Who is H?

H is a robot that exists in certain online Hardwar games. H listens for players to tell it things, and responds accordingly. H is inspired by IRC server robots, who perform various automated tasks. H will be found running alongside HS3.

H has a limitation to be aware of: It is single-threaded. In English, that means H can only do one thing at a time. Most of the time it will be listening for instructions. However during the few milliseconds when it is processing those instructions, it won't be listening for any new instructions. This isn't a problem for one user: It takes you longer to type the next character than it should for H to think. But it might be a problem is lots of people are talking to H at the same time. So if you don't get a response from H, it was busy, and you were just unlucky - simply retype.

Talk to H

Talk to H using the in-game terminal server console. Open the console (by default, press O) and type tell H {something}, for example, tell H Talk to me about life, H.. The response - H tells you "Life. Don't talk to me about life.". If H doesn't respond, type who to see if H is online. If it is, just try again. If H is starting to sound too familiar, don't worry - you don't have to exchange small-talk with H.

The paranoid should note that all communication with H is logged. This log is only accessible to the server admin, and only very bored server admins will ever read it.

H's main functions use a series of slash (/) commands. Commands take the form tell H /command .... You must always start each line with tell H.

If you find H (and unless the server admin has moved it, it'll be standing in Alpha Trading Post's hangar), you can use say instead of tell h. For example, say Seen any interesting moths recently H?.

Please note that TELL doesn't work for pilotnames that contain spaces. For example, there is no way for H to respond to pilot Blue Fox, since the server interpretes this as pilot Blue, with Fox as the first word of the message.

Private Messaging

H provides an in-game private messaging system. Pilots can send messages to one another. These messages can only be read by the recipient, sender, or admin. Messages can only be accessed through the game, so are effectively protected by the same password system that protects in-game accounts.

Each message is identified by a unique number. This is displayed at the start of each message. For example:

tell H /pm
H tells you "1 message: [msg 4] NEW! 2 hours ago from timski = This is a reply t... [Options /pm {number}.]"

Here you have one message in your inbox, which has not been read yet (NEW!), sent two hours ago from timski, which starts "this is a reply". The message is number 4.

So, to read message number 4, type tell H /pm 4. The full text of the message will be displayed. The sender can see whether you have read the message yet - if you haven't, "Not read yet" will be displayed in the full text view.

We can reply to this message by typing tell H /pm reply, forward it to another pilot by typing tell H /pm forward {pilotname}, or delete it by typing tell H /pm delete. These commands will always affect the last message you looked at. If you want to reply to, forward, or delete a specific message without looking at it first, you can use tell H /pm reply {number}, tell H /pm forward {number} {pilotname}, or tell H /pm delete {number}, where number is the unique number of the message. The reply process is the same as sending a message - see below.

Forward does not allow you add your own comments. It simply forwards the message with an extra line at the end containing the original sender, recipient and time. For a more complex forward, allowing you to type comments, draft a new message (see below) and insert an existing message into it.

Some words of warning on delete. There is no confirmation or undo. Delete is final. When a message is deleted it is removed from the inbox of the recipient and the outbox of the sender. The sender can delete a message they have sent, so long as the recipient hasn't read it yet. Once the recipient has read it, only the recipient (or admin) can delete the message.

To send a message, first create a draft. Type tell H /pm new {pilotname}, where pilotname is the callsign of the pilot you wish to send a message to. For example:

tell H /pm new timski
H tells you "Draft new message to timski. Type message below. Then /pm show (to view), /pm delete (to abandon), /pm send (to send)."

Type as many lines as you wish, all starting with tell H, but then without any other command - just the text. If you wish to quote another message, type tell H /pm insert {number} where number is the number of the message you wish to insert into the draft message. It you wish to abandon the draft, type tell H /pm delete. If you wish to preview your message type tell H /pm show. When you are ready to send, type tell H /pm send.

Pilots are not automatically informed that a private message has arrived. This system relies on them typing /pm to find out.

Messages can't be sent to multiple pilots at once, however it is relatively easy to forward a sent message to another pilot.

The maximum message size allowed in 700 characters (by default). The maximum length of a message sent via telnet is 999 characters, and anything longer than this will automatically be truncated to prevent the server crashing (even if the admin has tried to allow longer messages).

Any pilot with special status admin or moderator can read, delete, forward, insert, and so on, any message. To find out who the moderators are, just ask H.

Any pilot with special status mute may not send, forward or reply to private messages. They may still read and delete private messages. To find out who is mute, just ask H.

Bulletin Board

H allows messages to be posted onto the HS3 bulletin board. By default each pilot may post up to three messages at any one time, however the server admin may alter this number, or may disable the bulletin board completely. Messages are listed in reverse date order. They may not be edited, but can be deleted by the poster or admin.

The bulletin board can be read in-game by typing tell H /pm bb. Bulletin board messages can also be forwarded, replied to, or inserted (see above).

To post a message, simple send a new private message to H. Type tell H /pm new h, then type your message as described above, and finally type tell H /pm send to post the message to the bulletin board. You can also forward messages to the bulletin board.

Your current bulletin board messages are listed in your private message outbox, just like other messages. The only difference is that H will never mark the message as read, so you will always be able to delete it. The HS3 bulletin board displays the message number (for example #4) at the start of each message. This allows you to delete the message without finding it in your outbox first (using /pm delete {number}).

HTML is NOT allowed in bulletin board messages. Any HTML will simply be converted to normal text. No formatting is available (such as new lines). Bulletin board messages are subject to the same restrictions on length as normal messages.

Do not be concerned if messages do not appear immediately on the server's public bulletin board. Any change will only show once the public pages have been regenerated.

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