E-mail is surprisingly fast. Depending on the type of your connection, the condition of computers on the Net and the phase of the moon, your e-mail message can arrive at its destination in as little as a few seconds. (OK, the phase of the moon probably won't affect your e-mail at all. The point is that conditions far beyond your control will indeed affect it.) Most messages make it to their destinations in just a few hours, but sending mail to and from some subnetworks (like FidoNet) can take several days.
E-mail is also inexpensive. It doesn't matter if you pay a flat monthly fee or several dollars an hour for your Internet access; firing off an e-mail message is almost certainly cheaper than making a telephone call, or even using the post office (affectionately called "snail mail" by Netters). Electronic mail messages can be large or small, and contents aren't measured by weight or by volume. It's also distance-independent: you can send mail across the city for the same cost as across the Atlantic.
Of course, electronic mail does have its faults. You can't tell whether your electronic mail message has been read, for instance. Also, text messages lack tone and body language, which can lead to confusing situations and mixed meanings. And although we hope for the best, e-mail isn't necessarily private. (See Chapter 12, "How Can I Keep My Privacy and Stay Secure?" for more on this.)
Get your point across. Any message, electronic or otherwise, is useless if it doesn't convey the right information. Think back to grammar school and remember to include the five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why. Make sure each element is present in your message.Put a meaningful subject line on your message. The subject line will help remind the reader what the topic of discussion is. A bad subject line doesn't give a clue as to the content of the message. Some bad subject lines are, Send info., Stuff, and What Joe said at lunch. Better subject lines are more descriptive, such as, Requesting info re: WombatNet, Wanna hear a dirty joke? and Joe's comments on the proposal.
Type complete sentences. Brief, choppy sentences are often nothing more than incomplete thoughts and are vague and confusing.
Be brief. No one wants to read a novel-length message. Correspondents who read their mail on-line and are paying for the privilege will resent having to read a long diatribe when just a few lines will do. In less than thirty seconds, a reader will choose to delete the message, save it for later, or continue reading. (This is actually a journalistic rule of thumb: you have thirty seconds to hook the reader. If the first paragraph doesn't excite them to read more, you've lost them and the rest of the article is irrelevant.) Make those thirty seconds count.
DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. It's not considered friendly. Your corespondents are likely to think you're shouting at them.
Proofread your mail before you send it. I couldn't count the number of messages I've seen--and probably sent--that had meanings which were totally obscured by a missing word or an errant typo. (Legend has it that one poor soul used electronic mail to send a resume to a potential employer. The cover letter said, "If you have any questions, please hesitate to call me." This is bad.) Spelling is equally important. Many online services have some sort of spell-checking facility. Find out if it does and if so, use it!
Think before you send your message. Sending electronic mail is like driving: you shouldn't do either while intoxicated or emotionally charged. Consider the tone of your message and think about the content. If you're angry at a correspondent, relax a bit before you decide to send a flaming missive his way. You would be wise to follow the "Read it Twice" rule of e-mail: Read through your entire message two times before you send it.
Beware of the infamous smiley :-). I won't tell you not to use smileys for fear of retribution by pro-smiley groups. I'll just say that some of us are annoyed by smileys, believing that if something is truly funny or ironic, happy faces aren't necessary. On the other hand, smileys serve as important visual cues that would otherwise be missing in the writing, and it takes a fairly good writer to be able to convey irony or satire to a wide and diverse audience. (For more on smileys, see Chapter 11, "What Do I Need to Know About Internet Culture and Lore?")
Sign your name. Although every mail system attaches the sender's name to the message, it's nice to see a proper sign-off to a message.
If you compose your e-mail off-line using a word processor, don't forget to save it in ASCII format before sending it. Many word processors include information that on-line systems won't understand. By saving your message in ASCII format, you can be sure that when you upload it, it will be free from funky control codes. (For instance, my version of Microsoft Word can use these cool "smart quotes," but when uploaded to e-mail, smart quotes look Qlike thisR. Pretty irritating.) The length of your lines is equally important. The vast majority of Internet users have 80-character screens. On such a screen, it is hard to read a message where each line is 95 characters long.
Don't participate in chain letters or get-rich-quick schemes. Not only are these an enormous waste of time and computer resources, you're likely to lose mail privileges if the system administrator catches you sending them. `Nuff said.
Keep in mind that your recipient might not check his or her e-mail regularly, or at all. Mail sent is not necessarily mail received.
Here is a list of the basic Internet mail headers and what they do:
From: Arlo T. Kitty <arlo@meow.kitty.com>
The From: lineshows who a message is from. It always includes an e-mail address and sometimes includes the sender's "real" name, too. Luckily, my cats don't really send me e-mail.Note: There are two basic formats for the From: line. One is in the form From: Arlo T. Kitty <arlo@meow.kittty.com> as shown above. The other is From: arlo@meow.kittty.com (Arlo T. Kitty).
To: savetz@rahul.net The To: line contains the address of the primary recipient (or recipients) of the message. I say primary because other folks can get copies, too, as specified in the Cc: and Bcc: header lines. A To: line can contain as many addresses as you care to include. The addresses can be those of individuals, mailing lists, or programs that accept e-mail.
Message-Id: <00174.7464859954.7645@bolero.rahul.net>
Message-Id is a unique
numeric identifier for the message. I have never found it useful, but it's always there.
Subject: We're low on cat chow!
The subject line is basic enough; it contains the sender's idea of the message's topic.
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 1994 11:11:36 PST
The Date: line tells you when the message was actually sent. Date lines can be mildly confusing--some of them tell you the send time at the originating computer site, and others convert the time to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)--the time in Greenwich, England. I can never remember if California is seven or eight hours behind GMT because the time difference changes when daylight savings starts in late April.Note: GMT is "ground zero" from the International Date Line, which is exactly 12 time zones away in either direction from Greenwich. Modern conventions have renamed GMT as Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) so you may see that notation, too.
Organization: Fuzzy Kitties R Us
The Organization: line is optional and may tell you who the senders work for or where they go to school, or it may contain a tiny advertisement for their service providers. Lots of people who choose to deny affiliation with any organizations use the field for silly messages and bogus firm names.
