Archive-name: mail/faq-pointers
Version: $Id: email.n,v 1.15 2005/06/03 12:59:08 dalamb Exp $
Posting-Frequency: weekly
Maintainer: dal...@spamcop.net (David Alex Lamb)
Copyright: 1997-2005 David Alex Lamb
URL: http://www.cs.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/

I maintain a couple of Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) postings about how to
find e-mail addresses, and, as a consequence, get lots of questions about
other aspects of electronic mail.  This is a collection of links to answers to
those questions, mostly maintained by other people.

We'll start with a non-question: before you send e-mail, take the time to
learn about etiquette in cyberspace at
<URL:http://www.cs.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/etiquette.html>.

1. How does e-mail work?
   See <URL:http://www.cs.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/basics.html>.
2. How do I find someone's E-Mail address?
   See <URL:http://www.cs.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/finding.html>.
3. How do I find a celebrity's e-mail address?  Celebrities have as much, or
   more, reason than most people to keep their e-mail addresses private.
   However, you can find out more about various celebrities as follows:
   a. Several of the Web-based address books at
      <URL:http://www.cs.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/websrch.html> can search for
      celebrity addresses.
   b. CelebSite at <URL:http://www.celebsite.com> has biographies of
      celebrities from the entertainment industry, sports, models, and
      writers.
   c. The Internet Movie Database at <URL:http://www.imdb.com>
   d. A&E Television lists this as one of their most frequently asked
      questions at <URL:http://www.aetv.com/feedback/mailinginfo.html>, and
      maintains a large database of bibliographies at
      <URL:http://www.biography.com/find> of famous people, past and present.
4. How can I find someone's name from their e-mail address?  (if, of course,
   there is some reason why you don't want to send them e-mail to ask them):
   a. Use the Internet Address Finder at <URL:http://www.iaf.net/>.
   b. Some sites support a protocol called 'finger' that translates local
      mailbox names to full names (plus other information).  See Andrew
      Starr's Finger FAQ at <URL:http://www.emailman.com/finger/>.
   c. Some other Internet directory services support lookup by e-mail address;
      see the list in the finding e-mail addresses FAQ at
      <URL:http://www.aintainerHost]/FAQs/email/websrch.html>.
5. How can I stop receiving junk e-mail?
   a. See the FAQ on stopping junk mail, e-mail, and phone calls at
      <URL:http://www.obviously.COM/recycle/guides/junkmail.html>, or the
      CPSR's (Computing Professionals for Social Responsibility) junkmail FAQ
      at <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/privacy/junk-mail/>.
   b. You might try spamblocking at
      <URL:http://members.aol.com/emailfaq/mungfaq.html> your e-mail address,
      but this will also inconvenience people you'd actually like to
      communicate with.
   c. Filter your incoming e-mail; see
      <URL:http://www.best.com/~ii/internet/faqs/launchers/mail/filtering-
      faq/>
   d. If you had a lot of energy, you could try tracking down where the e-mail
      came from; see <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq/spam-faq/>
   e. See the e-mail abuse FAQ at
      <URL:http://members.aol.com/emailfaq/emailfaq.html> for a better
      understanding of what's going with unsolicited e-mail.
6. How can I find an e-mail pen-pal?
   a. There are penpal clubs, but I haven't researched them yet.
   b. You could post to newsgroup soc.penpals at <URL:news:soc.penpals>.
      Unfortunately that will probably also get you on a lot of junk-email
      lists (as would posting to any newsgroup).
   c. You could find a newsgroup about a subject in which you're interested,
      read it for a few weeks, then see if someone who posts there might be
      interested in correspondence.
7. How can I customize my outgoing e-mail?
   See <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/signature_finger_faq/>.
8. How can I protect the privacy of my e-mail?
   a. Get PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), a very popular public key encryption
      program, at <URL:http://www.sni.net/~mpj/getpgp.htm>
9. How can I find out about mailing lists I could join?
   a. Check out the very large list of publicly-accessible mailing lists at
      <URL:http://www.NeoSoft.com/internet/paml/>
   b. or the guide to social newsgroups and mailing lists at
      <URL:http://www.intuitive.com/social-faq.html>
   c. or the list of gateways at <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/news-
      gateways/part1/> between mailing lists and newsgroups.  This list hasn't
      been updated since 1996, so is likely out of date.
10. How can I set up a mailing list that other people can use?
   a. Use a Mailing List Service Provider; see
      <URL:http://www.gweep.bc.ca/~edmonds/usenet/ml-providers.html>
   b. Get your site to install mailing list administration software; see
      <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/list-admin/software-faq/>
11. How can I find lots of addresses to create a mailing list?
   Don't, unless you want to become known as a spammer.  Many directory
   services are *intentionally* set up to make it hard to create mailing
   lists.
12. Can I send e-mail to <*insert name of far-away country here*>?
   See the International E-Mail Accessibility FAQ at
   <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/country-codes/>
13. How can I play games via e-mail?
   See <URL:http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/pbm.html>.
14. How can I access Internet services via e-mail?
   See <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet-services/access-via-email/>.
15. Where can I get more information?
   a. MS-Windows, MS-Dos, and OS/2 mail and news overview at
      <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/msdos-mail-news/intro> and software at
      <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/msdos-mail-news/software>.
   b. Reading mail and news offline: overview at
      <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/off-line-readers/usenet/intro/> and
      software at <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/off-line-
      readers/usenet/software/>.
   c. Yahoo's index on electronic mail at
      <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Communications_and_Networ...>.
   d. Inter-Links' guide to E-Mail at <URL:http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter-
      Links/email/email.html>
   e. FAQs about MIME at <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/mime-faq/>
      (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
   f. Setting up E-Mail on UNIX; see
      <URL:http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/setup/unix/>

Loosely related topics:
1. How can I track down a host name if I only have an IP address?
   See <URL:http://www.arin.net/whois/>.
2. How can I send a FAX via the Internet?
   See <URL:http://www.savetz.com/fax/>.

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--
"Yo' ideas need to be thinked befo' they are say'd" - Ian Lamb, age 3.5
http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~dalamb/   qucis->cs to reply (it's a long story...)