming here it file area 0.

/* the following from someone on the ITCnet TG echo */

    I've noticed that, in Telegard 2.5, there was a Depth flag
you could toggle on or off for file directories.  Since the
feature had not yet been implemented, nothing further came of
it.  I was eagerly waiting for its developoment and release
in 2.7.  Alas, to no avail.

     I've successfully added a "depth" feature to my file bases
by using conferences.  If you have a lot of file areas (as most
good boards do) then you'll notice that a lot of them are
unnecessary.  I.E.:


        Telegard Utilities          Nature GIF's
        Hard Drive Utilities        Star Trek GIF's
        Floppy Utilities            Commercial GIF's
        Misc. Utilities             Cartoon GIF's
        Adventure Games             Keyboard Utilities
        BBS Games                   Pascal Programs
        C Programming               Basic Programs
                       << etc >>

     A user gets bogged down with a file area list longer than
some board's file lists!  Problem solved.  Organize the Telegard
file areas into a "Dos-like" system.  For example,

        /Utilities                 /GIF's
        /BBS Stuff                 /Programming
        /Games                     Sound Blaster
        ANSI Art

     The '/' in front of the file areas above mean that they
have "depth" to them.  Once a user enters that file area, they
are greeted with yet another set of file areas to choose from.
For example, entering /GIF's would give:

            Nature GIF's         Commercial GIF's
            Cartoon GIF's

or whatever.

     You can even have more depth directories branching off from
here!  How do you do it?  No problem.  Most boards I've noticed
do not use all the conferences to their advantage.  Assign a
unique conference to each of the depth directories (i.e. /Utilities
would be conference "U").

     When a user enters the depth file area, turn on the conference
flag.  This will then show all the file areas available for that
depth dir.  Make sure all file areas that are above the depth
directory have an ACRstring of 'c@' so they are only accessible
from the main conference.  Include a file area which will return
to the previous level.  It will actually flag off the previous
flag, and flag on the @ flag.  Anyways, it's really easy to do.


Wish List
     Do your users seldom put messages in your message bases
or to you asking if anyone has such-an-such a file?  Maybe
you are looking for a special Telegard utility or game?
What some have done is to install a file wish list door or
text file.  For example from the files menu, your user
enters a 'W' and it brings up a list or program that users
can enter file requests in.  This may be good if you want
only particular files uploaded to the BBS.  Users will
usually try try to upload something that the SysOp wants to
please the SysOp.  You can use a -F command and display a
text file or you can use an external door program.  You can
find one on your favorite BBS most likely.  I've begun work
and semi-completely one of my own for now.

Protocols

HS/Link
     HS/Link is a bi-directional protocol that allows
uploading and downloading at the same time.  All this while
achieving the speeds of a regular Zmodem transfer.  HS/Link
is fastly becoming a standard in protocols.  It is very fast
and the author support is excellent.  I highly recommend
that you install this protocol.  To do so though, you'll
need a special utility for Telegard.  HS-TG1B5.ZIP is the
the interface program that is currently out.  You can find
it at the Crossroads BBS (312) 587-8756 or any good Telegard
BBS.  Get a copy of HS/Link (HS112.ZIP), read the docs for
both programs, then install it.  It's fairly easy and will
be a huge benefit to both you and your users.

Bi-Modem
     At this time, I cannot recommend using Bi-Modem for
your bi-directional protocol, because their may be a
security leak that could be very damaging to your system.
I haven't verified it extensively so until then I do not
recommend using it.  There is a utility for Telegard that
will allow you to use it however, and the current BiModem
release is v1.24 if you still are not scared.  If anyone
has more recent info please drop me a line.

SZModem
     SZmodem is a Zmodem compatible protocol written by
Scott Baker, the same author who brings you Land of
Devastation.  I am not a user of SZmodem but I have tried
it and didn't really need its features.  I'm not sure at
this time if there are any security problems in using
SZmodem but there may be.  I do need to find some more info
on this, so again if anyone can spread some light on this
subject, please drop me a line so I can let others know for
sure.

