Relay ran on a special ID using several BITNET hosts. To use it, a message was sent to a user ID called RELAY. The Relay program running on that user ID would then provide multi-user chat functions, primarily in the form of "channels" (chat rooms). The message could contain either a command for Relay (preceded by the popular "/" slash character command prefix, still in use today), or a message at the remote host (typically a mainframe computer).
Relay ran on a special ID using several BITNET hosts. To use it, a message was sent to a user ID called RELAY. The Relay program running on that user ID would then provide multi-user chat functions, primarily in the form of "channels" (chat rooms). The message could contain either a command for Relay (preceded by the popular "/" slash chara:cter command prefix, still in use today), or a message at the remote host (typically a mainframe computer).