Glossary of terms and functions

This is an exhaustive list of all the items referenced by Motet's help pages.


Add the selected conferences to your hotlist. By default, the forums will be added to the bottom of your list. To add them somewhere else, select an insertion point in your hotlist; the new forum(s) will be added above the insertion point.


Attach file

If this feature is enabled, you can use it to attach a file to a posting. Anyone who reads the posting will be then be presented with a link which they can click to download the file.


Attach photo

If this feature is enabled, you can use it to attach a photograph to a posting. The photograph will automatically be displayed inline above your posting. You can think of the text of the posting as a caption to the photograph.

A photograph may be in GIF or JPEG format. After you upload it, Motet will convert the photograph to a standard size and format, automatically shrinking it if necessary.


Go to the first posting in the topic.


Bookmark

Generate a page from which you can add a browser bookmark to this posting.

Alternatively, you can dog-ear the topic, which tells Motet to show you new postings next time beginning here. Use Dog-ear to temporarily mark your place for next time; use Bookmark to create a permanent reference to the posting.


Catch up in all your forums to

Mark your place in all topics in all the forums on your hotlist according to the date/time specified, enabling you to catch up when you haven't read in a while without having read postings that are no longer current.


Catch up in selected topics to

Mark your place in the selected topics according to the date/time specified, enabling you to catch up in the topics when you haven't read it in a while without having read postings that are no longer current. You can also catch up in all topics in the current forum at the top of the page.


Catch up to

Marks your place in all the topics in this forum according to the date/time specified, enabling you to catch up in a forum when you haven't read it in a while without having read postings that are no longer current.


Change your name in this forum to

Specify the name that will appear on your future postings in this conference. This is mainly for fun; your userid will always appear on your postings, so you can't use this to hide your identity or masquerade as someone else.


List the available forums.


Date/time

Several of Motet's functions allow you to refer to a date and/or time. Most of the common formats are recognized, in addition to phrases like yesterday, monday, and 2 weeks ago. An exhaustive (and exhausting!) list of formats appears below. All keywords are case-insensitive, and may be abbreviated to three letters.

Form

Meaning

Example

Footnotes

m/d month and day 4/26 1, 4, 5
m-d month and day 4-26 1, 4, 5
mon d month and day apr 26 1, 4, 5
d mon day and month 26 apr 1, 4, 5
mon month apr 1, 3, 4, 5
m/d/y month, day, year 4/26/98 1, 5, 6
m-d-y month, day, year 4-26-98 1, 5, 6
mon d y month, day, year apr 26 98 1, 5, 6
d mon y day, month, year 26 apr 98 1, 5, 6
day weekday this past week monday 1, 5, 7
today today today 1, 5
yesterday yesterday yesterday 1, 5
-n days ago -2 1, 8
-n days days ago -2 days 1, 8
n days ago days ago 2 days ago 1, 8
-n weeks weeks ago -2 weeks 1, 9
n weeks ago weeks ago 2 weeks ago 1, 9
-n months months ago -2 months 1, 10
n months ago months ago 2 months ago 1, 10
-n years years ago -2 years 1, 11
n years ago years ago 2 years ago 1, 11
last week last week last week 1, 5
this week this week this week 1, 5
last month last month last month 1, 5
this month this month this month 1, 5
last year last year last year 1, 5
this year this year this year 1, 5
h:m hours and minutes 17:23 or 5:23pm 2, 12, 13, 14
h:m:s hours, minutes, and seconds 17:23:19 or 5:23:19pm 2, 12, 13, 14
ham AM hour 5am 2, 12, 14
hpm PM hour 3pm 2, 12, 14
noon noon noon 2, 12
midnight midnight midnight 2, 12, 15
-n seconds seconds ago -2 seconds  
n seconds ago seconds ago 2 seconds ago  
-n minutes minutes ago -2 minutes  
n minutes ago minutes ago 2 minutes ago  
-n hours hours ago -2 hours  
n hours ago hours ago 2 hours ago  
-h:m hours and minutes ago -2:30  
-h:m:s hours, minutes, and seconds ago -2:30:10  
now time now now  
0 time now 0  
genesis beginning of time genesis  
d UNIX time in decimal 80598117 16
0xh UNIX time in hexadecimal 0x300a4bf9 16

Footnotes:

1,2) You can specify a date (1), a time (2), or both, in either order:

apr 26 17:23
17:23 4/26
5pm 26 apr
4-26-95 17:23:19
wed 17:23
midnight fri

3) The first of the month is implied.

