THE COMMISSIONERS’ INTERNET RESOURCES WORKSHOP
   
Version 2.0 - February 1996
Prepared by:  Michael F. Bowman

Part 2:  	BEGINNING BASICS -- EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO 	KNOW ABOUT E-MAIL:  USING INFORMATION
	TECHNOLOGIES TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS

Section 2:  Dr. Bob Rankin’s Guide to Offline Internet Access

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 	PART 2 - Beginning Basics -- Everything You Wanted to Know 					About E-Mail:  Using Information Technologies to 
				Improve Communications
		2. 	Dr. Bob Rankin’s Guide to Offline Internet Access (This 
			contains a wealth of useful information for all Scouters)
 
			How to Access Internet Services by E-mail
			Finding the Latest Version
			Acknowledgements
			A Short Aside... "What is the Internet?"
			The Rules of The Game
			FTP BY E-MAIL
			ARCHIE BY E-MAIL
			GOPHER BY E-MAIL
			VERONICA BY E-MAIL
			USENET BY E-MAIL
			An Alternative Usenet E-mail Method
			Yet Another Usenet E-mail Method!
			WAIS SEARCHES BY E-MAIL
			World-Wide Web By E-Mail
			Finding a Mailing List
			New in These Parts?
			FINGER BY E-MAIL
			"DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE" BY E-MAIL
			A FEW NET-GOODIES
			SUGGESTED READING
			CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
			MORE PUBLICATIONS FROM DOCTOR BOB!

Return to Commissioners' Internet Resources Workshop Introduction page.

THE COMMISSIONER’S INTERNET RESOURCES 
WORKSHOP PART 2

Section 2 -- Dr. Bob Rankin’s Guide to Offline Internet Access

           
Summary

This guide will show you how to retrieve files from FTP sites, explore the Internet via Gopher, search for information with Archie, Veronica, or WAIS, tap into the World-Wide Web, and even access Usenet newsgroups using E-MAIL AS YOUR ONLY TOOL.

Accessing The Internet By E-Mail:
Doctor Bob's Guide to Offline Internet Access
3rd Edition - December 1994
Copyright (c) 1994, "Doctor Bob" Rankin

All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Feel free to upload to your  favorite BBS or Internet server!

           
How to Access Internet Services by E-mail                          
If your only access to the Internet is via e-mail, you don't have to miss out on all the fun! Maybe you've heard of FTP, Gopher, Archie, Veronica,  Finger, Whois, WAIS, World-Wide Web, and Usenet but thought they were out of your reach because your online service does not provide those tools. Not so!  And even if you do have full Internet access, using e-mail servers can save you time and money.
This special report will show you how to retrieve files from FTP sites, explore the Internet via Gopher, search for information with Archie, Veronica, or WAIS, tap into the World-Wide Web, and even access Usenet newsgroups using E-MAIL AS YOUR ONLY TOOL.
If you can send a note to an Internet address, you're in the game! This is great news for users of online services where there is partial or no direct Internet access. As of late 1994, there were 150 countries with only e-mail connections to the Internet. This is double the number of countries with direct (IP) connections.
I encourage you to read this entire document first and then go back and try out the techniques that are covered. This way, you will gain a broader perspective of the information resources that are available, an introduction to the tools you can work with, and the best methods for finding the information you want.

           
Finding the Latest Version                                         
This document is now available from several automated mail servers. To get the latest edition, send e-mail to one of the addresses below.
To: listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu (for US/Canada/etc.)
Leave Subject blank, and enter only this line in the body of the note:
GET INTERNET BY-EMAIL NETTRAIN F=MAIL
To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (for Eastern US)
Leave Subject blank, and enter only this line in the body of the note:
send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email
To: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk (for UK/Europe/etc.)
Leave Subject blank, and enter only this line in the body of the note:
end lis-iis e-access-inet.txt
You can also get the file by anonymous FTP at one of these sites:
Site: ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu
get NETTRAIN/INTERNET.BY-EMAIL
Site: rtfm.mit.edu
get pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email
Site: mailbase.ac.uk
get pub/lists/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt

           
Acknowledgements                                                  

This document is continually expanding and improving as a result of the daily flood of comments and questions received by the author. The following individuals are hereby recognized for their contributions. (If I forgot anyone, let me know and I'll gladly add you to the list.)
Miles Baska
Sylvain Chamberland
Roddy MacLeod -- Engineering Faculty Librarian, Heriot Watt University
George McMurdo -- Queen Margaret College
Jim Milles -- NETTRAIN Moderator, Saint Louis University
Glee Willis -- Engineering Librarian, University of Nevada
Herman VanUytven -- Netnews->Email server developer

           
A Short Aside... "What is the Internet?"                           
Many introductory texts on the Internet go into excruciating detail on the history, composition and protocol of the Internet. If you were looking for that you won't find it here, because this is a "how to" lesson, not a history book.
When you buy a new car, they don't make you read "The Life and Times of Henry Ford" before you can turn the top down and squeal off the lot. And when you get a new computer, nobody forces you to read a text on logic design before you fire up Leisure Suit Larry or WordPerfect.
So if you're the type that wants to short-circuit the preliminaries and just dig in, you've come to the right place. I'm not going to bore you with the gory details. Instead, I'll just offer up my Reader's Digest condensed definition of the Internet, and encourage you to read more about the Internet in one of the many fine Internet books and guides listed in the "Suggested Reading" section. Some of them are even free, and accessible directly from the Internet!
Internet (noun) - A sprawling collection of computer networks that spans the globe, connecting government, military, educational and commercial institutions, as well as private citizens to a wide range of computer services, resources, and information. A set of network conventions and common tools are employed to give the appearance of a single large network, even though the computers that are linked together use many different hardware and software platforms.

           
The Rules of The Game
This document is meant to be both tutorial and practical, so there are lots of actual commands and internet addresses listed herein. You'll notice that when these are included in the text they are indented by several spaces for clarity. Don't include the leading spaces when you try these commands on your own! You'll also see things like "<file>" or "<name>" appearing in this document. Think of these as place holders or variables which must be replaced with an appropriate value. Do NOT include the quotes or brackets in your value unless specifically directed to do so.
Often you'll be told to "send e-mail with a blank subject" to some address.  This means to simply leave the "Subject:" field blank in your note. If your mailer refuses to send messages with a blank subject, give it some dummy value. In most cases this will work fine.
Most e-mail servers understand only a small set of commands and are not very forgiving if you deviate from what they expect. So include ONLY the specified commands in the "body" of your note and leave off any extraneous lines such as your signature, etc.
Pay attention to upper/lower case in directory and file names when using e-mail servers. It's almost always important!

           
FTP BY E-MAIL                                                       

FTP stands for "file transfer protocol", and is a means of accessing files that are stored on remote computer systems. In Internet lingo, these remote computers are called "sites". Files at FTP sites are typically stored in a tree-like set of directories (or nested folders for Mac fans), each of which pertains to a different subject.
When visiting an FTP site using a "live" internet connection, one would specify the name of the site, login with a userid & password, navigate to the desired directory and select one or more files to be transferred back to their local system.
Using FTP by e-mail is very similar, except that the desired site is reached through a special "ftpmail server" which logs in to the remote site and returns the requested files to you in response to a set of commands in an e-mail message.
Using FTP by e-mail can be nice even for those with full Internet access, because some popular FTP sites are heavily loaded and interactive response can be very sluggish. So it makes sense not to waste time and connect charges in these cases.
To use FTP by e-mail, you first need a list of FTP "sites" which are the addresses of the remote computer systems that allow you to retrieve files anonymously (without having a userid and password on that system).
There are some popular sites listed later in this guide, but you can get a comprehensive list of hundreds of anonymous FTP sites by sending an e-mail message to the internet address: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu , with a blank subject and include these lines in the body of the note.
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part1
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part2
... (lines omitted for brevity)
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part13
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/sitelist/part14
You will then receive (by e-mail) 14 files which comprise the "FTP Site List". Note that these files are each about 60K, so the whole lot will total over 750K! This could place a strain on your system, so first check around to see if the list is already available locally, or consider requesting just the first few as a sampler before getting the rest.
Another file you might want to get is "FTP Frequently Asked Questions" which contains lots more info on using FTP services, so add this line to your note as well.
send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq
After you receive the site list you'll see dozens of entries like this, which tell you the site name, location and the kind of files that are stored there.
Site: oak.oakland.eduCountry: USAOrgan : Oakland University, Rochester, MichiganSystem : UnixComment: Primary Simtel Software Repository mirrorFiles: BBS lists; ham radio; TCP/IP; Mac; modem protocol info;MS-DOS; MS-Windows; PC Blue; PostScript; Simtel-20; Unix
If you find an interesting FTP site in the list, send e-mail to one of these ftpmail servers:
   *  ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu (USA/NC)
   *  bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu (USA/NJ)
   *  bitftp@vm.gmd.de (Europe)
   *  bitftp@plearn.edu.pl (Europe)
   *  ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk (UK)
   *  ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au (Australia)
and in the body of the note, include these lines:
open <site>
dir
quit
This will return to you a list of the files stored in the root directory at that site. In your next e-mail message you can navigate to other directories by inserting (for example)
cd pub
before the "dir" command. (The "cd" means "change directory" and "pub" is a common directory name, usually a good place to start.) Once you determine the name of a file you want to retrieve, use:
get <name of file>
in the following note instead of the "dir" command. If the file you want to retrieve is plain text, this will suffice. If it's a binary file (an executable program, compressed file, etc.) you'll need to insert the command:

binary 
in your note before the "get" command.
OK, let's grab the text of The Declaration of Independence. Here's the message you send to ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu (or another ftpmail server):
	open ftp.eff.org 		(The name of the FTP site)	cd pub/CAF/civics 		(The directory where the file lives)	get dec_of_ind 		(The name of the file to retrieve)br
	quit 				(Beam me up, Scotty!)
Here are the commands you would send to to get a file from the Simtel Software Repository that was mentioned earlier. 
	open oak.oakland.edu 	(The name of the FTP site)	cd SimTel/msdos/bbs 		(The directory where the file lives)	binary 				(Because we're getting a ZIP file)	get answer2.zip 		(Sounds interesting, anyway...)	quit 				(We're outta here!)Some other interesting FTP sites you may want to "visit" are listed below.  (Use these site names on the "open" command and the suggested directory name on your "cd" command, as in the previous examples.)
   * ocf.berkeley.edu -- Try: pub/Library for documents, Bible, lyrics, etc.
   * rtfm.mit.edu -- Try: pub/usenet/news.answers for USENET info
   * oak.oakland.edu -- Try: SimTel/msdos for a huge DOS software library
   * ftp.sura.net -- Try: pub/nic for Internet how-to documents
   * quartz.rutgers.edu -- Try: pub/humor for lots of humor files
   * gatekeeper.dec.com -- Try: pub/recipes for a cooking & recipe archive
You should note that ftpmail servers tend to be quite busy so your reply may not arrive for several minutes, hours, or days, depending on when and where you send your request. Also, some large files may be split into smaller pieces and returned to you as multiple messages.
If the file that is returned to you ends up looking something like what you see below, (the word "begin" with a number and the filename on one line, followed by a bunch of 61-character lines) it most likely is a binary file that has been "uuencoded" by the sender. (This is required in order to reliably transmit binary files on the Internet.)
begin 666 answer2.zipM4$L#!`H`!@`.`/6H?18.$-Z$F@P```@?```,````5$5,25@S,34N5%A480I[M!P8;!KL,2P,)!PL).PD'%@.(!@4.!P8%-@.6%PL*!@@*.P4.%00.%P4*.`4.
You'll need to scrounge up a version of the "uudecode" program for your operating system (DOS, OS/2, Unix, Mac, etc.) in order to reconstruct the file. Most likely you'll find a copy already at your site or in your service provider's download library, but if not you can use the instructions in the next section to find out how to search FTP sites for a copy.
One final point to consider... If your online service charges you to store e-mail files that are sent to you and you plan to receive some large files via FTP, it would be wise to handle your "inbasket" expeditiously to avoid storage costs.

