The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : E-Mail: More Than Just Messages
If there’s one thing users of on-line services have in common, whether the service is giant Prodigy or the humblest local BBS, it’s electronic mail. Probably you’re already using e-mail to communicate with friends and colleagues, or maybe even with strangers encountered on various forums, newsgroups, etc.
What you may not realize is the astonishing range of Internet resources available by e-mail. Some are a little tricky; you can obtain software from various Internet archives using nothing more than e-mail, for example, but it takes care and maybe even a little practice.
On the other hand, there are lots of nifty things you can do with e-mail, even if you’re pretty much a complete novice or can’t access the Internet any other way. Almost any one of these things could fill a column all by itself, and sooner or later we’ll cover many of them in greater depth. For now, though, let’s just consider what’s available and how you can use e-mail to get further information all by yourself.
Perhaps the easiest and most obvious thing you can do with e-mail (other than send a message to one person) is subscribe to Internet mailing lists, of which there are thousands focusing on every conceivable topic. If you’re an orchid fancier, for example, there is a mailing list containing dozens of people like you around the world. Messages sent to the list reach all subscribers, so it’s important to keep in mind that there is invariably a list address for mail intended to reach all subscribers, and a housekeeping address for subscribe and unsubscribe messages. Never confuse the two.
For a good introduction to this whole topic, send e-mail to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu with the message GET NEW-LIST WOUTERS. To search for mailing lists by keyword, send e-mail to the same address with the message LIST GLOBAL /music. Of course, if you’re interested in sports rather than music, substitute the keyword sports.
Before subscribing to any mailing list, make sure you understand--and hang onto--the directions for removing yourself from the list should your e-mail in-basket runneth over.
Another very handy thing you can do with electronic mail is make postings to Internet newsgroups. It’s an excellent alternative if you have a specific question to address to a special interest group but have no way to read a newsgroup directly.
Let’s say you want some advice on the best way to transport your parrot across the country, and perhaps the name of a veterinarian in New York. You know that rec.pets.birds is the place for bird-lovers, but you don’t have Internet access beyond e-mail.
No problem. Just post your inquiry by sending it to rec.pets.birds@decwrl.dec.com. In fact, you can post to any group in this way @decwrl.dec.com. The subject line of your message becomes the subject of your posting, so choose a descriptive one. And be sure to include in your posting your name and e-mail address, and ask politely that any responses be copied to you via e-mail.
If you’re wondering how you’d find out about the right newsgroup in the first place, Bob Rankin’s study (see accompanying story) gives explicit instructions.
There’s also a service that enables you to track what’s happening in various Internet newsgroups by keyword. Stanford University’s Electronic Library project will send you a periodic report on all newsgroup postings containing, for instance, the keyword “thermo dynamics.” And you can easily get the full text of any article mentioned in the reports to you. For information, send e-mail to netnews@db.stanford.edu. Leave the subject blank; the body should consist only of the word HELP.
For those interested in financial markets, there are several services that will provide information via e-mail. Chris Cooper’s QuoteCom service offers various for-fee stock market info, but it also offers up to five free quotes daily on stocks, mutual funds and some other securities. For more information, e-mail info@quote.com.
A free service called Quote-Page provides a daily report on commodities futures: Just e-mail listserv@pitstar.com with the message SUB Quote-Page nelson.bunker@hunt.com (Substitute your own e-mail address if you’re not one of the Hunt brothers).
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For magazine lovers, the Electronic Newsstand carries the table of contents for more than 165 magazines, as well as one or more articles from each, and makes this material available on the Internet--and you can reach it via e-mail. For more information on using it in this way, send a message to gophermail@enews.com. Again, the body should consist only of the word HELP.
And one final tip: You can send e-mail--or post to Internet newsgroups--anonymously, although I can’t vouch for the inviolability of the computer that serves as intermediary for this purpose. Though anonymous postings are controversial and can be misused, there are also good reasons for nameless postings. Some months ago, for example, a young Orthodox rabbi made an anguished anonymous posting to soc.culture.jewish, describing his increasing awareness of his homosexuality. Given his position, such a posting would have been impossible under his own name.
For instructions on how to post anonymously, send e-mail to help@anon.penet.fi and you’ll get a response by return mail.
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Daniel Akst, a Los Angeles writer, is a former assistant business editor for technology at The Times. He welcomes messages at akstd@news.latimes.com but regrets that he cannot reply to each and every one.
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E-Mail Authority
If you really want to learn how to navigate the Internet by e-mail, you won’t be surprised to know that the definitive work on the subject is itself available by e-mail.
Prepared by Bob Rankin of Tillson, N.Y., “Accessing the Internet by E-Mail: Doctor Bob’s Guide to Off-Line Internet Access” is a wonderfully clear and readable exposition, in explicit detail, of how to do almost everything in cyberspace using e-mail alone. What you can do includes such Internet favorites as archie, gopher and much, much more.
To get a copy of this 23-page study, which is free, send a message to:
listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu. Leave the subject blank; the body should say only GET INTERNET BY-EMAIL NETTRAIN F=MAIL.
If you plan to use it, make a printout. You’ll want it handy when you try some of the tricks it suggests.