4) If the month is not the present month, it's that month in the past, not the future, even if in the previous year. The date may optionally be prefixed with last, this, or next, meaning last calendar year, this year, or next year respectively.

5) Unless combined with a time, the start of that day (12AM) is implied.

6) Years can be 2, 3, or 4 digits. If a year is not 4 digits and it is greater than or equal to 70, 1900 is added to it; if it is less than 70, 2000 is added to it. For example, 99 = 1999, 101 = 2001, 01 = 2001.

7) If the day is not the present day, it's the previous such day; thus, if today is Tuesday, then tuesday refers to today, but wednesday refers to the previous Wednesday. A day may optionally be prefixed with last, this, or next, referring to that day the previous, current, or next week respectively; weeks run from Monday to Sunday.

8) The argument is the number of 24-hour periods, so if it's 5:23pm now, 2 days ago means 5:23pm two days ago.

9) The argument is the number of 7-day periods, so if it's 5:23pm Tuesday now, 2 weeks ago means 5:23pm Tuesday two weeks ago.

10) The argument is the number of 31-day periods, so if it's 5:23pm now, 2 months ago means 5:23pm 62 days ago.

11) The argument is the number of 365-day periods, so if it's 17:23 now, 2 years ago means 17:23 730 days ago.

12) Unless combined with a date, it's that time in past, not the future, even if it's yesterday.

13) Can optionally be followed by am or pm; otherwise, a 24-hour clock is assumed.

14) 12am is the start of the day, 12pm is noon.

15) midnight on a given day is at the end of that day, not the beginning, and is the same as 00:00 the next day. Per (12), if not combined with a date, it will always be midnight the previous night.

16) UNIX time is the number of seconds since 1/1/1970, UTC.


Deselect all topics

Deselect all topics on the list.


Save your place in the current topic here, like dog-earing (folding down the corner of) a page of a book. The next time you visit, this topic will be "new" beginning with this posting.

Alternatively, you can bookmark the topic, which lets you create a browser bookmark to an individual posting. Use Dog-ear to temporarily mark your place for next time; use Bookmark to create a permanent reference to the posting.

Next

Move on to the next topic or forum after dog-earing, as if you had clicked the button. If unchecked, you will be shown confirmation page. You can specify whether this option is checked or unchecked by default by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Dog-earing

Controls the behavior of Motet when dog-earing a topic. (This can be overridden on an individual basis.)

Show confirmation page

Show a confirmation page after dog-earing a topic.

Move immediately to next topic or forum

After dog-earing the topic, move on the the next topic or forum without showing a confirmation page, as if you had clicked the button.


Your hotlist

Edit your conference hotlist.


Go to the last posting in a topic.


Erase

Erase the posting permanently.


Exit Motet. Clicking this ensures that Motet remembers for next time what you have seen. If you are using Motet from a public terminal you should exit the browser in order to erase your username and password from the browser's memory!


Change this posting from a hidden posting to a normal one.


User filter

You can specify the userids of those users who postings, for one reason or another, you don't wish to be shown. In place of postings by those users will appear a link saying filtered. You may click on this link if you decide you want to read the posting after all.


Find topics in all forums

Search all forums for topic titles containing the specified keywords.

Details

Show details about each topic listed, including topic creation date, number of postings, and date/time of the last posting. The default is to show the topic numer, title, and number of new postings only.

All on one page

Show all the topics on one page. The default is to break very long lists into pages. (You can change the number of topics Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)

Keyword(s):

Type the keywords to be searched for in the text box, separated by spaces. Use letters and numbers only--no punctuation. Searches are case-insensitive.

Click this button to begin the search.


Find topics in forum

Search the current forum for topic titles containing the specified keywords.

Details

Show details about each topic listed, including topic creation date, number of postings, and date/time of the last posting. The default is to show the topic numer, title, and number of new postings only.

All on one page

Show all the topics on one page. The default is to break very long lists into pages. (You can change the number of topics Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)

Keyword(s):

Type the keywords to be searched for in the text box, separated by spaces. Use letters and numbers only--no punctuation. Searches are case-insensitive.