Other Protocols

At this time, there aren't really any other protocols
besides Zmodem, HS/Link and Ymodem-G that I would use.
There are all kinds that claim to be faster and better
than Zmodem, but since very few users actually support
these protocols, I don't bother.

Delete unused protocols
     How many of your users are using Puma, ASCII, or
whatever other ridiculous protocols are on your protocol
menu?  Probably none if any.  Go to the protocol menu from
the WFC screen and just delete those stupid things once and
for all.  The only ones I'm currently using are Zmodem,
Ymodem, Xmodem and HS/Link.  You might want to ask your
users for suggestions as to which ones they use.

Free downloads
     It is to your benefit and the users if you setup at
least one file base that won't take file points or download
credit away from them.  You can put files such as your files
list, or maybe a help file or things that will help them
with BBSing.  Here's a partial list of one of my free
downloads base:

     HS112.ZIP      HS/Link protocol, to encourage users
                    to upload while they download.

     BWAVE211.ZIP   Bluewave Offline Mail Reader to encorage
                    users to use this and participate in the
                    message bases.

     CLEAN99.ZIP    Virus disinfectant utility.

     FILELIST.ZIP   Complete list of all my files online

     GTERM330.ZIP   Term program for users to get instant
                    graphics for online game LOD

     PKZ110.EXE     PKWare's popular compression program

     SCAN99.ZIP     Virus detection utility

     XYZ.......

To use Ziplab for your upload checking the format would be
as follows.

Place this command in intergrity check configuration line
of the TG's setup for checking/converting/etc. files

Ziptest.Bat @F"

And then all Ziptest.Bat should have is:
@Echo Off
Ptest %1

Make sure you run the config setup part of Ziplab first.

The @F in Telegard passes the filename as %1 to the batch
file.

There are other programs, and even batch files that can
do a similiar job, find what is right and secure for you.


Message base area

Bluewave
     If you run Telegard, you should install the Bluewave
Mail Door.  Unless you don't have a message base (how
boring).   Offline mail is one of the greatest advances in
the world of BBSing.  It saves all the users time,
encourages them to participate more, and makes your BBS
available more hours of the day for other activities.
Bluewave is an especially well written offline mail door
(also a the reader, a seperate program to read/write/reply
to messages is available) that you will want to use.  You
can even use it as a local sysop.  You don't have to logon
to the BBS and use Telegard's message editors, yuck.  You
can use the text editor of your choice, which is great
because the text editors will be much nicer to use than
Telegard's internal editor.  There are a lot of other
features you will discover later with Bluewave.  Sometimes
conversations start up over taglines.  It's just a big
convience and a must have for a good BBS.  Encourage and
help your users to use it.  I provide it as a free download,
have a bulletin online explaining the basic installation,
and answer any questions and have spend time chatting with
users just to get their copy working right if they had
problems.

Purging mail
     When you start having lots of users, the personal mail
message area can get quite large just with new user apps
alone.  One way you can save space and to force users to
delete their mail after reading it is to put the M restrict
flag on in each of your user's accounts.  This forces the
user to read their mail and delete before moving on at the
logon process.


Changing prompt
     A small but helpful tip is to change the message prompt
to something a little more useful.  You can do this when
defining the menu itself.

This is what the standard message prompt will look like:

[1:20] Read (1-35) ?=help

Too make it more useful and help to user's I've changed my
string to say:

[1 of 20] (R)eply (D)elete <ENTER>=Next (?)=Help

Now the problem is to get user's to quote the message they
are replying to.  There isn't a real easy way to help users
to do this, but you can do a few things.

Possibly in the two lines that are displayed above the message
editor you could tell them to quote.  Better yet, get them
to use Blue Wave.

Full screen editor
     I do not use a full screen editor for my BBS because I
don't think it would be used much.  So I won't be able to
help here much.  TopEd is suppposedly the one to use.  With
the advent of offline mail, urge your users to use Blue Wave.

These are the basic commands to call TopEd and QuickEd.