           
ARCHIE BY E-MAIL                                                   
Let's say you know the name of a file, but you have no idea at which FTP site it might be lurking. Or maybe you're curious to know if a file matching a certain naming criteria is available via FTP. Archie is the tool you can use to find out.
Archie servers can be thought of as a database of all the anonymous FTP sites in the world, allowing you to find the site and/or name of a file to be retrieved. And using Archie by e-mail can be convenient because some Archie searches take a LONG time to complete, leaving you to tap your toes in the meantime.
To use Archie by e-mail, simply send an e-mail message to one of the following addresses:
   * archie@archie.rutgers.edu (USA/NJ)
   * archie@archie.sura.net (USA/MD)
   * archie@archie.unl.edu (USA/NE)
   * archie@archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (UK)
   * archie@archie.luth.se (Sweden)
   * archie@archie.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp (Japan)
To obtain detailed help for using Archie by mail, put the word
help
in the subject of the note and just send it off. You'll receive e-mail explaining how to use archie services.
If you're the "just do it" type, then leave the subject blank and enter: 
find <file>
where "<file>" is the name of the file to search for, in the body (not the subject) of the note.  This will search for files that match your criteria exactly.   If you want to find files that contain your search criteria anywhere in their name, insert the line
set search sub
before the "find" command. Some other useful archie commands you might want to use are:
set maxhits 20 (limit output, default is 100 files)
set match_domain usa (restrict output to FTP sites in USA)set output_format terse (return output in condensed form)
When you get the results from your Archie query, it will contain the names of various sites at which the desired file is located. Use one of these site names and the directory/filename listed for your next FTP file retrieval request.
Now you've learned enough to locate that uudecode utility mentioned in the last section. Let's send e-mail to archie@archie.rutgers.edu, and include the following lines in the message: 
	set match_domain usa (restrict output to FTP sites in USA)	set search sub (looking for a substring match...)	file uudecode (must contain this string...)
Note: You'll be looking for the uudecode source code, not the executable version, which would of course be a binary file and would arrive uuencoded - a Catch 22!
The output of your archie query will contain lots of information like this:
Host ftp.clarkson.edu (128.153.4.2)Last updated 06:31 9 Oct 1994Location: /pub/simtel20-cdrom/msdos/starterFILE -r-xr-xr-x 5572 bytes 21:00 11 Mar 1991 uudecode.basLocation: /pub/simtel20-cdrom/msdos/starterFILE -r-xr-xr-x 5349 bytes 20:00 17 Apr 1991 uudecode.c
Now you can use an ftpmail server to request "uudecode.bas" (if you have BASIC available) or "uudecode.c" (if you have a C compiler) from the ftp.clarkson.edu site.

           
GOPHER BY E-MAIL                                                   
Gopher is an excellent tool for exploring the Internet and is the best way to find a resource if you know what you want, but not where to find it. A gopher system is menu-based, and provides a user-friendly "front-end" to Internet resources, searches and information retrieval. Without a tool like Gopher, you'd have to wander aimlessly through the Internet jungles and swamps to find the treasures you seek. Gopher "knows where things are" and guides you to the good stuff.
Gopher takes the rough edges off of the Internet by automating remote logins, hiding the sometimes-cryptic command sequences, and offers powerful search capabilities as well. And of course you can use Gopher by e-mail!
Although not every item on every menu will be accessible by "gopher mail", you'll still find plenty of interesting things using this technique. Down to brass tacks... let's send e-mail to one of these addresses: 
   * gophermail@calvin.edu (USA)
   * gopher@earn.net (France)
   * gopher@dsv.su.se (Sweden)
   * gomail@ncc.go.jp (Japan)
Leave the Subject blank, enter HELP in the body of the note, and let it rip. You'll soon receive by e-mail the text of the main menu at the gophermail site you selected. (You can optionally specify the address of a known gopher site on the Subject line to get the main menu for that site instead.)

To proceed to a selection on the returned menu just e-mail the whole text of the note (from the menu downwards) back to the gopher server, placing an "x" next to the items(s) you want to explore. You'll then receive the next level of the gopher menu by e-mail. Some menu choices lead to other menus, some lead to text files, and some lead to searches. To perform a search, select that menu item with an "x" and supply your search words in the Subject: of your next reply. Note that your search criteria can be a single word or a boolean expression such as:
document and (historical or government)
Each of the results (the "hits") of your search will be displayed as an entry on yet another gopher menu!
Note: You needn't actually return the entire gopher menu and all the routing info that follows it each time you reply to the gophermail server. If you want to minimize the size of your query, you can strip out the "menu" portion at the top and include only the portion below that pertains to the menu selection you want. The example that follows shows how to select one specific item from a gopher menu:
	------- begin gophermail message (do not include this line)
	Split=0 bytes/message - For text, bin, HQX messages (0 = No split)	Menu=0 items/message - For menus and query responses (0 = No split)	Name=EE Telecommunication Overview	Type=0	Port=70	Path=0/.d-f/eetel.info	Host=nceet.snre.umich.edu
	------- end gophermail message (do not include this line)
If this message looks like nonsense to you, here's a human translation: 
Connect to PORT 70 of the HOST (computer) at "nceet.snre.umich.edu", retrieve the FILE "eetel.info" (whose NAME is "EE Telecommunication Overview") and send it to me in ONE PIECE, regardless of its size.  Note: Sometimes gophermail requests return a blank menu or message. This is most likely because the server failed to connect to the host from which you were trying to get your information. Send your request again later and it'll probably work.

