CD-ROM Today - The Disc! 3/CD-ROM_Today_The_Disc_3_August-September_1994.iso/inet/zeninet.txt

Text File | 1994-06-18 | 195KB | 4,515 lines

                      ZEN AND THE ART OF THE INTERNET

     This etext was distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart through
     the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). As with other
     Project Gutenberg-tm etexts, you can (and are encouraged!) to
     copy and distribute it in the United States. We tell you how
     below.

                   *BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT

          Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know:
     lawyers. They tell us you might sue us if there is something
     wrong with your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free
     from someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
     fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
     disclaims most of our liability to you.

          By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
     etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept this
     "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you may receive a refund
     of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by sending a
     request within 30 days of receiving it to the person you got it
     from. If you received this etext on a physical medium (such as a
     disk), you must return it with your request.

          As used in this "Small Print!" statement, the word "Defect"
     includes incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription
     errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement,
     a defective or damaged disk or other etext medium, a computer
     virus, and computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your
     equipment.


     DISCLAIMER

          But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described
     below, [1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
     etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all
     liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
     fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR UNDER STRICT
     LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, INCLUDING BUT
     NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL
     DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
     DAMAGES.

          If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
     receiving it, you will receive a refund of the money (if any) you
     paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that time to
     the person you received it from. If you received it on a physical
     medium, you must return the Defective copy with your note, and
     such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
     copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
     alternatively give you a second opportunity to receive it
     electronically.

          THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
     WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS TO
     THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
     TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
     PURPOSE.

          Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties
     or the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
     above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
     may have other legal rights.


     INDEMNITY

          You will indemnify and hold the Project, its officers,
     members and agents harmless from all liability, cost and expense,
     including legal fees, that arise from both [1] distribution of
     this etext for which you are responsible, and [2] any Defect, or
     any alteration, modification or addition to the etext for which
     you are responsible.


     LICENSE

          Except for modifications in formatting, this is a verbatim
     copy of revision 1.0 of February 2, 1992, Copyright (c) 1992
     Brendan P. Kehoe, and is distributed under the following license:

          <<Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim
          copies of this guide provided the copyright notice and
          this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

          Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified
          versions of this booklet under the conditions for
          verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting
          derived work is distributed under the terms of a
          permission notice identical to this one.

          Permission is granted to copy and distribute
          translations of this booklet into another language,
          under the above conditions for modified versions,
          except that this permission notice may be stated
          modified versions, except that this permission notice
          may be stated in a translation approved by the
          author.>>


     DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"

          You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or
     by disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
     "Small Print!" statement except for Brendan P. Kehoe's license
     and copyright notice, or:

     [1]  Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this re-
          quires that you do not remove or modify the etext or this
          "Small Print!" statement. You may however, if you wish,
          distribute this etext in machine readable binary, com-
          pressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, including any form
          resulting from conversion by word processing or hypertext
          software, but only so long as *EITHER*:

          [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable. We
               consider an etext *not* clearly readable if it
               contains characters other than those intended by the
               author of the work, although tilde (~), asterisk (*)
               and underline (_) characters may be used to convey
               punctuation intended by the author, and additional
               characters may be used to indicate hypertext links.

          [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at no
               expense into in plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form
               by the program that displays the etext (as is the
               case, for instance, with most word processors).

          [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no
               additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext
               in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC or
               other equivalent proprietary form).

     [2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
          "Small Print!" statement.

     [3]  Pay a trademark license fee of 20% of the net profits you
          derive from distributing this etext under the trademark,
          determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting
          practices. The license fee:

          [*]  Is required only if you derive such profits. You
               incur no obligation to charge money or earn profits by
               distributing under our trademark.

          [*]  Shall be paid to "Project Gutenberg Association /
               Illinois Benedictine College" (or to such other person
               as the Project Gutenberg Association may direct)
               within the 60 days following each date you prepare (or
               were legally required to prepare) your year-end
               federal income tax return with respect to your profits
               for that year.


     WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?

          The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
     scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
     free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution you
     can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg
     Association/Illinois Benedictine College".


     WRITE TO US! We can be reached at:

     Internet:     [e-mail]
     Bitnet:       hart@uiucvmd
     CompuServe:   >internet:hart@.vmd.cso.uiuc.edu
     Attmail:      internet!vmd.cso.uiuc.edu!Hart

     or

     ATT: Michael Hart
     P.O. Box 2782
     Champaign, IL 61825

     Drafted by CHARLES B. KRAMER, Attorney
     CompuServe:  72600,2026
       Internet:  [e-mail]
       Tel:  [phone]
     *SMALL PRINT! Ver.06.28.92* Zen and the Art of the Internet*END*


          There are several versions of this text with printing
     commands included for .dvi and most other publishing formats.
     This one is strictly intended for etext uses, and has had hyphens
     at an end of line position removed to facilitate searching the
     text.

      ***************************************************************

                                  Part A
                      Zen and the Art of the Internet

                    Copyright (c) 1992 Brendan P. Kehoe

          Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies
     of this guide provided the copyright notice and this permission
     notice are preserved on all copies.

          Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified
     versions of this booklet under the conditions for verbatim
     copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is
     distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to
     this one.

          Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of
     this booklet into another language, under the above conditions
     for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be
     stated in a translation approved by the author.


                      Zen and the Art of the Internet
                    A Beginner's Guide to the Internet
                               First Edition
                               January 1992
                            by Brendan P. Kehoe

                 This is revision 1.0 of February 2, 1992.
                    Copyright (c) 1992 Brendan P. Kehoe

          The composition of this booklet was originally started
     because the Computer Science department at Widener University was
     in desperate need of documentation describing the capabilities of
     this "great new Internet link" we obtained.

          It's since grown into an effort to acquaint the reader with
     much of what's currently available over the Internet. Aimed at
     the novice user, it attempts to remain operating system
     "neutral"---little information herein is specific to Unix, VMS,
     or any other environment. This booklet will, hopefully, be usable
     by nearly anyone.

          A user's session is usually offset from the rest of the
     paragraph, as such:

                              prompt> command

          The results are usually displayed here.

          The purpose of this booklet is two-fold: first, it's
     intended to serve as a reference piece, which someone can easily
     grab on the fly and look something up. Also, it forms a
     foundation from which people can explore the vast expanse of the
     Internet. Zen and the Art of the Internet doesn't spend a
     significant amount of time on any one point; rather, it provides
     enough for people to learn the specifics of what his or her local
     system offers.

          One warning is perhaps in order---this territory we are
     entering can become a fantastic time-sink. Hours can slip by,
     people can come and go, and you'll be locked into Cyberspace.
     Remember to do your work!

          With that, I welcome you, the new user, to The Net.

                    [e-mail]
                    Chester, PA


     ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

          Certain sections in this booklet are not my original work---
     rather, they are derived from documents that were available on
     the Internet and already aptly stated their areas of
     concentration. The chapter on Usenet is, in large part, made up
     of what's posted monthly to news.announce.newusers, with some
     editing and rewriting. Also, the main section on archie was
     derived from whatis.archie by Peter Deutsch of the McGill
     University Computing Centre. It's available via anonymous FTP
     from archie.mcgill.ca. Much of what's in the telnet section came
     from an impressive introductory document put together by SuraNet.
     Some definitions in the one are from an excellent glossary put
     together by Colorado State University.

          This guide would not be the same without the aid of many
     people on The Net, and the providers of resources that are
     already out there. I'd like to thank the folks who gave this a
     read-through and returned some excellent comments, suggestions,
     and criticisms, and those who provided much-needed information on
     the fly. Glee Willis deserves particular mention for all of his
     work; this guide would have been considerably less polished
     without his help.

     Andy Blankenbiller <[e-mail]>
     Andy Blankenbiller, Army at Aberdeen

     [e-mail]
     Alan Emtage, McGill University Computer Science Department

     Brian Fitzgerald <[e-mail]>
     Brian Fitzgerald, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

     John Goetsch <[e-mail]>
     John Goetsch, Rhodes University, South Africa

     [e-mail]
     Jeff Kellem, Boston University's Chemistry Department

     [e-mail]
     Bill Krauss, Moravian College

     Steve Lodin <deaes![e-mail]>
     Steve Lodin, Delco Electronics

     Mike Nesel <[e-mail]>
     Mike Nesel, NASA

     Bob <[e-mail]>
     Bob Neveln, Widener University Computer Science Department

     [e-mail] (Wanda Pierce)
     Wanda Pierce, McGill University Computing Centre

     [e-mail]
     Joshua Poulson, Widener University Computing Services

     [e-mail]
     Dave Sill, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

     [e-mail]
     Bob Smart, CitiCorp/TTI

     [e-mail]
     Ed Vielmetti, Vice President of MSEN

     Craig E. Ward <[e-mail]>
     Craig Ward, USC/Information Sciences Institute (ISI)

     Glee Willis <[e-mail]>
     Glee Willis, University of Nevada, Reno

     Charles Yamasaki <[e-mail]>
     Chip Yamasaki, OSHA


     NETWORK BASICS

          We are truly in an information society. Now more than ever,
     moving vast amounts of information quickly across great distances
     is one of our most pressing needs. From small one-person
     entrepreneurial efforts, to the largest of corporations, more and
     more professional people are discovering that the only way to be
     successful in the `90s and beyond is to realize that technology
     is advancing at a break-neck pace---and they must somehow keep
     up. Likewise, researchers from all corners of the earth are
     finding that their work thrives in a networked environment.
     Immediate access to the work of colleagues and a "virtual"
     library of millions of volumes and thousands of papers affords
     them the ability to encorporate a body of knowledge heretofore
     unthinkable. Work groups can now conduct interactive conferences
     with each other, paying no heed to physical location---the
     possibilities are endless.

          You have at your fingertips the ability to talk in "real-
     time" with someone in Japan, send a 2,000-word short story to a
     group of people who will critique it for the sheer pleasure of
     doing so, see if a Macintosh sitting in a lab in Canada is turned
     on, and find out if someone happens to be sitting in front of
     their computer (logged on) in Australia, all inside of thirty
     minutes. No airline (or tardis, for that matter) could ever match
     that travel itinerary.

          The largest problem people face when first using a network
     is grasping all that's available. Even seasoned users find
     themselves surprised when they discover a new service or feature
     that they'd never known even existed. Once acquainted with the
     terminology and sufficiently comfortable with making occasional
     mistakes, the learning process will drastically speed up.


     DOMAINS

          Getting where you want to go can often be one of the more
     difficult aspects of using networks. The variety of ways that
     places are named will probably leave a blank stare on your face
     at first. Don't fret; there is a method to this apparent madness.

          If someone were to ask for a home address, they would
     probably expect a street, apartment, city, state, and zip code.
     That's all the information the post office needs to deliver mail
     in a reasonably speedy fashion. Likewise, computer addresses have
     a structure to them. The general form is:

     a person's email address on a computer: [e-mail]
     a computer's name: somewhere.domain

          The user portion is usually the person's account name on the
     system, though it doesn't have to be. somewhere.domain tells you
     the name of a system or location, and what kind of organization
     it is. The trailing domain is often one of the following:

     com

          Usually a company or other commercial institution or
          organization, like Convex Computers (convex.com).

     edu

          An educational institution, e.g. New York University,
          named nyu.edu.

     gov

          A government site; for example, NASA is nasa.gov.

     mil

          A military site, like the Air Force (af.mil).

     net

          Gateways and other administrative hosts for a network
          (it does not mean all of the hosts in a network). {The
          Matrix, 111. One such gateway is near.net.}

     org

          This is a domain reserved for private organizations,
          who don't comfortably fit in the other classes of
          domains. One example is the Electronic Frontier
          Foundation named eff.org.

          Each country also has its own top-level domain. For example,
     the us domain includes each of the fifty states. Other countries
     represented with domains include:

                         au Australia
                         ca Canada
                         fr France
                         uk The United Kingdom.

          These also have sub-domains of things like ac.uk for
     academic sites and co.uk for commercial ones.


     FQDN (FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME)

          The proper terminology for a site's domain name
     (somewhere.domain above) is its Fully Qualified Domain Name
     (FQDN). It is usually selected to give a clear indication of the
     site's organization or sponsoring agent. For example, the
     Massachusetts Institute of Technology's FQDN is mit.edu;
     similarly, Apple Computer's domain name is apple.com. While such
     obvious names are usually the norm, there are the occasional
     exceptions that are ambiguous enough to mislead---like vt.edu,
     which on first impulse one might surmise is an educational
     institution of some sort in Vermont; not so. It's actually the
     domain name for Virginia Tech. In most cases it's relatively easy
     to glean the meaning of a domain name---such confusion is far
     from the norm.


     INTERNET NUMBERS

          Every single machine on the Internet has a unique address,
     {At least one address, possibly two or even three---but we won't
     go into that.} called its Internet number or IP Address. It's
     actually a 32-bit number, but is most commonly represented as
     four numbers joined by periods (.), like 147.31.254.130. This is
     sometimes also called a dotted quad; there are literally
     thousands of different possible dotted quads. The ARPAnet (the
     mother to today's Internet) originally only had the capacity to
     have up to 256 systems on it because of the way each system was
     addressed. In the early eighties, it became clear that things
     would fast outgrow such a small limit; the 32-bit addressing
     method was born, freeing thousands of host numbers.

          Each piece of an Internet address (like 192) is called an
     "octet," representing one of four sets of eight bits. The first
     two or three pieces (e.g. 192.55.239) represent the network that
     a system is on, called its subnet. For example, all of the
     computers for Wesleyan University are in the subnet 129.133. They
     can have numbers like 129.133.10.10, 129.133.230.19, up to 65
     thousand possible combinations (possible computers).

          IP addresses and domain names aren't assigned arbitrarily---
     that would lead to unbelievable confusion. An application must be
     filed with the Network Information Center (NIC), either
     electronically (to [e-mail]) or via regular mail.


     RESOLVING NAMES AND NUMBERS

          Ok, computers can be referred to by either their FQDN or
     their Internet address. How can one user be expected to remember
     them all?

          They aren't. The Internet is designed so that one can use
     either method. Since humans find it much more natural to deal
     with words than numbers in most cases, the FQDN for each host is
     mapped to its Internet number. Each domain is served by a
     computer within that domain, which provides all of the necessary
     information to go from a domain name to an IP address, and vice-
     versa. For example, when someone refers to foosun.bar.com, the
     resolver knows that it should ask the system foovax.bar.com about
     systems in bar.com. It asks what Internet address foosun.bar.com
     has; if the name foosun.bar.com really exists, foovax will send
     back its number. All of this "magic" happens behind the scenes.

          Rarely will a user have to remember the Internet number of a
     site (although often you'll catch yourself remembering an
     apparently obscure number, simply because you've accessed the
     system frequently). However, you will remember a substantial
     number of FQDNs. It will eventually reach a point when you are
     able to make a reasonably accurate guess at what domain name a
     certain college, university, or company might have, given just
     their name.


     THE NETWORKS

     Internet

          The Internet is a large "network of networks." There is no
     one network known as The Internet; rather, regional nets like
     SuraNet, PrepNet, NearNet, et al., are all inter-connected (nay,
     "inter-networked") together into one great living thing,
     communicating at amazing speeds with the TCP/IP protocol. All
     activity takes place in "real-time."

     UUCP

          The UUCP network is a loose association of systems all
     communicating with the UUCP protocol. (UUCP stands for `Unix-to-
     Unix Copy Program'.) It's based on two systems connecting to each
     other at specified intervals, called polling, and executing any
     work scheduled for either of them. Historically most UUCP was
     done with Unix equipment, although the software's since been
     implemented on other platforms (e.g. VMS). For example, the
     system oregano polls the system basil once every two hours. If
     there's any mail waiting for oregano, basil will send it at that
     time; likewise, oregano will at that time send any jobs waiting
     for basil.

     BITNET

          BITNET (the "Because It's Time Network") is comprised of
     systems connected by point-to-point links, all running the NJE
     protocol. It's continued to grow, but has found itself suffering
     at the hands of the falling costs of Internet connections. Also,
     a number of mail gateways are in place to reach users on other
     networks.


     THE PHYSICAL CONNECTION

          The actual connections between the various networks take a
     variety of forms. The most prevalent for Internet links are 56k
     leased lines (dedicated telephone lines carrying 56 kilobit-per-
     second connections) and T1 links (special phone lines with 1M bps
     connections). Also installed are T3 links, acting as backbones
     between major locations to carry a massive 45M bps load of
     traffic.

          These links are paid for by each institution to a local
     carrier (for example, Bell Atlantic owns PrepNet, the main
     provider in Pennsylvania). Also available are SLIP connections,
     which carry Internet traffic (packets) over high-speed modems.

          UUCP links are made with modems (for the most part), that
     run from 1200 baud all the way up to as high as 38.4Kbps. As was
     mentioned in The Networks, the connections are of the store-and-
     forward variety. Also in use are Internet-based UUCP links (as if
     things weren't already confusing enough!). The systems do their
     UUCP traffic over TCP/IP connections, which give the UUCP-based
     network some blindingly fast "hops," resulting in better
     connectivity for the network as a whole. UUCP connections first
     became popular in the 1970's, and have remained in wide-spread
     use ever since. Only with UUCP can Joe Smith correspond with
     someone across the country or around the world, for the price of
     a local telephone call.

          BITNET links mostly take the form of 9600bps modems
     connected from site to site. Often places have three or more
     links going; the majority, however, look to "upstream" sites for
     their sole link to the network.