Cc: president@whitehouse.gov
Bcc: admin@northcoast.net
Cc stands for Carbon Copy and Bcc stands for Blind Carbon Copy. These fields help electronic mail mimic what you can do with traditional mail. Specifically, fire off copies to multiple people, either while announcing it or surreptitiously. Remember, the recipient never sees the Bcc: line. See the following questions for more on carbon copying.
There is no functional difference between listing addresses in the To: or Cc: header lines. But from the user's point of view, it is implied that any Cc: recipients are receiving the message for informational purposes only, and no reply is desired. If anyone on the To: or Cc: list should reply to your message, the reply can (at the sender's option) go to all the recipients of your message.
The ability to send e-mail to multiple recipients is a useful tool: you can all at once (if you desire) send one message to several Internet users, an America Online account, a few fax machines, and a mailing list.
Note: I've found the Bcc: function to be very reliable, but you should
test your system's Bcc: function to make sure your system really strips the
Bcc: line out of your message's header.
You'll never see the Bcc: line in mail that you receive: it's only there for
the actual submission of the first mail item, then it is removed.
First, the host you're mailing to may not exist. The host (or site, the part of the e-mail address after the @ sign) must be listed in appropriate name servers. If the host you specify can't be found, your e-mail message has no destination and must be bounced back to you. When this happens, double-check your intended e-mail address and try to resend your message to the right place. Here's an example of a message bounced because there was no such site:
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 20:40:38 -0800 To: waffle Subject: Returned mail: Host unknown ---- Transcript of session follows ---- 554 smith@nonexistent.com... 550 Host unknown (Authoritative answer from name server) ---- Recipients of this delivery ---- Bounced, cannot deliver: smith@nonexistent.com ---- Unsent message follows ----The other likely reason your e-mail may bounce is this: although the destination host has been verified, there is no user that answers to the name you specified. (The name is the part of the e-mail address that comes before the @ sign.) When this happens, double-check the name or username of your intended recipient and resend your message. Here's an example of a message that bounced because my cat doesn't have an account at apple.com:
From daemon Sun Jan 30 20:42:03 1994 Received: by bolero.rahul.net id AA25984 (5.67a8/IDA-1.5 for waffle); Sun, 30 Jan 1994 20:41:50 -0800 Date: Sun, 30 Jan 1994 20:41:50 -0800 From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON> Message-Id: <199401310441.AA25984@bolero.rahul.net> To: waffle Subject: Returned mail: User unknown ---- Transcript of session follows ---- While talking to apple.com: >>> RCPT To:<Kinsey_Michelle_Kitty@apple.com> <<< 550 <Kinsey_Michelle_Kitty@apple.com>... User unknown 550 Kinsey_Michelle_Kitty@apple.com... User unknown ---- Recipients of this delivery ---- Bounced, cannot deliver: Kinsey_Michelle_Kitty@apple.com ---- Unsent message follows ----
This can be annoying. Even more annoying is the fact that your mail's intended recipients might not check their mailboxes for weeks at a stretch--if ever. There's nothing you can do about that, but most UNIX-esque systems understand a special header item called Return-Receipt-To: that will cause the recipient's host to send you mail verifying delivery of your message. Return-Receipt-To: can't tell you when the recipient reads your message; it can only tell you that your message was received by the destination computer and placed in the recipient's mailbox. It's actually a confirmation of delivery rather than a confirmation that mail has been received by the recipient.
Return-Receipt-To: is a mail header item, just like the To: and Cc: fields. The Return-Receipt-To: command won't do anything if it is in the body of the message. To verify receipt of your mail, you need to know how to edit the mail headers before sending your message (see the next question to find out how). In the headers, add a line like
Return-Receipt-To: keyogi@kitty.combut use your own e-mail address instead of Keyogi's. The receiving host must understand the Return-Receipt-To: command to act on it. If you're mailing to a user on another network (like FidoNet or America Online), you're not likely to receive confirmation when your mail is delivered.
As soon as your mail is delivered, you will receive a message with a subject line of
Subject: Returned mail: Return receiptand you will rest content in the knowledge that your mail is safe and sound in somebody's e-mailbox.
In Elm, a wholly nifty mail program for UNIX systems, compose your message as usual. Before you send it, however, press the h key to edit the headers:
And now: Headers
e)dit message, h)eaders, c)opy, i)spell, !)shell, s)end, or f)orgetPress u for user defined header:
Choose header, u)ser defined header, d)omainize, !)shell, or <return>. Choice: uThen type your special header.
Enter in the format "HeaderName: HeaderValue". Return-Receipt-To: savetz@rahul.netNow send your message as usual. Voilà!
And now Send
e)dit message, h)eaders, c)opy, i)spell, !)shell, s)end, or f)orget
Sending mail...
The Internet's e-mail system usually handles basic text files nicely, but doesn't reliably handle binary ones. Text messages are called 7-bit files because characters in the low ASCII character set--which contains the letters A through Z, the numbers, some punctuation, and some special symbols--only use seven of the eight bits that make up each byte. Binary files such as graphics images, sampled sounds, Microsoft Word documents, and many others use all eight bits of each byte. The problem is that many of the hodgepodge of computers on the Internet can't handle 8-bit messages, only 7-bit ones. If you send electronic mail that contains a binary (8-bit) file, chances are that by the time it reaches its destination, it will be stripped of all those eighth bits, something that will completely upset your graphics program, sound player, or word processor.
The solution is to convert those 8-bit files to 7-bit ones before the e-mail trip. The recipient of the message must then convert the file back to eight bits before using the data. There are three common schemes for translating between eight- and seven-bit files: binary to ASCII/ASCII to binary (BtoA/AtoB), uuencode, and binhex. You also may stumble upon xxencoded files, a rare conversion scheme that was supposed to be better than uuencode but never seemed to gain wide acceptance.
BtoA conversion is most popular among UNIX folks. uuencoded translations are popular in the UNIX and IBM PC worlds. Binhex files seem to be preferred by the Macintosh crowd. All of these conversion schemes cause the resulting ASCII file to be larger than the original binaries due to the overhead of all that bit shuffling.
To send a binary file in e-mail, both you and the message's recipient must have a utility to translate between one of these formats.
I have sent e-mail messages that included large binhexed programs that were 3 or 4 megabytes in length. I sent these messages between sites in the continental United States over connections that I knew could handle the obtuse files.
