Chat Commands
In addition to typing messages to be displayed on all participant screens, chat has several commands that can be typed into the message box. Chat commands are preceded by a slash / or a period.
If you click on the Help button, you'll see a list of the available commands:
>> List of available commands (Commands start with '/')
>> ----------------------------------------------------------
>> /MSG <line> <msg> ..... Send private msg to user at <line>
>> /YELL ....... Cross channel yelling, everyone can listen !
>> /SQUELCH <id> ... Squelch/Unsquelch user with user id <id>
>> /JOIN <channel id> ................... Change/open channel
>> /TOPIC <channel name> .............. Change channel's name
>> /NICK <name> ........................ Change your own name
>> /LIST ........................ List all available channels
>> /LOCK ........................... Lock/unlock your channel
>> /OWN <id> ............... Change the owner of your channel
>> /KICK <id> ...................... Kick user out of channel
>> /INVITE <id> ............ Invite user <id> to your channel
>> /WHOIS .................... Show all users in your channel
>> /FINGER ........................ Show all user in the chat
>> /VER ............................................. Version
>> /ME ........................................... Who am I ?
>> /HELP ............................................... Help
>> /TIME ................................ Display date & time
>> /QUIT ............................................. Logout
>> /PAGE <line> ..... Page user at <line>
Note again that a command can be typed with a leading slash, as in /help or a period as in .help. You can use whichever is most comfortable for you.
This section explains each of the commands. We've divided the commands into two basic groups - General commands, and Channel commands. Some of the General commands do the same thing as the buttons found in your chat window. Other General commands do things that frankly aren't very important. The Channel commands, however, are more interesting and useful, since they allow you to leave and re-enter your 'home' channel, and to create private channels where your conversations are not recorded.
General commands
This group of commands includes commands that either are duplicated by buttons on your chat window, or are of a general nature and/or are not particularly useful in an academic environment.
/help
The /help command does exactly the same thing as clicking on the Help button. It displays the list of valid commands shown in Chat Commands.
/whois
The /whois command produces the same result as clicking on the Who is with me? button. That is, it prints a list of the people who are currently in the same channel as you. These are the people, including yourself, who will see the messages you type. For example:
>> List of users in this channel (demo_man101 [2])
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> [0] Prof.-Jones, Group: 2
>> [1] Paul-Andrew, Group: 2
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that users are identified by both a number and a name. For example, Paul Andrew can be referred to as "Paul-Andrew" or as the number '1'. Some chat commands require you to indicate who a command is intended for. For those commands, it is easiest to refer to a person by their number, and the /whois command (or clicking on the Who is with me? button) is the best way to find a person's number.
/finger
The /finger command is exactly the same as clicking on the Who is logged in? button. It produces a list of everyone who is logged in to Manhattan's chat. Some of these people might be in other classrooms, or engaged in private conversations in channels they have set up. Sample output of the /finger command might look like this:
>> List of users currently in this chat:
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Line 0: Prof.-Jones (etc020.etcnet.wnec.edu), Channel 0 (demo_man101)
>> Line 1: Michael-Plantamura (r031152.rnet.wnec.edu), Channel 30 (s03cis10204)
>> Line 2: Prof.-Russell (c031142.cnet.wnec.edu), Channel 30 (s03cis10204)
>> Line 3: Christopher-Weickert (r032041.rnet.wnec.edu), Channel 30 (s03cis10204)
>> Line 4: Scott-Jacobi (r060247.rnet.wnec.edu), Channel 30 (s03cis10204)
>> Line 5: Jared-Rose (r060049.rnet.wnec.edu), Channel 30 (s03cis10204)
>> Line 6: James-Archibald (cpe-66-189-79-172.ma.charter.com), Channel 30 (s03cis10204)
>> Line 7: Jillian-Prisco (r041048.rnet.wnec.edu), Channel 30 (s03cis10204)
In the above listing, there are 8 people currently logged into the Chat. Professor Jones, (user 0) is all alone in Channel 0 (that channel can also be referred to as "demo_man101"). If he typed a message, he would be talking to himself!
The other 7 users (users 1 through 7) are all together in Channel 30. That name of that channel is "s03cis10204". They must be having a fine conversation!
Note the /finger command (or pressing the Who is logged in? button) also lists the Internet name of the remote computer each user connected from.
/me
The /me command answers the question "Who am I?". Here's the output when Prof. Jones typed the command:
>> You are user [0] Prof.-Jones, you are in channel 2 (demo_man101) and in group 2.
