Subject: Tutorial On Using The BBS "READ" Command

Today we'll continue looking at those versitile R commands.  There's a lot
more than just R MESSAGENUMBER!  Let's say you sent a message to KB4VOL and
you want to reread it, but forgot it's message number.  Enter R> KB4VOL
(note space) and you've got it.  But, suppose he sent out a bulletin and
you've forgotten the number of that one, too.  Enter R< KB4VOL and there it
is.  Don't forget, the symbol < means "from," and the symbol > means "to."
We can use these with (L)ist as well as (R)ead commands.

Taking this command one step further, let's say you want to read a bulletin
addressed to RTTY @ PODUNK but you've forgotten the message number.  You
can enter R> RTTY (Read TO RTTY) and you've got it.  You could also enter
R@ PODUNK (Read AT Podunk) and you'll see it.  But be careful!  If a lot
of bulletins are sent @ PODUNK that command will give you the one you want,
along with all the rest of them!  It might be better to use the (L)ist
command (covered earlier) to spot the one you want, then use R to read it.
Otherwise you might get a long string of messages from the BBS, while the
frequency gets tied up and your brain turns to mush.

Now let's look at the one R command that frustrates a lot of users!  It's
RM which means (R)ead (M)ine.  Say you check into your home BBS and after
the usual opening it announces it has a message (mail) for you.  "Hey, this
is neat!" you say. You don't bother getting the message number with LM
(List Mine), and you grab the easy way.  You enter RM and a message from
Aunt Tillie floats by on the screen.  Then you read a couple of new
bulletins and decide you want to read Aunt Tillie's again.  You enter RM
a second time and the BBS says NOTHING FOUND, or words to that effect.
What happened?  Did the BBS eat it?  Nope!  What it's telling you is nothing
NEW has been received since your previous message.  You already saw that,
so it's been tagged as having been read.  Beating on the computer won't
help, and you'll just break something.  Use LM to see it listed, then
R MESSAGENUMBER to read it again.  Incidently, when you're done reading
your messages, it's a courtesy to kill them with the KM (Kill Mine) command.
Your friendly neighborhood SYSOP will thank you for that.

Next time we'll take a look at a few R commands that are considered a
"no-no," but they're on most BBS's and you should know how to use them
correctly, without incurring the wrath of everybody in sight!
Comments and suggestions on this series are welcome.

73... Bill, KB4VOL @ KB4VOL