You shouldn't send huge e-mail messages over transcontinental links. Many of these Internet connections are excruciatingly expensive, and the folks who use them often pay for each byte that passes their way. Similarly, networks such as FidoNet are passed between computer systems by long-distance phone calls. Their owners pay the bills out of the goodness of their hearts, but they become annoyed when forced to pay for wasteful use of the network bandwidth. Gratuitous use of electronic mail in both these situations annoys people and is likely to get you yelled at.
For a complete and up-to-date listing of how to send mail from just about any network to any other, read the "Inter-Network Mail Guide" edited by Scott Yanoff. You can fetch this guide by anonymous FTP in csd4.csd.uwm.edu:/pub/internetwork-mail-guide.
It's also available on the Usenet newsgroups comp.mail.misc, alt.internet.services, and news.answers.
America Online. user@aol.com
Use all lowercase and remove any spaces in the AOL username. For example, savetz@aol.com. AOL splits long Internet e-mail messages into chunks under 27K. Users of the DOS-based PC/AOL software are limited to a maximum mail size of 8Kb. For all AOL users, funky characters (hearts, moons, clovers, diamonds and any other non-alphanumeric characters your terminal can conjure up) are replaced with spaces.Applelink. user@applelink.apple.com
AT&T Mail. user@attmail.com
Bitnet. user@host.bitnet
(The Bitnet hostname isn't necessarily the same as the Internet host name.) If this fails, your machine's SMTP server may not be up to date, so try directing your mail through a gateway such as cunyvm.cuny.edu, pucc.princeton.edu, or wuvmd.wustl.edu. The address would be as follows: user%domain.bitnet@pucc.princeton.edu (or cunyvm or wuvmd).BIX.user@bix.com
Compuserve. userid@compuserve.com
Use the recipient's numeric CompuServe identification number, but use a period instead of a comma to separate the number sets. For example, to send mail to CompuServe user 17770,101, mail to 17770.101@compuserve.com.Connect.user@dcjcon.das.net
Delphi. user@delphi.com
eWorld. user@eworld.com
Fidonet. firstname.lastname@p#.f#.n#.z#.fidonet.org
To send mail to FidoNet users, you not only need the names, but the exact FidoNet addresses they use. FidoNet addresses are broken down into zones, net, nodes, and (optionally) points. For example, the address of one Fido BBS is 1:102/834. The zone is 1, the net is 102, the node is 834. A user's address could include a point as well: 1:102/834.1; the final 1 is the point. So to send mail to John Smith at Fido address 1:102/834, e-mail to John.Smith@f834.n102.z1.fidonet.org. To send mail to that user at Fido address 1:102/834.1, e-mail to John.Smith@p1.f834.n102.z1.fidonet.org.GEnie.user@genie.geis.com
Where user is their mail address. If a user tells you their mail address is xyz12345 or something similar, it isn't. It usually looks like A.BEEBER42 where A is their first initial, BEEBER is their last name, and 42 is a number distinguishing them from all other A.BEEBER's.Internet. user@host.domain
Where user is the recipient's login name, and domain is the full name and location of the computer where he or she receives e-mail. Examples are savetz@rahul.net and an017@cleveland.freenet.edu.MCI Mail. user@mcimail.com
User can be a numeric identification (which is always 7 digits long or 3 zeroes followed by 7 digits), their account name (which is one word) or first and last names separated with an underline. (for example, 0001234567@mcimail.com, 123-4567@mcimail.com or John_Edward_Doe@mcimail.com.)National Videotext Network. user@nvn.com
NVN is another national online service, a la Delphi, but less well known.PC Link. user@aol.com
Incoming mail is limited to 27K. (There is no pclink.com domain. PC Link is owned by America Online, hence the aol.com domain.)Prodigy. userid@prodigy.com
A user ID looks like BVXF64A.Whole Earth `lectronic Link (WELL).
user@well.sf.ca.us
America Online. user@host.domain
AppleLink. user@host.domain@internet#
This is one of the only cases that I know of where you'll send e-mail with two @s in the To: line. I don't know why they do it that way; it's bad form. To send mail from AppleLink, the destination address must be fewer than 35 characters.AT&T Mail.internet!domain!user
For example: internet!rahul.net!waffle.BITNet.
Methods for sending mail from BITNet to the Internet vary depending on what mail software is running at your BITNet host. In the best case, users should be able to send mail to user@host.domain. If this doesn't work, try user%domain@gateway where gateway is a BITNet-Internet gateway site (such as cunyvm.cuny.edu, pucc.princeton.edu, or wuvmd.wustl.edu.)CompuServe. >INTERNET:user@host.domain
Connect. DASN
Make the first line of the message "user@host.domain"@DASNFidonet. user@machine.site.domain ON 1:1/31
Use the normal Internet address followed by ON 1:1/31.
GEnie. user@host.domain@INET#MCI Mail.
At the To: prompt, type your recipient's name followed by (EMS) For instance, John Smith (EMS). At the EMS: prompt type INTERNET. Finally, at the Mbx: prompt type user@host.domain.WWIVnet.user#machine.site.domain@506.
If the destination username begins with digits, begin the address with a quote mark This is a low-traffic site, so use it sparingly and only for short, infrequent messages.
The only exception that I know of is MCI Mail. Its users are listed in the Knowbot Information Service (see the answer to Question 4.20.)
If you have a CompuServe account, you can log in and check the user directory, but even that directory doesn't list all CompuServe users. Subscribers can elect to have their names and addresses taken out of the directory. Most other online services have similar directories that are only available to their own users.
Note: Some services will identify a subset of their users if you try to send mail and it's not a unique descriptor. For example, there are probably a half-dozen Dave Taylor's on CompuServe, so sending mail to Dave.Taylor@compuserve.com might result in a message back from the system indicating that there is more than one, and listing them. This doesn't always work, but it's worth trying!
However, it's not impossible to find people on the net. Several tools are available that can help you search for a person's e-mail address, given some amount of information about your victim--er, associate. Each tool works in a different way. Some tools keep a huge database of names and addresses, and others search the Net for you "on the fly" without a prestored database. Quite often one of the following tools will succeed although the others fail, so it pays to try them all.
The more information you know about your associates--names, places of business or schools, and so on--the greater your chances are of finding them. If you want to get in touch with a pal from your past but you don't know where he or she works, or what city he or she lives in, you're less likely to locate him or her--even if he or she is on the Net.
