IUBio

BioMoo neuroscience journal club

Gustavo Glusman bmgustav at dapsas1.weizmann.ac.il
Sat Apr 9 03:12:28 EST 1994


In article <2nfour$3p4 at emoryu1.cc.emory.edu> Donald Wigston,
meddjw at emoryu1.cc.emory.edu writes:
>Does anyone know what a Moo or a Mud is?

A MOO is an object-oriented MUD. MUDs are networked computer programs that
enable easy real-time communication through the Internet.
While most MUDs are games, the technology can be used for serious uses too.
BioMOO is one of the first professional-oriented MUDs, dedicated to
enhancing communication between biologists from all the world.

>I got into the BioMoo yesterday and it strike me as an awful timewaster.

I'll be glad to hear honest feedback. What did you see during the time you
were in the MOO?
How many people were connected, and what were they doing?
Have you been during a Journal Club?
Have you seen any of the models being developed? Used any available tool?

>Can anyone tell me honestly that it is worthwhile?  I found an abstract in
>there that was quite interesting, but in the time it took I could have
>read a couple of papers in J. Neurosci.

Assuming you connected from your site: a quick grep at the server logs shows
that there never was a guest from your site that was connected for more than
5 minutes at a time.
If this is the case, I hope you'll give it a better chance next time.

>If you do venture into the BioMoo, remember to get out you type @quit.
>Took me a while to figure that one out, but then I am a MAC user and not a
>command line type of guy.

One of the worst approaches to any use of computers is to do things without
reading what's written on your screen.
In BioMOO's login welcome message, you can read:

            --------------------------------------------
            !           Welcome to BioMOO              !
            ! the virtual meeting place for biologists !
            --------------------------------------------

Type:
'purpose'                     to read a statement on BioMOO's purpose
'connect <userid> <password>' to connect, for example: connect Elmer stu888ph
'connect Guest'               to connect as a guest,
'create'                      for information on how to get your own userid,
'@who'                        just to see who's logged in right now,
'@quit'                       to disconnect, either now or later.

For human help please email to bmgustav at bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As you can see, @quit is indicated there. No need to work it out.
As for the Macintosh vs. command-line: BioMOO is designed to be usable by as
many biologists as possible. There are many platforms that support only
text/line mode.
Try FTPing the latest version of MUDDweller to access more smoothly.
Graphical clients are being developed too. At some point, the MOO will
support multimedia.
But even before we get to the multimedia, it's a useful tool for
communication and cooperation.


In article <FpantARBBh107h at phillips.boulder.co.us> Wayne F. Phillips,
wayne at phillips.boulder.co.us writes:
>I have just started exploring BioMOO, and have found it very
>interesting. However, for a novice, it is hard to find one's way
>around, and know how to do things. The tutorial was helpful, but
>only covers the basics.
>
>I would find some kind of FAQ or 'user manual' very helpful to learn
>to use BioMOO efficiently. Is there such a thing?

There is very extensive help online. Type 'help' or 'help <topic>'. For
example, try 'help mail' for a description of the internal mailing system.
BioMOO is growing all the time, and new applications are being developed. If
you find things that are hard to use by a novice, your feedback will be very
appreciated. Describe your problem/suggestion/idea and mail it to the object
owner.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Gustavo Glusman               Founder/administrator of BioMOO
-- bmgustav at bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il
-- http://bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il:70/0h/Gustavo/Glusman
-- BioMOO: telnet bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il 8888



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