TOPED10Q.ZIP  (for Toped)     TG cmd line:  1 @P @B @T 300
QED120.ZIP    (for Quicked)   TG cmd line:  @P @B @T 180

Additional Tips

Want to get some personal data from the user?  Why not add
additional new user questions?  It's easy, just read the
Main.Doc file on InfoForms (it's near the end of the file).
I've seen people ask if they're a SysOp of another board,
and if they are it'll branch to another question and ask
for the BBS name and number.  You can ask for the user to
enter his best joke, then you can post it in the message
area (good way to get people involved) for all to read.
There's a lot of flexibilty in the InfoForm system, try
to see what you can come up with.

Want more ideas?  Think them up yourself.  j/k  How about
contests, make up a donations policy, a special access level
to loyal users, come on get creative.  I can't do all the
thinking.

Security, AGAIN.

Short-Cut commands
    In the Main.Doc file you'll find reference to short-
cut commands, but since so many people hardly ever read
documentation, you might not know about them.  Basically
they are short-cut SysOp commands for people with SysOp
security levels.  You enter them in this format:
//\\*
with the command letter followed after the *.
For example to shell to DOS from your main menu, you would
enter:
//\\*D
and you'd be in DOS as if you did it from the SysOp menu.

To stop Co-SysOp access user's from using short-cut
commands to do something like drop to DOS, you should
but these dummy commands in every single menu you have.

   Long Description : (//)Dummy Command
   Short Description: (//)Dummy Command
   Command Keys     : //
   ACS Required     :
   Command Thing    : -L <or just about ANYthing will work>
   MsString         :     <null>
   Flags            : -!-H-


Originality
     What's the secret to a succesful BBS?  I don't know,
but I can tell you this, originality sure doesn't hurt.
Try coming up with something nobody has done before, even
if it sounds crazy, it might lead to different ideas or
improvements in the way the board operates or presents
itself.  I have stumbled upon a couple small improvements
just by fooling around with various features and just
trying crazy things.  Chances are you can too.  Think of
ways to make the BBS more fun, easier to use, etc.  One
thing I'd like to do is to eliminate the batch menu and
just have the ability to keep adding files automatically,
well enough of that... That's another project, if you
figure it out, let me know.

Differentiating
     Is your BBS like all the rest?  Same old files, same
old games, same old stuff as the other 2500 boards out
there?  You need a niche market.  Create a speciality.  It
can be anything, even if it's simple such as being a game
bbs, or a SysOp's BBS, or a Science flavored BBS, usually
some of the best boards have an edge.  Does yours?

Fx-Chat

    Put Fx-Chat.Exe and the Config file in your main BBS
directory.  You can put the log file and sound file wherever
you want by telling the setup program where it is.  Next
for the Command:
Fx-chat.Exe /A@G /P@P /S@B /N@N!

ANSI

     Sometimes the appearance of your BBS makes all the
difference.  You may notice some BBSs that colorize their
boards with all kinds of fancy ANSI graphics.  This can be
both good and bad.  It's good in moderation, remember not
everyone cares to see how good of an artist you are, and
not everyone has a fast modem.  It takes a lot longer to
display a ANSI picture over a 2400 modem than at 9600 baud.
But some ANSI should be on the board to make it look nice.
I'm not gonna give a course in ANSI because I'm not the
person to do it.  I can suggest a few things, that's about
it.  The most popular and probably the best ANSI drawing
program available at this publication is TDRAW451.ZIP.
It's a full powered ANSI drawing program for those who
are serious about creating nice artwork.  When you design a
screen to be used with Telegard, save it in 79 line mode.

Look at other's ANSI artwork, or download some ANSI
pictures to help you get started in designing your own.
Remember, SysOps borrow from each other, so if you steal
someone's design technique, don't worry about it, they
probably did too, but it might be nice if you at least
gave credit to those that influenced you.  If you can find
a professional ANSI artist (that doesn't sound like a nice
life, but hey..) see if they'll create some menus or BBS
ads for you.  Remember, don't have full screen ANSI's
wherever the users go, just enough to make the board look
nice such as a full screen welcome ANSI, logoff ANSI, and
colorful, but not full screen with blue background menus.