VERONICA BY E-MAIL                                                 
Speaking of searches, this is a good time to mention Veronica. Just as Archie provides a searchable index of FTP sites, Veronica provides this function for "gopherspace". Veronica will ask you what you want to look for (your search words) and then display another menu listing all the gopher menu items that match your search. In typical gopher fashion, you can then select one of these items and "go-pher it"!
To try Veronica by e-mail, retrieve the main menu from a gophermail server using the method just described. Then try the choice labelled "Other Gopher and Information Servers". This menu will have an entry for Veronica. 
You'll have to select one (or more) Veronica servers to handle your query, specifying the search words in the Subject of your reply. Here's another example of where using e-mail servers can save time and money. Often the Veronica servers are very busy and tell you to "try again later". So select 2 or 3 servers, and chances are one of them will be able to handle your request the first time around.

           
A Gophermail Shortcut
The path to some resources, files or databases can be a bit tedious, requiring several e-mail messages to the gophermail server. But here's the good news... If you've done it once, you can re-use any of the e-mail messages previously sent in, changing it to suit your current needs. As an example, here's a clipping from the Veronica menu you would get by following the previous instructions. You can send these lines to any gophermail server to run a Veronica search.
		Split=64K bytes/message <- For text, bin, HQX messages (0 = No split)		Menu=100 items/message <- For menus and query responses (0 = No split)		Name=Search GopherSpace by Title word(s) (via NYSERNet)		Type=7		Port=2347		Path=		Host=empire.nysernet.org
Specify the search words in the Subject line and see what turns up!

           
USENET BY E-MAIL                                                   
Usenet is a collection of over 5000 discussion groups on every topic imaginable. In order to get a proper start and avoid embarrasing yourself needlessly, you must read the Usenet new users intro document, which can be obtained by sending e-mail to: 

mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
with blank subject and including this line in the body of the note:
send usenet/news.answers/news-newusers-intro
To get a listing of Usenet newsgroups, add these commands to your note:
send usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/part1
send usenet/news.answers/active-newsgroups/part2 

send usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/part1
send usenet/news.answers/alt-hierarchies/part2
Once you've handled the preliminaries, you'll need to know how to read and contribute to Usenet newsgroups by e-mail. To read a newsgroup, you can use the gophermail service discussed earlier in this guide. To obtain a list of recent postings to a particular newsgroup, send the following lines to one of the gophermail servers mentioned previously. Leave "Subject" blank and include only these lines in the message body.
(You must replace "<groupname>" below with the name of the Usenet newsgroup you wish to access. eg: alt.answers, biz.comp.services, news.newusers.questions, etc.)
	------- begin gophermail message (do not include this line)
	Type=1	Port=4320	Path=nntp ls <groupname>	Host=info-server.lanl.gov
	------- end gophermail message (do not include this line)
The gophermail server will send you a typical gopher menu on which you may select the individual postings you wish to read.  
Note: The gophermail query in this example is the greatly edited result of many previous queries. I've pared it down to the bare essentials so it can be tailored and reused.
If you decide to make a post of your own, mail the text of your post to: 
   * newsgroup.name.usenet@decwrl.dec.com (USA)
   * newsgroup.name@news.demon.co.uk (UK)
For example, to post to news.newusers.questions, you would send your message to one of:
   * news.newusers.questions.usenet@decwrl.dec.com
   * news.newusers.questions@news.demon.co.uk
Be sure to include an appropriate Subject: line, and to include your real name and e-mail address at the close of your note.

An Alternative Usenet E-mail Method                              
Another way to get Usenet postings by e-mail is via a special server in Belgium. It's a bit easier than the gophermail approach, but it carries only a subset (about 1000) of the Usenet groups. Send e-mail to:
listserv@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be
with this command in the body of the note:
/NNHELP 
and you'll get complete details. If you can't wait, send the command
/NEWSGROUPS
to get a list of the newsgroups available on the server. If you're even more impatient, try something like:
/GROUP comp.unix.aix SINCE 19941215000000
and you should get a list of postings made from 15 Dec 1994 onward.