                    "The Glory and the Nothing of a Name"
                    Byron, {Churchill's Grave}

                                -----------

     ELECTRONIC MAIL

          The desire to communicate is the essence of networking.
     People have always wanted to correspond with each other in the
     fastest way possible, short of normal conversation. Electronic
     mail (or email) is the most prevalent application of this in
     computer networking. It allows people to write back and forth
     without having to spend much time worrying about how the message
     actually gets delivered. As technology grows closer and closer to
     being a common part of daily life, the need to understand the
     many ways it can be utilized and how it works, at least to some
     level, is vital.


     EMAIL ADDRESSES

          Electronic mail is hinged around the concept of an address;
     the section on Networking Basics made some reference to it while
     introducing domains. Your email address provides all of the
     information required to get a message to you from anywhere in the
     world. An address doesn't necessarily have to go to a human
     being. It could be an archive server, {See Archive Servers, for a
     description.} a list of people, or even someone's pocket pager.
     These cases are the exception to the norm---mail to most
     addresses is read by human beings.


     %@!.: SYMBOLIC CACOPHONY

          Email addresses usually appear in one of two forms---using
     the Internet format which contains @, an "at"-sign, or using the
     UUCP format which contains !, an exclamation point, also called a
     "bang."  The latter of the two, UUCP "bang" paths, is more
     restrictive, yet more clearly dictates how the mail will travel.

          To reach Jim Morrison on the system south.america.org, one
     would address the mail as [e-mail]. But if Jim's
     account was on a UUCP site named brazil, then his address would
     be brazil!jm. If it's possible (and one exists), try to use the
     Internet form of an address; bang paths can fail if an
     intermediate site in the path happens to be down. There is a
     growing trend for UUCP sites to register Internet domain names,
     to help alleviate the problem of path failures.

          Another symbol that enters the fray is %---it acts as an
     extra "routing" method. For example, if the UUCP site dream is
     connected to south.america.org, but doesn't have an Internet
     domain name of its own, a user debbie on dream can be reached by
     writing to the address:


                      [e-mail]

          The form is significant. This address says that the local
     system should first send the mail to south.america.org. There the
     address debbie%dream will turn into debbie@dream, which will
     hopefully be a valid address. Then south.america.org will handle
     getting the mail to the host dream, where it will be delivered
     locally to debbie.

          All of the intricacies of email addressing methods are fully
     covered in the book "!%@@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail
     Addressing and Networks" published by O'Reilly and Associates, as
     part of their Nutshell Handbook series. It is a must for any
     active email user. Write to [e-mail] for ordering
     information.

     Sending and Receiving Mail

          We'll make one quick diversion from being OS-neuter here, to
     show you what it will look like to send and receive a mail
     message on a Unix system. Check with your system administrator
     for specific instructions related to mail at your site.

          A person sending the author mail would probably do something
     like this:

                    % mail [e-mail]
                    Subject: print job's stuck

          I typed `print babe.gif' and it didn't work! Why??

          The next time the author checked his mail, he would see it
     listed in his mailbox as:

     % mail
     "/usr/spool/mail/brendan": 1 messages 1 new 1 unread
     U  1 [e-mail] Tue May  5 20:36   29/956  print job's stuck ?

     which gives information on the sender of the email, when it was
     sent, and the subject of the message. He would probably use the
     reply command of Unix mail to send this response:

     ? r
     To: joeuser@@foo.widener.edu
     Subject: Re: print job's stuck

          You shouldn't print binary files like GIFs to a printer!

          Brendan

          Try sending yourself mail a few times, to get used to your
     system's mailer. It'll save a lot of wasted aspirin for both you
     and your system administrator.


     ANATOMY OF A MAIL HEADER

          An electronic mail message has a specific structure to it
     that's common across every type of computer system. {The standard
     is written down in RFC-822. See also  RFCs for more info on how
     to get copies of the various RFCs.} A sample would be:

     >From [e-mail] Sat May 25 17:06:01 1991
     Received: from hq.mil by house.gov with SMTP id AA21901
     (4.1/SMI for [e-mail]); Sat, 25 May 91 17:05:56 -0400
     Date: Sat, 25 May 91 17:05:56 -0400
     From: The President <[e-mail]>
     Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
     To: [e-mail]
     Subject: Meeting

          Hi Dan .. we have a meeting at 9:30 a.m. with the Joint
          Chiefs. Please don't oversleep this time.

          The first line, with From and the two lines for Received:
     are usually not very interesting. They give the "real" address
     that the mail is coming from (as opposed to the address you
     should reply to, which may look much different), and what places
     the mail went through to get to you. Over the Internet, there is
     always at least one Received: header and usually no more than
     four or five. When a message is sent using UUCP, one Received:
     header is added for each system that the mail passes through.
     This can often result in more than a dozen Received: headers.
     While they help with dissecting problems in mail delivery, odds
     are the average user will never want to see them. Most mail
     programs will filter out this kind of "cruft" in a header.

          The Date: header contains the date and time the message
          was sent. Likewise, the "good" address (as opposed to
          "real" address) is laid out in the From: header.
          Sometimes it won't include the full name of the person
          (in this case The President), and may look different,
          but it should always contain an email address of some
          form.

          The Message-ID: of a message is intended mainly for
          tracing mail routing, and is rarely of interest to
          normal users. Every Message-ID: is guaranteed to be
          unique.

          To: lists the email address (or addresses) of the
          recipients of the message. There may be a Cc: header,
          listing additional addresses. Finally, a brief subject
          for the message goes in the Subject: header.

          The exact order of a message's headers may vary from system
     to system, but it will always include these fundamental headers
     that are vital to proper delivery.


     BOUNCED MAIL

          When an email address is incorrect in some way (the system's
     name is wrong, the domain doesn't exist, whatever), the mail
     system will bounce the message back to the sender, much the same
     way that the Postal Service does when you send a letter to a bad
     street address. The message will include the reason for the
     bounce; a common error is addressing mail to an account name that
     doesn't exist. For example, writing to Lisa Simpson at Widener
     University's Computer Science department will fail, because she
     doesn't have an account. {Though if she asked, we'd certainly
     give her one.}

     From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON>
     Date: Sat, 25 May 91 16:45:14 -0400
     To: [e-mail]
     Cc: [e-mail]
     Subject: Returned mail: User unknown

     ----- Transcript of session follows -----
     While talking to cs.widener.edu:
     >>> RCPT To:<[e-mail]>
     <<< 550 <[e-mail]>... User unknown
     550 lsimpson... User unknown

          As you can see, a carbon copy of the message (the Cc: header
     entry) was sent to the postmaster of Widener's CS department. The
     Postmaster is responsible for maintaining a reliable mail system
     on his system. Usually postmasters at sites will attempt to aid
     you in getting your mail where it's supposed to go. If a typing
     error was made, then try re-sending the message. If you're sure
     that the address is correct, contact the postmaster of the site
     directly and ask him how to properly address it.

          The message also includes the text of the mail, so you don't
     have to retype everything you wrote.

                    ----- Unsent message follows -----
     Received: by cs.widener.edu id AA06528; Sat, 25 May 91 16:45:14 -0400
     Date: Sat, 25 May 91 16:45:14 -0400
     From: Matt Groening <[e-mail]>
     Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
     To: [e-mail]
     Subject: Scripting your future episodes
     Reply-To: [e-mail]

                             .... verbiage ...

          The full text of the message is returned intact, including
     any headers that were added. This can be cut out with an editor
     and fed right back into the mail system with a proper address,
     making redelivery a relatively painless process.


     MAILING LISTS

          People that share common interests are inclined to discuss
     their hobby or interest at every available opportunity. One
     modern way to aid in this exchange of information is by using a
     mailing list---usually an email address that redistributes all
     mail sent to it back out to a list of addresses. For example, the
     Sun Managers mailing list (of interest to people that administer
     computers manufactured by Sun) has the address
     [e-mail]. Any mail sent to that address will
     "explode" out to each person named in a file maintained on a
     computer at Northwestern University.

          Administrative tasks (sometimes referred to as
     administrivia) are often handled through other addresses,
     typically with the suffix -request. To continue the above, a
     request to be added to or deleted from the Sun Managers list
     should be sent to [e-mail].

          When in doubt, try to write to the -request version of a
     mailing list address first; the other people on the list aren't
     interested in your desire to be added or deleted, and can
     certainly do nothing to expedite your request. Often if the
     administrator of a list is busy (remember, this is all peripheral
     to real jobs and real work), many users find it necessary to ask
     again and again, often with harsher and harsher language, to be
     removed from a list. This does nothing more than waste traffic
     and bother everyone else receiving the messages. If, after a
     reasonable amount of time, you still haven't succeeded to be
     removed from a mailing list, write to the postmaster at that site
     and see if they can help.

          Exercise caution when replying to a message sent by a
     mailing list. If you wish to respond to the author only, make
     sure that the only address you're replying to is that person, and
     not the entire list. Often messages of the sort "Yes, I agree
     with you completely!" will appear on a list, boring the daylights
     out of the other readers. Likewise, if you explicitly do want to
     send the message to the whole list, you'll save yourself some
     time by checking to make sure it's indeed headed to the whole
     list and not a single person.

          A list of the currently available mailing lists is available
     in at least two places; the first is in a file on
     ftp.nisc.sri.com called interest-groups under the netinfo/
     directory. It's updated fairly regularly, but is large (presently
     around 700K), so only get it every once in a while. The other
     list is maintained by Gene Spafford ([e-mail]), and is
     posted in parts to the newsgroup news.lists semi-regularly.
     (Usenet News, for info on how to read that and other newsgroups.)


     LISTSERVS

          On BITNET there's an automated system for maintaining
     discussion lists called the listserv. Rather than have an already
     harried and overworked human take care of additions and removals
     from a list, a program performs these and other tasks by
     responding to a set of user-driven commands.

          Areas of interest are wide and varied---ETHICS-L deals with
     ethics in computing, while ADND-L has to do with a role-playing
     game. A full list of the available BITNET lists can be obtained
     by writing to [e-mail] with a body containing the
     command

                                list global

          However, be sparing in your use of this---see if it's
     already on your system somewhere. The reply is quite large.

          The most fundamental command is subscribe. It will tell the
     listserv to add the sender to a specific list. The usage is

                      subscribe foo-l Your Real Name

          It will respond with a message either saying that you've
     been added to the list, or that the request has been passed on to
     the system on which the list is actually maintained.

          The mate to subscribe is, naturally, unsubscribe. It will
     remove a given address from a BITNET list. It, along with all
     other listserv commands, can be abbreviated---subscribe as sub,
     unsubscribe as unsub, etc. For a full list of the available
     listserv commands, write to [e-mail], giving it the
     command help.

          As an aside, there have been implementations of the listserv
     system for non-BITNET hosts (more specifically, Unix systems).
     One of the most complete is available on cs.bu.edu in the
     directory pub/listserv.

          "I made this letter longer than usual because I lack
          the time to make it shorter." Pascal, Provincial
          Letters XVI

                              --------------

     ANONYMOUS FTP

          FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the primary method of
     transferring files over the Internet. On many systems, it's also
     the name of the program that implements the protocol. Given
     proper permission, it's possible to copy a file from a computer
     in South Africa to one in Los Angeles at very fast speeds (on the
     order of 5--10K per second). This normally requires either a user
     id on both systems or a special configuration set up by the
     system administrator(s).

          There is a good way around this restriction---the anonymous
     FTP service. It essentially will let anyone in the world have
     access to a certain area of disk space in a non-threatening way.
     With this, people can make files publicly available with little
     hassle. Some systems have dedicated entire disks or even entire
     computers to maintaining extensive archives of source code and
     information. They include gatekeeper.dec.com (Digital),
     wuarchive.wustl.edu (Washington University in Saint Louis), and
     archive.cis.ohio-state.edu (The Ohio State University).

          The process involves the "foreign" user (someone not on the
     system itself) creating an FTP connection and logging into the
     system as the user anonymous, with an arbitrary password:

               Name (foo.site.com:you): anonymous
               Password: [e-mail]

          Custom and netiquette dictate that people respond to the
     Password: query with an email address so that the sites can track
     the level of FTP usage, if they desire. (Addresses for
     information on email addresses).

          The speed of the transfer depends on the speed of the
     underlying link. A site that has a 9600bps SLIP connection will
     not get the same throughput as a system with a 56k leased line
     (The Physical Connection, for more on what kinds of connections
     can exist in a network). Also, the traffic of all other users on
     that link will affect performance. If there are thirty people all
     FTPing from one site simultaneously, the load on the system (in
     addition to the network connection) will degrade the overall
     throughput of the transfer.


     FTP ETIQUETTE

          Lest we forget, the Internet is there for people to do work.
     People using the network and the systems on it are doing so for a
     purpose, whether it be research, development, whatever. Any heavy
     activity takes away from the overall performance of the network
     as a whole.

          The effects of an FTP connection on a site and its link can
     vary; the general rule of thumb is that any extra traffic created
     detracts from the ability of that site's users to perform their
     tasks. To help be considerate of this, it's highly recommended
     that FTP sessions be held only after normal business hours for
     that site, preferably late at night. The possible effects of a
     large transfer will be less destructive at 2 a.m. than 2 p.m.
     Also, remember that if it's past dinner time in Maine, it's still
     early afternoon in California---think in terms of the current
     time at the site that's being visited, not of local time.


     BASIC COMMANDS

          While there have been many extensions to the various FTP
     clients out there, there is a de facto "standard" set that
     everyone expects to work. For more specific information, read the
     manual for your specific FTP program. This section will only skim
     the bare minimum of commands needed to operate an FTP session.


     CREATING THE CONNECTION

          The actual command to use FTP will vary among operating
     systems; for the sake of clarity, we'll use FTP here, since it's
     the most general form.

          There are two ways to connect to a system---using its
     hostname or its Internet number. Using the hostname is usually
     preferred. However, some sites aren't able to resolve hostnames
     properly, and have no alternative. We'll assume you're able to
     use hostnames for simplicity's sake. The form is

                           ftp somewhere.domain

          Domains for help with reading and using domain names (in the
     example below, somewhere.domain is ftp.uu.net).

          You must first know the name of the system you want to
     connect to. We'll use ftp.uu.net as an example. On your system,
     type:

                              ftp ftp.uu.net

           (the actual syntax will vary depending on the type of
     system the connection's being made from). It will pause
     momentarily then respond with the message

                         Connected to ftp.uu.net.

     and an initial prompt will appear:

     220 uunet FTP server (Version 5.100 Mon Feb 11 17:13:28 EST 1991)
     ready.    Name (ftp.uu.net:jm):

     to which you should respond with anonymous:

     220 uunet FTP server (Version 5.100 Mon Feb 11 17:13:28 EST 1991)
     ready.    Name (ftp.uu.net:jm): anonymous

          The system will then prompt you for a password; as noted
     previously, a good response is your email address:

          331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
          Password: [e-mail]
          230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
          ftp>

          The password itself will not echo. This is to protect a
     user's security when he or she is using a real account to FTP
     files between machines. Once you reach the ftp> prompt, you know
     you're logged in and ready to go.

          Notice the ftp.uu.net:joe in the Name: prompt?  That's
     another clue that anonymous FTP is special: FTP expects a normal
     user accounts to be used for transfers.


     dir

          At the ftp> prompt, you can type a number of commands to
     perform various functions. One example is dir---it will list the
     files in the current directory. Continuing the example from
     above:

     ftp> dir

     200 PORT command successful.
     150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
     total 3116
     drwxr-xr-x  2 7        21            512 Nov 21  1988 .forward
     -rw-rw-r--  1 7        11              0 Jun 23  1988 .hushlogin
     drwxrwxr-x  2 0        21            512 Jun  4  1990 Census
     drwxrwxr-x  2 0        120           512 Jan  8 09:36 ClariNet
                     ... etc etc ...
     -rw-rw-r--  1 7        14          42390 May 20 02:24 newthisweek.Z
                     ... etc etc ...
     -rw-rw-r--  1 7        14        2018887 May 21 01:01 uumap.tar.Z
     drwxrwxr-x  2 7        6            1024 May 11 10:58 uunet-info

     226 Transfer complete.
     5414 bytes received in 1.1 seconds (4.9 Kbytes/s)
     ftp>

          The file newthisweek.Z was specifically included because
     we'll be using it later. Just for general information, it happens
     to be a listing of all of the files added to UUNET's archives
     during the past week.

          The directory shown is on a machine running the Unix
     operating system---the dir command will produce different results
     on other operating systems (e.g. TOPS, VMS, et al.). Learning to
     recognize different formats will take some time. After a few
     weeks of traversing the Internet, it proves easier to see, for
     example, how large a file is on an operating system you're
     otherwise not acquainted with.

          With many FTP implementations, it's also possible to take
     the output of dir and put it into a file on the local system with

                          ftp> dir n* outfilename

     the contents of which can then be read outside of the live FTP
     connection; this is particularly useful for systems with very
     long directories (like ftp.uu.net). The above example would put
     the names of every file that begins with an n into the local file
     outfilename.


     cd

          At the beginning of an FTP session, the user is in a "top-
     level" directory. Most things are in directories below it (e.g.
     /pub). To change the current directory, one uses the cd command.
     To change to the directory pub, for example, one would type

                                ftp> cd pub

          which would elicit the response

                        250 CWD command successful.

          Meaning the "Change Working Directory" command (cd) worked
     properly. Moving "up" a directory is more system-specific---in
     Unix use the command cd .., and in VMS, cd [-].


     get and put

          The actual transfer is performed with the get and put
     commands. To get a file from the remote computer to the local
     system, the command takes the form:

                             ftp> get filename

          where filename is the file on the remote system. Again using
     ftp.uu.net as an example, the file newthisweek.Z can be retrieved
     with

     ftp> get newthisweek.Z
     200 PORT command successful.
     150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for newthisweek.Z (42390
     bytes).
     226 Transfer complete.
     local: newthisweek.Z remote: newthisweek.Z
     42553 bytes received in 6.9 seconds (6 Kbytes/s)
     ftp>

          The section below on using binary mode instead of ASCII will
     describe why this particular choice will result in a corrupt and
     subsequently unusable file.