Of course, to be listed in any of these services, you need to have an account on the Internet, and to some extent, you need to want to be found. Don't forget about other ways to find someone: write a letter or pick up the phone and call.
For more information on finding someone's e-mail address, read: "FAQ: How to find people's E-mail addresses," available via e-mail from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu by sending send usenet/news.answers/finding-addresses in the body of the message. This document is also posted regularly to the Usenet group news.answers and is available via FTP as
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/finding-addressesAnother document, specifically with help on finding college student's e-mail addresses, is available. It is also posted on a regular basis to news.answers. You can also get the file by anonymous FTP as
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/soc.college/Student_Email_Addressesor by sending a mail message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with a message body of send usenet/soc.college/Student_Email_Addresses.
When all other methods of searching for an e-mail address have failed; after you've tried using the following user-lookup services and calling your associate's old roommates, you can consider posting a message to the newsgroup soc.net-people asking for help locating your target. Before doing this, read the document "Tips on using soc.net-people" which is posted to that group regularly. This file is also available via FTP (the filename will be slightly different):
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/soc.net-people/Tips_on_using_soc.net-eople_[l.m._13_09_92]Remember, posting to the Usenet costs many people real money, and your chances of finding someone on soc.net-people--especially if other search methods have failed--are slim.
Many Internet systems support a command called finger, which can give basic information about a user on a given computer. finger usually allows searches by first, last, or login names. To list users named Ron on your local system, typing finger ron should list everyone with Ron as part of their name or login. finger may return information including the user's real name, login, a phone number, and other personal information if these are supplied.
On many systems, finger allows you to peruse the users of other computers as well. Entering the command finger ron@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu will tell you about the Rons with accounts on a certain computer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This in itself is not too powerful, however, because it requires that you know the exact name of the computer system you are searching. When you are searching for an associate's e-mail address, this isn't the case. Once you know the computer system and login name of a person, you know enough to send electronic mail.
finger's power, however, grows when used in conjunction with services such as Netfind, which scour the network for the names you give without any other information except an idea of where to look.
Be warned that there are almost 100 different whois servers, and your results might vary based on which server you use. I looked up Ed Krol (author of the Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog, a fine book about the Internet) with the InterNIC system by using Telnet rs.internic.net, and here's how it looked. (Notice that you can perform a variety of different databases searches, not just whois. and queries from this site.)
$ telnet rs.internic.net Trying... Connected to rs.internic.net. Escape character is `^]'. SunOS UNIX (rs) (ttyp3) *************************************************************************** * -- InterNIC Registration Services Center -- * * For gopher, type: GOPHER <return> * For wais, type: WAIS <search string> <return> * For the *original* whois type: WHOIS [search string] <return> * For registration status: STATUS <ticket number> <return> * * For user assistance call (800) 444-4345 | (619) 455-4600 or (703) 742-4777 * Please report system problems to ACTION@internic.net **************************************************************************** Please be advised that the InterNIC Registration host contains INTERNET Domains, IP Network Numbers, ASNs, and Points of Contacts ONLY. Please refer to rfc1400.txt for details (available via anonymous ftp at either nic.ddn.mil [/rfc/rfc1400.txt] or ftp.rs.internic.net [/policy/rfc1400.txt]). Cmdinter Ver 1.3 Mon Apr 11 01:00:12 1994 EST [vt100] InterNIC > whois krol,ed Connecting to the rs Database . . . . . . Connected to the rs Database Krol, Ed (EK10) Krol@UXC.CSO.UIUC.EDU University of Illinois Computing and Communications Service Office 195 DCL 1304 West Springfield Avenue Urbana, IL 61801-4399 (217) 333-7886 Record last updated on 27-Nov-91.
Panix Public Access Unix of New York (PANIX-DOM)
c/o Alexis Rosen
110 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10024
Domain Name: PANIX.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Rosen, Alexis (AMR8) hostmaster@ACCESS.NET
(212) 877-4854
Record last updated on 12-Apr-93.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ACCESS.NET 198.7.0.1
NS2.ACCESS.NET 198.7.0.2
NYU.EDU 128.122.128.2, 192.76.177.18
EGRESS.NYU.EDU 128.122.128.24, 192.76.177.17
It works best for sites that do not insulate themselves from the outside world. Some sites, for privacy or security reasons, do not allow offsite users to finger their computers or access other information. Although this may be best for the company, it hinders Netfind, which uses this information, when it can, during its search.
Netfind can be used either as a client program running on your local computer or by Telneting to one of several public servers. The public servers don't require the Netfind software to be on your local host, so we'll look at that venue for searching.
To use Netfind, Telnet to bruno.cs.colorado.edu (or another Netfind server, listed in following text), armed with the names to search for and their places of business or schools. At the login prompt, type netfind. Most servers are limited to a certain number of searches at any given time, so you may be denied access. If so, try again later or choose a different server.
Netfind displays a menu of selections. For searching for a specific person, enter 2 (search). You'll then be asked to enter person and keys. Enter one word for the name followed by one or more words defining where to look. For instance, entering simon san diego state university will check for San Diego State in Netfind's "seed database." If it has something to go on, it will begin checking domain names for the keys. If not, try a less restrictive key (in this case, just san diego). Next is a search for hosts. Netfind uses several remote services, including the finger command and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to query each computer that might have an account name, in this case Simon. (A more complete explanation of this process is available in Netfind's online help.)
If Netfind finds too many machines that match your keys, it will list them and ask you to choose up to three.
If a match is made, Netfind gives you as much information as it can about the match. If there is no match, or it can't get access to information from a secure site, you are told why.
Example:
$ telnet bruno.cs.colorado.edu
Trying 128.138.243.150...
Connected to bruno.cs.colorado.edu.
Escape character is `^]'.
SunOS UNIX (bruno)
Login as `netfind' to access netfind server
login: netfind
=====================================================
Welcome to the University of Colorado Netfind server.
=====================================================
Top level choices:
1. Help
2. Search
3. Seed database lookup
4. Options
5. Quit (exit server)
--> 2
Enter person and keys (blank to exit) --> savetz a2i
Searching rahul.net
( 1) SMTP_Finger_Search: checking domain rahul.net
SYSTEM: rahul.net
Login: waffle Name: Kevin Savetz
Directory: /files/home/waffle Shell: /local/bin/tcsh
Mail last read Fri May 13 20:27:22 1994
On since Fri May 13 19:43 (PDT) on ttyp8
Freelance computer journalist.