Although you are unlikely to forget your name, you could forget which channel you are in, once you learn how to move to other channels!
/quit
The /quit command performs almost the same function as clicking on the Logoff button. Both actions will log you out of a chat session, but issuing the /quit command leaves the chat window open. You then have to click the Logoff button to close the Chat window.
Since the /quit command doesn't exit as neatly as the Logoff button, you might as well forget about it and click the button when you want to exit chat.
/ver
The /ver command simply lists the version of the Chat server that is running behind the scenes:
>> Melange Chat Server (Version 1.10), Apr-25-1999
/time
The /time command lists the date and time according to the server's clock:
>> Date: 17.2.2003, BMT (Internet Time): @4, Localtime: 18: 6:22
/nick
Most likely your system administrator will have disabled the /nick command, and you'll get the message:
>> This command has been disabled by the administrator !
when you try it. It is possible, however, for the server administrator to turn this feature on, to allow people to change their names. (The /nick command gets its name from "nickname".) For example, Professor Jones would be able to change his name on the system to "Elvis-Presley" by issuing the command:
/nick Elvis-Presley
if the command were enabled on your server. You can imagine what that could do to your chat session (and the transcripts) if this command were enabled!
/page
The /page command allows you to 'page' a user by sounding a chime on his or her computer. To page someone, enter the /page command followed by that person's user number or name. For example,
/page 14 or /page Jackson-Browne
Note you can only page someone who is in the same channel as you.
See The page command for a more complete description of the /page command
/msg
The /msg command can be used to "whisper" (that is, send a private message) to someone who is in the same channel as you.
Suppose Sandra-Smith is in a channel with a number of people, one of which is her friend Janet-Jones. Sandra can whisper a private message to Janet with the command:
/msg Janet-Jones Janet, don't you think this is a little silly? :-)
As always, a person can be referred to by their number instead of their name. If the /whois command shows that Janet-Jones is user number 5, the above command could be typed as:
/msg 5 Janet, don't you think this is a little silly? :-)
After typing either of the above commands, Sandra sees the system message:
>> Your message has been sent to [5] Janet-Jones.
As the recipient of the message, Janet-Jones sees:
<3>Sandra-Smith whispered: Janet, don't you think this is a little silly? :-)
Whispered messages are NOT stored in the chat transcripts.
/squelch
To "squelch" someone is to stop listening to them. Suppose Janet gets annoyed at Sandra, who keeps whispering to her with the /msg command. Assuming Sandra's user number is 3, the command:
/squelch Sandra-Smith or /squelch 3
will result in the following system message:
>> You can't hear user Sandra-Smith [3] anymore :)
Sandra, who has just been "squelched" also gets a system message on her screen:
>> You have been squelched by Janet-Jones [5]. :(
While squelching a person keeps them from whispering to you, it also keeps you from seeing any message they type. That is, if you squelch someone you won't see messages they type as part of a normal conversation.
To undo a /squelch command, issue the same command a second time. For example if Janet wants to hear from Sandra again, she can type the same command, listed above, she used to squelch her in the first place. Once Sandra has been "unsquelched" she'll get the system message:
>> User Janet-Jones [5] is listening to you again. :)
/yell
The /yell command rivals the /squelch command as the most unused command in an academic chat. Yelling is the opposite of whispering. Messages preceded with /yell are seen by everyone in the chat - including those in other classroom channels.
To yell something to everyone in the chat, whether or not they are in your channel, you can type something like:
/yell Hey everyone- free food in the cafeteria!
Yelled messages appear in UPPERCASE letters on the screen of everyone in the chat:
[5, Janet-Jones]: <YELLING> HEY EVERYONE- FREE FOOD IN THE CAFETERIA!
Yelled messages are not recorded in the classroom's transcript.
Yelling can be disabled by your system administrator if you find students are abusing the command.
One circumstance where /yell might be appropriate is if you find yourself in chat and the /finger command shows there is only one other person, a friend of yours, logged into chat. If that one other person is in their dedicated classroom channel, there is no way to communicate with them other than by yelling. A good thing to /yell would be to tell them to meet you in another channel:
/yell Hey Jim! Meet me in the Main channel!
Of course both you and Jim would have to know how to move to other channels as described next.
Channel Commands
The chat system is divided into areas called channels. When you first enter the chat system, you find yourself in a channel that's dedicated to your Manhattan classroom. If you entered from a Manhattan classroom for Mr. Jones' English 101 class, that channel might be called something like "engl101" - the exact name of the channel is selected by the server administrator when they set up the Manhattan classroom. Everyone who enters the chat system through Mr. Jones' English 101 Manhattan classroom finds themselves in this channel. This special channel is also restricted to those who enter through Mr. Jones' classroom - no one else can enter. All conversations that take place in that channel are recorded in the chat transcripts, which can be viewed by members of the class.