          If, for some reason, you want to save a file under a
     different name (e.g. your system can only have 14-character
     filenames, or can only have one dot in the name), you can specify
     what the local filename should be by providing get with an
     additional argument

                     ftp> get newthisweek.Z uunet-new

     which will place the contents of the file newthisweek.Z in uunet-
     new on the local system.

          The transfer works the other way, too. The put command will
     transfer a file from the local system to the remote system. If
     the permissions are set up for an FTP session to write to a
     remote directory, a file can be sent with

                             ftp> put filename

          As with get, put will take a third argument, letting you
     specify a different name for the file on the remote system.


     ASCII VS BINARY

          In the example above, the file newthisweek.Z was
     transferred, but supposedly not correctly. The reason is this: in
     a normal ASCII transfer (the default), certain characters are
     translated between systems, to help make text files more
     readable. However, when binary files (those containing non-ASCII
     characters) are transferred, this translation should not take
     place. One example is a binary program---a few changed characters
     can render it completely useless.

          To avoid this problem, it's possible to be in one of two
     modes---ASCII or binary. In binary mode, the file isn't
     translated in any way. What's on the remote system is precisely
     what's received. The commands to go between the two modes are:

          ftp> ascii
          200 Type set to A.  (Note the A, which signifies ASCII mode.)

          ftp> binary
          200 Type set to I.  (Set to Image format, for pure binary
                              transfers.)

          Note that each command need only be done once to take
     effect; if the user types binary, all transfers in that session
     are done in binary mode (that is, unless ascii is typed later).

          The transfer of newthisweek.Z will work if done as:

     ftp> binary
     200 Type set to I.
     ftp> get newthisweek.Z
     200 PORT command successful.
     150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for newthisweek.Z (42390
     bytes).
     226 Transfer complete.
     local: newthisweek.Z remote: newthisweek.Z
     42390 bytes received in 7.2 seconds (5.8 Kbytes/s)

          Note: The file size (42390) is different from that done in
     ASCII mode (42553) bytes; and the number 42390 matches the one in
     the listing of UUNET's top directory. We can be relatively sure
     that we've received the file without any problems.


     mget and mput

          The commands mget and mput allow for multiple file transfers
     using wildcards to get several files, or a whole set of files at
     once, rather than having to do it manually one by one. For
     example, to get all files that begin with the letter f, one would
     type

                               ftp> mget f*

          Similarly, to put all of the local files that end with .c:

                               ftp> mput *.c

          Rather than reiterate what's been written a hundred times
     before, consult a local manual for more information on wildcard
     matching (every DOS manual, for example, has a section on it).

          Normally, FTP assumes a user wants to be prompted for every
     file in a mget or mput operation. You'll often need to get a
     whole set of files and not have each of them confirmed---you know
     they're all right. In that case, use the prompt command to turn
     the queries off.

     ftp> prompt
     Interactive mode off.

          Likewise, to turn it back on, the prompt command should
     simply be issued again.


     JOE GRANROSE'S LIST

          Monthly, Joe Granrose ([e-mail]) posts to Usenet
     (Usenet News) an extensive list of sites offering anonymous FTP
     service. It's available in a number of ways:

     The Usenet groups comp.misc and comp.sources.wanted

     Anonymous FTP from pilot.njin.net [128.6.7.38], in /pub/ftp-list.

          Write to [e-mail] with a Subject: line of
     listserv-request and a message body of send help. Please don't
     bother Joe with your requests---the server will provide you with
     the list.

     THE archie SERVER [archie IS ALWAYS IN LOWERCASE]

          A group of people at McGill University in Canada got
     together and created a query system called archie. It was
     originally formed to be a quick and easy way to scan the
     offerings of the many anonymous FTP sites that are maintained
     around the world. As time progressed, archie grew to include
     other valuable services as well.

          The archie service is accessible through an interactive
     telnet session, email queries, and command-line and X-window
     clients. The email responses can be used along with FTPmail
     servers for those not on the Internet. (FTP-by-Mail Servers, for
     info on using FTPmail servers.)


     USING archie TODAY

          Currently, archie tracks the contents of over 800 anonymous
     FTP archive sites containing over a million files stored across
     the Internet. Collectively, these files represent well over 50
     gigabytes of information, with new entries being added daily.

          The archie server automatically updates the listing
     information from each site about once a month. This avoids
     constantly updating the databases, which could waste network
     resources, yet ensures that the information on each site's
     holdings is reasonably up to date.

          To access archie interactively, telnet to one of the
     existing servers. {See Telnet, for notes on using the telnet
     program.} They include

     archie.ans.net (New York, USA)
     archie.rutgers.edu (New Jersey, USA)
     archie.sura.net (Maryland, USA)
     archie.unl.edu (Nebraska, USA)
     archie.mcgill.ca (the first Archie server, in Canada)
     archie.funet.fi (Finland)
     archie.au (Australia)
     archie.doc.ic.ac.uk (Great Britain)

          At the login: prompt of one of the servers, enter archie to
     log in. A greeting will be displayed, detailing information about
     ongoing work in the archie project; the user will be left at a
     archie> prompt, at which he may enter commands. Using help will
     yield instructions on using the prog command to make queries, set
     to control various aspects of the server's operation, et al. Type
     quit at the prompt to leave archie. Typing the query prog
     vine.tar.Z will yield a list of the systems that offer the source
     to the X-windows program vine; a piece of the information
     returned looks like:

     Host ftp.uu.net   (137.39.1.9)
     Last updated 10:30  7 Jan 1992

     Location: /packages/X/contrib
     FILE      rw-r--r--     15548  Oct  8 20:29   vine.tar.Z

     Host nic.funet.fi   (128.214.6.100)
     Last updated 05:07  4 Jan 1992

     Location: /pub/X11/contrib
     FILE      rw-rw-r--     15548  Nov  8 03:25   vine.tar.Z


     archie CLIENTS

          There are two main-stream archie clients, one called
     (naturally enough) archie, the other xarchie (for X-Windows).
     They query the archie databases and yield a list of systems that
     have the requested file(s) available for anonymous FTP, without
     requiring an interactive session to the server. For example, to
     find the same information you tried with the server command prog,
     you could type

     % archie vine.tar.Z
     Host athene.uni-paderborn.de
     Location: /local/X11/more_contrib
     FILE -rw-r--r--      18854  Nov 15 1990  vine.tar.Z

     Host emx.utexas.edu
     Location: /pub/mnt/source/games
     FILE -rw-r--r--      12019  May  7 1988  vine.tar.Z

     Host export.lcs.mit.edu
     Location: /contrib
     FILE -rw-r--r--      15548  Oct  9 00:29  vine.tar.Z

          Note that your system administrator may not have installed
     the archie clients yet; the source is available on each of the
     archie servers, in the directory archie/clients.

          Using the X-windows client is much more intuitive---if it's
     installed, just read its man page and give it a whirl. It's
     essential for the networked desktop.


     MAILING archie

          Users limited to email connectivity to the Internet should
     send a message to the address [e-mail] with the
     single word help in the body of the message. An email message
     will be returned explaining how to use the email archie server,
     along with the details of using FTPmail. Most of the commands
     offered by the telnet interface can be used with the mail server.


     THE WHATIS DATABASE

          In addition to offering access to anonymous FTP listings,
     archie also permits access to the whatis description database. It
     includes the names and brief synopses for over 3,500 public
     domain software packages, datasets and informational documents
     located on the Internet.

          Additional whatis databases are scheduled to be added in the
     future. Planned offerings include listings for the names and
     locations of online library catalog programs, the names of
     publicly accessible electronic mailing lists, compilations of
     Frequently Asked Questions lists, and archive sites for the most
     popular Usenet newsgroups. Suggestions for additional
     descriptions or locations databases are welcomed and should be
     sent to the archie developers at [e-mail].

               "Was f@"ur pl@"undern!"  ("What a place to
               plunder!") - Gebhard Leberecht Bl@"ucher

                                  ------

     USENET NEWS

          Original from: [e-mail] (Chip Salzenberg) [Most
     recent change: 19 May 1991 by [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)]

          The first thing to understand about Usenet is that it is
     widely misunderstood. Every day on Usenet the "blind men and the
     elephant" phenomenon appears, in spades. In the opinion of the
     author, more flame wars (rabid arguments) arise because of a lack
     of understanding of the nature of Usenet than from any other
     source. And consider that such flame wars arise, of necessity,
     among people who are on Usenet. Imagine, then, how poorly
     understood Usenet must be by those outside!

          No essay on the nature of Usenet can ignore the erroneous
     impressions held by many Usenet users. Therefore, this section
     will treat falsehoods first. Keep reading for truth. (Beauty,
     alas, is not relevant to Usenet.)


     WHAT USENET IS

          Usenet is the set of machines that exchange articles tagged
     with one or more universally-recognized labels, called newsgroups
     (or "groups" for short). (Note that the term newsgroup is
     correct, while area, base, board, bboard, conference, round
     table, SIG, etc. are incorrect. If you want to be understood, be
     accurate.)


     THE DIVERSITY OF USENET

          If the above definition of Usenet sounds vague, that's
     because it is. It is almost impossible to generalize over all
     Usenet sites in any non-trivial way. Usenet encompasses
     government agencies, large universities, high schools, businesses
     of all sizes, home computers of all descriptions, etc.

          Every administrator controls his own site. No one has any
     real control over any site but his own. The administrator gets
     his power from the owner of the system he administers. As long as
     the owner is happy with the job the administrator is doing, he
     can do whatever he pleases, up to and including cutting off
     Usenet entirely. C'est la vie.


     WHAT USENET IS NOT

          Usenet is not an organization. Usenet has no central
     authority. In fact, it has no central anything. There is a vague
     notion of "upstream" and "downstream" related to the direction of
     high-volume news flow. It follows that, to the extent that
     "upstream" sites decide what traffic they will carry for their
     "downstream" neighbors, that "upstream" sites have some influence
     on their neighbors. But such influence is usually easy to
     circumvent, and heavy-handed manipulation typically results in a
     backlash of resentment.

          Usenet is not a democracy. A democracy can be loosely
     defined as "government of the people, by the people, for the
     people."  However, as explained above, Usenet is not an
     organization, and only an organization can be run as a democracy.
     Even a democracy must be organized, for if it lacks a means of
     enforcing the peoples' wishes, then it may as well not exist.

          Some people wish that Usenet were a democracy. Many people
     pretend that it is. Both groups are sadly deluded.

          Usenet is not fair. After all, who shall decide what's fair?
     For that matter, if someone is behaving unfairly, who's going to
     stop him?  Neither you nor I, that's certain.

          Usenet is not a right. Some people misunderstand their local
     right of "freedom of speech" to mean that they have a legal right
     to use others' computers to say what they wish in whatever way
     they wish, and the owners of said computers have no right to stop
     them.

          Those people are wrong. Freedom of speech also means freedom
     not to speak; if I choose not to use my computer to aid your
     speech, that is my right. Freedom of the press belongs to those
     who own one.

          Usenet is not a public utility. Some Usenet sites are
     publicly funded or subsidized. Most of them, by plain count, are
     not. There is no government monopoly on Usenet, and little or no
     control.

          Usenet is not a commercial network. Many Usenet sites are
     academic or government organizations; in fact, Usenet originated
     in academia. Therefore, there is a Usenet custom of keeping
     commercial traffic to a minimum. If such commercial traffic is
     generally considered worth carrying, then it may be grudgingly
     tolerated. Even so, it is usually separated somehow from non-
     commercial traffic; see comp.newprod.

          Usenet is not the Internet. The Internet is a wide-ranging
     network, parts of which are subsidized by various governments.
     The Internet carries many kinds of traffic; Usenet is only one of
     them. And the Internet is only one of the various networks
     carrying Usenet traffic.

          Usenet is not a Unix network, nor even an ASCII network.

          Don't assume that everyone is using "rn" on a Unix machine.
     There are Vaxen running VMS, IBM mainframes, Amigas, and MS-DOS
     PCs reading and posting to Usenet. And, yes, some of them use
     (shudder) EBCDIC. Ignore them if you like, but they're out there.

          Usenet is not software. There are dozens of software
     packages used at various sites to transport and read Usenet
     articles. So no one program or package can be called "the Usenet
     software."

          Software designed to support Usenet traffic can be (and is)
     used for other kinds of communication, usually without risk of
     mixing the two. Such private communication networks are typically
     kept distinct from Usenet by the invention of newsgroup names
     different from the universally-recognized ones.


     USENET IS NOT A UUCP NETWORK.

          UUCP is a protocol (some might say protocol suite, but
     that's a technical point) for sending data over point-to-point
     connections, typically using dialup modems. Usenet is only one of
     the various kinds of traffic carried via UUCP, and UUCP is only
     one of the various transports carrying Usenet traffic.

          Well, enough negativity.


     PROPAGATION OF NEWS

          In the old days, when UUCP over long-distance dialup lines
     was the dominant means of article transmission, a few well-
     connected sites had real influence in determining which
     newsgroups would be carried where. Those sites called themselves
     "the backbone."

          But things have changed. Nowadays, even the smallest
     Internet site has connectivity the likes of which the backbone
     admin of yesteryear could only dream. In addition, in the U.S.,
     the advent of cheaper long-distance calls and high-speed modems
     has made long-distance Usenet feeds thinkable for smaller
     companies. There is only one pre-eminent UUCP transport site
     today in the U.S., namely UUNET. But UUNET isn't a player in the
     propagation wars, because it never refuses any traffic---it gets
     paid by the minute, after all; to refuse based on content would
     jeopardize its legal status as an enhanced service provider.

          All of the above applies to the U.S. In Europe, different
     cost structures favored the creation of strictly controlled
     hierarchical organizations with central registries. This is all
     very unlike the traditional mode of U.S. sites (pick a name, get
     the software, get a feed, you're on). Europe's "benign
     monopolies", long uncontested, now face competition from looser
     organizations patterned after the U.S. model.


     GROUP CREATION

          As discussed above, Usenet is not a democracy. Nevertheless,
     currently the most popular way to create a new newsgroup involves
     a "vote" to determine popular support for (and opposition to) a
     proposed newsgroup. Newsgroup Creation, for detailed instructions
     and guidelines on the process involved in making a newsgroup.

          If you follow the guidelines, it is probable that your group
     will be created and will be widely propagated. However, due to
     the nature of Usenet, there is no way for any user to enforce the
     results of a newsgroup vote (or any other decision, for that
     matter). Therefore, for your new newsgroup to be propagated
     widely, you must not only follow the letter of the guidelines;
     you must also follow its spirit. And you must not allow even a
     whiff of shady dealings or dirty tricks to mar the vote.

          So, you may ask: How is a new user supposed to know anything
     about the "spirit" of the guidelines?  Obviously, she can't. This
     fact leads inexorably to the following recommendation:

          If you're a new user, don't try to create a new newsgroup
     alone.

          If you have a good newsgroup idea, then read the news.groups
     newsgroup for a while (six months, at least) to find out how
     things work. If you're too impatient to wait six months, then you
     really need to learn; read news.groups for a year instead. If you
     just can't wait, find a Usenet old hand to run the vote for you.

          Readers may think this advice unnecessarily strict. Ignore
     it at your peril. It is embarrassing to speak before learning. It
     is foolish to jump into a society you don't understand with your
     mouth open. And it is futile to try to force your will on people
     who can tune you out with the press of a key.


     IF YOU'RE UNHAPPY...

          Property rights being what they are, there is no higher
     authority on Usenet than the people who own the machines on which
     Usenet traffic is carried. If the owner of the machine you use
     says, "We will not carry alt.sex on this machine," and you are
     not happy with that order, you have no Usenet recourse. What can
     we outsiders do, after all?

          That doesn't mean you are without options. Depending on the
     nature of your site, you may have some internal political
     recourse. Or you might find external pressure helpful. Or, with a
     minimal investment, you can get a feed of your own from somewhere
     else. Computers capable of taking Usenet feeds are down in the
     $500 range now, Unix-capable boxes are going for under $2000, and
     there are at least two Unix lookalikes in the $100 price range.

          No matter what, appealing to "Usenet" won't help. Even if
     those who read such an appeal regarding system administration are
     sympathetic to your cause, they will almost certainly have even
     less influence at your site than you do.

          By the same token, if you don't like what some user at
     another site is doing, only the administrator and/or owner of
     that site have any authority to do anything about it. Persuade
     them that the user in question is a problem for them, and they
     might do something (if they feel like it). If the user in
     question is the administrator or owner of the site from which he
     or she posts, forget it; you can't win. Arrange for your
     newsreading software to ignore articles from him or her if you
     can, and chalk one up to experience.


