┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Message Areas - (F3) │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

ProBoard is one of the only BBS packages that allows you to use more than one message base format to hold your messages. You can use Hudson, Squish, JAM, or Fido (.MSG) or a combination of these at the same time!

ProBoard's message base limits are as follows: ──────────────────────────────────────────────

Message Type Number of Message Areas Maximum File Size ──────────── ─────────────────────── ──────────────────────── Hudson 200 16 Mb / 15000 messages

(all areas combined)

Squish 10,000 5400 msgs. per area. Fido *.MSG 10,000 Unlimited (disk space

available).

JAM 10,000 Unlimited (disk space

available).

Each message area in ProBoard has its own name and properties.

For example, you could have a message area for public messages only, several message areas for Echomail, or an area where you create “Announcement” messages for your users.

Selecting “Message Areas” from the Main Menu, gives you a list of the available areas (which may initially be empty if you are setting up your BBS for the first time.)

To edit a Message Area, press <Enter>. To add a Message Area, press <Insert>, or enter a number for the area you want to create.

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For example, entering the number 10000 will create message area 10000. Keep in mind that if you are using the HUDSON format for any of your message areas, that any areas specified to use the HUDSON format will have to be specified as areas 1 - 200. This is a limit of the existing HUDSON message base format and is not a limit of ProBoard.

A message area has the following fields: ────────────────────────────────────────

Name …………………… Name of this message area.

Path …………………… The path where this Message Area is

located. This is used for SQUISH, JAM, and
*.MSG, but NOT for Hudson.

Message Kind ……………. The kind of message. You can have:

Local ………. Local messages

EchoMail ……. Echomail

NetMail …….. Netmail

Pvt EchoMail … Private Echomail

One word about the difference between the
"Echo" type and the "Pvt Echo" type: In
"Echo" areas, it is not allowed to delete
messages that have been exported by an
echomail processor (as specified by the
FTSC, the FidoNet Technical Standards
Committee). In a "Pvt Echo" area, this
restriction is not imposed.

Message Type ……………. One of the following:

Private only .. Only private messages

allowed.

Pvt/Public …. Private or public

messages allowed.

Public only … Only public messages

allowed.

To All …….. This message type

should be used in a

LOCAL message area
only.

The "To All" message type is intended for
a SysOp to leave messages to all users.
Any messages entered in this area will
considered "To All" regardless of the whom
the "To" is addressed to. Messages entered
in this area will be shown when ProBoard
checks for waiting mail. You may not want
to allow users to reply to these messages
since their replies will be sent to all
users. A better idea is to set the "Reply
Area" to a different message area number
if you decide to let users reply to your
announcement messages.

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Name Options ……………. Determines which names can be used to write

messages in this area. This can be:

Real Names Only:

Obvious I guess

Free Alias

The user can choose any alias he

likes, as long as it's not used by
another user.

Fixed Alias (or real name)

The user can choose between his real

name and his alias

Fixed Alias (enforced)

The user can only use his alias to

write a message

It is recommended that areas where aliases
are allowed, are made "Public Only".

Message Base ……………. The type of message base to use for this

message area. Valid choices are Hudson,
Squish, JAM, and Fido (*.MSG).

Use the <SpaceBar> to toggle between
available choices. Remember, if you
select Hudson that this message area's
number (see top bar of the window) should
be message area 200 or lower since Hudson
only supports up to 200 message areas.

Read Level ……………… Security Level needed to read messages in

this area.

Read Flags ……………… Flags needed to read messages in this area.

You can now specify flags that a user MUST
NOT have in order to READ from this message
area. These flags are shown in reverse.
To set a reverse flag, press the flag
letter twice (it will appear reversed). To
clear a reversed flag type the flag letter
one more time.

Write Level …………….. Security Level needed to write messages in

this area.

Write Flags …………….. Flags needed to write messages in this

area. You can now specify flags that a
user MUST NOT have in order to WRITE to
this message area. These flags are shown
in reverse. To set a reverse flag, press
the flag letter twice (it will appear
reversed). To clear a reversed flag type
the flag letter one more time.

SysOp Level …………….. Security Level needed to be allowed access

to all functions in this message area.

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SysOp Flags …………….. Flags needed to be allowed access to all

functions in this message area. You can
now specify flags that the SysOp MUST NOT
have in order to be allowed access to all
functions in this this message area. These
flags are shown in reverse. To set a
reverse flag, press the flag letter twice
(it will appear reversed). To clear a
reversed flag type the flag letter one more
time.

Origin Line …………….. Only for Echomail: if you do not specify

this, the default origin line will be used
(refer to F1, Site Options, to specify your
default origin line).

Use AKA ………………… The network address for this area (for

Echomail & Netmail only).

EchoMail Tag ……………. This field is used by ProBoard to create a

file called ECHOTOSS.LOG You should enter
the Echomail Tag name for this message area
(if this message area has the "Message
Kind" field set to "EchoMail"). When a
user enters a message into this area the
tag name you specify here will be written
to the file ECHOTOSS.LOG in the ProBoard
system directory, causing your mail tosser
to scan for outbound mail in this message
area upon the callers logoff.

QWK Area Name …………… (Optional) You can enter the name of this

area for QWK mail packers. QWK only
supports up to 12 characters for area
names.

Reply Area ……………… The area where replies to messages in this

area should be posted. Useful for allowing
users to reply to "To-All" messages. Set
this to "0" (zero) if you want replies to
go to the current message area.

SysOp ………………….. The user name for an “Area SysOp”. A user

with this name will have full SysOp access
to this message area. When users write
messages to "SysOp" in this area, the
messages will be sent to the user name
specified here.

Group #1 ……………….. The first group number this message area

belongs to (1-255) if any.

Group #2 ……………….. The second group number this message area

belongs to (1-255) if any.

Group #3 ……………….. The third group number this message area

belongs to (1-255) if any.

Group #4 ……………….. The fourth group number this message area

belongs to (1-255) if any.

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All Groups ……………… Does this message area belong to all

message groups? Press the <SpaceBar> to
toggle between Yes/No.

Kill after <xx> days …….. When running the PBUTIL message packer with

the -D parameter, all messages that have
been in the message base for <xx> days will
be deleted. This is for both HUDSON and
JAM message base formats.

Kill rcvd after <xx> days … When running the PBUTIL message packer with

the -D parameter, all messages that have
been received for <xx> days will be
deleted. This is only for HUDSON or JAM
message base formats.

Max # messages ………….. The maximum number of messages allowed in

this area. When this number is exceeded,
PBUTIL MP -D (message pack & delete) will
delete the oldest messages from the message
base (Hudson and Squish).