The chat system has another channel called Main. The Main channel is always available and anyone on the system can enter the channel, using the /join command. Since the Main channel doesn't belong to any particular classroom, conversations held in the Main channel are not recorded.
The channels dedicated to each Manhattan classroom and the Main channel are special channels said to be owned by the system. The system is sometimes listed within the chat program as user number 1001.
In addition to the always-present Main channel and system channels dedicated to particular Manhattan classrooms, any user can use the /join command to create a new channel. As for the Main channel, conversations in user-created channels are not recorded. The person who first creates a new channel is the owner of the channel. A channel's owner has a number of privileges and responsibilities.
-
When the owner leaves the channel by logging off or by moving to another channel, the channel he owned is closed and everyone who was in that channel gets kicked out to the Main channel.
-
The owner can transfer ownership to another person in the channel in case he needs to leave early and doesn't want to force the channel to close. (Using the /own command.)
-
The owner can change the name of the channel. (Using the /topic command.)
-
The owner of channel can lock the channel to prevent others who are not already in the channel from entering. (Using the /lock command.)
-
The owner of a channel can kick anyone out of his channel. (Using the /kick command.)
-
The owner of a channel can invite anyone to enter his channel. (Using the /invite command.)
While most chat users tend to stay in their dedicated classroom channel where all conversations are recorded, the ability to create private channels where conversations are not automatically recorded can be useful in a learning environment. For example, teachers can hold private consultations with students, or students can hold study or planning sessions without the teacher.
Keep in mind that although conversations are not automatically recorded when outside of your home channel, it is possible for participants to maintain their own transcripts of a chat session using the simple copy and paste method described earlier in this chapter.
The remainder of this sub-section further describes the chat commands, most of which were already briefly mentioned above, that can be used to move between and generally manage chat channels.
/list
The /list command performs the same action as clicking on the "Available channels" button found in your chat window. The command produces a list of all of the channels on the system you are allowed to join. Here's some sample output of the /list command:
>> List of open channels:
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Channel 0 ( MAIN ), Owner: 1001
>> Channel 37 ( english-study-group ), Owner: 0 [private]
>> Channel 38 ( team-a ), Owner: 1
>> Channel 2 ( demo_man101 ), Owner: 1001 [group]
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
As for people, channels have both a name and a number. Generally, this list will contain:
-
The Main channel - always channel 0. This channel is always present and is open to everyone.
-
Your home channel. This is the channel dedicated to your classroom you find yourself in when you first enter chat. This appears as channel 2, demo_man101, in the above sample listing. You can always enter and leave your home channel at will using the /join command. Note that the home channel in the above listing is marked as a [group] channel. It turns out that the one and only channel marked [group] in the list will always be your home channel.
-
Any other channels that were created by users on the system. In the above listing, channel 37, named "english-study-group" is one such channel, which is owned by user 0. Channel 38, named "team-a" is another user-owned channel, owned by user 1. You can use the /finger command, or click on the Who is logged in? button to find the real names for these channel owners.
Note in the above listing that channel 37, "english-study-group", is marked "private". This means that the owner of this channel, user 0, used the /lock command to lock the channel and keep others out. You can only /join this channel if the owner uses the /invite command to invite you.
Always missing from this list will be channels dedicated to other Manhattan classrooms other than the one you entered through. You can never enter these channels under any condition, so they are excluded from the /list command's output.
/join
Moving to an existing channel.
The /join command is used to move to an existing channel, or to create an entirely new channel. Suppose you either type the /list command or you click the Available channels button and get the list:
>> List of open channels:
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Channel 0 ( MAIN ), Owner: 1001
>> Channel 37 ( english-study-group ), Owner: 0 [private]
>> Channel 38 ( team-a ), Owner: 1
>> Channel 2 ( demo_man101 ), Owner: 1001 [group]
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are currently in channel 2, your classroom's home channel, you can move to the main channel by typing:
/join main or /join 0
The system responds:
>> You are now in channel MAIN [0].
>> Conversations in this channel are -->>NOT<-- recorded.
You can now chat with anyone who happens to be in the Main channel, or wait a while to see if someone else notices you're there and comes into the channel to talk.