     THE HISTORY OF USENET (THE ABCS)

          In the beginning, there were conversations, and they were
     good. Then came Usenet in 1979, shortly after the release of V7
     Unix with UUCP; and it was better. Two Duke University grad
     students in North Carolina, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, thought
     of hooking computers together to exchange information with the
     Unix community. Steve Bellovin, a grad student at the University
     of North Carolina, put together the first version of the news
     software using shell scripts and installed it on the first two
     sites: unc and duke. At the beginning of 1980 the network
     consisted of those two sites and phs (another machine at Duke),
     and was described at the January 1980 Usenix conference in
     Boulder, CO. {The Usenix conferences are semi-annual meetings
     where members  of the Usenix Association, a group of Unix
     enthusiasts, meet and trade notes.} Steve Bellovin later rewrote
     the scripts into C programs, but they were never released beyond
     unc and duke. Shortly thereafter, Steve Daniel did another
     implementation in the C programming language for public
     distribution. Tom Truscott made further modifications, and this
     became the "A" news release.

          In 1981 at the University of California at Berkeley, grad
     student Mark Horton and high school student Matt Glickman rewrote
     the news software to add functionality and to cope with the ever
     increasing volume of news---"A" news was intended for only a few
     articles per group per day. This rewrite was the "B" news
     version. The first public release was version 2.1 in 1982; all
     versions before 2.1 were considered in beta test. As The Net
     grew, the news software was expanded and modified. The last
     version maintained and released primarily by Mark was 2.10.1.

          Rick Adams, then at the Center for Seismic Studies, took
     over coordination of the maintenance and enhancement of the news
     software with the 2.10.2 release in 1984. By this time, the
     increasing volume of news was becoming a concern, and the
     mechanism for moderated groups was added to the software at
     2.10.2. Moderated groups were inspired by ARPA mailing lists and
     experience with other bulletin board systems. In late 1986,
     version 2.11 of news was released, including a number of changes
     to support a new naming structure for newsgroups, enhanced
     batching and compression, enhanced ihave/sendme control messages,
     and other features. The current release of news is 2.11,
     patchlevel 19.

          A new version of news, becoming known as "C" news, has been
     developed at the University of Toronto by Geoff Collyer and Henry
     Spencer. This version is a rewrite of the lowest levels of news
     to increase article processing speed, decrease article expiration
     processing and improve the reliability of the news system through
     better locking, etc. The package was released to The Net in the
     autumn of 1987. For more information, see the paper News Need Not
     Be Slow, published in the Winter 1987 Usenix Technical Conference
     proceedings.

          Usenet software has also been ported to a number of
     platforms, from the Amiga and IBM PCs all the way to
     minicomputers and mainframes.


     HIERARCHIES

          Newsgroups are organized according to their specific areas
     of concentration. Since the groups are in a tree structure, the
     various areas are called hierarchies. There are seven major
     categories:

          comp

          Topics of interest to both computer professionals and
          hobbyists, including topics in computer science,
          software sources, and information on hardware and
          software systems.

          misc

          Group addressing themes not easily classified into any
          of the other headings or which incorporate themes from
          multiple categories. Subjects include fitness, job-
          hunting, law, and investments.

          sci

          Discussions marked by special knowledge relating to
          research in or application of the established sciences.

          soc

          Groups primarily addressing social issues and
          socializing. Included are discussions related to many
          different world cultures.

          talk

          Groups largely debate-oriented and tending to feature
          long discussions without resolution and without
          appreciable amounts of generally useful information.

          news

          Groups concerned with the news network, group
          maintenance, and software.

          rec

          Groups oriented towards hobbies and recreational
          activities

          These "world" newsgroups are (usually) circulated around the
     entire Usenet---this implies world-wide distribution. Not all
     groups actually enjoy such wide distribution, however. The
     European Usenet and Eunet sites take only a selected subset of
     the more "technical" groups, and controversial "noise" groups are
     often not carried by many sites in the U.S. and Canada (these
     groups are primarily under the talk and soc classifications).
     Many sites do not carry some or all of the comp.binaries groups
     because of the typically large size of the posts in them (being
     actual executable programs).

          Also available are a number of "alternative" hierarchies:

          alt

          True anarchy; anything and everything can and does
          appear; subjects include sex, the Simpsons, and
          privacy.

          gnu

          Groups concentrating on interests and software with the
          GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation. For
          further info on what the FSF is, FSF.

          biz

          Business-related groups.


     MODERATED VS UNMODERATED

          Some newsgroups insist that the discussion remain focused
     and on-target; to serve this need, moderated groups came to be.
     All articles posted to a moderated group get mailed to the
     group's moderator. He or she periodically (hopefully sooner than
     later) reviews the posts, and then either posts them individually
     to Usenet, or posts a composite digest of the articles for the
     past day or two. This is how many mailing list gateways work (for
     example, the Risks Digest).

     news.groups & news.announce.newgroups

          Being a good net.citizen includes being involved in the
     continuing growth and evolution of the Usenet system. One part of
     this involvement includes following the discussion in the groups
     news.groups and the notes in news.announce.newgroups. It is there
     that discussion goes on about the creation of new groups and
     destruction of inactive ones. Every person on Usenet is allowed
     and encouraged to vote on the creation of a newsgroup.


     HOW USENET WORKS

          The transmission of Usenet news is entirely cooperative.
     Feeds are generally provided out of good will and the desire to
     distribute news everywhere. There are places which provide feeds
     for a fee (e.g. UUNET), but for the large part no exchange of
     money is involved.

          There are two major transport methods, UUCP and NNTP. The
     first is mainly modem-based and involves the normal charges for
     telephone calls. The second, NNTP, is the primary method for
     distributing news over the Internet.

          With UUCP, news is stored in batches on a site until the
     neighbor calls to receive the articles, or the feed site happens
     to call. A list of groups which the neighbor wishes to receive is
     maintained on the feed site. The Cnews system compresses its
     batches, which can dramatically reduce the transmission time
     necessary for a relatively heavy newsfeed.

          NNTP, on the other hand, offers a little more latitude with
     how news is sent. The traditional store-and-forward method is, of
     course, available. Given the "real-time" nature of the Internet,
     though, other methods have been devised. Programs now keep
     constant connections with their news neighbors, sending news
     nearly instantaneously, and can handle dozens of simultaneous
     feeds, both incoming and outgoing.

          The transmission of a Usenet article is centered around the
     unique Message-ID: header. When an NNTP site offers an article to
     a neighbor, it says it has that specific Message ID. If the
     neighbor finds it hasn't received the article yet, it tells the
     feed to send it through; this is repeated for each and every
     article that's waiting for the neighbor. Using unique IDs helps
     prevent a system from receiving five copies of an article from
     each of its five news neighbors, for example.

          Further information on how Usenet works with relation to the
     various transports is available in the documentation for the
     Cnews and NNTP packages, as well as in RFC-1036, the Standard for
     Interchange of USENET Messages and RFC-977, Network News Transfer
     Protocol: A Proposed Standard for the Stream-Based Transmission
     of News. The RFCs do tend to be rather dry reading, particularly
     to the new user.


     MAIL GATEWAYS

          A natural progression is for Usenet news and electronic
     mailing lists to somehow become merged---which they have, in the
     form of news gateways. Many mailing lists are set up to "reflect"
     messages not only to the readership of the list, but also into a
     newsgroup. Likewise, posts to a newsgroup can be sent to the
     moderator of the mailing list, or to the entire mailing list.
     Some examples of this in action are comp.risks (the Risks Digest)
     and comp.dcom.telecom (the Telecom Digest).

          This method of propagating mailing list traffic has helped
     solve the problem of a single message being delivered to a number
     of people at the same site---instead, anyone can just subscribe
     to the group. Also, mailing list maintenance is lowered
     substantially, since the moderators don't have to be constantly
     removing and adding users to and from the list. Instead, the
     people can read and not read the newsgroup at their leisure.


     from "Dear Emily Postnews" by Brad Templeton
     USENET "NETIQUETTE"

          There are many traditions with Usenet, not the least of
     which is dubbed netiquette---being polite and considerate of
     others. If you follow a few basic guidelines, you, and everyone
     that reads your posts, will be much happier in the long run.

     SIGNATURES

          At the end of most articles is a small blurb called a
     person's signature. In Unix this file is named .signature in the
     person's login directory---it will vary for other operating
     systems. It exists to provide information about how to get in
     touch with the person posting the article, including their email
     address, phone number, address, or where they're located. Even
     so, signatures have become the graffiti of computers. People put
     song lyrics, pictures, philosophical quotes, even advertisements
     in their ".sigs". (Note, however, that advertising in your
     signature will more often than not get you flamed until you take
     it out.)

          Four lines will suffice---more is just extra garbage for
     Usenet sites to carry along with your article, which is supposed
     to be the intended focus of the reader. Netiquette dictates
     limiting oneself to this "quota" of four---some people make
     signatures that are ten lines or even more, including elaborate
     ASCII drawings of their hand-written signature or faces or even
     the space shuttle. This is not cute, and will bother people to no
     end.

          Similarly, it's not necessary to include your signature---if
     you forget to append it to an article, don't worry about it. The
     article's just as good as it ever would be, and contains
     everything you should want to say. Don't re-post the article just
     to include the signature.


     POSTING PERSONAL MESSAGES

          If mail to a person doesn't make it through, avoid posting
     the message to a newsgroup. Even if the likelihood of that person
     reading the group is very high, all of the other people reading
     the articles don't give a whit what you have to say to Jim
     Morrison. Simply wait for the person to post again and double-
     check the address, or get in touch with your system administrator
     and see if it's a problem with local email delivery. It may also
     turn out that their site is down or is having problems, in which
     case it's just necessary to wait until things return to normal
     before contacting Jim.


     POSTING MAIL

          In the interests of privacy, it's considered extremely bad
     taste to post any email that someone may have sent, unless they
     explicitly give you permission to redistribute it. While the
     legal issues can be heavily debated, most everyone agrees that
     email should be treated as anything one would receive via normal
     snailmail, {The slang for the  normal land and air postal
     service.} , with all of the assumed rights that are carried with
     it.


     TEST MESSAGES

          Many people, particularly new users, want to try out posting
     before actually taking part in discussions. Often the mechanics
     of getting messages out is the most difficult part of Usenet. To
     this end, many, many users find it necessary to post their tests
     to "normal" groups (for example, news.admin or comp.mail.misc).
     This is considered a major netiquette faux pas in the Usenet
     world. There are a number of groups available, called test
     groups, that exist solely for the purpose of trying out a news
     system, reader, or even new signature. They include

                    alt.test
                    gnu.gnusenet.test
                    misc.test

     some of which will generate auto-magic replies to your posts to
     let you know they made it through. There are certain denizens of
     Usenet that frequent the test groups to help new users out. They
     respond to the posts, often including the article so the poster
     can see how it got to the person's site. Also, many regional
     hierarchies have test groups, like phl.test in Philadelphia.

          By all means, experiment and test---just do it in its proper
     place.


     FAMOUS PEOPLE APPEARING

          Every once in a while, someone says that a celebrity is
     accessible through "The Net"; or, even more entertaining, an
     article is forged to appear to be coming from that celebrity. One
     example is Stephen Spielberg---the rec.arts.movies readership was
     in an uproar for two weeks following a couple of posts supposedly
     made by Mr. Spielberg. (Some detective work revealed it to be a
     hoax.)

          There are a few well-known people that are acquainted with
     Usenet and computers in general---but the overwhelming majority
     are just normal people. One should act with skepticism whenever a
     notable personality is "seen" in a newsgroup.


     SUMMARIES

          Authors of articles occasionally say that readers should
     reply by mail and they'll summarize. Accordingly, readers should
     do just that---reply via mail. Responding with a followup article
     to such an article defeats the intention of the author. She, in a
     few days, will post one article containing the highlights of the
     responses she received. By following up to the whole group, the
     author may not read what you have to say.

          When creating a summary of the replies to a post, try to
     make it as reader-friendly as possible. Avoid just putting all of
     the messages received into one big file. Rather, take some time
     and edit the messages into a form that contains the essential
     information that other readers would be interested in.

          Also, sometimes people will respond but request to remain
     anonymous (one example is the employees of a corporation that
     feel the information's not proprietary, but at the same time want
     to protect themselves from political backlash). Summaries should
     honor this request accordingly by listing the From: address as
     anonymous or (Address withheld by request).


     QUOTING

          When following up to an article, many newsreaders provide
     the facility to quote the original article with each line
     prefixed by > , as in

     In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] wrote:
     > I agree, I think that basketweaving's really catching on,
     > particularly in Pennsylvania. Here's a list of every person
     > in PA that currently engages in it publicly:
                    line ... etc ...

          This is a severe example (potentially a horribly long
     article), but proves a point. When you quote another person, edit
     out whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. {But not
     changing their words, of course. } This gives the reader of the
     new article a better idea of what points you were addressing. By
     including the entire article, you'll only annoy those reading it.
     Also, signatures in the original aren't necessary; the readers
     already know who wrote it (by the attribution).

          Avoid being tedious with responses---rather than pick apart
     an article, address it in parts or as a whole. Addressing
     practically each and every word in an article only proves that
     the person responding has absolutely nothing better to do with
     his time.

          If a "war" starts (insults and personal comments get thrown
     back and forth), take it into email---exchange email with the
     person you're arguing with. No one enjoys watching people bicker
     incessantly.


     CROSSPOSTING

          The Newsgroups: line isn't limited to just one group---an
     article can be posted in a list of groups. For instance, the line

                   Newsgroups: sci.space,comp.simulation

     posts the article to both the groups sci.space and
     comp.simulation. It's usually safe to crosspost to up to three or
     four groups. To list more than that is considered "excessive
     noise."

          It's also suggested that if an article is crossposted a
     Followup-To: header be included. It should name the group to
     which all additional discussion should be directed to. For the
     above example a possible Followup-To: would be

                          Followup-To: sci.space

     which would make all followups automatically be posted to just
     sci.space, rather than both sci.space and comp.simulation. If
     every response made with a newsreader's "followup" command should
     go to the person posting the article no matter what, there's also
     a mechanism worked in to accommodate. The Followup-To: header
     should contain the single word poster:

                            Followup-To: poster

          Certain newsreaders will use this to sense that a reply
     should never be posted back onto The Net. This is often used with
     questions that will yield a summary of information later, a vote,
     or an advertisement.


     RECENT NEWS

          One should avoid posting "recent" events---sports scores, a
     plane crash, or whatever people will see on the evening news or
     read in the morning paper. By the time the article has propagated
     across all of Usenet, the "news" value of the article will have
     become stale. (This is one case for the argument that Usenet news
     is a misnomer. {Note that the Clarinet News service (Clarinet)
     offers news items in a Usenet format as a precise alternative to
     the morning paper,  et. al.)


     QUALITY OF POSTINGS

          How you write and present yourself in your articles is
     important. If you have terrible spelling, keep a dictionary near
     by. If you have trouble with grammar and punctuation, try to get
     a book on English grammar and composition (found in many
     bookstores and at garage sales). By all means pay attention to
     what you say---it makes you who you are on The Net.

          Likewise, try to be clear in what you ask. Ambiguous or
     vague questions often lead to no response at all, leaving the
     poster discouraged. Give as much essential information as you
     feel is necessary to let people help you, but keep it within
     limits. For instance, you should probably include the operating
     system of your computer in the post if it's needed, but don't
     tell everybody what peripherals you have hanging off of it.


     USEFUL SUBJECTS

          The Subject: line of an article is what will first attract
     people to read it---if it's vague or doesn't describe what's
     contained within, no one will read the article. At the same time,
     Subject: lines that're too wordy tend to be irritating. For
     example:


          Good
               Subject: Building Emacs on a Sun Sparc under 4.1

          Good
               Subject: Tryin' to find Waldo in NJ.

          Bad
               Subject: I can't get emacs to work !!!

          Bad
               Subject:  I'm desperately in search of the honorable Mr.
                         Waldo in the state of...

          Simply put, try to think of what will best help the reader
     when he or she encounters your article in a newsreading session.


     TONE OF VOICE

          Since common computers can't portray the inflection or tone
     in a person's voice, how articles are worded can directly affect
     the response to them. If you say:

          Anybody using a Vic-20 should go buy themselves a life.

     you'll definitely get some responses---telling you to take a
     leap. Rather than be inflammatory, phrase your articles in a way
     that rationally expresses your opinion, like:

            What're the practical uses of a Vic-20 these days?

     which presents yourself as a much more level-headed individual.

          Also, what case (upper or lower) you use can indicate how
     you're trying to speak---netiquette dictates that if you USE ALL
     CAPITAL LETTERS, people will think you're "shouting."  Write as
     you would in a normal letter to a friend, following traditional
     rules of English (or whatever language you happen to speak).


     COMPUTER RELIGION

          No matter what kind of computer a person is using, theirs is
     always the best and most efficient of them all. Posting articles
     asking questions like What computer should I buy? An Atari ST or
     an Amiga? will lead only to fervent arguments over the merits and
     drawbacks of each brand. Don't even ask The Net---go to a local
     user group, or do some research of your own like reading some
     magazine reviews. Trying to say one computer is somehow better
     than another is a moot point.


     THE ANATOMY OF AN ARTICLE

     FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

          A number of groups include Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)
     lists, which give the answers to questions or points that have
     been raised time and time again in a newsgroup. They're intended
     to help cut down on the redundant traffic in a group. For
     example, in the newsgroup alt.tv.simpsons, one recurring question
     is Did you notice that there's a different blackboard opening at
     the beginning of every Simpsons episode?  As a result, it's part
     of the FAQ for that group.

          Usually, FAQ lists are posted at the beginning of each
     month, and are set to expire one month later (when, supposedly,
     the next FAQ will be published). Nearly every FAQ is also
     crossposted to news.answers, which is used as a Usenet repository
     for them.


