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Intro 2: Communicating

 

Communications among users are of two types: (a) messages, and (b) requests. Messages basically involve conversations among users; the server merely transmits the messages. Requests are different because they involve the server doing something about or during a chess match.

MESSAGES

Suppose you want to say something to one or more users. There are several commands you could use (Table 2).

 

command function
message Send a user a message to be stored, even if the user is not logged on at that time
tell Talk to one user, or users on one channel
xtell Talk to one user, but allow for a continuing conversation with another user
channel Listen to tells sent to a given channel
say Talk to the user you are playing chess with (or just played a game with)
shout Talk to all users who are open to shouts
cshout Talk to all users who are open to shouts; message must be about chess
it Special kind of shout
kibitz Talk to all players and observers of a specific chess game
whisper Talk to all observers of a specific chess game
censor Prevents a given user's messages from reaching you
Table 2: Communication commands
 

Read more about these commands in their own help files. But, in general, message works like an answering machine, tell and say are like normal one-to-one conversations, shout, cshout and it are for group talks, and kibitz and whisper are for commenting on a chess match you are observing. Please observe chess server etiquette guidelines when using these commands.

NOTE: On GICS, DICS and WICS you can also remote-communicate with players on other ICS Servers, see the help file for iic about this feature.

REQUESTS

Users need to make agreements about the kinds of chess matches they will be playing. They also need to make agreements about various situations during the play of a chess match. Requests serve as ways to reach agreements as well as take the agreed upon action. For example, users need to request the start of a chess match. When a match has been agreed upon, the server will start a match between those two users. During a match, one player may need to adjourn; if an adjournment is agreed upon, the server will stop the match and save the game so that it can be resumed later. Read intro 6 for more information about chess matches and these special requests.

USEFUL HINT: At times, a lot of messages from various users will come across your screen. To help you notice when a user has sent a message or request to you personally (rather than to users on FICS), you can set the highlight variable to make them readily apparent (see highlight).

See also: etiquette, highlight, intro 6


next up previous contents
Next: Intro 3: Displaying information Up: Introduction to the Free Previous: Intro 1: General information

Klaus Knopper <knopper@unix-ag.uni-kl.de>