Click this button to begin the search.


Find users

Search the database of users.

Find: userid

Search by userid.

Find: email address

Search by email address.

Find: real name

Search by real name.

Search for: Exact match Any part

Specifiy the string to search for in the text box. Exact match requires the entire field being searched to match the search string; with Any part, the match will succeed if any part of the field matches the search string.

Restrict output to userids:

Specifies an alphabetic range of userids to match (e.g., a-f). Useful if you expect a lot of matches and want to run the search in pieces in order to not be overwhelmed by the output.


Go to the first conference on your hotlist with new postings. If the button is grayed out, there were no forums on your hotlist with new postings at the time the page was loaded. To check if any new postings have been made since the page was loaded, click the or button at the top or bottom of the page.


Go to conference

Go to the given forum. Depending on how your site is configured, either select the forum from the drop-down menu or type in a forum name.

To see a list of all forums, click the or button at the top or bottom of the page.


Go to topic

Go to the homepage of the given topic. You must specify a topic number.


Go to Motet's help page.


Hide

Make this posting a hidden posting.


Go back to the home page of the forum your are in.


Hotlist

Your forum hotlist makes it easy for you to keep up with the forums you visit regularly. The forums you put on your hotlist will appear on the Home Page and at the top of the list of forums, along with a report of the number of new postings since your last visit. The and buttons will automatically take you through all of your forums in which there are new postings.

To edit your forum hotlist, click the or button at the top or bottom of the page.


Ignore selected topics

Ignore the selected topics.


Include selected topics

Include (i.e., no longer ignore) the selected topics.


Jump to another posting in the topic:

to posting

Jump to a posting by number. Type the posting number in the box.

to date/time

Jump to the first posting on or after a given date/time. Type the date/time in the box.

to page

Jump to a page of postings by page number. Type the page number in the box. (You can change the number of postings Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Go to the previous posting--the posting before the first one on the current page. Motet will display that posting in context, showing you several postings before and after it.


Go to the previous page of postings. (You can change the number of postings Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Go to the previous page of topics. (You can change the number of topics Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


List the topics in this forum. Select one of the following:

all topics

List all topics in the forum.

with new postings

List topics in the forum which have new postings since your last visit. If you are brand new to the forum, the host may designate that only certain recent postings be "new" to you, even though you've never visited.

with postings since yours

List topics in the forum with new postings immediately following yours.

you last posted to

List topics in the forum you posted to and have not read since.

new topics

List brand new topics you've never read at all.

by keyword
Keyword(s):

List topics whose titles contain any of the specified keyword(s). Type the keywords in the text box, separated by spaces. Use letters and numbers only--no punctuation. Searches are case-insensitive.

sorted by posting date

Order the topic list by the date of the last posting, most-recent to least-recent.

sorted by topic number

Order the topic list by topic number, lowest to highest. Topic numbers are assigned sequentially in the order the topics were created. If topics have been subsequently deleted from the forum or moved elsewhere, there will be holes in the numbering.

Details

Show details about each topic listed, including topic creation date, number of postings, and date/time of the last posting. The default is to show the topic numer, title, and number of new postings only.

All on one page

Show all the topics on one page. The default is to break very long lists into pages. (You can change the number of topics Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)

Include ignored topics

List even the topics you have chosen to ignore. The default is to omit them.

You can specify which of the above options will be selected by default by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Return to Motet's Home Page.


Menus

Controls the appearance of the menu buttons at the top and bottom of the page.

Icons

Show the buttons as icons (pictures).

Text

Show the buttons as text (words).

Include pull-down text menu

In addition to the buttons, include a pull-down text-menu which duplicates the functions of the buttons.


Move the selected forum down on your forum hotlist. The default is to move the forum to the very bottom of your list; to move it elsewhere, select an insertion point in addition to the forum you want to move; the forum will be moved above the insertion point. (To select more than one item in a list, hold down the Ctrl or Command key while clicking on the items.)


Move the selected forum up on your forum hotlist. The default is to move the forum to the very top of your list; to move it elsewhere, select an insertion point in addition to the forum you want to move; the forum will be moved above the insertion point. (To select more than one item in a list, hold down the Ctrl or Command key while clicking on the items.)