     THE PIT-MANAGER ARCHIVE

          MIT, with Jonathan Kamens, has graciously dedicated a
     machine to the archiving and storage of the various periodic
     postings that are peppered throughout the various Usenet groups.
     To access them, FTP to the system pit-manager.mit.edu and look in
     the directory /pub/usenet.

               "Be it true or false, so it be news." Ben
               Jonson, News from the New World

                                   -----

     TELNET

          Telnet is the main Internet protocol for creating a
     connection with a remote machine. It gives the user the
     opportunity to be on one computer system and do work on another,
     which may be across the street or thousands of miles away. Where
     modems are limited, in the majority, by the quality of telephone
     lines and a single connection, telnet provides a connection
     that's error-free and nearly always faster than the latest
     conventional modems.


     USING TELNET

          As with FTP (Anonymous FTP), the actual command for
     negotiating a telnet connection varies from system to system. The
     most common is telnet itself, though. It takes the form of:

                          telnet somewhere.domain

          To be safe, we'll use your local system as a working
     example. By now, you hopefully know your site's domain name. If
     not, ask or try to figure it out. You'll not get by without it.

          To open the connection, type

                          telnet your.system.name

          If the system were wubba.cs.widener.edu, for example, the
     command would look like:

                        telnet wubba.cs.widener.edu

          The system will respond with something similar to:

                    Trying 147.31.254.999...
                    Connected to wubba.cs.widener.edu.
                    Escape character is '^]'.

          The escape character, in this example ^] (Control-]), is the
     character that will let you go back to the local system to close
     the connection, suspend it, etc. To close this connection, the
     user would type ^], and respond to the telnet> prompt with the
     command close. Local documentation should be checked for
     information on specific commands, functions, and escape character
     that can be used.


     TELNET PORTS

          Many telnet clients also include a third option, the port on
     which the connection should take place. Normally, port 23 is the
     default telnet port; the user never has to think about it. But
     sometimes it's desirable to telnet to a different port on a
     system, where there may be a service available, or to aid in
     debugging a problem. Using

                       telnet somewhere.domain port

     will connect the user to the given port on the system
     somewhere.domain. Many libraries use this port method to offer
     their facilities to the general Internet community; other
     services are also available. For instance, one would type

                    telnet martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000

     to connect to the geographic server at the University of Michigan
     (Geographic Server). Other such port connections follow the same
     usage.


     PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE LIBRARIES

          Over the last several years, most university libraries have
     switched from a manual (card) catalog system to computerized
     library catalogs. The automated systems provide users with easily
     accessible and up-to-date information about the books available
     in these libraries. This has been further improved upon with the
     advent of local area networks, dialup modems, and wide area
     networks. Now many of us can check on our local library's
     holdings or that of a library halfway around the world!

          Many, many institutions of higher learning have made their
     library catalogs available for searching by anyone on the
     Internet. They include Boston University, the Colorado Alliance
     of Research Libraries (CARL), and London University King's
     College.

          To include a listing of some of the existing sites would not
     only be far too long for this document, it would soon be out of
     date. Instead, several lists are being maintained and are
     available either by mail or via FTP. Also, the Internet Resource
     Guide (IRG) also describes a few libraries that are accessible---
     IRG for further information.

          Art St. George and  Ron Larsen are maintaining a list of
     Internet-accessible libraries and databases often referred to as
     "the St. George directory."  It began with only library catalogs
     but has expanded to include sections on campus-wide information
     systems, and even bulletin board systems that are not on the
     Internet. The library catalog sections are divided into those
     that are free, those that charge, and international (i.e. non-
     U.S.) catalogs; they are arranged by state, province, or country
     within each section. There is also a section giving dialup
     information for some of the library catalogs. It's available for
     FTP (Anonymous FTP) on nic.cerf.net in the directory
     cerfnet/cerfnet_info/library_catalog. The file internet-catalogs
     has a date suffix; check for the most current date. The
     information is updated periodically.

          Billy Barron, Systems Manager at the University of North
     Texas, produces a directory as an aid to his user community. It
     complements the St. George guide by providing a standard format
     for all systems which lists the Internet address, login
     instructions, the system vendor, and logoff information. The
     arrangement is alphabetic by organization name. It's available
     for FTP on vaxb.acs.unt.edu in the subdirectory library as the
     file libraries.txt.

          For announcements of new libraries being available and
     discussion on related topics, consult the Usenet newsgroup
     comp.internet.library (Usenet News to learn how to read news).

                                ----------

                          BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS

     THE CLEVELAND FREENET

          Freenets are open-access, free, community computer systems.
     One such system is the Cleveland Freenet, sponsored by CWRU (Case
     Western Reserve University). Anyone and everyone is welcome to
     join and take part in the exciting project---that of a National
     Telecomputing Public Network, where everyone benefits. There's no
     charge for the registration process and no charge to use the
     system.

          To register, telnet to any one of

                           freenet-in-a.cwru.edu
                           freenet-in-b.cwru.edu
                           freenet-in-c.cwru.edu

          After you're connected, choose the entry on the menu that
     signifies you're a guest user. Another menu will follow; select
     Apply for an account, and you'll be well on your way to being a
     FreeNet member.

          You will need to fill out a form and send it to them through
     the Postal Service---your login id and password will be created
     in a few days. At that point you're free to use the system as you
     wish. They provide multi-user chat, email, Usenet news, and a
     variety of other things to keep you occupied for hours on end.


     DIRECTORIES

          There are a few systems that are maintained to provide the
     Internet community with access to lists of information---users,
     organizations, etc. They range from fully dedicated computers
     with access to papers and research results, to a system to find
     out about the faculty members of a university.


     KNOWBOT

          Knowbot is a "master directory" that contains email address
     information from the NIC WHOIS database (Whois), the PSI White
     Pages Pilot Project, the NYSERNET X.500 database and MCI Mail.
     Most of these services are email registries themselves, but
     Knowbot provides a very comfortable way to access all of them in
     one place. Telnet to nri.reston.va.us on port 185.


     WHITE PAGES

          PSI maintains a directory of information on individuals. It
     will list the person's name, organization, and email address if
     it is given. Telnet to wp.psi.net and log in as fred. The White
     Pages Project also includes an interface to use Xwindows
     remotely.


     FACULTY AND STAFF LISTINGS

          Many universities offer access to information on current
     faculty and staff. Included are:

     Cornell          Telnet to cuinfo.cornell.edu on port 3000.
     NC State         Telnet to ccvax1.cc.ncsu.edu and log in as info.
     Rutgers          Telnet to hangout.rutgers.edu on port 98.
     U of Maryland    Telnet to umail.umd.edu and log in as lookup.
     UNC Chapel Hill  Telnet to info.acs.unc.edu and log in as info.
     Yale             Telnet to yalevm.ycc.yale.edu on port 300.


     DATABASES

          For information on database services, Commercial Databases.
     Not all databases on the Internet require payment for use,
     though. There do exist some, largely research-driven databases,
     which are publicly accessible. New ones spring up regularly.

          To find out more about the databases in this section,
     contact the people directly responsible for them. Their areas of
     concentration and the software used to implement them are widely
     disparate, and are probably beyond the author's expertise. Also,
     don't forget to check with your local library---the reference
     librarian there can provide information on conventional
     resources, and possibly even those available over the Internet
     (they are becoming more common).


     COLORADO ALLIANCE OF RESEARCH LIBRARIES (CARL)

          The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL), in
     association with CARL Systems Inc., operates a public access
     catalog of services. Offered are a number of library databases,
     including searches for government periodicals, book reviews,
     indices for current articles, and access to to other library
     databases around the country. Other services are available to
     CARL members including an online encyclopedia. Telnet to
     pac.carl.org, or write to [e-mail] for more details.


     PENpages

          PENpages is an agriculturally-oriented database administered
     by Pennsylvania State University. Information entered into
     PENpages is provided by numerous sources including the
     Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture, Rutgers University, and Penn
     State. Easy-to-use menus guide users to information ranging from
     cattle and agricultural prices to current weather information,
     from health information to agricultural news from around the
     nation. A keyword search option also allows users to search the
     database for related information and articles. The database is
     updated daily, and a listing of most recent additions is
     displayed after login. Telnet to psupen.psu.edu and log in as the
     user PNOTPA.


     CLEMSON UNIV. FORESTRY & AGRICULTURAL NETWORK

          Clemson maintains a database similar to PENpages in content,
     but the information provided tends to be localized to the
     Southeastern United States. A menu-driven database offers queries
     involving the weather, food, family, and human resources. Telnet
     to eureka.clemson.edu and log in as PUBLIC. You need to be on a
     good VT100 emulator (or a real VT terminal).


     UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND INFO DATABASE

          The Computer Science department of the University of
     Maryland maintains a repository of information on a wide variety
     of topics. They wish to give a working example of how network
     technology can (and should) provide as much information as
     possible to those who use it. Telnet to info.umd.edu and log in
     as info. The information contained in the database is accessible
     through a screen-oriented interface, and everything therein is
     available via anonymous FTP.

          There is a mailing list used to discuss the UMD Info
     Database, welcoming suggestions for new information, comments on
     the interface the system provides, and other related topics. Send
     mail to [e-mail] with a body of

                      subscribe INFO-L Your Full Name

     See Listservs for more information on using the Listserv system.


     UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN WEATHER UNDERGROUND

          The University of Michigan's Department of Atmospheric,
     Oceanic, & Space Sciences maintains a database of weather and
     related information for the United States and Canada. Available
     are current weather conditions and forecasts for cities in the
     U.S., a national weather summary, ski conditions, earthquake and
     hurricane updates, and a listing of severe weather conditions.
     Telnet to madlab.sprl.umich.edu on port 3000 to use the system.


     GEOGRAPHIC NAME SERVER

          A geographic database listing information for cities in the
     United States and some international locations is maintained by
     Merit, Inc. The database is searchable by city name, zip code,
     etc. It will respond with a lot of information: the area code,
     elevation, time zone, and longitude and latitude are included.
     For example, a query of 19013 yields

               0 Chester
               1 42045 Delaware
               2 PA Pennsylvania
               3 US United States
               F 45 Populated place
               L 39 50 58 N  75 21 22 W
               P 45794
               E 22
               Z 19013
               Z 19014
               Z 19015
               Z 19016
               ..

          To use the server, telnet to martini.eecs.umich.edu on port
     3000. The command help will yield further instructions, along
     with an explanation for each of the fields in a reponse.


     FEDIX---MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

          FEDIX is an on-line information service that links the
     higher education community and the federal government to
     facilitate research, education, and services. The system provides
     accurate and timely federal agency information to colleges,
     universities, and other research organizations. There are no
     registration fees and no access charges for FEDIX whatsoever.

          FEDIX offers the Minority On-Line Information Service
     (MOLIS), a database listing current information about Black and
     Hispanic colleges and universities.

          Daily information updates are made on federal education and
     research programs, scholarships, fellowships, and grants,
     available used research equipment, and general information about
     FEDIX itself. To access the database, telnet to fedix.fie.com and
     log in as fedix.


     SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION SYSTEM

          The STIS is maintained by the National Science Foundation
     (NSF), and provides access to many NSF publications. The full
     text of publications can be searched online and copied from the
     system, which can accommodate up to ten users at one time. Telnet
     to stis.nsf.gov and log in as public. Everything on the system is
     also available via anonymous FTP. For further information,
     contact:

          STIS, Office of Information Systems, Room 401
          National Science Foundation
          1800 G. Street, N.W.
          Washington, D.C. 20550
          [e-mail]
          [phone]
          [phone] (Fax)


     OCEAN NETWORK INFORMATION CENTER

          The University of Delaware College of Marine Studies offers
     access to an interactive database of research information
     covering all aspects of marine studies, nicknamed OCEANIC. This
     includes the World Oceanic Circulation Experiment (WOCE)
     information and program information, research ship schedules and
     information, and a Who's Who of email and mailing addresses for
     oceanic studies. Data from a variety of academic institutions
     based on research studies is also available. Telnet to
     delocn.udel.edu and log in as INFO.


     NASA/IPAC EXTRAGALACTIC DATABASE (NED)

          The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) is an ongoing
     project, funded by NASA, to make data and literature on
     extragalactic objects available over computer networks. NED is an
     object-oriented database which contains extensive information for
     nearly 132,000 extragalactic objects taken from about major
     catalogs of galaxies, quasars, infrared and radio sources. NED
     provides positions, names, and other basic data (e.g. magnitude
     types, sizes and redshifts as well as bibliographic references
     and abstracts). Searches can be done by name, around a name, and
     on an astronomical position. NED contains a tutorial which guides
     the user through the retrieval process. Telnet to
     ipac.caltech.edu and log in as ned.


     U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY AUTOMATED DATA SERVICE

          Operated by the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.,
     this automated data service provides database access to
     information ranging from current navigational satellite
     positioning, astronomical data, and software utilities. A wide
     variety of databases can be searched and instructions for file
     transfer are given. Telnet to tycho.usno.navy.mil and log in as
     ads.

          "My consciousness suddenly switched locations, for the
          first time in my life, from the vicinity of my head and
          body to a point about twenty feet away from where I
          normally see the world." Howard Rheingold, Virtual
          Reality p255

                             -----------------


     VARIOUS TOOLS

          New and interesting ways to use the Internet are being
     dreamed up every day. As they gain wide-spread use, some methods
     become near-standard (or actual written standard) tools for
     Internet users to take advantage of. A few are detailed here;
     there are undoubtedly others, and new ideas spring up all the
     time. An active user of the Internet will discover most of the
     more common ones in time. Usually, these services are free.
     Commercial Services for applications that are commercially
     available over the Internet.

          Usenet is often used to announce a new service or capability
     on the Internet. In particular, the groups comp.archives and
     comp.protocols.tcp-ip are good places to look. Information will
     drift into other areas as word spreads. Usenet News for
     information on reading news.


     FINGER

          On many systems there exists the finger command, which yield
     information about each user that's currently logged in. This
     command also has extensions for use over the Internet, as well.
     Under normal circumstances, the command is simply finger for a
     summary of who's logged into the local system, or finger username
     for specific information about a user. It's also possible to go
     one step further and go onto the network. The general usage is

                             finger @hostname

          To see who's currently logged in at Widener University, for
     instance, use

     % finger @cs.widener.edu
     [cs.widener.edu]
     Login       Name              TTY Idle    When            Where
     brendan  Brendan Kehoe         p0      Fri 02:14  tattoo.cs.widene
     sven     Sven Heinicke         p1      Fri 04:16  xyplex3.cs.widen


          To find out about a certain user, they can be fingered
     specifically (and need not be logged in):

     % finger [e-mail]
     [cs.widener.edu]
     Login name: bart                        In real life: Bart Simpson
     Directory: /home/springfield/bart       Shell: /bin/underachiever
     Affiliation: Brother of Lisa            Home System: channel29.fox.org
     Last login Thu May 23 12:14 (EDT) on ttyp6 from channel29.fox.org.
     No unread mail
     Project: To become a "fluff" cartoon character.
     Plan:
     Don't have a cow, man.


          Please realize that some sites are very security conscious,
     and need to restrict the information about their systems and
     users available to the outside world. To that end, they often
     block finger requests from outside sites---so don't be surprised
     if fingering a computer or a user returns with Connection
     refused.


     INTERNET RELAY CHAT

     The Lamont View Server System
     On lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu in pub/gb.tar.Z.


     Ping

          The ping command allows the user to check if another system
     is currently "up" and running. The general form of the command is
     ping system. {The usage will, again, vary.} For example,

                            ping cs.widener.edu

          will tell you if the main machine in Widener University's
     Computer Science lab is currently online (we certainly hope so!).

          Many implementations of ping also include an option to let
     you see how fast a link is running (to give you some idea of the
     load on the network). For example:

     % ping -s cs.swarthmore.edu
     PING cs.swarthmore.edu: 56 data bytes
     64 bytes from 130.58.68.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=251 time=66 ms
     64 bytes from 130.58.68.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=251 time=45 ms
     64 bytes from 130.58.68.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=251 time=46 ms
     ^C
     --- cs.swarthmore.edu ping statistics ---
     3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
     round-trip min/avg/max = 45/52/66 ms

          This case tells us that for cs.swarthmore.edu it takes about
     46 milliseconds for a packet to go from Widener to Swarthmore
     College and back again. It also gives the average and worst-case
     speeds, and any packet loss that may have occurred (e.g. because
     of network congestion).

          While ping generally doesn't hurt network performance, you
     shouldn't use it too often---usually once or twice will leave you
     relatively sure of the other system's state.


     TALK

          Sometimes email is clumsy and difficult to manage when one
     really needs to have an interactive conversation. The Internet
     provides for that as well, in the form of talk. Two users can
     literally see each other type across thousands of miles.

          To talk with Bart Simpson at Widener, one would type

                         talk bart@@cs.widener.edu

          which would cause a message similar to the following to be
     displayed on Bart's terminal:

     Message from [e-mail] at 21:45 ...
     talk: connection requested by [e-mail]
     talk: respond with:  talk [e-mail]

          Bart would, presumably, respond by typing:

                        talk [e-mail].

     They could then chat about whatever they wished, with
     instantaneous response time, rather than the write-and-wait style
     of email. To leave talk, on many systems one would type Ctrl-C
     (hold down the Control key and press C). Check local
     documentation to be sure.

          There are two different versions of talk in common use
     today. The first, dubbed "old talk," is supported by a set of
     Unix systems (most notably, those currently sold by Sun). The
     second, ntalk (aka "new talk"), is more of the standard. If, when
     attempting to talk with another user, it responds with an error
     about protocol families, odds are the incompatibilities between
     versions of talk is the culprit. It's up to the system
     administrators of sites which use the old talk to install ntalk
     for their users.