You might notice that a LOGOFF.xxx screen isn't displayed
in completely when someone logs off.  The simple fix for
this is to create a logoff.bat file with just a @echo off
in it, set your swapping to EMS to active and make sure
that Telegard executes batch files, it will have to wait
until your logoff screen is displayed before swapping to
EMS and execute the batch file.

Downsides & Bugs

    Telegard can use the MCI codes almost everywhere
in the system.  This is a real pain the the message
bases and new users will get scared of their use.  Don't
let people use them.

    Midnite Chat Timeout.  If you haven't heard or
experienced this bug, let me tell you briefly about it.
When you are chatting with a user near midnite, and your
system time hits 12:00 midnite and you're in chat with him
or her, the user will get kicked off with a message that
displays the timeout display.  This is just a bug in
Telegard that was never fixed.  So if you're chatting late
night, exit out for midnite so they don't get logged off.

     File Area, Manager, dl/ul, etc.  I don't especially
like the way Telegard handles it file areas, uploads,
downloads, etc.  I always felt it was very awkward.  I
guess this is why most of all the big file boards are
usually using PC-Board.  Telegard's user interface just
isn't as nice.  If you've used other BBS programs as a
user or SysOp then you can probably think of a couple
things right off the bat.  One of the major things I find
a fault with in Telegard right off the bat, is all the
commands.  Who needs all those commands?  They can be very
confusing.  When downloading a file, you have to be in the
right file directory (area) to download it or else will say
file not found.  What a pain in the ass.  Also, no file
tagging when listing files.  That would be nice.  Probably
my biggest peave is the way it handles the batch transfers.
Yuck!  you have to select each file one at a time, select
the batch protocol, then goto to the batch menu, select
upload or download, then your batch protocol such as Zmodem
from there.  How completely clumsy and foolish.  Oh well,
that's just one of the drawbacks to using Telegard.  If
you really hate it that much you can probably install a
external file area/manager door program.  I've been
considering this move as well, but not sure if it'll work
all that well.  Someone let me know if they have done this
with some success.

Pause Bug
    I have not tested to see if this is a actual bug or
not, but I read a message by someone claiming it to be one.
If you have the "pause on screen" option set to on, and
while reading messages, hit "=" to continuously read messages,
after it gets done reading, the "pause on screen" option is
set to no automatically.

     Internal message packer.  Don't use it basically.
You can pack (purge) messages of all or selected bases in
Telegard while logged on.  (Message menu)  But you should
not be using this function.  Get MSGPACK.EXE that comes
with TGU_140.ZIP (read some more docs) and use that one.
You can delete the internal message pack command from your
menus.


Undocumented features
     There are a couple of ways to purge messages in
Telegard.  The best way is to use the MSGPACK.EXE in the
TGU_140.ZIP archive and run it during your nightly events.
Two other ways involve using Telegard's internal message
packer, but I'll tell you right now, please don't use this
function.  Use the external one.  The internal one is not
very friendly and it can cause problems.  Just for your
information, if you press 'K' from the WFC screen, you'll
be able to pack the message bases with the internal message
packer.  But again, that is just for your information, do
not use it.

     Unless you have a command with the Cmdkey of '|' it
will display a short message about Telegard.  It is really
useless, but it is there.  Logon on to Telegard and see for
yourself.  To play with the users who know about this,
make a command that uses the same key and have it display a
message such as 'your hacker activity has been logged and
when the SysOp finds out, you will be deleted from this
BBS.' Mean and cruel, yes.