Given the above list of available channels, you can get back to your classroom's home channel with the command:
/join demo_man101 or /join 2
The system reminds you that you are again in a channel where conversations are recorded:
>> You are now in channel demo_man101 [2].
Notice!!! NOTICE!!! Notice!!! NOTICE!!!
>> Conversations in this channel are recorded
>> and can be viewed by anyone in your class.
>> Use /join to move to another channel if you
>> need to have a private conversation.
Similarly, given the list of available channels we started with, you can move to the channel named team-a, which was created by an ordinary user on the system, using /join team-a or /join 38. However, you can NOT move to channel 37 , "english-study-group", because it's marked [private]. When you try to /join 37 you'd get the notice:
>> The channel english-study-group [37] is locked. You can't go there.
Creating a new channel
To create a new channel, simply use /join with the name of a channel that doesn't already exist. For example, the command:
/join party
Will create a new channel named "party", assuming a channel named "party" doesn't already exist. The output of the command is:
>> You are now in your NEW channel (party).
>> Conversations in this channel are -->>NOT<-- recorded.
Although technically you can create a new channel by specifying a number like 28 instead of a name like "party", doing so can be problematic. That's because internally the chat system reserves channel numbers for special uses. Using a command like /join 28 can result in a message like "You can't move to that channel.", even if it appears there is no currently active channel numbered 28. The simple solution is to always create a new channel by giving it a name, instead of a number.
When you create a new channel, you are the owner of that channel. As the owner, you can issue the /kick, /lock, /invite, /own and /topic commands that are described next. Perhaps the most important responsibility of a channel owner is to understand that when he leaves the channel, everyone gets kicked out to the main channel!
|
The channel closes automatically and all users are kicked out to the Main channel when the owner logs off the chat system or leaves the channel. |
/topic
The /topic command can be used only by the owner of a channel (see /join to learn how to become a channel owner.) It's used to change the channel's name. For example, if you were the owner of channel 37 currently called "how-to-get-rich" , and you typed:
/topic meaning-of-life
The system would respond:
>> Channel 37 (how-to-get-rich) is now called meaning-of-life.
/lock
The /lock command can only be issued by the owner of a channel (see /join to learn how to become a channel owner). The /lock command is used to make the current channel private, so no one can enter it without being invited by the channel owner. If the current channel is already locked, issuing the /lock command will make it public again.
For example, if the owner of channel 37 types:
/lock
The system responds:
>> Channel (meaning-of-life [37]) is now private.
The only way another person can enter a private channel is if the owner invites them - see the /invite command below. To unlock the channel, the owner can issue the same command again:
/lock
The system responds:
>> This channel has been unlocked again.
/invite
The /invite command can only be issued by the owner of a channel (see /join to learn how to become a channel owner). The /invite command can be used to invite anyone, in any channel of the chat, to /join the channel where the person who issued the command from.
The /invite command does two things for the person who was the target of the command. First, it prints a message on that person's display telling them they have been invited to enter a particular channel. Second, it can be thought of as giving that person a key, so they can enter a channel even when it's locked.
For example, suppose you are the owner of the channel named "meaning-of-life". Using the /finger command, you notice that John-Rich, user number 7, is in another channel. If you type the command:
/invite John-Rich or /invite 7
The person you invited will see a message like:
>> Joe-Smith invited you into his channel 37 (meaning-of-life)
He can then issue a /join 37 command to enter your channel, even if you have locked the channel to prevent others from entering.
/own
The /own command can only be issued by the owner of a channel (see /join to learn how to become a channel owner.) The command transfers ownership of the channel to another person who is already in the channel.
To transfer ownership of the current channel to John-Rich, user number 7, you can type the command:
/own John-Rich or /own 7
You'll see the system message:
>>The new owner of this channel is [7] John-Rich.
and John-Rich will see the message:
>>You are now the owner of this channel!
The most common reason for transferring ownership of a channel is that the owner of the channel has to leave the chat. When the owner of a channel leaves, everyone in that channel automatically gets kicked out to the Main channel. To prevent that from happening, the owner can use the /own command to make someone else the owner before he leaves.
/kick
The /kick command can only be issued by the owner of a channel (see /join to learn how to become a channel owner.) The command kicks the named person out of the channel and into the Main channel. It's not a nice thing to do, and it will rarely happen in a chat used for academic purposes.
For example, if you are the owner of the current channel, and John-Rich with user number 7 is in the channel with you, the command:
/kick John-Rich or /kick 7
will force John-Rich out of the channel and into the Main channel. If the channel is locked (using /lock), John-Rich cannot get back into your channel unless you invite him (using /invite).