An adaptation of the Yapp Online Users Guide for The Spring as it ran 1996–2001 and as it runs today, 2026.
Online conversation is not very different from the conversations people have been having for thousands of years. Topics are introduced, ideas are shared, and sometimes enlightenment is forthcoming. Or maybe you just learn a really fast way to reformat your hard drive. Whatever the conversation is about, the one cardinal rule to keep in mind is that you are conversing with other people, not with bits and bytes on your screen. Given that humans are imperfect creatures, a good rule of thumb is to cut slack as you would like to have slack cut for you.
An online conferencing system is an electronic forum where people can meet to share ideas, ask questions, commiserate, and pontificate via a computer network.
This conferencing system is organized in a hierarchy of forums, topics and responses.
Like any conversation, a topic may contain a wide variety of information and tones. It may be a serious discussion, an exchange of witty remarks, a personal sharing, a place to describe the local weather, or a workshop on the latest tricks. It all depends on the people participating and the guidance of the forum host. You, as a participant, are the primary creator of topic content.
An online conferencing system is a public forum. Your responses to topics will be read by many people. With that in mind use consideration when you respond, and be as courteous to others on-line as you would face-to-face.
Each member of the conferencing system logs in with a user ID and password. Each person has an account, and is accountable for the words and information he or she leaves here. Personal accountability is crucial in a conferencing environment because it not only gives credit to those who contribute, but it makes it less likely that people will abuse the privilege of having the attention of so many others.
Conferencing systems have the potential to support community as they allow people to become familiar with each other and to build trust within groups of people over time. Over time, as members become familiar with each other and more comfortable in their conferencing environment, they develop a sense of place about it.
At /bbs/live/ you are presented with some options. If you are new to the system you can register as a new user. If you have registered before, you can log in as an existing user. If you don't want to register, you may browse the archive as read-only.
The use of individual login names allows the system to track which threads you've read and which have new posts since your last visit. That way you don't have to wade through postings you've already seen. In addition, individual login names help keep everyone responsible for what they say.
At /bbs/live/signup you choose a unique handle (login name — lowercase letters, numbers, underscore, 2–20 characters). Then enter a password twice (8 characters or more). That's it. The Spring 2026 doesn't require an email address — this is a deliberate departure from the 1996 yapp default. Pick a handle, write down your password, you're in.
When you choose to browse a conference (e.g. Drool!), the first screen you see is an overview of activity in that conference and the list of topics.
/bbs/live/c/{conf}/ where members start brand-new threads.The conference index shows every topic ever started in that conference, in original posting order. Each row is composed of: the topic number, the subject (clickable), the original author's handle, and a bar showing relative response count. Big bars are big conversations.
The original Yapp had a Search button that allowed you to search the contents of all responses in the current forum, by subject line or full-text. This is on the roadmap for The Spring 2026 — not yet wired.
When you click a topic, you land on the topic page. Layout from top to bottom:
archive › Drool › topic 116← Prev: {title} · Next: {title} → · Topic list · Help! · (and Sign Up / Log In if you're not logged in)jump to last page » link.#234 to copy a deep link to that exact response.Scroll to the bottom of any archived topic. If you're logged in, you'll see a textarea labeled Add a comment. Plain text only (no Markdown yet), 10,000 characters maximum. Hit » post comment and you're in the conversation.
Visit the conference at /bbs/live/c/{conf}/ — for example /bbs/live/c/porch/ for The Porch. Click » start a new thread, give it a title and body, post it. Your topic appears in the live conference list immediately.
In yapp, every conference had one or more hosts — volunteer moderators who maintained the forum. The original Yapp documentation defines the role:
Hostly powers in original yapp:
Hostly duties:
is_admin flag, but no host UI exists yet. Currently only the system operator (Paul, ~terry) can act as host across all 30 conferences. Per-conference hosts is on the roadmap.
Web-based conferencing software developed by Armidale Software, running on a BSDI server at spring.net. Topics capped at 1,999 responses. Email required. Hosts curated. Real names shown next to handles.
The Spring reconstructed: 30 conferences, 1,195 topics, 85,945 archived responses parsed from Wayback. Live signup with handle + password. No email. No real names. New comments alongside the originals.
Welcome · Main Menu · Forum Browse · Topic Read · Respond. Each one a separate CGI script. Bookmark-friendly URLs like /yapp-bin/public/read/drool/116.
Hub at /bbs/. Conference at /bbs/{conf}/. Archived topic + comments at /bbs/live/archive/{conf}/{num}/. Live new threads at /bbs/live/c/{conf}/. Same shapes, modern stack.
Default conference view showed only topics with new responses since your last visit. You never saw a topic you'd already read through. Massive signal-to-noise win.
Not yet implemented. Will require a last_seen table tracking (user, conf, thread) reads. On the short list of next things to ship.
Yapp 3.0 was a full-fledged customizable conferencing system for Unix, developed by Armidale Software in Redmond, Washington. It allowed both web-based access and text-mode access from Unix shells. Public-access yapp installations included Pacific Telesis, GameSpot, The River (Berkeley), M-Net (Ann Arbor), the California Institute of Integral Studies, and The Spring in Austin.
The Spring ran on BSDI (BSD/OS, a commercial Unix derivative). Configuration lived in /etc/yapp.conf with parameters like cfadm, sysop, bbsdir, licensedir, confdir. Each conference was a directory. Each topic was a file.
The original Yapp manual (an adaptation of the public-domain PicoSpan manual, which is what Stewart Brand's WELL was built on) is referenced from the Yapp homepage as ftp://armidalesoftware.com/pub/armidale/yapp/manual.doc. As of 2026 the FTP server is private; the file isn't otherwise indexed by the Wayback Machine. The Yapp Online Users Guide remains live at armidalesoftware.com/docs/intro.html.
Adaptation credits. The text in sections 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 is paraphrased and quoted from the Yapp Online Users Guide, originally written by Cliff Figallo and Kathleen Watkins for Internet Literacy Consultants and updated for Yapp by Mike Vincenty. Source: armidalesoftware.com/docs/intro.html. Links to forums, topics, signup, and the live BBS, plus the “Then & Now” comparisons, are specific to this 2026 reconstruction at austinspring.com.
The original Yapp BBS that ran spring.net is listed in the Yapp homepage's directory of public-access installations. The Spring used Yapp from 1996 until the site shut down. This manual is preserved here both as a working users guide for the reborn system and as a record of how the original software shaped the community's culture.