     WIDE AREA INFORMATION SERVERS (WAIS)

     THE WHOIS DATABASE

          The main WHOIS database is run at the Network Information
     Center (NIC). The whois command will let you search a database of
     every registered domain (e.g. mit.edu) and of registered users.
     It's primarily used by system postmasters or listowners to find
     the Points of Contact for a site, to let them know of a problem
     or contact them for one reason or another. You can also find out
     their postal address. For example:

     % whois mit.edu
     Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) MIT.EDU    18.72.2.1
     Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-DOM)        MIT.EDU

          Note that there are two entries for mit.edu; we'll go for
     the second.

          % whois mit-dom
          Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-DOM)
          Cambridge, MA 02139

          Domain Name: MIT.EDU

          Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
          Schiller, Jeffrey I.  (JIS)  [e-mail]
          [phone]

          Record last updated on 22-Jun-88.

          Domain servers in listed order:
          STRAWB.MIT.EDU               18.71.0.151
          W20NS.MIT.EDU                18.70.0.160
          BITSY.MIT.EDU                18.72.0.3
          LITHIUM.LCS.MIT.EDU          18.26.0.121

          To see this host record with registered users, repeat the
     command with a star ('*') before the name; or, use '%' to show
     JUST the registered users.

          Much better!  Now this information (sought, possibly, by a
     system administrator) can be used to find out how to notify MIT
     of a security issue or problem with connectivity.

          Queries can be made for individuals as well; the following
     would yield an entry for the author:

               % whois brendan
               Kehoe, Brendan (BK59)         [e-mail]
               Widener University
               Department of Computer Science
               Kirkbride 219
               P.O. Box 83 Widener University
               Chester, PA 19013
               (215)/499-4011

               Record last updated on 02-May-91.

          Included is the author's name, his handle (a unique sequence
     of letters and numbers), information on how to contact him, and
     the last time the record was modified in any way.

          Anyone can register with the whois database. People who are
     administrative or technical contacts for domains are registered
     automatically when their domain applications are processed. For
     normal users, one must simply fill out a form from the NIC. FTP
     to nic.ddn.mil and get the file netinfo/user-template.txt. The
     completed form should be mailed to [e-mail].


     OTHER USES OF WHOIS

          Also, many educational sites run WHOIS servers of their own,
     to offer information about people who may be currently on the
     staff or attending the institution. To specify a WHOIS server,
     many implementations include some sort of option or qualifier---
     in VMS under MultiNet, it's /HOST, in Unix -h. To receive
     information about using the Stanford server, one might use the
     command

                        whois -h stanford.edu help

          A large list of systems offering WHOIS services is being
     maintained by Matt Power of MIT ([e-mail]). It is
     available via anonymous FTP from sipb.mit.edu, in the directory
     pub/whois. The file is named whois-servers.list.

          The systems available include, but are certainly not limited
     to, Syracuse University (syr.edu), New York University
     (acfcluster.nyu.edu), the University of California at San Diego
     (ucsd.edu), and Stanford University (stanford.edu).

                    "Fingers were made before forks."
                    Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation

                                  -------


     COMMERCIAL SERVICES

          Many services can be accessed through the Internet. As time
     progresses and more outlets for commercial activity appear, once-
     restricted traffic (by the NSFnet Acceptable Use Policy) may now
     flow freely. Now that there are other networks for that
     information to travel on, businesses are making their move.


     INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS
     PROVIDERS (ALTERNET, PSI, ETC)...
     SUPERCOMPUTERS

          The Internet Resource Guide (IRG) contains a chapter on
     computer time that's available for a fee. Rather than reproduce
     it here, which would fast become out-of-date as well as triple
     the size of this guide, it's suggested that the reader consult
     the IRG if such services are of interest.


     ELECTRONIC JOURNALS

          The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) publishes a
     hard-copy directory of electronic journals, newsletters, and
     scholarly discussion lists. It is a compilation of entries for
     hundreds of sts, dozens of journals and newsletters, and a many
     "other" titles, including newsletter-digests, into one reference
     source. Each entry includes instructions on how to access the
     referenced publication or list.

          The documents are available electronically by sending the
     commands

                           get ejournl1 directry
                           get ejournl2 directry

          to the server at [e-mail]. Listservs for
     further instructions on using a listserv.

          The directory, along with a compilation by Diane Kovacs
     called Directories of Academic E-Mail Conferences, is available
     in print and on diskette (DOS WordPerfect and MacWord) from:

               Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing
               Association of Research Libraries
               1527 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
               Washington, DC  20036
               [e-mail]
               (202) 232--2466
               (202) 462--7849 (Fax)

          The ARL is a not-for-profit organization representing over
     one hundred research libraries in the United States and Canada.
     The publication is available to ARL members for $10 and to non-
     members for $20 (add $5 postage per directory for foreign
     addresses). Orders of six or more copies will receive a 10%
     discount; all orders must be prepaid and sent to the ARL.


     COMMERCIAL DATABASES

          The American Institute of Physics maintains the Physics
     Information Network. It contains the bibliographic SPIN and
     General Physics Advanced Abstracts databases. Also available is
     access to bulletin boards and several searchable lists (job
     notices, announcements, etc). Telnet to pinet.aip.org; new users
     must log in as NEW and give registration information.

          Some of the databases accessible through WAIS (WAIS) are
     available for a fee.


     CLARINET NEWS

          Clarinet's an electronic publishing network service that
     provides professional news and information, including live UPI
     wireservice news, in the Usenet file format.

          Clarinet lets you read an "electronic newspaper" right on
     the local system; you can get timely industry news, technology
     related wirestories, syndicated columns and features, financial
     information, stock quotes and more.

          Clarinet's provided by using the Usenet message interchange
     format, and is available via UUCP and other delivery protocols,
     including NNTP.

          The main feature is ClariNews, an "electronic newspaper,"
     gathered live from the wire services of United Press
     International (UPI). ClariNews articles are distributed in 100
     newsgroups based on their subject matter, and are keyworded for
     additional topics and the geographical location of the story.
     ClariNews includes headlines, industry news, box scores, network
     TV schedules, and more. The main products of ClariNews are:

          ClariNews General, the general news"paper" with news,
          sports, and features, averaging about 400 stories per
          day.

          TechWire, special groups for stories on science,
          technology, and industry stories around them.

          ClariNews-Biz, business and financial stories.

          Newsbytes, a daily computer industry newsmagazine.

          Syndicated Columns, including Dave Barry (humor) and
          Mike Royko (opinion).

          Full information on ClariNet, including subscription
     information, is available from

               Clarinet Communications Corp.
               124 King St. North
               Waterloo, Ontario  N2J 2X8
               info@@clarinet.com
               (800) USE-NETS

     or with anonymous FTP in the directory /Clarinet on ftp.uu.net
     (Anonymous FTP).

               "Needless to say, Aristotle did not envisage
               modern finance." Frederick Copleston, S.J. A
               History of Philosophy: Vol 1 Greece & Rome
               Part II, p95

                                 ---------

     THINGS YOU'LL HEAR ABOUT

          There are certain things that you'll hear about shortly
     after you start actively using the Internet. Most people assume
     that everyone's familiar with them, and they require no
     additional explanation. If only that were true!

          This section addresses a few topics that are commonly
     encountered and asked about as a new user explores Cyberspace.
     Some of them are directly related to how the networks are run
     today; other points are simply interesting to read about.


     THE INTERNET WORM

          from a letter by Severo M. Ornstein, in ACM June 89
          Vol32 No6 and the appeal notice

          On November 2, 1988, Robert Morris, Jr., a graduate student
     in Computer Science at Cornell, wrote an experimental, self-
     replicating, self-propagating program called a worm and injected
     it into the Internet. He chose to release it from MIT, to
     disguise the fact that the worm came from Cornell. Morris soon
     discovered that the program was replicating and reinfecting
     machines at a much faster rate than he had anticipated---there
     was a bug. Ultimately, many machines at locations around the
     country either crashed or became "catatonic." When Morris
     realized what was happening, he contacted a friend at Harvard to
     discuss a solution. Eventually, they sent an anonymous message
     from Harvard over the network, instructing programmers how to
     kill the worm and prevent reinfection. However, because the
     network route was clogged, this message did not get through until
     it was too late. Computers were affected at many sites, including
     universities, military sites, and medical research facilities.
     The estimated cost of dealing with the worm at each installation
     ranged from $200 to more than $53,000. {Derived in part from a
     letter by Severo M. Ornstein, in the Communications of the ACM,
     Vol 32 No 6, June 1989.}

          The program took advantage of a hole in the debug mode of
     the Unix sendmail program, which runs on a system and waits for
     other systems to connect to it and give it email, and a hole in
     the finger daemon fingerd, which serves finger requests (Finger).
     People at the University of California at Berkeley and MIT had
     copies of the program and were actively disassembling it
     (returning the program back into its source form) to try to
     figure out how it worked.

          Teams of programmers worked non-stop to come up with at
     least a temporary fix, to prevent the continued spread of the
     worm. After about twelve hours, the team at Berkeley came up with
     steps that would help retard the spread of the virus. Another
     method was also discovered at Purdue and widely published. The
     information didn't get out as quickly as it could have, however,
     since so many sites had completely disconnected themselves from
     the network.

          After a few days, things slowly began to return to normalcy
     and everyone wanted to know who had done it all. Morris was later
     named in The New York Times as the author (though this hadn't yet
     been officially proven, there was a substantial body of evidence
     pointing to Morris).

          Robert T. Morris was convicted of violating the computer
     Fraud and Abuse Act (Title 18), and sentenced to three years of
     probation, 400 hours of community service, a fine of $10,050, and
     the costs of his supervision. His appeal, filed in December,
     1990, was rejected the following March.


     THE CUCKOO'S EGG

          First in an article entitled "Stalking the Wily Hacker," and
     later in the book The Cuckoo's Egg, Clifford Stoll detailed his
     experiences trying to track down someone breaking into a system
     at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California. {See the
     bibliography for full citations.}

          A 75-cent discrepancy in the Lab's accounting records led
     Stoll on a chase through California, Virginia, and Europe to end
     up in a small apartment in Hannover, West Germany. Stoll dealt
     with many levels of bureaucracy and red tape, and worked with the
     FBI, the CIA, and the German Bundespost trying to track his
     hacker down.

          The experiences of Stoll, and particularly his message in
     speaking engagements, have all pointed out the dire need for
     communication between parties on a network of networks. The only
     way everyone can peacefully co-exist in Cyberspace is by ensuring
     rapid recognition of any existing problems.


     ORGANIZATIONS

          The indomitable need for humans to congregate and share
     their common interests is also present in the computing world.
     User groups exist around the world, where people share ideas and
     experiences. Similarly, there are organizations which are one
     step "above" user groups; that is to say, they exist to encourage
     or promote an idea or set of ideas, rather than support a
     specific computer or application of computers.


     THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY

          The Association for Computing Machinery (the ACM) was
     founded in 1947, immediately after Eckert and Mauchly unveiled
     one of the first electronic computers, the ENIAC, in 1946. Since
     then, the ACM has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the
     leading educational and scientific societies in the computer
     industry.

          The ACM's stated purposes are:

               To advance the sciences and arts of
               information processing;

               To promote the free interchange of
               information about the sciences and arts of
               information processing both among specialists
               and among the public;

               To develop and maintain the integrity and
               competence of individuals engaged in the
               practices of the sciences and arts of
               information processing.

          Membership in the ACM has grown from seventy-eight in
     September, 1947, to over 77,000 today. There are local chapters
     around the world, and many colleges and universities endorse
     student chapters. Lecturers frequent these meetings, which tend
     to be one step above the normal "user group" gathering. A large
     variety of published material is also available at discounted
     prices for members of the association.

          The ACM has a number of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that
     concentrate on a certain area of computing, ranging from graphics
     to the Ada programming language to security. Each of the SIGs
     also publishes its own newsletter. There is a Usenet group,
     comp.org.acm, for the discussion of ACM topics. Usenet News for
     more information on reading news.

          For more information and a membership application, write to:

                    Assocation for Computing Machinery
                    1515 Broadway
                    New York City, NY  10036
                    [e-mail]
                    [phone]


     COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
     (from their letter to prospective members)

          The CPSR is an alliance of computer professionals
     concentrating on certain areas of the impact of computer
     technology on society. It traces its history to the fall of 1981,
     when several researchers in Palo Alto, California, organized a
     lunch meeting to discuss their shared concerns about the
     connection between computing and the nuclear arms race. Out of
     that meeting and the discussions which followed, CPSR was born,
     and has been active ever since. {This section is part of the
     CPSR's letter to prospective members.}

          The national CPSR program focuses on the following project
     areas:


          Reliability and Risk - This area reflects on the concern
     that overreliance on computing technology can lead to
     unacceptable risks to society. It includes, but isn't limited to,
     work in analyzing military systems such as SDI.

          Civil Liberties and Privacy - This project is concerned with
     such topics as the FBI National Crime Information Center, the
     growing use of databases by both government and private industry,
     the right of access to public information, extension of First
     Amendment rights to electronic communication, and establishing
     legal protections for privacy of computerized information.

          Computers in the Workplace - The CPSR Workplace Project has
     concentrated its attention on the design of software for the
     workplace, and particularly on the philosophy of "participatory
     design," in which software designers work together with users to
     ensure that systems meet the actual needs of that workplace.

          The 21st Century Project This is a coalition with other
     professional organizations working towards redirecting national
     research priorities from concentrating on military issues to
     anticipating and dealing with future problems as science and
     technology enter the next century.

          For more information on the CPSR, contact them at:

               Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
               P.O. Box 717
               Palo Alto, CA  94302
               [e-mail]
               (415) 322--3778
               (415) 322--3798 (Fax)


     THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

          The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was established to
     help civilize the "electronic frontier"---the Cyberspacial medium
     becoming ever-present in today's society; to make it truly useful
     and beneficial not just to a technical elite, but to everyone;
     and to do this in a way which is in keeping with the society's
     highest traditions of the free and open flow of information and
     communication. {This section was derived from eff.about,
     available along with other material via anonymous FTP from
     ftp.eff.org}

          The mission of the EFF is to engage in and support
     educational activities which increase popular understanding of
     the opportunities and challenges posed by developments in
     computing and telecommunications;

          to develop among policy-makers a better understanding of the
     issues underlying free and open telecommunications, and support
     the creation of legal and structural approaches which will ease
     the assimilation of these new technologies by society;

          to raise public awareness about civil liberties issues
     arising from the rapid advancement in the area of new computer-
     based communications media and, where necessary, support
     litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect, and
     extend First Amendment rights within the realm of computing and
     telecommunications technology;

          to encourage and support the development of new tools which
     will endow non-technical users with full and easy access to
     computer-based telecommunications;

          The Usenet newsgroups comp.org.eff.talk and
     comp.org.eff.news are dedicated to discussion concerning the EFF.
     They also have mailing list counterparts for those that don't
     have access to Usenet, [e-mail] and eff-news-
     [e-mail]. The first is an informal arena (aka a normal
     newsgroup) where anyone may voice his or her opinions. The
     second, comp.org.eff.news, is a moderated area for regular
     postings from the EFF in the form of EFFector Online. To submit a
     posting for the EFFector Online, or to get general information
     about the EFF, write to [e-mail]. There is also a wealth of
     information available via anonymous FTP on ftp.eff.org.

          The EFF can be contacted at

               The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Inc.
               155 Second St. #1
               Cambridge, MA  02141
               [e-mail]
               [phone]
               [phone] (Fax)

     THE FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION

          The Free Software Foundation was started by Richard Stallman
     (creator of the popular GNU Emacs editor). It is dedicated to
     eliminating restrictions on copying, redistributing, and
     modifying software.

          The word "free" in their name does not refer to price; it
     refers to freedom. First, the freedom to copy a program and
     redistribute it to your neighbors, so that they can use it as
     well as you. Second, the freedom to change a program, so that you
     can control it instead of it controlling you; for this, the
     source code must be made available to you.

          The Foundation works to provide these freedoms by developing
     free compatible replacements for proprietary software.
     Specifically, they are putting together a complete, integrated
     software system called "GNU" that is upward-compatible with Unix.
     {As an aside, the editor of the GNU project, emacs, contains a
     built-in LISP interpreter and a large part of its functionality
     is written in LISP. The name GNU is itself recursive (the
     mainstay of the LISP language); it stands for "Gnu's Not Unix."}

          When it is released, everyone will be permitted to copy it
     and distribute it to others. In addition, it will be distributed
     with source code, so you will be able to learn about operating
     systems by reading it, to port it to your own machine, and to
     exchange the changes with others.

          For more information on the Free Software Foundation and the
     status of the GNU Project, or for a list of the current tasks
     that still need to be done, write to [e-mail].


     THE LEAGUE FOR PROGRAMMING FREEDOM

          The League for Programming Freedom is a grass-roots
     organization of professors, students, businessmen, programmers
     and users dedicated to "bringing back" the freedom to write
     programs, which they contend has been lost over the past number
     years. The League is not opposed to the legal system that
     Congress intended--copyright on individual programs. Their aim is
     to reverse the recent changes made by judges in response to
     special interests, often explicitly rejecting the public interest
     principles of the Constitution.

          The League works to abolish the new monopolies by publishing
     articles, talking with public officials, boycotting egregious
     offenders, and in the future may intervene in court cases. On May
     24, 1989, the League picketed Lotus headquarters because of their
     lawsuits, and then again on August 2, 1990. These marches
     stimulated widespread media coverage for the issue. They welcome
     suggestions for other activities, as well as help in carrying
     them out.

