How to post in RN

There are two different ways of posting in RN: either by using the bug, idea, praise, or typo commands or by typing rn -post <group>. There are specific reasons and situations in which each should be used.

What the commands do

The bug, idea, praise, and typo commands each grab either the filename of an object/monster specified by the player or the filename of the room the player is standing in. So, for example, Mary is standing in the bar on Coruscant with a monster named Gularg. She thinks that it would be a cool idea for him to be wearing a t-shirt that says "I hate droids!" The proper way for her to submit an idea report is to enter:

idea gularg Maybe Gularg should wear a t-shirt that says "I hate droids!"

Mary's post then appears in rn idea with Gularg's filename preceding her idea:

Post 12345 (0 more) in idea:
Poster: Mary
Subject: corus
Date: Wed Jun 22 22:30:47 2005

/d/corus/icity/mon/gularg#62113: Maybe Gularg should wear a t-shirt that says "I hate droids!"
End of article -- What next? [cfFhnpq(rem)u?=]

If Mary doesn't enter Gularg's name at the beginning of her post, the filename that will appear at the beginning of her suggestion will be that of Gularg's bar:

Post 12346 (0 more) in idea:
Poster: Mary
Subject: corus
Date: Wed Jun 22 22:35:24 2005

/d/corus/icity/room/main/gularg: Maybe Gularg should wear a t-shirt that says "I hate droids!"
End of article -- What next? [cfFhnpq(rem)u?=]

While this is still somewhat helpful to the wizstaff, it is not as useful as having Gularg's exact filename listed.

By typing rn -post <group>, the player is allowed to enter a subject line. This method is most helpful for concepts that have nothing to do with a player's environment. Say Mary is standing in the start room and she gets an idea for a new event. In this case, she should enter rn -post idea :

Post 12347 (0 more) in idea:
Poster: Mary
Subject: Mary's event idea
Date: Wed Jun 22 22:40:15 2005

I had an idea for a new event.

<description follows here>

<rules go here>
End of article -- What next? [cfFhnpq(rem)u?=]

If Mary were to simply type idea before her suggestion, the filename of the start room would be tacked onto her idea:

Post 12348 (0 more) in idea:
Poster: Mary
Subject: corus
Date: Wed Jun 22 22:45:33 2005

/d/corus/lobby: I had an idea for a new event. <description follows here> <rules go here>
End of article -- What next? [cfFhnpq(rem)u?=]

While her idea would still be readable and in the idea rn group, it would also be filed away in the Coruscant reports, where it does not belong.

Formatting issues

Frequent readers of rn may have noticed some lengthy posts that scroll by in massive chunks, often hitting the first More xx% far too late to be effective. This often happens when the poster has typed their post in another window and has not entered any artificial line breaks, except between paragraphs. This can make posts very difficult to read, especially for players using Telnet. A handy tip for making lengthy posts, though this can also be a good habit to get into for making shorter posts too, is to insert a hard line break after every line while you're typing your post. After every 80 characters or so, hit the enter key. This will cause the mud to insert More in the places they should be, making it much easier for others to read your post.

<---------------This is how long an 80 character line should be--------------->

How to reply to a post

There are a few proper ways of replying to an rn post. The best way to handle rn is to read through an entire group before responding to see if anyone else has addressed your points/concerns. If you still have the post you wish to reply to open in front of you, you can type either f or F to create a response post. F will quote the previous post and f will start a completely blank rn post with the previous post's subject line. If you use F, you may want to hit enter before you start your reply in order to add a line break between the quoted text and your new text. If you do not currently have the correct post before you, you can type rn -r <group> <post #> in order to open it. If you cannot remember the number of the post you wish to reply to, type rn -last <group>. Usually, it will be listed there. If you do not see it, try rn -last <group> <last # posts>.

How to remove a post

If you have accidentally made an error in posting and wish to remove a post you have made, type rn -r <group> <post #>. Once you have the post in front of you, type rem. You MUST be visible while you are doing this or the post will not be removed.

For information on more advanced editing methods

Please see the following panic files: ed_help, ed_ref