           
Yet Another Usenet E-mail Method!                                 
See the section "World-Wide Web By E-Mail" for an even easier method ofretrieving Usenet posts by e-mail! This method is limited to the set of newsgroups carried at the CERN server, but the selection seems to be quite comprehensive.

           
WAIS SEARCHES BY E-MAIL                                           
WAIS stands for Wide Area Information Service, and is a means of searching a set of over 500 indexed databases. The range of topics is too broad to mention, and besides, you'll soon learn how to get the topic list for yourself!
I recommend that you send e-mail to "waismail@quake.think.com" with HELP in the body of the note to get the full WAISmail user guide. But if you can't wait, use the info below as a quickstart. 
A list of WAIS databases (or "resources" as they like to be called) can be obtained by sending e-mail to "waismail@quake.think.com" with the line 
search xxx xxx
in the body of the note. Look through the returned list for topics that are of interest to you and use one of them in the next example.
OK, let's do an actual search. Send e-mail to:
waismail@quake.think.com
with the following commands in the note body:
maxres 10search bible flood
This will tell WAISmail to search through the text of the "bible" database and return a list of at most 10 documents containing "flood".    

You will receive an e-mail response something like this:
From: WAISmail@Think.COM
Searching: bibleKeywords: flood
Result # 1 Score:1000 lines: 0 bytes: 3556 Date:910101 Type:TEXTHeadline: Genesis: Chapter 9 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons...DocID: 0000000457KJV :cmns-moon.think.com@cmns- moon.think.com:210%TEXT
To retrieve the full text of a matching document, just use one the returned "DOCid:" lines exactly as is. So your next e-mail to WAISmail would be:
DocID: 0000000457KJV :cmns-moon.think.com@cmns-moon.think.com:210%TEXT
This will cause the referenced "document" to be sent to you by e-mail.

World-Wide Web By E-Mail                                           
The World-Wide Web is touted as the future of Internet navigational tools. 
It's a hypertext and multimedia system that lets you hop around the Net, read documents, and access images & sounds linked to a source. 
Have you ever heard someone say, "Wow, check out the cool stuff at http://www.somewhere.com/blah.html" and wondered what the heck they were talking about? Now you can retrieve WWW documents using e-mail!
All you need to know is the URL (that long ugly string starting with "http:", "gopher:", or "ftp:") which defines the address of the document, and you can retrieve it by sending e-mail to either of: 
   * listserv@www0.cern.ch   * listproc@www0.cern.ch
In the body of your note include one of these lines, replacing "<URL>" with the actual URL specification. 
send <URL>
This will send you back the document you requested, with a list of all the documents referenced within, so that you may make further requests.
deep <URL>
Same as above, but it will also send you the documents referenced in the URL you specified. (May result in a LOT of data coming your way!)
To try WWW by e-mail send the following command to listproc@www0.cern.ch :
send http://info.cern.ch
You'll receive in due course the "WWW Welcome Page" from Cern which will include references to other Web documents you'll want to explore.
As mentioned earlier, you can also get Usenet postings from the WWW mail server. Here are some examples:
send news:comp.unix.aix (returns a list of recent postings)
deep news:comp.unix.aix (returns the list AND the postings)
Note: The URL you specify may contain only the following characters:
< a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and these special characters /:._-+@%*()?~
There is another WWW-mail server whose address is: 

webmail@curia.ucc.ie .
This server requires commands in the form:
go <URL>

           
MAILING LISTS
There are literally thousands of discussion groups that stay in touch using e-mail based systems known as "mailing lists". People interested in a topic "subscribe" to a "list" and then send and receive postings by e-mail. For agood introduction to this topic, send e-mail to: 

LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu 
In the body of your note include only this command:
GET NEW-LIST WOUTERS

           
Finding a Mailing List
To find out about mailing lists that are relevant to your interests, send the following command to the same address given above.
LIST GLOBAL /keyword
(Of course you must replace "keyword" with an appropriate search word such as Marketing, Education, etc.)
Another helpful document which details the commands used to subscribe,  unsubscribe and search mailing list archives can be had by sending to:
LISTSERV@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu
In the body of your note include only this command:
get mailser cmd nettrain f=mail