Moving forward - Life w/o TG
     In the last 6 to 9 months, everyone and his uncle has
been telling Telegard SysOps that they should switch to a
different BBS program,  For reasons that I don't need to go
into.  My philosophy is this, sure suggest to me, make
comments, even argue, but don't get pissed if I disagree or
do things differently.  My advice for you is, when you're
unhappy with Telegard, look for something else that is
better.  Don't make your decision too quickly, use good
judgement, and don't let one person make your choices for
you.  If I did that, I might be running Qmodem Host :)

Other BBS programs you might want to try:

Remote Access v1.11
Maximus v2.01
T.A.G. 2.5g
SBBS

In Closing
     I have been using Telegard for about 1 1/2 years now,
as of 8/02/92 and I am happy with it's performance.  There
are a lot of drawbacks when using any one package but with
Telegard and my BBS requirements, the benefits greatly
out-weigh them.  I'm not a pirate, hacker, or other type
such as those, but I have BBSed along side of many of them.
That is one reason for knowing a lot about how they try to
crash our boards.  Of course, maybe now someone else knows
it and will use it against the SysOp who didn't read this,
but oh well.  Freedom of information I say.  I hope I wrote
this document with as much accuracy as possible.  I'm sure
this can be used by somebody.  I wish I had more documents
like these when I was first starting out.  If anything in
this file was inaccurate, misleading, destructive, sexual,
or nasty, too bad, unless you or someone writes me to fix
it, it won't be fixed.  So pass it around, send in your
suggestions and if I keep adding and improving it, I'll
give you some extra downloads if you help me produce this
again.  Give me a call or send some netmail with whatever
feedback you have.  Even nasty feedback, we can always
use a new guy to rank on my board.  :)     -Niteline


Appendix A

Current Telegard Support Sites as of July 1992

These are the current Beta testers for the last release of
Telegard v2.7  They should all have Telegard utilities and
be able to provide you with expert help.  Some better than
others, so don't limit yourself to on site, utilities and
opinions are scattered can vary.

Paul Dyer             Eclipse!                    916-725-0674   V.32
Bob Eden              K9 Academy BBS              604-856-7118   V.32
Brent Johnson         Guardian's Gateway          510-830-4616   HST/V.32bis
Perry Lowell          The SKATEboard BBS          508-788-1603   HST/V.32
David Luckie          The Intrepid BBS            205-479-2327   HST/V.32bis
Scott Malin           Death's Domain              203-749-6103   HST/V.32
Jeff Martin           Martin's Domain             512-396-0252   HST
Martin Pollard        The I/O Bus                  -Unlisted-    V.32
Michael Randolph      The Q Continuum BBS         316-721-8466   HST/V.32bis
Carol Shenkenberger   Shenk's Express             619-697-8873   V.32
Tim Strike            Forbidden Knights           416-820-7273   HST
Tim Thompson          The Underground BBS         619-460-0863   HST
Kevin Watkins         The U.S.S. Light Speed ][   617-925-8508   HST/V.32
Dan Winsor            Death Vale BBS              313-646-5632   HST
Michael Yadron        Lighthouse BBS              219-464-0411   HST

These people are also supporters of Telegard and provide useful
help with Telegard 2.7.  They are members of the ITCnet network.

Spring of Life           Alan Bingham    CA  (805) 296-7817  805/103  14.4-B
The Dawg House           Scott Irwin     UT  (801) 544-9705  822/105  9600-C
Twin Data Inc.           Tom Kavanagh    NJ  (908) 359-7859  862/0    14.4-A
The Chop Shop            John Reed       OK  (405) 787-6052  846/106  2400
Buckwheats Pleasure Dome Craig Landgraf  TX  (713) 855-1701  841/803  2400
The Alpha State          Doug Welzel     NJ  (609) 751-7446  862/400  14.4-B
Alternate Reality        Sujeet Patel    NJ  (609) 778-3103  862/403  2400
The Dark Side            Dwight Johnson  AZ  (602) 661-1256  823/132  2400
The Winter Palace        Linda McCarthy  MA  (413) 535-1063  858/201  14.4-A
Utility City             Eric Kimminau   MI  (313) 299-5854  871/112  14.4-A
The Madhouse Society     Bob Shields     AZ  (602) 649-3894  823/101  2400
Miami Links BBS          Carlos AvelianetFL  (305) 258-9809  881/100  9600-C
The Wishing Well BBS     Rozey Strohi    MI  (313) 759-2128  871/103  9600-C
APFL-The BBS             Tom Kane        NJ  (201) 567-6994  862/300  9600-C
Castle Roogna BBS        Jeff Young      IL  (309) 662-2058  837/203  9600-C
Something Wicked!!       Robert Carter   OK  (405) 737-0640  846/116  2400
The Castle BBS           Jack Schofield  TX  (214) 988-1053  841/100  14.4-A
The Abyss BBS            Robert Paller   NJ  (609) 882-6058  862/402  14.4-A
The Hood BBS             John Scalise    MA  (413) 786-4827  858/205  2400
Starfleet Command        Chris Ewing     CT  (203) 749-0532  861/1701 16.8
Northwest Hickory BBS    Toby Wellborn   NC  (704) 326-7051  886/203  14.4-C
Fatal Error BBS          Neil Hoener     CO  (719) 282-9419  824/202  14.4-A
Zentraedi Control BBS    Andrew Hardison NM  (505) 897-1318  825/100  9600-C
Wizard's Palace          Jon Plax        KS  (913) 491-5518  847/200  14.4-A
The Hot Spot!            Pat Butler      TX  (409) 589-3312  841/703  2400
The Night Shift BBS      David  Anderson GA  (912) 673-6549  880/1001 2400
SW Cemetery of Psychos   Michael Jones   KY  (502) 366-2349  888/108  2400
The Adventure's Guild    Kevin Kuphal    IL  (815) 748-4031  837/300  14.4-B


