The directory listing

announce

The directory listing: a short message the board sends every few minutes so it appears on the board list. Off as shipped, and the sysop's alone. It sends the board's name, your name, the description, the port and how busy the board is, and nothing about who is calling. ANNOUNCE TEST shows exactly what it would send.

Change the sysop password before you switch this on: the board will not list itself while the default password is still set. And forward the port first, or callers will find a listing that does not answer.

From firmware 1.2.2 the board can do the forwarding part itself, and PORTMAP tells you whether your router agreed, which is the thing to check before the listing goes on. How that works.

While the board is closed to callers, it stays on the list, marked Temporarily closed, and its address is not offered as something to dial. Open it again and the mark goes with the next announce.

Every plugin page starts with the same four fields, which the plugin pages explain. Then:

• Board: The name the directory will show. It is the Board field on the board page, shown here, not a second copy.
• Sysop: Your name, as the directory shows it. Takes up to 40 characters.
• About: One line about the board. Takes up to 120 characters.
• DNS name: A name of your own that reaches the board, if you have one. Empty means the address the directory saw the message come from. Takes up to 95 characters.
• Outside: The port callers dial from the internet, when your router forwards a different number to the board. Leave it empty if the router forwards the same number as Port, and the board sends that.

With the board asking your router switched on, and the router having given it a different outside number than it asked for, an empty Outside sends the number the router actually gave. So the listing follows the router without your doing anything.

• Directory: Where to send it. Comma separated, up to four, so a board can be in several directories.
• Every min: Minutes between messages. Takes 1 to 1440; as shipped, 10.
• Push secs: When somebody calls or leaves, the board tells the directory early, at most this often. 0 leaves only the timed message. Takes 0 to 3600; as shipped, 60.
• Activity: Whether to include the board's calls and caller-minutes over the last 24 hours. Takes yes or no; as shipped, no.
• Token: Issued by the directory the first time, and kept so the listing survives a reflash. Leave it alone.

From firmware 1.0.1 the page also takes the causes you support and what you are into, as badges under the board's name: the codes on the badges page, separated by commas, in any case.

The rest is on the getting listed page, and the house rules are four lines.

Back to Set up your BBS.