          For information on the League and how to join, write to:

               League for Programming Freedom
               1 Kendall Square #143
               P.O. Box 9171
               Cambridge, MA  02139
               [e-mail]


     NETWORKING INITIATIVES

          Research and development are two buzz words often heard when
     discussing the networking field---everything needs to go faster,
     over longer distances, for a lower cost. To "keep current," one
     should read the various trade magazines and newspapers, or
     frequent the networking-oriented newsgroups of Usenet. If
     possible, attend trade shows and symposia like Usenix, Interop,
     et. al.


     ISDN

     NREN

          The National Research and Education Network (NREN) is a
     five-year project approved by Congress in the Fall of 1991. It's
     intended to create a national electronic "super-highway."  The
     NREN will be 50 times faster than the fastest available networks
     (at the time of this writing). Proponents of the NREN claim it
     will be possible to transfer the equivalent of the entire text of
     the Encyclopedia Britannica in one second. Further information,
     including the original text of the bill presented by Senator Al
     Gore (D--TN), is available through anonymous FTP to nis.nsf.net,
     in the directory nsfnet. In addition, Vint Cerf wrote on the
     then-proposed NREN in RFC-1167, Thoughts on the National Research
     and Education Network. RFCs for information on obtaining RFCs.

          A mailing list, [e-mail], is available for
     discussion of the NREN; write to [e-mail]
     to be added.

               "To talk in publick, to think in solitude, to
               read and to hear, to inquire, and to answer
               inquiries, is the business of a scholar."
               Samuel Johnson - Chapter VIII The History of
               Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

                                   -----

     FINDING OUT MORE

     INTERNET RESOURCE GUIDE

          The NSF Network Service Center (NNSC) compiles and makes
     available an Internet Resource Guide (IRG). The goal of the guide
     is to increase the visibility of various Internet resources that
     may help users do their work better. While not yet an exhaustive
     list, the guide is a useful compendium of many resources and can
     be a helpful reference for a new user.

          Resources listed are grouped by types into sections. Current
     sections include descriptions of online library catalogs, data
     archives, online white pages directory services, networks,
     network information centers, and computational resources, such as
     supercomputers. Each entry describes the resource, identifies who
     can use the resource, explains how to reach the local network via
     the Internet, and lists contacts for more information. The list
     is distributed electronically by the NNSC. To receive a guide, or
     to get on a mailing list that alerts you to when it is updated,
     send a message to [e-mail].

          The current edition of the IRG is available via anonymous
     FTP from nnsc.nsf.net, in the directory /resource-guide.


     REQUESTS FOR COMMENTS

          The internal workings of the Internet are defined by a set
     of documents called RFCs (Request for Comments). The general
     process for creating an RFC is for someone wanting something
     formalized to write a document describing the issue and mailing
     it to Jon Postel ([e-mail]). He acts as a referee for the
     proposal. It is then commented upon by all those wishing to take
     part in the discussion (electronically, of course). It may go
     through multiple revisions. Should it be generally accepted as a
     good idea, it will be assigned a number and filed with the RFCs.

          The RFCs can be divided into five groups: required,
     suggested, directional, informational and obsolete. Required RFCs
     (e.g., RFC-791, The Internet Protocol) must be implemented on any
     host connected to the Internet.

          Suggested RFCs are generally implemented by network hosts.
     Lack of them does not preclude access to the Internet, but may
     impact its usability. RFC-793, Transmission Control Protocol, is
     a must for those implementing TCP.

          Directional RFCs were discussed and agreed to, but their
     application has never come into wide use. This may be due to the
     lack of wide need for the specific application (RFC-937, The Post
     Office Protocol) or that, although technically superior, ran
     against other pervasive approaches (RFC-891, Hello). It is
     suggested that, should the facility be required by a particular
     site, an implementation be done in accordance with the RFC. This
     ensures that, should the idea be one whose time has come, the
     implementation will be in accordance with some standard and will
     be generally usable.

          Informational RFCs contain factual information about the
     Internet and its operation (RFC-990, Assigned Numbers).

          There is also a subset of RFCs called FYIs (For Your
     Information). They are written in a language much more informal
     than that used in the other, standard RFCs. Topics range from
     answers to common questions for new and experienced users to a
     suggested bibliography.

          Finally, as the Internet has grown and technology has
     changed, some RFCs become unnecessary. These obsolete RFCs cannot
     be ignored, however. Frequently when a change is made to some RFC
     that causes a new one to obsolete others, the new RFC only
     contains explanations and motivations for the change.
     Understanding the model on which the whole facility is based may
     involve reading the original and subsequent RFCs on the topic.

          RFCs and FYIs are available via FTP from many sources,
     including:

          The nic.ddn.mil archive, as /rfc/rfc-xxxx.txt, where
          xxxx is the number of the RFC.

          from ftp.uu.net, in the directory /RFC.

          They're also available through mail by writing to
     [e-mail], with a Subject: line of send RFC-xxxx.TXT,
     again with xxxx being the RFC number.

               "Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject
               ourselves, or we know where we can find
               information upon it." Samuel Johnson Letter
               to Lord Chesterfield February, 1755 a book of
               quotes said April 18, 1775 .. the book of
               Johnson's works said it's 1755; I'll go with
               the latter.

                                 -------     CONCLUSION

          This guide is far from complete---the Internet changes on a
     daily (if not hourly) basis. However, this booklet should provide
     enough information to make the incredible breadth and complexity
     of the Internet a mite less imposing. Coupled with some
     exploration and experimentation, every user has the potential to
     be a competent net citizen, using the facilities that are
     available to their fullest.

          You, the reader, are strongly encouraged to suggest
     improvements to any part of this booklet. If something was
     unclear, left you with doubts, or wasn't addressed, it should be
     fixed. If you find any problems, inaccuracies, spelling errors,
     etc., please report them to:

               Brendan Kehoe
               Department of Computer Science
               Widener University
               Chester, PA 19013

               Internet: [e-mail]
               UUCP: ...!widener!guide-bugs

          If you are interested in future updates to this guide (aside
     from normal new editions), discussion about information to be
     included or removed, etc., write to [e-mail]
     to be placed on a mailing list for such things.

               @dots is actually `. . . .' "I've seed de
               first an de last @dots I seed de beginnin, en
               now I sees de endin." William Faulkner The
               Sound & The Fury April 8, 1928

                                 --------

     GETTING TO OTHER NETWORKS

          Inter-connectivity has been and always will be one of the
     biggest goals in computer networking. The ultimate desire is to
     make it so one person can contact anyone else no matter where
     they are. A number of "gateways" between networks have been set
     up. They include:


     AppleLink

          Quantum Services sells access to AppleLink, which is similar
     to QuantumLink for Commodore computers and PCLink for IBM PCs and
     compatibles. It also provides email access through the address
     [e-mail].


     ATTMail

          AT&T sells a commercial email service called ATTMail. Its
     users can be reached by writing to [e-mail].


     BIX

          Users on BIX (the Byte Information eXchange) can be reached
     through the DAS gateway at [e-mail].


     CompuServe (CI$)

          To reach a user on the commercial service CompuServe, you
     must address the mail as [e-mail], with xxxxx.xxx
     being their CompuServe user ID. Normally CompuServe ids are
     represented as being separated by a comma (like 71999,141); since
     most mailers don't react well to having commas in addresses, it
     was changed to a period. For the above address, mail would be
     sent to [e-mail].


     EasyNet

          Digital sells a service called EasyNet; users that subscribe
     to it can be reached with the addresses [e-mail] or
     [e-mail].


     FidoNet

          The FidoNet computer network can be reached by using a
     special addressing method. If John Smith is on the node 1:2/3.4
     on FidoNet, his or her email address would be
     [e-mail] (notice how the numbers fall
     in place?).


     MCI Mail

          MCI also sells email accounts (similar to ATTMail). Users
     can be reached with [e-mail].


     PeaceNet

          Users on the PeaceNet network can be reached by writing to
     [e-mail].


     The Well

          Users on the service The Well can be reached by writing to
     [e-mail]. The Well is directly connected to the
     Internet.

          This table is far from complete. In addition to sites not
     being listed, some services are not (nor do they plan to be)
     accessible from the "outside" (like Prodigy); others, like GEnie,
     are actively investigating the possibility of creating a gateway
     into their system. For the latest information, consult a list
     called the Inter-Network Mail Guide. It's available from a number
     of FTP sites, including UUNET; Anonymous FTP, for more
     information on getting a copy of it using anonymous FTP.


     RETRIEVING FILES VIA EMAIL

          For those who have a connection to the Internet, but cannot
     FTP, there do exist a few alternatives to get those files you so
     desperately need. When requesting files, it's imperative that you
     keep in mind the size of your request---odds are the other people
     who may be using your link won't be too receptive to sudden
     bursts of really heavy traffic on their normally sedate
     connection.


     ARCHIVE SERVERS

          An alternative to the currently well over-used FTPmail
     system is taking advantage of the many archive servers that are
     presently being maintained. These are programs that receive email
     messages that contain commands, and act on them. For example,
     sending an archive server the command help will usually yield, in
     the form of a piece of email, information on how to use the
     various commands that the server has available.

          One such archive server is [e-mail]. Maintained
     by the Network Information Center (NIC) in Chantilly, VA, the
     server is set up to make all of the information at the NIC
     available for people who don't have access to FTP. This also
     includes the WHOIS service (Whois). Some sample Subject: lines
     for queries to the NIC server are:

     Subject: help                    Describes available commands.
     Subject: rfc 822                 Sends a copy of RFC-822.
     Subject: rfc index               Sends an index of the available RFCs.
     Subject: netinfo domain-template.txt   Sends a domain application.
     Subject: whois widener           Sends WHOIS information on `widener'.

          More information on using their archive server can be
     obtained by writing to their server address [e-mail]
     with a Subject: of help.

          There are different "brands" of archive server, each with
     its own set of commands and services. Among them there often
     exists a common set of commands and services (e.g. index, help,
     etc). Be that as it may, one should always consult the individual
     help for a specific server before assuming the syntax---100K
     surprises can be hard on a system.


     FTP-BY-MAIL SERVERS

          Some systems offer people the ability to receive files
     through a mock-FTP interface via email. Anonymous FTP for a
     general overview of how to FTP. The effects of providing such a
     service varies, although a rule of thumb is that it will probably
     use a substantial amount of the available resources on a system.

          The "original" FTP-by-Mail service, BITFTP, is available to
     BITNET users from the Princeton node PUCC. It was once accessible
     to anyone, but had to be closed out to non-BITNET users because
     of the heavy load on the system.

          In response to this closure, Paul Vixie designed and
     installed a system called FTPmail on one of Digital's gateway
     computers, decwrl.dec.com. Write to [e-mail] with
     help in the body of the letter for instructions on its use. The
     software is undergoing constant development; once it reaches a
     stable state, other sites will be encouraged to adopt it and
     provide the service also.


     NEWSGROUP CREATION

          Everyone has the opportunity to make a Call For Votes on the
     Usenet and attempt to create a newsgroup that he/she feels would
     be of benefit to the general readership. The rules governing
     newsgroup creation have evolved over the years into a generally
     accepted method. They only govern the "world" groups; they aren't
     applicable to regional or other alternative hierarchies.


     DISCUSSION

          A discussion must first take place to address issues like
     the naming of the group, where in the group tree it should go
     (e.g. rec.sports.koosh vs rec.games.koosh?), and whether or not
     it should be created in the first place. The formal Request For
     Discussion (RFD) should be posted to news.announce.newgroups,
     along with any other groups or mailing lists at all related to
     the proposed topic. news.announce.newgroups is moderated. You
     should place it first in the Newsgroups: header, so that it will
     get mailed to the moderator only. The article won't be
     immediately posted to the other newsgroups listed; rather, it
     will give you the opportunity to have the moderator correct any
     inconsistencies or mistakes in your RFD. He or she will take care
     of posting it to the newsgroups you indicated. Also the Followup-
     To: header will be set so that the actual discussion takes place
     only in news.groups. If a user has difficulty posting to a
     moderated group, he or she may mail submissions intended for
     news.announce.newgroups to the address announce-
     [e-mail].

          The final name and charter of the group, and whether it will
     be moderated or unmoderated, will be determined during the
     discussion period. If it's to be moderated, the discussion will
     also decide who the moderator will be. If there's no general
     agreement on these points among those in favor of a new group at
     the end of 30 days, the discussion will be taken into mail rather
     than continued posting to news.groups; that way, the proponents
     of the group can iron out their differences and come back with a
     proper proposal, and make a new Request For Discussion.


     VOTING

          After the discussion period (which is mandatory), if it's
     been determined that a new group really is desired, a name and
     charter are agreed upon, and it's been determined whether the
     group will be moderated (and by whom), a Call For Votes (CFV)
     should be posted to news.announce.newgroups, along with any other
     groups that the original Request For Discussion was posted to.
     The CFV should be posted (or mailed to the
     news.announce.newgroups moderator) as soon as possible after the
     discussion ends (to keep it fresh in everyone's mind).

          The Call for Votes should include clear instructions on how
     to cast a vote. It's important that it be clearly explained how
     to both vote for and against a group (and be of equivalent
     difficulty or ease). If it's easier for you or your
     administrator, two separate addresses can be used to mail yes and
     no votes to, providing that they're on the same machine.
     Regardless of the method, everyone must have a very specific idea
     of how to get his/her vote counted.

          The voting period can last between 21 and 31 days, no matter
     what the preliminary results of the vote are. A vote can't be
     called off simply because 400 "no" votes have come in and only
     two "yes" votes. The Call for Votes should include the exact date
     that the voting period will end---only those votes arriving on
     the vote-taker's machine before this date can be counted.

          To keep awareness high, the CFV can be repeated during the
     vote, provided that it gives the same clear, unbiased
     instructions for casting a vote as the original; it also has to
     be the same proposal as was first posted. The charter can't
     change in mid-vote. Also, votes that're posted don't count---only
     those that were mailed to the vote-taker can be tallied.

          Partial results should never be included; only a statement
     of the specific proposal, that a vote is in progress on it, and
     how to cast a vote. A mass acknowledgement ("Mass ACK" or "Vote
     ACK") is permitted; however, it must be presented in a way that
     gives no indication of which way a person voted. One way to avoid
     this is to create one large list of everyone who's voted, and
     sort it in alphabetical order. It should not be two sorted lists
     (of the yes and no votes, respectively).

          Every vote is autonomous. The votes for or against one group
     can't be transferred to another, similar proposal. A vote can
     only count for the exact proposal that it was a response to. In
     particular, a vote for or against a newsgroup under one name
     can't be counted as a vote for or against another group with a
     different name or charter, a different moderated/unmoderated
     status, or, if it's moderated, a different moderator or set of
     moderators. Whew!

          Finally, the vote has to be explicit; they should be of the
     form I vote for the group foo.bar as proposed or I vote against
     the group foo.bar as proposed. The wording doesn't have to be
     exact, your intention just has to be clear.


     THE RESULT OF A VOTE

          At the end of the voting period, the vote-taker has to post
     (to news.announce.newgroups) the tally and email addresses of the
     votes received. Again, it can also be posted to any of the groups
     listed in the original CFV. The tally should make clear which way
     a person voted, so the results can be verified if it proves
     necessary to do so.

          After the vote result is posted to news.announce.newgroups,
     there is a mandatory five-day waiting period. This affords
     everyone the opportunity to correct any errors or inconsistencies
     in the voter list or the voting procedure.


     CREATION OF THE GROUP

          If, after the waiting period, there are no serious
     objections that might invalidate the vote, the vote is put to the
     "water test."  If there were 100 more valid YES/create votes than
     NO/don't create votes, and at least two-thirds of the total
     number of votes are in favor of creation, then a newgroup control
     message can be sent out (often by the moderator of
     news.announce.newgroups). If the 100-vote margin or the two-
     thirds percentage isn't met, the group has failed and can't be
     created.

          If the proposal failed, all is not lost---after a six-month
     waiting period (a "cooling down"), a new Request For Discussion
     can be posted to news.groups, and the whole process can start
     over again. If after a couple of tries it becomes obvious that
     the group is not wanted or needed, the vote-taker should humbly
     step back and accept the opinion of the majority. (As life goes,
     so goes Usenet.)

                                 --------

     GLOSSARY

          This glossary is only a tiny subset of all of the various
     terms and other things that people regularly use on The Net. For
     a more complete (and very entertaining) reference, it's suggested
     you get a copy of The New Hacker's Dictionary, which is based on
     a VERY large text file called the Jargon File. Edited by Eric
     Raymond ([e-mail]), it is available from the MIT
     Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142; its ISBN number is 0-262-
     68069-6. Also see RFC-1208, A Glossary of Networking Terms.


     :-)

          This odd symbol is one of the ways a person can portray
          "mood" in the very flat medium of computers---by using
          "smilies."  This is `metacommunication', and there are
          literally hundreds of them, from the obvious to the
          obscure. This particular example expresses "happiness."
          Don't see it?  Tilt your head to the left 90 degrees.
          Smilies are also used to denote sarcasm.

     address resolution

          Conversion of an Internet address to the corresponding
          physical address. On an ethernet, resolution requires
          broadcasting on the local area network.

     administrivia

          Administrative tasks, most often related to the
          maintenance of mailing lists, digests, news gateways,
          etc.

     anonymous FTP

          Also known as "anon FTP"; a service provided to make
          files available to the general Internet community---
          Anonymous FTP.

