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Pistachio Backtalk Help:
Item List Page

Read this first: Introduction to Pistachio Backtalk

The Item List Page:

This page displays a list of the items currently in the conference. One line of information is displayed for each item, containing the following information:

The number of new responses (if you are not reading anonymously).
The total number of responses to the item.
A checkbox.
The item number.
The item title.
Tags indicating if the item is linked, frozen or forgotten.

You can display either items with response you haven't seen yet (the default), items that have not been forgotten, items that have been forgotten, or all items. This is done by clicking one of the four checkboxes above the list of items.

If you have any "favorite" items, they will be listed first.

Reading Items

There are several ways to select items from this page to read.

Reading Individual Items

You can click on the number of new responses, or the number of total responses, to read the new responses for an item, or all of the item.

Reading the Entire Conference

If you don't select any particular items, you can read the entire conference by clicking the ``Read'' button. Next to the read button is a column of options selecting which items to read. If you select ``All Responses'' it will show you all responses. If you select ``New Responses'' it will show you all new responses. If you select ``Unseen Responses'' it will show you all new responses including the ones that aren't normally new for newusers and which haven't had new activity since you first joined.

There is also a column of switches which select what order to read the items in. Normally, ``Favorites First'' will be selected by default. If you select either ``Brand New First'' then items that you have never seen before will be read before those that you have seen. ``Brand New Last'' is the opposite. The ``Backwards'' option lists items in reverse item number order. You can combine these arbitrarily, except that you can't have brandnew items both first and last.

Reading Lists of Items

If you first click the checkboxes next to the items you want to see, the ``Read'' button will read only those items, showing either only new responses, all responses or new and unseen items, depending on which options you select.

Note that, when reading, selecting no items is just like selecting all items. This doesn't hold true for the other functions.

Reading Responses Posted Since Some Date

If you select ``Responses Since'' and type a date in the box, then you can read all postings in the conference made since that date. If you also select some items, it will show only the responses to those items which have been entered since the selected date.

You can enter the dates in a wide range of formats, including exact dates, incompletely specified dates, and offsets from the current time. Examples of legal dates include:

7:00pm January 17, 2001	1/17/96 19:00:00	17 Jan 7pm 1999
August 15	6:45am	Nov
Wednesday	Yesterday	Tomorrow
1 week, 3 days	4 hours	1 year

An incompletely specified date, like ``Wednesday'' or ``June 19'' will always refer to the begining of the most recent past instance of that date, unless you explicitly say ``the end of June 19''. An offset like ``48 hours'' would select responses entered in the last fourty-eight hours.

Favoring Items

If you mark an item as a favorite, then it will be shown first in the item list, and it be displayed first when you read items in the conference. You can favor and disfavor items by checking the checkboxes next to their numbers and then selecting the favor or disfavor buttons from the top of the page. Depending on the options you set, items may automatically become favorites or temporary favorites when you post to them. Temporary favorites remain favorites only until the next time you read them.

Marking Items Seen

If you want to mark a bunch of items seen, even though you haven't actually seen them, the ``Mark Seen'' button is your friend. If you select ``All Responses'' then everything in the conference will instantly be marked as having been read. Alternatively, you can specify that only items older than some date should be marked read. Newer responses that you haven't seen will still be marked unseen.

Forgetting and Remembering Items

One way to make it easier to keep up with a very busy conference is to ``forget'' items that don't interest you. Just select the items you want to forget and click the ``forget selected items'' button.

To remember items, first switch to either a list of forgotten items or all items by clicking the checkbox above the list of items. This will cause the forgotten items to be included in the list, and a ``remember selected items'' button will appear at the top of the screen. Select the items you want to remember and hit the button.

You can also forget and remember items using the buttons at the top of the Read Items Page.

Freezing and Thawing Items

If you are a fairwitness in the conference, you will be given buttons to freeze or thaw items in the conference. A ``frozen'' item can no longer be posted to, so people can still read it, but not post responses to it. You freeze items by selecting them off the list and clicking the ``Freeze Selected Items'' button.

Thawing a frozen item again allows people to post to it.

Killing Items

Fairwitnesses can also kill items. Killing an item deletes it permanently from the conference. Killed items cannot be recovered. Select the item and hit the button.

Retiring and Unretiring Items

Fairwitnesses can also retire items. An item that is retired is still there, but acts as if everyone has forgotten it, so they will not see it unless they specifically request to see it.

To unretire items, you must follow the same procedure used to remember items - first display forgotten items (which include retired items) and then the unretire button will be available.

Pistachio Backtalk Help:Item List Page