Publisher of the Internet Services Frequently Asked Questions List.
Publisher of the Unofficial Internet Book List.
Publisher of the Internet Fax FAQ.
All of these documents are available via e-mail. For info, send mail
To: savetz@rahul.net Subject: send help
Author, "Your Internet Consultant - the FAQs of Life Online" (Sams
Publishing to be released June 1994.)
Note: Telnet to the nearest address, login as netfind
archie.au. AARNet, Melbourne, Australia
bruno.cs.colorado.edu. University of Colorado, Boulder
dino.conicit.ve. National Council for Technical and Scientific Research,
Venezuela
ds.internic.net. InterNIC Directory and DB Services, S. Plainfield, NJ
eis.calstate.edu. California State University, Fullerton, CA
hto-e.usc.edu. University of Southern California, Los Angeles
krnic.net. Korea Network Information Center, Taejon, Korea
lincoln.technet.sg. Technet Unit, Singapore
malloco.ing.puc.cl. Catholic University of Chile, Santiago
monolith.cc.ic.ac.uk. Imperial College, London, England
mudhoney.micro.umn.edu. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
netfind.anu.edu.au. Australian National University, Canberra
netfind.ee.mcgill.ca. McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
netfind.icm.edu.pl. Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland
netfind.if.usp.br. University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
netfind.oc.com. OpenConnect Systems, Dallas, Texas
netfind.sjsu.edu. San Jose State University, San Jose, California
netfind.vslib.cz. Liberec University of Technology, Czech Republic
nic.uakom.sk. Academy of Sciences, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
redmont.cis.uab.edu. University of Alabama at Birmingham
KIS uses subprograms called Knowbots to search for information. Each Knowbot looks for specific information from a site and reports back to the main program with the results.
Two hosts running KIS servers are info.cnri.reston.va.us and regulus.cs.bucknell.edu. You can access either one by electronic mail (send mail to netaddress@nri.reston.va.us, for instance) or using Telnet. (If you Telnet to a KIS server, you need to request port 185: instead of typing telnet regulus.cs.buckness.edu, you'd actually type telnet regulus.cs.buckness.edu 185.)
Because searching can take several minutes, I prefer to use the e-mail method; once KIS knows the results of the search, it mails them back to you.
In the body of your mail message to netaddress, put names of your associates, one per line. You may use first and last names or a login if you know them. Sending johnson will search the default list of directory servers for user johnson. Because KIS checks a predefined set of services, you do not need to supply an organization name to check for.
KIS also includes commands for narrowing your search and searching for an organization. For more help, include the word man in your e-mail to KIS or your interactive session.
You use the Usenet search by sending electronic mail to a server that processes your query and replies by e-mail. To look up a name, send a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu. The server will ignore the subject line. In the body of your message, send send usenet-addresses/keys. keys can be one or more search words separated by spaces. It can be the first and last name, a login name, or the name of an organization. (If you send only the name of an organization, you will receive a list of all the posters from that place.)
You can guess about the words that may appear in the address of the person you are searching for; it's okay if some of the keys don't appear in the address. The search program uses "fuzzy" matching and tries to find the addresses that are closest to your keywords. Forty or fewer matches will be returned, ranked from best to worst.
For more information, send a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with a message body of send usenet-addresses/help. If you need to talk to a real person, send mail to postmaster@rtfm.mit.edu. The online help should be all you need, though.
The Usenet addresses database is also accessible via WAIS on two hosts: rtfm.mit.edu and cedar.cic.net. In both cases, the database is called usenet-addresses and is on port 210. The version on rtfm is slightly more up-to-date with respect to the master address list than the version on cedar.
Here's an example of a Usenet addresses search. No Paul Simon, but lots of near misses:
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 1994 03:51:14 -0500 To: Kevin Savetz <savetz@rahul.net> Subject: mail-server: "send usenet-addresses/paul simon" simon@fehen.demon.co.uk (Simon Bisson)@fehen.demon.co.uk (Simon Bisson) (Dec 5 93) paul@mtnmath.UUCP (Paul Budnik paul@MTNMATH.COM) (Jan 20 94) paul@mtnmath.UUCP (Paul Budnik uunet!mtnmath!paul) (Jan 2 94) paul-hertz@nwu.edu (Paul Hertz) (Paul Hertz) (Jun 14 93) uunet!mtnmath!paul@ncar.UCAR.EDU (Paul Budnik uunet!mtnmath!paul) (Jun 3093) simon@brome.iro.umontreal.ca (Daniel Simon) (Apr 1 93) Paul_Roberts@p100.f2003.n241.z2.fidonet.org (Paul Roberts) (Apr 1 93) simon@moscow.uidaho.edu (Mike Simon) (Apr 21 93) paul.britton@f54.n54.fido.zeta.org.au (Paul Britton) (Apr 21 93) paul@hpwrce.mayfield.hp.com (Paul Beatrice) (Apr 21 93) Paul.E..King@f716.n109.z1.his.com (Paul E. King) (Apr 21 93) paul@castle.ed.ac.uk (Paul Haldane) (Apr 1 93) paul@gaitlab1.uwaterloo.ca (paul j guy) (Apr 21 93) Paul_Fishwick@p100.f2003.n241.z2.fidonet.org (Paul Fishwick) (Apr 1 93) Simon Aitken <simon@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au> (Apr 11 93)
Most mailing lists are available to the Internet public, so anyone interested in that topic may join that list. Some mailing lists have membership restrictions, others have message content restrictions, and still others are moderated; that is, only messages that have been approved by a moderator pass through the gates to your e-mailbox.
There are two types of mailing lists: manually maintained lists and automated lists.
In its manual form, the list of subscribers is maintained by a person: the list's administrator. To subscribe to such a list, one should ask the list administrator to add your name to the list. Typically the administrator can be reached at listname-request@host.domain.
An automated list is maintained by a program (called a mailserver) that handles subscriptions and mail redistribution. To subscribe to an automated list, one should send a message to the mailserver.
To subscribe, send the command SUB listname Yourfirstname Yourlastname to the designated mailserver. Obviously you should use your own name in the subscription request. To stop receiving information from a mailing list, send SIGNOFF listname to the mailserver.
