                            Behind the Door
                           by: Michael Gibbs
                        Exhibit A Communciations

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Hmmm...what's new on the door menu today...

Great another slice and dice text adventure...more d&d clones...oh what
a pain this game requires a special terminal program.

Hey wait. ReadRoom...I don't recall seeing that here before.  I wonder
what it is.  Well, I suppose there is only one way to find out...

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Every day, across the country, more and more users are finding
themselves in a similar situation.  Sysops, in case you aren't aware,
the READROOM revolution is in full swing.  Users are becoming more
sophisticated about what they want in a BBS.

The award winning READROOM door is here to fill this void.  READROOM is
an online magazine door more to offer than any similar product on the
market.  One sysop has recently reported that the READROOM door on her
BBS has surpassed all other doors but her mail door in terms of usage.

From a sysop's point of view, one of the biggest complaints about
magazine (or file display) doors is the amount of time it takes each
month to keep the door update.  The READROOM alleviates you of this
burden.

In addition to having close to two dozen different publications
available in the native format DIRECTLY FROM THE PUBLISHERS, a number of
features of the door have been built-in to allow the sysop to totally
automate the collection and updating of publications within the door.

Another advantage is that the door is fully interrupt driven, supports
the 16550 UART common to most high speed speed, networked BBSes and now
supports DigiBoard multiport boards as well!  The door will work with
any BBS that supports the DOOR.SYS drop file, either directly or through
one of the many converters on the nets.  A number of sysops are so happy
with the door, that they have gone through the trouble (and expense) of
setting the door to work with systems like The Major BBS and Galacticom.

READROOM is simple enough to get setup that it is an ideal door for
those small one line systems, but versatile enough that it is currently
being run on some of the largest systems in the US.  I don't want to
drop names...OK...ExecPC and Channel1 to name two.  Through the use of
environmental variables, it is possible to set up run the READROOM door
with an unlimited number of nodes while maintaining only one set of
configuration files!

Have you seen the ads in the BBS publications for display doors
dedicated to their online version?  Some run as high as $100!  The
READROOM door is a bargain at $15, and will provide you and your users
with the widest array of publications around.

Publications supporting the READROOM standard run the gamut from a
weekly parks and wildlife publication to a couple of adults only
publications.  You will find a number general purpose e-mags as well as
ones dedicated to poetry, networks, off-road racing, StarTrek news,
collectors, and much, much more.

Don't find yourself left out as more users are looking for information
from the BBSes that they frequent.  Look for RDRM30.ZIP on finer BBSes
and CD-ROM collections near you.  It is available for request from
RUNNINGB as well as the support board EXHIBITA.

You can contact the author, Michael Gibbs, in the READROOM support
conference on RIME(tm) {channel 440} or at the InfoMat BBS at (714)
492-8727.

Next month I will provide a comprehensive list of the publications
available in the READROOM format as well as, possibly, some news of a
upgrade to the door (always free to registered users).