Appendix B

Modem Examples and Help for specific modem types

Here are some examples from others in setting up other
modems.  If you find your modem here, it should work with
their settings.  Good luck.

USRobotics Courier 14400 HST Dual Standard NRAM Settings...

   DIAL=TONE   B0  F1  M0  X7
   BAUD=19200  PARITY=N  WORDLEN=8

   &A3  &B1  &G0  &H1  &I0  &K3  &L0  &M4  &N0
   &P0  &R2  &S1  &T5  &X0  &Y1  %R0

   S02=255  S03=013  S04=010  S05=008  S06=002
   S07=060  S08=002  S09=006  S10=007  S11=070
   S12=050  S13=000  S15=008  S19=005  S21=010
   S22=017  S23=019  S24=150  S26=001  S27=128
   S28=004  S29=020  S32=006  S33=000  S34=000
   S35=000  S36=000  S37=000  S38=000

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I would try s27=1 first, and if your software cannot detect
a CONNECT 14400, then change it to s27=128 as that will
give a CONNECT 9600 for all 9600 and above connections.

Dip switch settings are (U=up, D=down):
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
  u u d u d u u d d u

Protocols:

5. <U>L command: "dsz port %P ha on estimate 0 %B pV1 rz -m %F"
   <D>L command: "dsz port %P ha on estimate 0 %B pV1 sz -m %F"



USR 16.8k Settings for FrontDoor

ATI4

USRobotics Courier 16800 HST Dual Standard Fax Settings...

   B1  C1  E1  F1  M0  Q0  V1  X7
   BAUD=38400  PARITY=N  WORDLEN=8
   DIAL=PULSE  ON HOOK   TIMER

   &A3  &B1  &C1  &D2  &G0  &H1  &I0  &K3  &L0
   &M4  &N0  &P0  &R2  &S1  &T5  &X0  &Y1  %R0  

   S00=000  S01=000  S02=043  S03=013  S04=010  S05=008  
   S06=002  S07=060  S08=002  S09=006  S10=007  S11=040  
   S12=050  S13=000  S14=000  S15=008  S16=000  S17=000  
   S18=000  S19=000  S20=000  S21=010  S22=017  S23=019  
   S24=150  S25=005  S26=001  S27=000  S28=004  S29=020  
   S30=000  S31=000  S32=008  S33=000  S34=000  S35=000  
   S36=000  S37=000  S38=000  S39=000  S40=000  S41=000  
   S42=126  S43=200  S44=015  

   LAST DIALED #: 

OK
ati5

USRobotics Courier 16800 HST Dual Standard Fax NVRAM Settings...