A mailserver is a program that interprets the lines in a message as a series of commands to act on; for example to mail a file or to add a person to a mailing list. To learn how to handle a mailserver, you should send a one-line message containing the command help to the mailserver's address. (In some rare cases, the mailserver needs an empty message with help in the subject header).
You can receive a manual on using Listservs by sending the command INFO GENERAL to any Listserv (for instance to LISTSERV@BITNIC.BITNET). The command HELP will get you a short list of commands, INFO REFCARD a longer list.
Be aware that not all lists are run on Listservs. If you want to subscribe to a mailing list but you aren't sure if there's a person or a program behind the scenes, assume the list is maintained by a human. Don't send listserv commands unless the contact address starts with majordomo or listserv or the instructions explicitly say to send listserv commands. Some list owners will get annoyed if you send them listserv commands rather than polite messages complete with "please" and "thank you."
If you're not sure if a human or a machine is on the receiving end, send a message like this:
SUB listname My Name Hi! If a human is reading this, please sign me up! Thanks!
Never send requests or commands for subscribing or unsubscribing to the list itself. Such messages bother all the participants and aren't likely to get you removed from the list, either. Instead, send requests of an administrative nature to the moderator of the list. Typically, the administrator can be reached at listname-request@host.domain or listname-owner@host.domain.
via anonymous FTP: sri.com:/netinfo/interest-groups
via e-mail To: mail-server@sri.com
Body: send interest-groups
A typical entry in the lists of lists looks like this one:
4DOS on ListServ@IndyCMS ListServ@IndyCMS.IUPUI.Edu
4DOS (4DOS command interpreter) is dedicated to discussion of the 4DOS
command interpreter, or "DOS Shell," produced by JP Software Inc. 4DOS (the
list) is completely independent of 4DOS (the command interpreter) and JP
Software Inc (the manufacturer).
To subscribe to 4DOS send the following command
SUB 4DOS yourfirstname yourlastname in the BODY or mail (or an interactive
command on BITNET) to Listserv@INDYCMS.BITNET or Listserv@INDYCMS.IUPUI.EDU.
4DOS is owned and coordinated by an interested user (John B Harlan).
Usenet. updated monthly on news.lists and news.answers
anonymous FTP. rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/mailing-lists
e-mail. mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with send
usenet/news.answers/mail/mailing-lists/* in the body
World Wide Web. http://www.ii.uib.no/~magnus/paml.html
Glass Arts
Contact: glass-request@dixie.com
Purpose: For stained/hot glass artists.
glbpoc
Contact: glbpoc-request@ferkel.ucsb.edu
Purpose: glbpoc is a mailing list for lesbian, gay, and bisexual
people of color. To be added to the list you must provide your full
name and a complete internet address.
glove-list
Contact: (machine) listserv@boxer.nas.nasa.gov
(human) jet@nas.nasa.gov (J. Eric Townsend)
Purpose: Discussion of the Nintendo PowerGlove, a < $100 dataglove
available on the remaindered racks of Toys `R Us and other big
toy stores.
To subscribe, send email to listserv@boxer.nas.nasa.gov with a
*body* of "subscribe glove-list your_full_name".
gnu-manual
Contact: internet: gnu-manual-request@a.cs.uiuc.edu
Purpose: "gnu-manual" members are volunteers who write, proofread,
and comment on documents for a GNU Emacs Lisp programmers' manual.
SIGLIST is available via
anonymous FTP. dartcms1.dartmouth.edu:/SIGLISTS/*
e-mail. listserv@dartcms1.bitnet with INDEX SIGLISTS in the body
AFA-HEAL@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-HEAL Health Finance AFA-INT@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-INT International Finance AFA-INV@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-INV Investments AFA-LE@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-LE Law & Economics AFA-MATH@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-MATH Mathematical Finance AFA-PUB@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-PUB Public Finance AFA-REAL@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-REAL Real Estate AFA-S-IV@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-S-IV Small Investors AFA-SBUS@WSUVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@WSUVM1.BITNET AFA-SBUS Small Business Finance AFAM-L@UMCVMB.BITNET LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET African-American Research AFRICA-L@BRUFMG.BITNET LISTSERV@BRUFMG.BITNET FORUM PAN-AFRICA AIAA@ARIZVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@ARIZVM1.BITNET AIAA Listserv AIL-L@austin.onu.edu listserv@austin.onu.edu Artificial Intelligence and Law ALIENS-L@UTKVM1.BITNET LISTSERV@UTKVM1.BITNET Taxation/Witholding/Reporting Re quirements f all-of-elsa@jus.uio.no akj@jus.uio.no European Law Students Assocication ALLMUSIC@AUVM.BITNET LISTSERV@AUVM.BITNET Discussions on all forms of Musi c ALSBNEWS@MIAMIU.BITNET LISTSERV@MIAMIU.BITNET Academy of Legal Studies in Busi ness (ALSB) ALSBTALK@MIAMIU.BITNET LISTSERV@MIAMIU.BITNET Academy of Legal Studies in Busi ness (ALSB) AltInst@cs.cmu.edu AltInst-request@cs.cmu.edu Alternate Institutions ALTLEARN@SJUVM.BITNET LISTSERV@SJUVM.BITNET Alternative Approaches to Learni ng Discussion AMERCATH@UKCC.BITNET LISTSERV@UKCC.BITNET History of American Catholicism America@xamiga.linet.org subscribe@xamiga.linet.org American Governm ent AMFCH-L@UCHCECVM.BITNET LISTSERV@UCHCECVM.BITNET Noticias Acerca de la Co operacion Franco-Chile AMIGA-TR@TREARN.BITNET LISTSERV@TREARN.BITNET Turk Amigacilar listesi... AMINT-L@PSUVM.BITNET LISTSERV@PSUVM.BITNET Academy of Management Internatio nal AMLIT-L@UMCVMB.BITNET LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET American Literature Discussion L ist AMWEST-H@USCVM.BITNET LISTSERV@USCVM.BITNET American West History Forum ANCIEN-L@ULKYVM.BITNET LISTSERV@ULKYVM.BITNET History of the Ancient Mediterra nean
e-mail. LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET with SUB
NEW-LIST Yourfirstname Yourlastname in the body
Usenet. bit.listserv.new-list
You can also search a database of information in "interest-groups," "list of lists," and the "new-list" interest group. Letting a computer search for mailing lists that interest you certainly beats perusing megabyte-long lists yourself. For information on accessing the database, send e-mail to LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET with INFO DATABASE in the body.
