FingerGate @ WWW.Gamers.Org

FingerGate @ WWW.Gamers.Org
A Gateway to Finger from the World Wide Web

Finger Type:
short: login status
long: login + plan
plan: plan only
default: whatever...

Finger Response Formatting:
plain: no html - suitable for saving
pre: add title, use PRE, escape < > &
hyper: pre with hyperlinked URLs
para: add title, format as paragraphs
body: add title, return response as body
html: return response as entire html doc

Finger Address:

Try these examples:

addr=icculus@icculus.org&type=default&format=plain (Icculus original)
addr=icculus@icculus.org&type=default&format=para (Icculus htmlized)

And formerly these:

addr=strife@rogue-ent.com&type=long&format=plain (Original long)
addr=strife@rogue-ent.com&type=plan&format=para (Htmlized plan)
addr=nick@ftp.nvidia.com&type=plan&format=para (nVidia OpenGL)
addr=@finger.kernel.org&type=default&format=plain (Linux kernel)

Finger Type Options:

short: Usually tells whether or not a user is logged in.
A site's finger daemon can be set up to supply the long report as default. There is no finger protocol method to explicitly request the short report. So - if a site defaults to the long report, short has no effect other than to strip off any Plan: that it finds.
long: Expanded login info plus Project and Plan info.
plan: The long report with login and Project info stripped off, leaving only the plan portion.
default: Whatever the fingered host sends (long or short).

Finger Response Formatting Options:

plain: The finger response is returned as is with no HTML markup whatsoever.
The http header will contain "Content-type: text/plain".
The header in all other options will contain "Content-type: text/html".
pre: The finger response is included as the body of a PRE element within an html document with proper beginning and ending html elements. Any special characters (< > &) are converted into the proper escape sequences (< > &).
hyper: As above in the pre option, but with anything resembling an URL (for example, http://site.name/dirname/, or mailto:user@site.name) hyperlinked as an anchor.
para: This is a tricky one. An attempt is made to encapsulate paragraphs within a suitable HTML element (P, P ALIGN=center, UL, TABLE).
- Lines of the form Alphanumword : Text are treated as a table.
  The text can continue on following lines.
- Lines of the form 'Bullet' Text are treated as a list.
  The 'Bullet' can be -, *, or (*), and have leading spaces.
- Lines beginning with whitespace are assumed to be centered.
For a good example, try the strife@rogue-ent.com entry from the list of canned addesses, above, or follow this link.
body: The finger response must be an already marked-up html document body and is returned unmodified within an html document with proper beginning and ending html elements. The response can (and should) contain the <BODY> element. The finger type should be plan for this to work properly.
html: The finger response must be an already marked-up html document and is returned unmodified. The finger type should be plan for this to work properly. See (Raw html!) example, above.

Finger Address:

Type in the email address of the person you wish to finger.
If the @site.name is omitted, the gateway host (i.e. Gamers.Org) is used.

Linking to FingerGate:

You can use these URLs directly in HTML documents.
Once you successfully finger and the formatting is what you want, copy the URL of the response (for example, from Netscape's Location: line), into an HREF field in an html document.
You can also bookmark a response for easy future retrieval.
There is no need to ask permission to link to FingerGate.
This is a free service to the Web community provided by Gamers.Org. The author would, however, appreciate a short note from anyone including hyperlinks to FingerGate in their pages - if only to know that other people appreciate his efforts.
Here is some example HTML crediting FingerGate:
Gateway to Finger from the World Wide Web provided by <A HREF="https://www.gamers.org/cgi/FingerGate">FingerGate at Gamers.Org</A>

If you have suggestions for FingerGate, or need help formatting a .plan file to meet the formatting requirements for para, contact the author at jve@gamers.org.

This is FingerGate v1.02 - a Finger Gateway hosted at Gamers.Org.
Written by John Van Essen. Report problems to webmaster@gamers.org.

FingerGate @ WWW.Gamers.Org A Gateway to Finger from the World Wide Web

FingerGate @ WWW.Gamers.Org
A Gateway to Finger from the World Wide Web