Help Document

About conferences
A conference lets a number of users exchange information online. You can send a public message to a conference just as you would send a private message to another user. You can also open a conference and read the messages posted there by others.
A conference icon is flagged when the conference contains unread mail.

Public conferences

Public conferences are created by your administrator. Conferences that are intended for everyone to see are located in a special conference on your Desktop. By default, this conference is called Conferences. If you do not see this conference, ask your administrator for the name of the conference.
Your administrator may also create restricted conferences that are only intended for certain users. You will only see those conferences to which your administrator has given you access by subscribing you. These conferences will appear directly on your Desktop, not within the Conferences conference. If there is another conference that you want to see, ask your administrator to subscribe you to it.

What you can do in a conference

Your administrator determines what you can do in a public conference.
For example, you may only be able to read messages in a conference that covers personnel policies, but be able to send messages to a conference that deals with a project that you are working on. In this case, the personnel conference serves as a way to broadcast information. The project conference lets everyone involved in the project discuss it.

Approving messages in conferences

A conference may be moderated. This means that either all messages sent to the conference, or messages with attachments, cannot be read until a moderator opens and approves them. Unapproved messages appear in italics in the list of conference items.
Only someone given the authority to act as moderator for a conference can approve messages.
To approve an opened message, choose Conferencing > Approve.

Personal conferences

Just as your administrator creates the public conferences that you see in FirstClass, you may be able to create your own personal conferences, and give others access to your conferences.
If you have trouble getting your personal conferences to work as you expect, contact your administrator.

Creating personal conferences

To create a personal conference:

1       Open the location (for example, a conference) where you want the conference.
2       Choose File > New > New Conference.
3       Choose File > Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac OS) with the conference selected.
4       Type the conference name at "Name".

Shortcut

Click the name of the New Conference icon twice to make it editable, type the conference name, then press Tab.

5       Type a short description of the conference at "Subject", if desired.
6       Click OK.
7       Open the conference Permissions form to set conference permissions.

Setting conference permissions

To specify the permissions for a personal conference:

1       Select or open the conference.
2       Choose Conferencing > Permissions.
3       Fill in all fields on the Permissions form.
4       Close the form.

Your changes are saved automatically.

Note

You can access detailed information about conference permissions from the Permissions form. If you require more information on how to set up your conference permissions, contact your administrator.

Providing information about conferences

You can provide other users with information about a conference by creating a résumé for it. To do this:

1       Choose Conferencing > Permissions with the conference open or selected.
2       Click About.
3       Fill in the Résumé.
4       Close the Résumé.

To see conference information, users can select your conference, then choose Conferencing > About Conference.

Updating conferences' Directory entries

A conference's Directory entry shows you the conference name and location. You can update certain conference information.
To open the Directory entry for a conference:

1       Choose Conferencing > Permissions with the conference open or selected.
2       Click Directory.
3       Update information, if necessary.

To stop this conference from being listed in the Directory, select "Unlisted". We recommend that you unlist your personal conferences.
To assign an alias to this conference, type the name at "Alias". This is useful for giving a newsgroup name such as alt.business.spreadsheets to conferences that may be posted to by Usenet newsgroups.

4       Click OK.

Subscribing conferences to mailing lists

You can subscribe a conference to an Internet mailing list. When you do this, messages sent to the mailing list will appear in the conference.
Each mailing list has its own instructions for subscribing. In some cases, you send a subscription request and the mailing list returns a reply saying the conference is subscribed. In other cases, you must respond to the mailing list's reply before the conference is subscribed.

Writing to mailing lists

Some mailing lists let anyone write to them. In this case, you and others using a conference can just send messages to the mailing lists, or respond to mailing list messages in a conference.
Other mailing lists only let registered users write to them. These mailing lists consider the actual conference to be the registered user, not you or others using the conference. This means that you cannot send messages directly to a mailing list, or respond to mailing list messages directly from the conference. To write to these mailing lists, you must use the ListServer Message button on the conference Permissions form. Access this form by choosing Conferencing > Permissions with the conference open or selected.
Sending commands to mailing lists
As well as sending messages to mailing lists, you can send commands such as help commands or requests for information about who is subscribed. These commands must be sent using the ListServer Message button on the conference Permissions form.