Here's an example of a list announced on the Usenet's bit.listserv.new-list:
ABooks-L on ListProc@scu.edu.au
ANet is a networked electronic forum in the broad accounting and
auditing discipline. It has been established by Southern Cross
University in conjunction with the School of Business at Bond
University.
ANet announces ABooks-L. A mailing list which allows authors and
publishers to advertise the arrival of new books in the broad
accounting and auditing discipline. Be warned - unashamed
advertising allowed.
To subscribe to the ABooks-L mailing list, send a message to the
mailing list management software:
ListProc@scu.edu.au
with the following text in the body of the e-mail:
subscribe ABooks-L firstname surname
Archives of this ANet mailing list are held and can be accessed by
sending a message to:
ListProc@scu.edu.au
with the following text in the body of the e-mail:
index ABooks-L
The archives are also available from the ANet Gopher (see signature
below) or by anonymous FTP from "anet.scu.edu.au".
Roger Debreceny, ANet, |E-mail: ANetAdm@ANet.scu.edu.au
The Intl. Accounting Network |Fax: +61 66 22 1724
Faculty of Business and Computing |Phone: +61 66 20 3837
Southern Cross University |ANet is a co-operative venture
PO Box 157 |between Southern Cross Uni
Lismore, NSW, 2480, Australia |& Bond University.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|For background on ANet, email "ANet@scu.edu.au". No text needed. |
|ANet Gopher URL -> gopher://ANet.scu.edu.au/11/anet/ |
|ANet Home Page -> http://ANet.scu.edu.au/ANetHomePage.html |
|Can you help by becoming an Associate of ANet? Contact ANetAdm |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
e-mail. listserv@vm1.nodak.edu with GET NEW-LIST WOUTERS in the body anonymous FTP.vm1.nodak.edu:/new-list/new-list.wouters
MIME isn't a program; it's a specification. Many of today's e-mail programs understand the MIME specification, but remember that not everyone has access to programs that understand MIME. If you aren't sure whether your message's recipients can read MIME messages, stick with plain old text, the lowest common denominator of electronic mail.
Discussions about MIME take place on the Usenet's comp.mail.mime newsgroup. There is also a mailing list gatewayed with comp.mail.mime. If you are unable to read Usenet news, send a subscription request to info-mime-request@thumper.bellcore.com.
If you're in the United Kingdom, you can receive info-mime by sending a request to info-mime-uk-request@mailbase.ac.uk.
An overview of the MIME specification is available by FTP from ftp.netcom.com:pub/mdg/mime.txt for the text version or ftp.netcom.com:pub/mdg/mime.ps for the PostScript version.
For more information, read the comp.mail.mime frequently asked questions list on Usenet at comp.mail.mime or available by FTP from rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.mail.mime/c.m.m_f_a_q_l_(F)_(1_3).
This service itself is free; rather, it costs no more than sending a standard e-mail message. Malamud wrote in an e-mail message, "First, it costs you money to send e-mail... so faxing is not free, it is cost-effective and distance-insensitive." The recipient is only out the cost of a sheet or two of fax paper. However, the creators are investigating ways of recouping a nominal fee for sending faxes to help reimburse institutions for the cost of sending faxes.
"The point of this experiment is not `here is a way we can freeload on altruistic people,' but `here is a way we can all pitch in and work together to provide telephone service,'" Malamud says.
When you send an e-mail fax message, you (naturally) must include the phone number of the recipient's fax machine. A computer looks at the phone number and determines whether any participating fax machines cover the area you want to fax to. If so, your message is routed to the appropriate machine for faxing. Otherwise, you will receive electronic mail with the disappointing news that your fax couldn't be delivered.
Can you send a fax anywhere? Well, no. This is an experiment, so only a smattering of participants have enlisted their fax machines in the quest to send outgoing messages from total strangers to other total strangers. As this is written, the set of locales to which you can send faxes is bizarre, including all of Australia, New Zealand, Washington DC, big chunks of Central California, some of Southern California, and parts of Michigan, Massachusetts, and New York. More locales undoubtedly will be added to the list soon, including Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Sweden, and more parts of the United States.
To send a fax over the Internet, compose an e-mail message. The body of the message should contain the contents of your fax message. The To: line is the most important part of your fax-mail, because it must contain the phone number of the recipient's fax machine as well as the recipient's name.
The To: line should look something like this:
To: remote-printer.Arlo_Cats/Room_123@12025551212.iddd.tpc.intTo the left of the @ symbol, you must include the identity of the recipient. The words remote-printer tell the fax server the type of access. (In this case, faxing or remote printing.) Because some mailers have difficulty dealing with addresses that contain spaces, you should be careful as to what characters you use to identify the recipient. It is safest to use upper- and lowercase letters, digits, the _ and the / character. When the fax cover sheet is generated, the _ will turn into a space and the / will become a line break. So the preceding address would generate a cover sheet such as Please deliver this facsimile to
Arlo Cats Room 123The mess of numbers to the right of the preceding example identifies the telephone number of the remote fax machine. Exchanges must be specified by country code and phone number. This means you must specify the country code and then the phone number of your intended recipient. If you're sending to a machine in the U.S., you need only send a 1, the area code, and the phone number. Next, add the Internet domain .iddd.tpc.int.
You can send a fax to multiple fax machines or even a combination of faxes and traditional e-mail recipients. After the deed is done, you will receive electronic mail telling you whether your fax was successfully sent.
For more information or for a copy of the Frequently Asked Questions list on faxing from the Net, send mail to tpc-faq@town.hall.or, and you will automatically receive the FAQ via e-mail. The FAQ also covers advanced topics such as using MIME to send fancy formatted text or graphics and how to operate your own fax server for the good of the world.
Fax sites are being added to the network on a regular basis. For a current list of faxable areas, send e-mail to tpc-coverage@town.hall.org. There is also a mailing list for discussion of the fax service and its implementation. To join, send a request to tpc-rp-request@aarnet.edu.au.
