If you want a taste of what services will be available nationwide starting 
in Sept 1992, call (703)951-GIDE to take a look at our national database of 
gay/lesbian bars, restaurants, guest houses, university groups, media, and 
(soon) community organizations. All you need is a TouchTone phone to use 
the service.

Just call (703)951-GIDE, when prompted, select option 4 to conduct a sample 
search. This is a free service which will help you learn your way around 
the BarPhone system. Many features are currently disabled as we are still 
building our database, and most establishments have not yet called in to 
post their voice messages and other information. (Please nag your local GLB 
businesses to call us and get online)

If you want to get your student, faculty or alumni group listed, it's free, 
just select option 2 to apply for your free database listing and voice 
mailboxes. 

Starting on Sept 15, 1992, we will be opening our 900 numbers which will 
give callers complete access to the database contents. We will also be 
rolling out an 800 number for information providers (so being listed on 
BarPhone is even more convenient). The tutor service at (703)951-GIDE will 
remain available free of charge so that people can learn their way around 
the system without being charged.

NOTE: there are still a few minor bugs in the search engine, if you don't 
select a city, you'll get thrown into a couple of redundant prompts, just 
press # to skip them and start over; occasionally the system hiccups when 
there are two cities with the same name in the same region (i.e. Kansas 
City, MO or KS). We're working on them, and will have them fixed next week. 

NOTE: the information collected for this service is being ported into many 
different formats. Lists of university groups will be placed on the 
Internet as public domain material. All establishments and organizations 
who choose to list with us will have their information forwarded to other 
guide services such as Damron's, Places of Interest, etc. If you call us, 
you're listing with several groups, not just our service. 

So, feel free to call in. Tell your friends to call. Enjoy the service, 
and, if you have any suggestions, ideas or bug reports, please call me at 
703-951-4475 (Brian McConnell), after Monday of next week. I'll be on 
vacation this weekend. Please spread the word, particularily to the 
businesses and organizations who can get listed on the service. 

Enjoy!

Brian McConnell, Seriously Deprived of Sleep from Setting This Up
bmcconne@vtssi.vt.edu