Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 09:55:57 -0700
Message-Id: <200405041655.i44Gtvt25411@fics.freechess.org>
From: FICS <chess@freechess.org>
To: gwms <gwms@corninglink.com>
Subject: FICS help file from server freechess.org: tell
Status:   
Content-Type: 

tell
 
Usage: tell user|channel_# message

  "Tell" transmits your message to the user or channel # specified.  The
server gives you some feedback that the message has been sent.  You will also
be told whether the user is playing a game currently, or is not even logged on
at the moment.  The system alias for "tell" is "t".


Tells to individual users
---------------------------

  An example of a tell you can make to an individual user is:

    tell DAV Are you busy?

  You, as the sender, will see this feedback displayed: "(told user)".  YOu
will also see other feedback in certain situations, such as 'busy' or 'idle'
(for 5 minutes or more).

  As a shortcut, you can use "." as an alias for "tell user" when you want to
send another message to the last person you told.  That way you can keep
conversations going easily.  Example: suppose DAV was the last person to whom
you sent a 'tell' and you want to send him another 'tell'.  You could type
"tell DAV okay, I understand" or ". okay, I understand".  Be careful when
using the "." alias, though, because it works on the last person you told.

  When you receive a "tell" from a user it will appear like this:
	<User> tells you: <message>

If an admin is "on duty", a tell from an admin will be followed by the (*)
admin designation.


Tells to a channel
------------------

  The server has several special channels (see "help channel_list") as well as
channels for users to design.  A tell to a channel will be sent to all users
who have activited that channel (that is, are listening to that channel). A
few channels (currently 0, 5, 48 and 63) are "locked", i.e. not available for
general use.

  If you send a tell to a channel, you as the sender will see the following
display after sending your message:

    (told ## users in channel # "channel_title")

where # is the channel number and ## is the number of people on that channel
that received your message.  For example, if you sent a tell to channel 1 the
display might be: "(told 57 users in channel 1 "Help")."
  For channels 1, 2, 49 and 50, an "autoadd" feature has been implemented so
that any tells to those channels will result in an attempt to add them to your
channel list.

  As a shortcut, you can use "," as an alias for "tell #" and your message
will be sent to the last channel you gave in a "tell" command.  (Compare to
"xtell" command.)

  When you receive a "tell" from a channel you are on, it will appear like
this:
    user(#): text

where # is the channel number.


SPECIAL NOTES

  (a) The server remembers both the last user to whom and the last channel to
which you have told something.  For this reason, "." and "," are separate
aliases and do not interfere with each other.

  (b) Mostly for use within aliases, it is possible to redirect a tell to a
shout or a cshout, by using the special forms "tell ! <text>", which will 
actually result in <text> being shouted, and "tell ^ <text>" which results
in a cshout.

  (c) A special command, "say", can be used for communicating with an opponent
during or directly following a chess game.  Another special tell, "ptell", can
be used when communicating with your bughouse partner.

  (d) Another special command, "message", sends a message to a user so that it
can be stored for future use.

  (e) You can decide whether or not to hear a "tell" from unregistered users;
setting the "tell" variable to 0 (zero) filters tells from unregistered users
being sent to you, and setting the "ctell" variable to 0 (zero) filters
channel tells from unregistered users.

  (f) You can turn off channel tells you receive by setting the "chanoff"
variable to 1 (one).  Your channel list will still be active.  So the chanoff
variable saves you time from removing all channels when you don't want those
messages to disturb you.  You can also turn off channel tells automatically
when you are playign a game, by setting the 'silence' variable to 1 (see "help
v_silence").  Users in a channel but who aren't listening to that channel will
be marked with {} when you use the inchannel command.

  (g) You can decide NOT to receive tells and other communications from a
given user; see the "help censor" file for details.

  (h) If the user to whom you send a tell has his/her 'busy' string set, or
has been idle for longer than 5 minutes, you will be notified of this.

  (i) Please make sure that your tells to users and channels follow proper
etiquette (see the guidelines for communication in the 'etiquette' help file).

  (j) if you have an alias that goes something like "tell @ hi there", you can
substitute the '@' with a name or a channel (or with '.' and ',' to tell to
the last person or last channel you addressed). Sometimes it may be useful to
send the aliased tell to 'shout' or 'cshout', which can be done using 'tell !'
and 'tell ^'. Supposing your alias for the above example is 'hi', you can now
type 'hi !' to effectively shout "hi there".


See Also:  admins  alias  bughouse  busy  censor  channel  etiquette 
           inchannel  intro_talking  message  ptell  say  variables
           v_chanoff  v_ctell  v_silence  v_tell  xtell

[Last modified: March 11, 1999 -- pgv ]