More information is available from AnyWare Associates, FAXiNET, 32 Woodland Road, Boston, MA 02130. (617) 522-8102. E-mail: sales@awa.com
show information on ron at your site, and finger ron@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu will show you all the rons with accounts on a certain computer at MIT. Note that some finger programs don't take arguments, some will accept only a userid (the exact login name of a user,), and still others will search using a first or last name. If your system has manual pages installed, type man finger for more information. If your system has Internet access but not finger, there are several freely distributable versions, including GNU finger and BSD finger.
Here's an example:
bolero[3] finger ron@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu [hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu] Users who have `ron' in their names: Aaron Putnam (putnam) Home: /home/fsg/putnam Shell: /usr/local/bin/cracked No mail. Aaron Putnam (putnam) is not presently logged in. Last seen at hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu on Sun Apr 5 14:03:27 1992 No plan. Carol Botteron (botteron) Home: /home/gp/botteron Shell: /bin/csh New mail since Tue Feb 22 00:30:55 1994 Has not read mail for 13:52:00. Carol Botteron (botteron) is not presently logged in. Last seen at geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu on Mon Feb 21 13:15:05 1994 No plan. Ronnie Gay Strong (strongr) Home: /home/fsg/strongr Shell: /usr/local/gnubin/bash No mail. Ronnie Gay Strong (strongr) is not presently logged in. Last seen at hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu on Tue Feb 23 10:22:49 1993
Login: waffle Name: Kevin Savetz Directory: /files/home/waffle Shell: /local/bin/tcsh Mail last read Wed Jan 19 17:06:52 1994 On since Wed Jan 19 21:45 (PST) on ttyp9 Freelance computer journalist. Publisher of the Internet Services Frequently Asked Questions List. This file is posted weekly to the newsgroup "alt.internet.services" and posted twice monthly to "news.answers" and "alt.answers" It is also available via anonymous FTP: rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/faq Author, "Your Internet Consultant - the FAQs of Life Online" (Sams Publishing.)
[ Kevin M. Savetz -- savetz@rahul.net ] [ -- faq-book-info@northcoast.net ]And one that's a little more elaborate.
Grady Ward | compiler of Moby lexicons: | finger grady@netcom.com +1 707 826 7715 | Words, Hyphenator, Part-of-Speech | for more information (voice/24hr FAX) | Pronunciator, Thesaurus | 15 AD D3 D1 C6 F3 FC grady@netcom.com | and Language, all royalty-free | 58 AC F7 3D 4F 01 1E 2F E. Jay O'Connell_____________________________________ejo@world.std.com "God does not play dice with the Universe"--A Einstein "No, she plays SuperScratch-Card Wingo (TM)"--Me. ______________________________________________________________________Be careful about what information you share with the world in your signature and plan files. Think twice--or three or four times--before publishing your home phone number, credit card number, shoe size, or other information that will make you miserable when 14 million of your closest neighbors have it.
If you want to be annoyed by other people's signatures, read the newsgroup alt.fan.warlords, which is devoted to critiquing signatures that go too far. Here's an example of what you'll find there:
> /\ > / / > /\ \/\ > \ \ / __ > __ \ \/ / .\__ >....../ .\_\/../\ __/........................................................ > /\ __/ / /\ \ __________ > / /\ \ /\ /\/ .- __ / -- -\ Eric Uner > / /\/\/ \ \ / / <___> ___ | |\- ericu@comm.mot.com > \ / / ___\ \/ .^| _--_ / \ = / \ > \ /o / ____/ |o | = / o | | || | Motorola, Schaumburg, IL > \/ /\ \ =0=======0==| |----| |= > o \ \ \ \_\_/ \_\_/ \_\_/ > /\ \ \/ > \ \/ / It's an Oval Window, It's a Sunroof, It's a 3.0L! >........\ /................................................................... > \/This one was also posted to alt.fan.warlords. Although I'm pretty fond of this one, most users would ask that you keep this carp off the Usenet. :-)
> . , > .:/ > Rosemary Dean Mackintosh . ,,///;, ,;/ > rosemary@clam.rutgers.edu . o:::::::;;/// >"Set the gearshift to the high gear of your soul!" >::::::::;;\\\ > `'\\\\\'" `;\ > `;\
If chfn is not available, try typing passwd -f.
For more information see the chfn, passwd, and finger manual pages or online help.
According to an article by Michael Strangelove in the January, 1994, issue of Online Access magazine, messages sent to the White House are actually processed 30 miles away by the computers of Trusted Information Systems in Glenwood, Maryland. TIS processes between 1,000 and 6,000 e-mail messages for the White House daily. Strangelove writes, "You have a better chance of receiving a personal reply from Elvis than you do from Bill."
Although silly and harmless, I had received forged electronic messages. It is indeed possible to forge electronic mail, making it appear to the untrained eye that it came from a user that didn't really send it. If you should receive mail from the Easter Bunny or Brooke Shields, or if you get mail that doesn't sound like it came from someone you know, although it seems to be signed by that person, try to confirm that the message is legitimate before proceeding. Forged e-mail is not common, but it's something to keep in mind.
From daemon Thu Dec 23 07:54:05 1993 Date: Thu, 23 Dec 93 10:19:58 -0500 To: Kevin Savetz <savetz@rahul.net> From: "Santa Claus" <Santa@north.pole.org> Organization: The North Pole (A Public Benefit Corporation) Subject: Re: Dear Santa > Dear Santa, > > All I want for Christmas is a decent SLIP or PPP connection locally. > Oh, and I'd like my book contract to go through. Greetings from the North Pole! What a week, what a week! Its really busy getting ready for the big day. We've been feeding the reindeer extra carrots and the elves are all looking forward to a week on the beach. Do you realize that we have to visit 2 billion children in one night? That's 822.6 visits per second, barely enough time to snarf down those cookies! I've checked my database (twice) and its clear that you've been very good this year. I'm going to do the very best I can to get you all the neat stuff that you are hoping for. Still, when all is said done, I hope you get peace and happiness in 1994, the best presents of all. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Santa Claus (and the Elves! *<:-)) The North Pole P.S. Rudolph sends his regards. He's drooling all over the rug just thinking about all those carrots and stuff kids are leaving out for him. What a mess, what a mess!
© 1994, Macmillan Publishing USA, a Simon and Schuster Macmillan Company.