The name which will appear on this posting. This is mainly for fun; your userid will always appear on your postings, so you can't use this to hide your identity or masquerade as someone else.


Page

Go to the next page of postings in the topic

Topic

Go to the next topic. This option appears if you have clicked or have selected multiple topics to read from the topic list, and there are more topics left to read.

Forum

Go to the next forum on your hotlist with new postings. If there are no forums on your hotlist after the current one with new postings, you will be taken to the Forum List page.

Ignore this topic from now on

If selected before clicking , the current topic will be ignored by you from now on.


Shows you your relative place in a topic or list of topics.

Motet breaks long topics or topic lists into a series of pages. You can change the number of postings or topics Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.

The pages are numbered sequentially beginning at 1. indicates the current page you are on. The numbered pages are clickable links to other pages. indicates multiple pages--click on it to expand.


Paging

Controls how Motet breaks up long pages of postings or topic listings.


Password

Change your password.

Mail new password to (your email address)

A reminder of the password change will be mailed to you.


Make a posting.

Hidden posting

Make the posting a hidden posting.

Preview

View the posting before actually making it to check appearance, embedded links, etc. Check Preview, then click .

Wrap

Word-wrap the text. Empty lines are treated as paragraph breaks. Really only useful in Plain text postings, since other formats are wrapped automatically by the browser. To wrap the text in the box you're composing your posting in, check Wrap and Preview, then click .

Disable warnings

If unchecked, Motet will warn you before posting iif (a) your posting is empty; or (b) your posting is wider than will fit in a typical browser window. If checked, the warnings will be disabled.

Next

Immediately move to the next topic or forum after making the posting. If not checked, Motet will show you your posting after it's been made.

Notify (your email address) of the posting following this one

Send email when someone makes a posting following this one. The mail will contain a link back to the new posting. You will only get mail once, when the first posting after yours is made.

You can specify which of the above options are selected by default by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Posting

Controls the default settings when making postings. (These settings can be overridden on an individual basis.)

Word-wrap your message just before posting

Empty lines are treated as paragraph breaks.

Ignore warnings about empty or too-wide postings

If unchecked, Motet will warn you before posting iif (a) your posting is empty; or (b) your posting is wider than will fit in a typical browser window. If checked, the warnings will be disabled.

Show posting after it has been posted

Show your posting after it has been made.

Move immediately to next topic or forum

After making the posting, move on the the next topic or forum without showing you the posting, as if you had clicked the button.

You can specify which options are selected by default by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Personal profile

Edit the personal profile information others will see when they click on your userid.

Mail:
Unlisted

Your email address may or may not be changable, depending on the configuration of your site. If it is, changing it may result (as a security measure) in Motet generating a new password and mailing it to the new address, again depending on your site's configuration.

The ability to unlist your mail address is, again, a site configuration.

Home page URL (optional):

You may specify the URL of a web page you wish to direct others to.

Short biography (optional) Plain text HTML

You may write a biography. Specify whether what you type is plain text or HTML.


A pulldown menu duplicating the functions of the buttons above.


After selecting topics from the topic list, read the selected topics.

All postings

All postings from the selected topics will be shown.

New postings

Only new postings from the selected topics will be shown.

Postings since

Show postings in the selected topics which were made since the given date/time.

Catch up to in the others

Mark your place in the topics that have not been selected to read, according to the date/time given, enabling you to catch up in those topics without having to read them.

Ignore the others from now on

Ignore the unselected topics from now on.


Read postings since

Read all postings made since the specified date/time.


Read new postings in the current forum. If gray, there are no new postings to read.


Remove the selected conference(s) from your hotlist. (To select more than one forum, hold down the Ctrl or Command key while clicking on the names.)


Go to the next posting--the posting after the last one on the current page. Motet will display that posting in context, showing you several postings before and after it.


Go to the next page of postings. (You can change the number of postings Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Go to the next page of topics. (You can change the number of topics Motet shows you per page by clicking the or button at the top or bottom of the page.)


Go to Motet's search page.


Select all topics

Select all topics on the list.


Change your personal settings.


Start a new topic

Start a new topic in this forum.


List the topics in the current forum.


View postings

View the specified postings. Give one or more posting numbers and/or ranges of posting numbers.