Next Stop: Andy's Home Page

INTERNET EMAIL Last Updated 17/4/2000 This page should help you get the most out of internet e-mail. You may only be able to access the internet by email, or perhaps you get tired of waiting online for a web page to download; Whatever, you should find some valuable techniques here. On This Page ... Usenet Web  FTP and Archie  Mailing Lists Archives More Links Usenet Participating in newsgroup discussions via email has a lot to recommend it. With the demise of in InReference, I thought that there were no more options in that area, however there's a new service at Soñador that seems to offer a substitute. I haven't tried it myself yet ... please give me some feedback if you try it. Deja offers a partial solution to this problem which I do use ... their My Deja service sends you emails notifying you when new Usenet messages meeting your search criteria appear on their website An alternative to newsgroups is to find a mailing list about your chosen topic. Posting Articles to Usenet To post articles to a usenet group you can send ordinary emails to special mail-to-news gateways. For an up-to-date list of "mail to news" gateways see Doctor Bob's document . Web Getweb This is a very fast mail-to-web gateway. The responses come back in minutes but there is a quota system (14 queries per 7 days) so don't go mad with it. The server email address is getweb@usa.healthnet.org. A nice bonus with this server is that it allows Altavista Searches and general form processing ! There's another getweb server at getweb@lanic.utexas.edu. I'm told that this one has a less restrictive quota system. For an up-to-date list of "GetWeb" gateways see Doctor Bob's document . Agora There are many agora servers on the internet that provide gateways to the web, ftp, and usenet. The main server seems to be agora@dna.affrc.go.jp. This server responds in around an hour. There are more agora servers listed in Doctor Bob's document. Webmail Using Peter Flynn's webmail server isn't quite as immediate as surfing the web, but it will do if you just want to retrieve a page or two. Here's a the web page. Not as easy to use as Agora or Getweb if you want to follow links from page to page. URL-Minder Using the URLMinder service from NetMind you can get automatic email notification of when a web page changes. Register at URL http://www.netmind.com/URL-minder/new/register.html and cancel at URL http://www.netmind.com/URL-minder/new/cancel.html. They offer an email registration but it's not reliable, so do it via one of the GETWEB servers (which suport web forms by email) or do it directly on the web. PageWatch PageWatch offer a similar service to URLMinder, you'll get an email every time your chosen web page changes. Pagewatch provide instructions on registering by email or else you can register/unregister at URL http://www.micromat.com/pagewatch/formpw.html, either directly with a browser or using a GETWEB server. FTP and Archie FTP is the internets method for transferring files from place to place, usually for obtaining program files or reference texts. One of the biggest FTP sites in the UK is at Imperial college, and it's this ftp service, together with its accompanying Archie service, I'm featuring here. Archie is an index to all files obtainable via FTP, not just at the host site, but at other sites too. Imperial Colleges Archie service indexes more FTP sites than any other Archie Server. With the advent of the web (only in 93-94) and it's search engines, archie now seems a bit old fashioned ... but if you know the file you want is available by ftp somewhere, then archie is probably the best way to find it. FTP Send emails to ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk to use the FTP server. Start by sending a message containing a single line with the text help and with a blank subject. Archie Send emails to archie@doc.ic.ac.uk to use the Archie server. Start by sending a message containing a single line with the text help and with a blank subject. Files sent to you by email will be encoded in some fashion, typically with UUENCODE. You will need to find a decoder for these formats. You may find your mail reader (or your operating system) already has one, or you may need to obtain one some other way. If you have true web access (not via email), try using web search engines (e.g. search word "UUDECODE") to locate a utility to decode these emails. Mailing Lists Mailing Lists are another kind of discussion group available on the internet, implemented via e-mail. Try this list of publicly accessible mailing lists or you could try Liszt ACCMAIL A good example of this kind of list is ACCMAIL, a discussion group devoted to this very subject, making the most of email. To join ACCMAIL you would send an email to LISTSERV@listserv.aol.com with a blank subject line and a single line in the message that reads SUBSCRIBE ACCMAIL Fred Bloggs where "Fred Bloggs" is your name. Then you'll start to receive email. To participate in the discussion, you would send email to ACCMAIL@listserv.aol.com. Any mail sent to this address goes to everyone who has subscribed to the list. Mailbase Mailbase is a UK-based server hosting mailing lists which are mainly aimed the academic community. However there are a few technical discussions, I've found stuff on Unix and Linux. To get started with this server send an email message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk containing a single line with the text send mailbase user-card and with a blank subject. Mailbase also have a site on the www. Mailing List Services There are now many websites specialising in offering mailing lists and discussion forums, which you can participate in via email, or web, or both. For example try ListBot, Onelist, and Topica. Archives RTFM Mail Server at MIT This mail server is primarily an archive for "regular postings" and "Frequently Asked Questions" from Usenet newsgroups. Send emails to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu to use this server. Start by sending a message containing a single line with the text help and with a blank subject. More Links Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ The document Accessing The Internet By E-Mail (created by "Doctor Bob" Rankin) makes a good introduction to the topic of off-line internet access, including lots of useful techniques. The document is now maintained by Gerald E. Boyd who maitains a website at www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1236/ . Everything Email Everything Email has an excellent set of email resources, including News by Email.