           
New in These Parts?                                               

If you're new to the Internet, I suggest you subscribe to the HELP-NET listwhere you're likely to find answers to your questions. Send the command: 
SUBSCRIBE HELP-NET Firstname Lastname
to LISTSERV@VM.TEMPLE.EDU, then e-mail your questions to the list address:
HELP-NET@VM.TEMPLE.EDU

           
FINGER BY E-MAIL                                                   
"Finger" is a utility that returns information about another user. Usually it's just boring stuff like last logon, etc., but sometimes people put fun or useful information in their finger replies. To try out finger, send e-mail with
Subject: FINGER jtchern@headcrash.berkeley.edu.
To: infobot@infomania.com
You'll receive some current sports standings! (The general form is FINGER user@site.) Just for kicks, try finger using a combination of gopher and WWW. Send the command:
send gopher://<site>:79/0<user>
to the WWWmail server mentioned earlier.

"DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE" BY E-MAIL
 
"Whois" is a service that queries a database of Internet names and addresses. If you're looking for someone or you want to know where a particular computer is located, send e-mail with
Subject: whois <name>To: mailserv@internic.net
Try substituting "mit.edu" or the last name of someone you know in place of "<name>" and see what comes back! Another alternative name looker-upper is a database at MIT which keeps tabs on everyone who has posted a message on Usenet. Send e-mail with a blank subject to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and include this command ONLY in the note body:
send usenet-addresses/<name>
Specify as much information as you can about the person (lastname, firstname, userid, site, etc.) to limit the amount of information that is returned to you. Here's a sample query to find the address of someone you think may be at Harvard University:
send usenet-addresses/Jane Doe Harvard

           
A FEW NET-GOODIES                                              
Here are some other interesting things you can do by e-mail. (Some of them are accessible only by e-mail!)
* WEBSTER BY E-MAIL: Don't have your dictionary handy? Send e-mail to infobot@infomania.com again, but this time make the subject WEBSTER TEST and you'll get a definition of the word "test" in reply.
*  ALMANAC, WEATHER & THE SWEDISH CHEF: Infomania offers a bunch of other services by e-mail! Almanac (daily updates), Weather, CD Music Catalog, etc. Send e-mail to infobot@infomania.com with subject HELP for full details.
* THE ELECTRONIC NEWSSTAND: The Electronic Newsstand collects articles, editorials, and tables of contents from over 165 magazines and provides them to the Internet. To get instructions on e-mail access, send a blank message to gophermail@enews.com
*  U.S. CONGRESS AND THE WHITE HOUSE: Find out if your congressman has an 
electronic address! Just send mail to the address congress@hr.house.gov and you'll get a listing of congressional e-mail addresses. You can also contact the President, president@whitehouse.gov, or Vice President, vice.president@whitehouse.gov, but don't expect a reply by e-mail. Messages sent to these addresses get printed out and handled just like regular paper correspondence!
* USENET SEARCHES: A new service at Stanford University makes it possible to search USENET newsgroups for postings that contain keywords of interest to you. You can even "subscribe" and receive a daily list of newsgroup postings that match your search criteria. Send mail to netnews@db.stanford.edu with blank subject and HELP in the body of note for full details.
* MOVIE INFO: To learn how to get tons of info on movies, actors, directors, etc. Send mail to movie@ibmpcug.co.uk with blank subject and HELP in the body of note for full details.  
* STOCK MARKET REPORT: Send e-mail with subject STOCK MARKET QUOTES to martin.wong@eng.sun.com and you'll receive a rather lengthy stock market report (every day until you ask Martin to stop sending them)! Please note that this is not an automated server, so be sure to include a word of appreciation for this useful service.
* STOCK MARKET QUOTES: If you want to get a current quote for just 1 or 2 stocks, you can use the QuoteCom service. They offer this free service along with other fee based services. For details, send e-mail to services@quote.com with a subject of HELP.
* ANONYMOUS E-MAIL: The "anon server" provides a front for sending mail messages and posting to Usenet newsgroups anonymously, should the need ever arise. To get complete instructions, send e-mail to:  