     ANSI

          The American National Standards Institute disseminates
          basic standards like ASCII, and acts as the United
          States' delegate to the ISO. Standards can be ordered
          from ANSI by writing to the ANSI Sales Department, 1430
          Broadway, New York, NY 10018, or by telephoning (212)
          354-3300.

     archie

          A service which provides lookups for packages in a
          database of the offerings of countless of anonymous FTP
          sites. See archie for a full description.

     archive server

          An email-based file transfer facility offered by some
          systems.

     ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency)

          Former name of DARPA, the government agency that funded
          ARPAnet and later the DARPA Internet.

     ARPAnet

          A pioneering long haul network funded by ARPA. It
          served as the basis for early networking research as
          well as a central backbone during the development of
          the Internet. The ARPAnet consisted of individual
          packet switching computers interconnected by leased
          lines. The ARPAnet no longer exists as a singular
          entity.

     asynchronous

          Transmission by individual bytes, not related to
          specific timing on the transmitting end.

     auto-magic

          Something which happens pseudo-automatically, and is
          usually too complex to go into any further than to say
          it happens "auto-magically."

     backbone

          A high-speed connection within a network that connects
          shorter, usually slower circuits. Also used in
          reference to a system that acts as a "hub" for activity
          (although those are becoming much less prevalent now
          than they were ten years ago).

     bandwidth

          The capacity of a medium to transmit a signal. More
          informally, the mythical "size" of The Net, and its
          ability to carry the files and messages of those that
          use it. Some view certain kinds of traffic (FTPing
          hundreds of graphics images, for example) as a "waste
          of bandwidth" and look down upon them.

     BITNET (Because It's Time Network)

          An NJE-based international educational network.

     bounce

          The return of a piece of mail because of an error in
          its delivery.

     btw

          An abbreviation for "by the way."

     CFV (Call For Votes)

          Initiates the voting period for a Usenet newsgroup. At
          least one (occasionally two or more) email address is
          customarily included as a repository for the votes. See
          Newsgroup Creation for a full description of the Usenet
          voting process.

     ClariNews

          The fee-based Usenet newsfeed available from ClariNet
          Communications.

     client

          The user of a network service; also used to describe a
          computer that relies upon another for some or all of
          its resources.

     Cyberspace

          A term coined by William Gibson in his fantasy novel
          Neuromancer to describe the "world" of computers, and
          the society that gathers around them.

     datagram

          The basic unit of information passed across the
          Internet. It contains a source and destination address
          along with data. Large messages are broken down into a
          sequence of IP datagrams.

     disassembling

          Converting a binary program into human-readable machine
          language code.

     DNS (Domain Name System)

          The method used to convert Internet names to their
          corresponding Internet numbers.

     domain

          A part of the naming hierarchy. Syntactically, a domain
          name consists of a sequence of names or other words
          separated by dots.

     dotted quad

          A set of four numbers connected with periods that make
          up an Internet address; for example, 147.31.254.130.

     email

          The vernacular abbreviation for electronic mail.

     email address

          The UUCP or domain-based address that a user is
          referred to with. For example, the author's address is
          [e-mail].

     ethernet

          A 10-million bit per second networking scheme
          originally developed by Xerox Corporation. Ethernet is
          widely used for LANs because it can network a wide
          variety of computers, it is not proprietary, and
          components are widely available from many commercial
          sources.

     FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)

          An emerging standard for network technology based on
          fiber optics that has been established by ANSI. FDDI
          specifies a 100-million bit per second data rate. The
          access control mechanism uses token ring technology.

     flame

          A piece of mail or a Usenet posting which is violently
          argumentative.

     FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name)

          The FQDN is the full site name of a system, rather than
          just its hostname. For example, the system lisa at
          Widener University has a FQDN of lisa.cs.widener.edu.

     FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

          The Internet standard high-level protocol for
          transferring files from one computer to another.

     FYI

          An abbreviation for the phrase "for your information."
          There is also a series of RFCs put out by the Network
          Information Center called FYIs; they address common
          questions of new users and many other useful things.
          RFCs for instructions on retrieving FYIs.

     gateway

          A special-purpose dedicated computer that attaches to
          two or more networks and routes packets from one
          network to the other. In particular, an Internet
          gateway routes IP datagrams among the networks it
          connects. Gateways route packets to other gateways
          until they can be delivered to the final destination
          directly across one physical network.

     header

          The portion of a packet, preceding the actual data,
          containing source and destination addresses and error-
          checking fields. Also part of a message or news
          article.

     hostname

          The name given to a machine. (See also FQDN.)

     IMHO (In My Humble Opinion)

          This usually accompanies a statement that may bring
          about personal offense or strong disagreement.

     Internet

          A concatenation of many individual TCP/IP campus,
          state, regional, and national networks (such as NSFnet,
          ARPAnet, and Milnet) into one single logical network
          all sharing a common addressing scheme.

     Internet number

          The dotted-quad address used to specify a certain
          system. The Internet number for the site cs.widener.edu
          is 147.31.254.130. A resolver is used to translate
          between hostnames and Internet addresses.

     interoperate

          The ability of multi-vendor computers to work together
          using a common set of protocols. With interoperability,
          PCs, Macs, Suns, Dec VAXen, CDC Cybers, etc, all work
          together allowing one host computer to communicate with
          and take advantage of the resources of another.

     ISO  (International Organization for Standardization)

          Coordinator of the main networking standards that are
          put into use today.

     kernel

          The level of an operating system or networking system
          that contains the system-level commands or all of the
          functions hidden from the user. In a Unix system, the
          kernel is a program that contains the device drivers,
          the memory management routines, the scheduler, and
          system calls. This program is always running while the
          system is operating.

     LAN (Local Area Network)

          Any physical network technology that operates at high
          speed over short distances (up to a few thousand
          meters).

     mail gateway

          A machine that connects to two or more electronic mail
          systems (especially dissimilar mail systems on two
          different networks) and transfers mail messages among
          them.

     mailing list

          A possibly moderated discussion group, distributed via
          email from a central computer maintaining the list of
          people involved in the discussion.

     mail path

          A series of machine names used to direct electronic
          mail from one user to another.

     medium

          The material used to support the transmission of data.
          This can be copper wire, coaxial cable, optical fiber,
          or electromagnetic wave (as in microwave).

     multiplex

          The division of a single transmission medium into
          multiple logical channels supporting many simultaneous
          sessions. For example, one network may have
          simultaneous FTP, telnet, rlogin, and SMTP connections,
          all going at the same time.

     net.citizen

          An inhabitant of Cyberspace. One usually tries to be a
          good net.citizen, lest one be flamed.

     netiquette

          A pun on "etiquette"; proper behavior on The Net.
          Usenet Netiquette.

     network

          A group of machines connected together so they can
          transmit information to one another. There are two
          kinds of networks: local networks and remote networks.

     network addresses

          Network addresses are usually of two types:

          1.   The physical or hardware address of a network
               interface card; for ethernet this 48-bit address
               might be 0260.8C00.7666. The hardware address is
               used to forward packets within a physical network.
               Fortunately, network users do not have to be
               concerned about hardware addresses since they are
               automatically handled by the networking software.

          2.   The logical or Internet address is used to
               facilitate moving data between physical networks.
               The 32-bit Internet address is made up of a
               network number, a subnetwork number, and a host
               number. Each host computer on the Internet, has a
               unique address. For example, all Internet
               addresses at Colorado State have a network number
               of 129.82, a subnet number in the range of 1-254,
               and a host number in the range of 1-254. All
               Internet hosts have a numeric address and an
               English-style name. For example, the Internet
               address for UCC's CYBER 840 is 129.82.103.96; its
               Internet name is csugreen.UCC.ColoState.EDU.

     NFS (Network File System)

          A method developed by Sun Microsystems to allow
          computers to share files across a network in a way that
          makes them appear as if they're "local" to the system.

     NIC

          The Network Information Center.

     node

          A computer that is attached to a network; also called a
          host.

     NSFnet

          The national backbone network, funded by the National
          Science Foundation and operated by the Merit
          Corporation, used to interconnect regional (mid-level)
          networks such as WestNet to one another.

     packet

          The unit of data sent across a packet switching
          network. The term is used loosely. While some Internet
          literature uses it to refer specifically to data sent
          across a physical network, other literature views the
          Internet as a packet switching network and describes IP
          datagrams as packets.

     polling

          Connecting to another system to check for things like
          mail or news.

     postmaster

          The person responsible for taking care of mail
          problems, answering queries about users, and other
          related work at a site.

     protocols

          A formal description of message formats and the rules
          two computers must follow to exchange those messages.
          Protocols can describe low-level details of machine-to-
          machine interfaces (e.g., the order in which bits and
          bytes are sent across a wire) or high-level exchanges
          between allocation programs (e.g., the way in which two
          programs transfer a file across the Internet).

     recursion

          The facility of a programming language to be able to
          call functions from within themselves.

     resolve

          Translate an Internet name into its equivalent IP
          address or other DNS information.

     RFD (Request For Discussion)

          Usually a two- to three-week period in which the
          particulars of newsgroup creation are battled out.

     route

          The path that network traffic takes from its source to
          its destination.

     router

          A dedicated computer (or other device) that sends
          packets from one place to another, paying attention to
          the current state of the network.

     RTFM (Read The Fantastic Manual).

          This anacronym is often used when someone asks a simple
          or common question. The word `Fantastic' is usually
          replaced with one much more vulgar.

     SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

          The Internet standard protocol for transferring
          electronic mail messages from one computer to another.
          SMTP specifies how two mail systems interact and the
          format of control messages they exchange to transfer
          mail.

     server

          A computer that shares its resources, such as printers
          and files, with other computers on the network. An
          example of this is a Network File System (NFS) server
          which shares its disk space with other computers.

     signal-to-noise ratio

          When used in reference to Usenet activity, signal-to-
          noise ratio describes the relation between amount of
          actual information in a discussion, compared to their
          quantity. More often than not, there's substantial
          activity in a newsgroup, but a very small number of
          those articles actually contain anything useful.

     signature

          The small, usually four-line message at the bottom of a
          piece of email or a Usenet article. In Unix, it's added
          by creating a file ..signature in the user's home
          directory. Large signatures are a no-no.

     summarize

          To encapsulate a number of responses into one coherent,
          usable message. Often done on controlled mailing lists
          or active newsgroups, to help reduce bandwidth.

     synchronous

          Data communications in which transmissions are sent at
          a fixed rate, with the sending and receiving devices
          synchronized.

     TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)

          A set of protocols, resulting from ARPA efforts, used
          by the Internet to support services such as remote
          login (telnet), file transfer (FTP) and mail (SMTP).

     telnet

          The Internet standard protocol for remote terminal
          connection service. Telnet allows a user at one site to
          interact with a remote timesharing system at another
          site as if the user's terminal were connected directly
          to the remote computer.

     terminal server

          A small, specialized, networked computer that connects
          many terminals to a LAN through one network connection.
          Any user on the network can then connect to various
          network hosts.

     TeX

          A free typesetting system by Donald Knuth.

     twisted pair

          Cable made up of a pair of insulated copper wires
          wrapped around each other to cancel the effects of
          electrical noise.

     UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy Program)

          A store-and-forward system, primarily for Unix systems
          but currently supported on other platforms (e.g. VMS
          and personal computers).

     WAN (Wide-Area Network)

          A network spanning hundreds or thousands of miles.

     workstation

          A networked personal computing device with more power
          than a standard IBM PC or Macintosh. Typically, a
          workstation has an operating system such as unix that
          is capable of running several tasks at the same time.
          It has several megabytes of memory and a large, high-
          resolution display. Examples are Sun workstations and
          Digital DECstations.

     worm

          A computer program which replicates itself. The
          Internet worm (The Internet Worm) was perhaps the most
          famous; it successfully (and accidentally) duplicated
          itself on systems across the Internet.

     wrt

          With respect to.


               "I hate definitions." - Benjamin Disraeli;
               Vivian Grey, bk i chap ii

                                  ------

     BIBLIOGRAPHY

          What follows is a compendium of sources that have
     information that will be of use to anyone reading this guide.
     Most of them were used in the writing of the booklet, while
     others are simply noted because they are a must for any good
     net.citizen's bookshelf.


     BOOKS

          Comer, Douglas E.
               Internetworking With TCP/IP, 2nd ed., 2v
               Prentice Hall
               Englewood Cliffs, NJ
               1991

          Davidson, John
               An Introduction to TCP/IP
               Springer-Verlag
               Berlin
               1988

          Frey, Donnalyn, and Adams, Rick
               !@%:: A Directory of Electronic Mail Addressing and Networks
               O'Reilly and Associates
               Newton, MA
               1989

          Gibson, William
               Neuromancer
               Ace
               New York, NY
               1984

          LaQuey, Tracy
               Users' Directory of Computer Networks
               Digital Press
               Bedford, MA
               1990

          Levy, Stephen
               Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
               Anchor Press/Doubleday
               Garden City, NY
               1984

          Partridge, Craig
               Innovations in Internetworking
               ARTECH House
               Norwood, MA
               1988

          Quarterman, John S.
               The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems
               Worldwide
               Digital Press
               Bedford, MA
               1989

          Raymond, Eric (ed)
               The New Hacker's Dictionary
               MIT Press
               Cambridge, MA
               1991

          Stoll, Clifford
               The Cuckoo's Egg
               Doubleday
               New York
               1989

          Tanenbaum, Andrew S.
               Computer Networks, 2d ed
               Prentice-Hall
               Englewood Cliffs, NJ
               1988

          Todinao, Grace
               Using UUCP and USENET: A Nutshell Handbook
               O'Reilly and Associates
               Newton, MA
               1986

          The Waite Group
               Unix Communications, 2nd ed.
               Howard W. Sams & Company
               Indianapolis
               1991


     PERIODICALS & PAPERS

          magazine: Barlow, J
               Coming Into The Country
               Communications of the ACM 34:3
               2
               March 1991
               Addresses "Cyberspace"---John Barlow was a co-founder of the
               EFF.

          proceedings: Collyer, G., and Spencer, H
               News Need Not Be Slow
               Proceedings of the 1987 Winter USENIX Conference
               181--90
               USENIX Association, Berkeley, CA
               January 1987

          magazine: Denning, P
               The Internet Worm
               American Scientist
               126--128
               March--April 1989

          magazine: The Science of Computing: Computer Networks
               American Scientist
               127--129
               March--April 1985

          magazine: Frey, D., and Adams, R
               USENET: Death by Success?
               UNIX REVIEW
               55--60
               August 1987

          magazine: Gifford, W. S
               ISDN User-Network Interfaces
               IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
               343--348
               May 1986

          magazine: Ginsberg, K
               Getting from Here to There
               UNIX REVIEW
               45
               January 1986

          magazine: Hiltz, S. R
               The Human Element in Computerized Conferencing Systems
               Computer Networks
               421--428
               December 1978


          proceedings: Horton, M
               What is a Domain?
               Proceedings of the Summer 1984 USENIX Conference
               368--372
               USENIX Association, Berkeley, CA
               June 1984

          magazine: Jacobsen, Ole J
               Information on TCP/IP
               ConneXions---The Interoperability Report
               14--15
               July 1988


          magazine: Jennings, D., et al
               Computer Networking for Scientists
               Science
               943--950
               28 February 1986


          paper: Markoff, J
               "Author of computer `virus' is son of U.S. electronic
               security expert."
               New York Times
               Nov. 5, 1988
               A1

          paper: "Computer snarl: A `back door' ajar."
               New York Times
               Nov. 7, 1988
               B10

          magazine: McQuillan, J. M., and Walden, D. C
               The ARPA Network Design Decisions
               Computer Networks
               243--289
               1977

          magazine: Ornstein, S. M
               A letter concerning the Internet worm
               Communications of the ACM 32:6
               June 1989

          proceedings: Partridge, C
               Mail Routing Using Domain Names: An Informal Tour
               Proceedings of the 1986 Summer USENIX Conference
               366--76
               USENIX Association, Berkeley, CA
               June 1986

          magazine: Quarterman, J
               Etiquette and Ethics
               ConneXions---The Interoperability Report
               12--16
               March 1989

          magazine: Notable Computer Networks
               Communications of the ACM 29:10
               October 1986
               This was the predecessor to The Matrix.

          magazine: Raeder, A. W., and Andrews, K. L
               Searching Library Catalogs on the Internet: A Survey
               Database Searcher 6
               16--31
               September 1990

          proceedings: Seeley, D
               A tour of the worm
               Proceedings of the 1989 Winter USENIX Conference
               287--304
               USENIX Association, Berkeley, CA
               February 1989

          magazine: Shulman, G
               Legal Research on USENET Liability Issues
               ;login: The USENIX Association Newsletter
               11--17
               December 1984

          magazine: Smith, K
               E-Mail to Anywhere
               PC World
               220--223
               March 1988

          magazine: Stoll, C
               Stalking the Wily Hacker
               Communications of the ACM 31:5
               14
               May 1988
               This article grew into the book The Cuckoo's Egg.

          proceedings: Taylor, D
               The Postman Always Rings Twice: Electronic Mail in a Highly
               Distributed Environment
               Proceedings of the 1988 Winter USENIX Conference; 145-153
               USENIX Association, Berkeley, CA
               December 1988

          magazine: U.S.Gen'l Accounting Ofc
               Computer Security: Virus Highlights Need for Improved
               Internet Management
               GAO/IMTEC-89-57,
               1989
               Addresses the Internet worm.


               "And all else is literature." Paul Verlaine,
               The Sun, New York; While he was city editor
               in 1873--1890.


                           -= END OF DOCUMENT =-