(M,14,9,1) (M,4,9,3,1)
ABOUT THE FreePort DATABASES

The databases contain lists of information which users may give about
themselves.  Currently, there are four databases: a database of people's
interests, organizations they are affiliated with, FreePort Special
Interest Groups (SIGs) they are members of, and the location in which they
live.

To enter information about yourself in one of the databases, you must create
a file containing a list of attributes for that database.  These lists will
be added to master databases which will contain everyone's information
and will be updated periodically (at the time this was last written,
the master database is updated every 8 hours).  As of version 2-3, the SIG
list can only be manipulated directly from the special interest group menus.
In the SIG menus, there are options to register with the SIG, find out who
else is registered with the SIG, and remove yourself as a member of the SIG.

You can find information about users in two ways.  First, you may search
the database for a pattern which you will be asked to supply.  This pattern
can be any word, phrase or regular expression.  (If you need help with
regular expressions, there is information at the Help Desk: type 'go
help'.)  The search routine is not case-sensitive, so you do not have to
worry about which letters should be in capitals or lower-case.  When
searching for a pattern, you may want to try a few different spellings or
abbreviations.  For example, in the interest list, one user might say "IBM
computers" and another might say "I.B.M.  computers".  Searching for "IBM"
will find only the first user, but searching for "computer" will find them
both.  Whenever a match is found in the database, the user's id and the
interest that matched will be printed on the screen.

The second way to get information about a user is to read his entire
interest list or affiliations list.  You will be prompted for a user's id,
and the contents of the list will be printed on the screen.  Note that
since these files are optional, not everyone will have one.

Copyright 1991 Case Western Reserve University.  All Rights Reserved.