   *  help@anon.penet.fi (English version)
   *  german@anon.penet.fi or deutsch@anon.penet.fi (German version)
   *  italian@anon.penet.fi or italiano@anon.penet.fi (Italian version)
* NET JOURNALS LISTING: I highly recommend "The Internet Press - A guide to electronic journals about the Internet". To get it, send e-mail with Subject: send ipress to savetz@rahul.net. Be sure to check out Scout Report & Netsurfer Digest!
SCOUT REPORT:  Forget building campfires. Scout Report is a weekly featuring new resource announcements. News reports about the net were promised but are pretty lean. Put out by gods at InterNIC. E-MAIL - To: majordomo@is.internic.net
Subject: Ignored
Body: Subscribe scout-report

           
SUGGESTED READING                                            
There are lots of good books and guides to help you get started on the Internet, and here are some that I recommend. The first few are free (FTPmail commands listed below), and the others can be found in most bookstores that carry computer-related books.  
"Zen and the Art of the Internet", by Brendan Kehoe
	open ftp.std.com	cd obi/Internet/zen-1.0	get zen10.txt
"There's Gold in them thar Networks", by Jerry Martin
	open nic.ddn.mil	cd rfc	get rfc1402.txt
"Unofficial Internet Book List", by Kevin Savetz
	open rtfm.mit.edu	cd pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services	get book-list
"The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog", by Ed Krol Publisher: O'Reilly and Associates ISBN: 1-56592-063-5 Price: $24.95
"The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet", by Adam Gaffin Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 0-262-57105-6 Price: $14.95
"The Internet for Dummies", by John Levine and Carol Baroudi Publisher: IDG Books    ISBN: 1-56884-024-1 Price: $19.95

           
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR                                             
"Doctor Bob", also known as Bob Rankin, welcomes your feedback on this 
guide and can be reached at the following addresses. Send corrections, ideas, suggestions and comments by e-mail. I'll try to include any new e-mail services in future editions of this guide. 
Internet: BobRankin@Delphi.com
US Mail : Doctor Bob / P.O. Box 39 / Tillson, NY / 12486

           
MORE PUBLICATIONS FROM DOCTOR BOB! 

Announcing ...
"100 COOL THINGS TO DO ON THE INTERNET!"
Doctor Bob's Internet Tour Guide - Over 100 places you *must* visit in cyberspace
This is the guide I wanted when the Internet was new to me. Just a quick overview of the "tools of the trade" and a list of "cool things to do". Not 300 pages... And not $39! This information could save you money, hours of valuable time, or lead you to a new career.
There's a goldmine of information, software and services out there just waiting to be discovered! It can be yours, but it's not easy... That's why you must have this informative report which gives you the lowdown on: 
   * Online databases
   * Shopping in Cyberspace
   * Vast software libraries
   * Electronic Library Catalogs
   * Job Postings Online
   * ALL FREE!
You'll learn the basics of TELNETing, FTPing and GOPHERing to the information you want, with specific instructions and the "secret keys" you need to unlock all the doors on the way!
Doctor Bob's Internet Business Guide
An Introduction to Good Old-Fashioned Capitalism In Cyberspace There are those who say that the Internet should be free of capitalism, commerce, advertising and anything that smells like "business". But there ARE ways to conduct business on the 'Net without raising the ire of the inhabitants of the electronic domain. You can lower costs, make money and even get thanked for providing your service if you know how to do it right!
I can't promise that you'll make lots of money selling your product or service, but I'm certain that after you've read this guide, you will have a better understanding of:
   * Internet Tools & Techniques
   * Business Resources on the Net
   * Setting Up Shop on the Net
   * Avoiding Net Marketing Pitfalls
   * What business are on the Net
   * Getting paid for your product
To get your copy of:
100 COOL THINGS TO DO ON THE INTERNET!
- or -
DOCTOR BOB'S INTERNET BUSINESS GUIDE
Send just $5 each (cash, check or money order) plus a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
DOCTOR BOBPO BOX 39, DEPT U3TILLSON, NY 12486 USAOutside the USA: Skip the stamp, but please add $1 for postage. And if it's too difficult to get US funds, send 12 International Postal Coupons in lieu of payment.
I also accept NetCash! For details on electronic payment, send e-mail to netbank-info@agents.com with the keyword "netbank-intro" (minus the quotes) on the first line of your note.
Copyright (c) 1994, "Doctor Bob" Rankin All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Feel free to upload to your favorite BBS or Internet server!

The Commissioners' Information Resources Workshop by Michael F. Bowman, is presented by R. Gary Hendra -- The MacScouter -- WDL, Pack 92, Milpitas, California