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

The main thing that happens on the WELL is people using the
Conferences as places to meet and discuss with one another.

Each conference is a collection of discussion on the
same general subject area, such as Boating, or Politics, or
Movies, and so on.

Each conference has many discussions in it, called "Topics". Anyone
may start a topic in most conferences.

Each topic consists of the opening statement made by the person who
started it, followed by the responses of person after person - as if
the topic was written on a long roll of paper... in this way each
topic is much like the transcript of a living, breathing conversation.

Typically, the way people use the WELL is to have a list of
conferences that they are interested in, perhaps 3-10 conferences.
Every conference has one or more "hosts" who are responsible for
taking care of the conference, greeting newcomers, cleaning up old and
moribund topics, and generally keeping the conversation lively and
interesting.

Any group or organization can set up a private conference for the
exclusive use of their members - contact the WELL staff for more
information - send e-mail to:   helpdesk@well.com or telephone
(415) 332-9200 (voice).

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

.