This document explains the features of and answers some questions about Vrave. A mini version of it is automatically sent to every new user who creates an account via the "new" login. It was originally written by Cindy Kawakami, who can be found on Vrave as cindy, then modified by Kurt Vile, and then brought up for group discussion on the Vrave mailing list. It is maintained through the efforts of the users of Vrave.

WHAT IS VRAVE?

Vrave is a forum used by people within the raving community to discuss various aspects of the rave culture. The majority of the people on here read the various mailing lists and newsgroups such as SFRaves, MWRaves, DCRaves, NERaves, AusRaves, UK-Dance, alt.rave, and so on. Of course, the next logical question is, "What is a rave?"

You may have a hard time understanding people on Vrave if you are not a raver/musician. The best description of a rave is an all-night dance party which features various visuals and electronic music, best known as techno. For further information on raves, you may gopher, ftp, or www/xmosaic to hyperreal.com and read the alt.rave FAQ.

Raves have brought to us a feeling of vibe. This is what we strive to achieve on Vrave--a sense of friendliness among the members. This is a real-time chatline, and you must remember that words can take on many different meanings without inflection or tone of voice to clarify them. Because of this, please be sure to be courteous and open minded toward one another.

THE HISTORY OF VRAVE

Vrave was created by Brian Behlendorf and established on November 1, 1992. The first site was at haas.berkeley.edu, later moving to soda.berkeley.edu, then to techno.stanford.edu. The most recent move was to hyperreal.com, where it has a permanent home, as hyperreal.com is owned and administered by Brian. Vrave has grown as more people on the regional rave lists subscribed and the publicity of the internet increased among various rave magazines. It was originally run using the software package UnixCB 1.4.2e, which was written by Gary Grossman, with a user interface based on SKYNET's chat software. Eric Pederson designed and wrote the interface for the SKYNET version of the chat. Maintenance and raver-friendly upgrades were next implemented by Brian Behlendorf, Craig Kanarick, and Kurt Vile. With the move to hyperreal.com, the software was upgraded by Laura La Gassa to versions 2.0 and higher, including extensive internal changes to improve reliability and performance, and new features such as named channels.

WHAT ARE LOGINS AND NICKNAMES?

When you type "who" before entering Vrave (or type /a once you've logged on), you'll notice that people have two names separated by a forward slash (/). The first is their permanent login. The second is called a nickname (some people call these "handles").

Your login is the name you choose to be identified as when you set up your account. This name is permanent--once you set up your account, you can't change your login. Select something you don't mind being called for quite some time! *ONLY ONE ACCOUNT* is allowed per person!

Your nickname is a non-permanent form of identification. Once you've logged onto Vrave, you can type /n and change your nickname as often as you wish. You have 32 characters available to describe yourself, using letters, numbers, dots or dashes--anything you choose.

One word of caution... please don't choose logins or nicknames that stretch the limits of common sense and decency. Never choose any name you would be embarrassed to be called in person! Also keep in mind that you never know who's on the other end of these data lines (it's nice to show your parents, younger brothers/sisters, or friends what fun this place can be), so don't use nicknames you wouldn't want them to see.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMAIL ADDRESSES...

When you first created your account using the "new" login option, you were asked to enter your email address. Please make sure that you keep a valid email address on file at all times (use the /@ command). If you'd like, you may keep this address private (the /F command toggles your address between public and private status). Accounts without valid addresses, however, are purged from the database on a daily basis. This means that if your account is purged, someone else may create a new account using your favorite login! So enter those email addresses!

P.S.--rest assured that private email addresses stay private. No one can or will give out that info except for you. You may, on occasion, receive a test email from us to confirm that your address is current and valid.

A NOTE ON HARASSMENT

This is a very friendly community comprised of hundreds of users, some whom have been using Vrave since it was first established. We openly welcome into this community new members interested in learning more about the rave scene. However, logging on to Vrave and harassing other members in any way will not be tolerated. Doing this will result in your account being permanently deleted and the administrator at your service provider being contacted, if warranted.

OK, I'M HERE. HOW DO I WORK THE THING?

The easiest way to use Vrave is to just type. Once you finish typing and press return, your "message" is then displayed to everyone on your current channel. The default channel is 01; however, there are 99 channels on Vrave. If you type /C and press return, you will see what channel you are on, as well as a list of members on the channel with you. Typing /c followed by a channel number moves you to that specific channel. Please be polite, however, and when you get to the new channel do a /C, make sure the channel is empty; if not, choose another.

There are several ways to communicate on Vrave. The easiest is just regular "speaking," as described above. Additionally, you can send a private message to another user by typing /p followed by the user's login. To reply to the last person who sent you a private message, simply type /, and type your message. You may also broadcast a message to all of the channels by typing /d then entering your message. In contrast, you may choose to turn off broadcast messages by using the /4 command.

There are many other commands you may with to try. My favorite set of commands is /H and /S. Try those on your favorite fellow Vraver one day to see what they do... they're fun! And if you'd like to explore what else you can do, type /? once you're online to see a list of basic commands, and /+ to see a complete list of commands. And once you're done "Vraving" for the day, type /qy to quit.

So there you go...a basic overview of Vrave. To view a mini version of the FAQ while you're logged on, type /Q. OH! The most important thing! If you're ever on Vrave and need help, look for bella (that's me!) or ab to be logged on. We're your friendly admins. :)