   DIAL=PULSE  B1  F1  M0  X7
   BAUD=38400  PARITY=N  WORDLEN=8

   &A3  &B1  &G0  &H1  &I0  &K3  &L0  &M4
   &N0  &P0  &R2  &S1  &T5  &X0  &Y1  %R0

   S02=043  S03=013  S04=010  S05=008  S06=002  S07=060
   S08=002  S09=006  S10=007  S11=040  S12=050  S13=000
   S15=008  S19=000  S21=010  S22=017  S23=019  S24=150
   S25=005  S26=001  S27=000  S28=004  S29=020  S32=008
   S33=000  S34=000  S35=000  S36=000  S37=000  S38=000
   S41=000  S42=126  S43=200  S44=015

   STORED PHONE #0: 
                #1: 
                #2: 
                #3: 
               
Obviously more are needed, please send you modem setups if
you are reading this and have figured out your setup for
optimal performance.  New sysops could benefit with your
examples greatly!

FrontDoor w/ USR 16.8k

   File   Global   Mailer   Editor   Terminal   Modem   Printer   Manager
ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ͸ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±ÕÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ Hardware ¸³±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³                                      ³³±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Modem port                    1      ³³±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Maximum baud rate             38400  ³³±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Lock port                     Yes    ³¾±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Reset modem to connect speed  No     ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Lower DTR when busy           No     ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Lower DTR to terminate call   No     ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Toggle DTR before dialing     No     ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±± FrontDoo³ Carrier detect mask (CDMASK)  128    ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Inbound buffer size           0      ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±± Copyright 1989-1991³ Outbound buffer size          0      ³eserved ±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³                                      ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ 1200        CONNECT 1200/    ³³±±±±±±±±±±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ 2400        CONNECT 2400     ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ 4800        CONNECT 4800     ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ 9600        CONNECT 9600     ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ 19200       CONNECT 16800    ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±± FrontDoor; SETUP³ 38400       CONNECT 38400    ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Error       ERROR            ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±± Copyright 1989-1991 Advance³ Busy        BUSY             ³eserved ±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ No Carrier  NO CARRIER       ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Ok          OK|              ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ No Answer   NO ANSWER        ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Voice       VOICE            ³±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±³                                                          ³±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±³ Escape code    +++                                       ³±±±±±±±±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±³ Onhook         ATH0|                                     ³±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±³ Offhook        ~ATM0H1|                                  ³±±±±±±±±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±³ Init-3                                                   ³±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±³ Down           ATM0H1|                                   ³±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±³ Reset          AT|                                       ³±±±±±±±±±±±
±±±±±±±±±³                                                          ³±±±±±±±±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³                                                         ³±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Manual answer Yes                                       ³±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Force answer  ATB0A|                                    ³±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Answer delay  2                                         ³±±±±
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±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Starting time 00:00                                     ³±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³ Ending time   00:00                                     ³±±±±
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±³                                                         ³±±±±
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³   #   String to match                      String to send                    ³
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³   1   V32                                  ATB0|                             ³
³   2   V32B                                 ATB0|                             ³
³   3   HST                                  ATB1|                             ³
³                                                                              ³
³                                                                              ³



Appendix X(roads)

About the Crossroads BBS

    I first opened the Crossroads BBS in July 1991.  Too
bad I was the only one who knew it.  <grin>  It took quite
a while to really get the board going.  I think when I
really starting liking my own BBS was about 6 to 8 months
later.  I started using Telegard 2.5i right from the start.
I looked at a couple other programs but Telegard was the
easiest to understand basically.  I started off knowing
very little about running a BBS and I certainly jumped into
it a little premature.  I didn't know any modem AT commands
or what a FOSSIL driver was used for.  All's I knew was
the hobby was one I wanted to be a part off and with a
lot of patience and practice (even now) the board has been
very successful.

    The Crossroads currently has over 200 users that have
called within 30 days (most sysops don't take that into
consideration).  The only thing really special about The
Crossroads is the users.  The local message bases have
sometimes had over 200 messages a day and usually average
around 100.  There are currently Xroads Elite users on
the board.  Elite on The Crossroads is not the kind of
elite you'll find on pirate boards, it is more true to
the name.  It's a high caliber, sometimes donating,
participating user, they have to be able to rank.  To rank
is to cut someone down, rag on them, rank on their mom,
that type of thing.  It's a stupid tradition, but tradition
none-the-less.  I'll include the current Elite's names here
just so I can rank on them behind there backs.

