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Finding an Old Friend on the Internet
A benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself, to keep his friends in countenance.

�Ben Franklin

All those Web sites! All the mailing lists! All the great information out there for you to read and retrieve! It's really something, isn't it? Of course, it would be kind of nice if the Web site or the e-mail happened to be written by someone you actually know. Now that would be something, wouldn't it?

Well, there sure isn't any reason on earth that a Web site shouldn't be written by someone you know. And the odds of an old friend having an e-mail account are not terribly slim. The Web, believe it or not, was built by individuals, not businesses. For the first few years of its existence a commercial site was the exception rather than the rule. Businesses and colleges have been using e-mail for many years to communicate, so there's a very good chance that someone you know has an e-mail account. And these days, more and more people have personal accounts, so it's even possible that some of your old friends have more than one e-mail address. I figure my own sister has had four or five e-mail accounts in the past three years and that makes her a relative newbie at this whole Internet thing. So, just how would you go about finding those old friends if they do indeed have a listing somewhere?

Note: Given the subject of this book, I'm obviously going to tell you how you might do it electronically, but the absolute best way if you know where they are is to call or write them and ask. No kidding. These machines we call computers are here to save time, not make work for us. Searching for someone electronically can be time-consuming. It isn't always, but it can be. So if you know where that friend is and how to contact him or her, do it. A call or letter from an old friend is always welcome. Make those your first contact. Then renew the friendship electronically.

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