Mongoose:  Of all the Elite, he's been on the longest and
           was my first donating user.  He doesn't come
           around as much anymore probably because of
           school and he's supposedly trying to get a BBS
           started of his own.  He's been working on that
           for about a year now.  He could have found his
           penis sooner.

Rasta:     One of the favorites of anyone to rank on.  A
           good guy who deserves shit.  And he gets it too.
           One of the definite classic rankers on the BBS.
           He's moved away and only calls when he finds
           some loose change on the streets next to his ma.

Grifter:   Grifter has gone and joined the army or navy or
           wherever it is he can meet more guys.  Another
           classic ranker and the founder of GriftSpeak.

Celusil:   The hairy grandpa of the board.  He's the oldest
           of the XElite and it shows.  He thinks every
           woman wants him, but he doesn't realize it's
           they want him to be 6' under.  Although a truly
           classic ranker in his own right and president of
           the buttweep society.  For sake of being a good
           SysOp, C is also a donating user, you butthead.

Staz:      The easiest thing to say about Staz is that
           probably know him through his girlfriend.
           Everyone else does.  She once visited and
           totally rejuvenated the entire state of Michigan.
           A classic ranker like the rest, but too many
           of rule #34 quote changes.

Deicide:   Leader of Elves and the tit-little people, this
           XElite gets off on ripping on you by force.  His
           ranks are often weak but very annoying.  One of
           the proud donating users, and besides giving his
           mom to the good of the board, he also gave money.

Attila:    King tit-little, big brother to Deicide, this
           butt king pops in some suprising good ranks for
           a youngin' but he usually ruins it by laughing
           at them before any of us do.  Another donator
           and butt weasle, but another XElite.

Bloodline: One of the newest to the XElite and probably
           the most controversial.  The reason for this is
           because no one understands a damn thing he says.
           We're still trying to figure out if he's
           Chinese or not.  King of the sewers and although
           has had ranks, he still doesn't know what a
           rank is.

Pyschotic
Ambition:  One of the newest XElite users.  Heavy in all depts,
           except the crotch, his brother must be using it
           again, who knows.  Not much to say about him, but
           he's a good guy who throws out a decent rank once
           in a while.

Cheeseburger:  The most recently added user to the XElite.
               He's true to the name of pudyank, but he
               enjoys it and that's all that counts.  He
               he an occasional funny Women Post!! tagline
               but it still won't help him with all the
               problems he has.


    Now that I've introduced you to the Xroads, (except for
myself of course, you've seen that already) a couple more
things that you'll find there in case you ever drop in.  We
have about 7 or 8 door games online at one time.  The ones
that are permanent are:

Land of Devastation v3.51 excellent wastelands type game
                          similiar to Operation Overkill
                          but so much better.

Solar Realms Elite v.986f What bbs has online games w/o
                          SRE?  Definitely a classic.

TradeWars 2002 v1.03d     Another classic interstellar
                          game.

Global War v2.42          Perhaps my favorite, basically
                          Parker Bros. Risk game.

The Pit v2.05             Another popular combat game.

Barren Realms Elite       Inter-BBS gaming comes to life
                          from the makers of SRE.

The above mentioned games are all registered versions.

As for file support, I have approximately 800-900 files at
this time and am trying to build the collection.  That's
about 80-100 Megs I believe.  There are about 140 TG utils.
Over 100 door programs and another 50 to 100 other BBS
related programs and files.  As you can see, I'm a SysOp
support related BBS.  Helping the local SysOps is something
I like to do, because when I was starting out, I really
needed someone to help me and most SysOps seemed bothered.
That is also why you'll find me as active in the message
bases as anyone, and I chat probably as much as any SysOp
around.  If you're in the neighborhood, stop by.


The Crossroads BBS, Chicago, IL 312-587-8756 1:115/743