LLLOYD@DREW.BITNET (Les Lloyd) (08/06/88)
ELECTRONIC MAIL REGISTRATION PROGRAM DEBUTS AT DREW If you have ever searched aimlessly for that friend or colleague that you knew e xisted somewhere on BITNET but didn't know where, you will be very excited about at new BITNET featu re created at Drew University. Titled NAMESERV, this VMS based program allows people anywhere in the BITNET, Net North or Earn communities to register not only names and electronic addresses, but also some keywords about themselves. Anyone on the system can then search for a user by looking for first and/or last name, node name or any of the up to 5 keywords the person may have entered. The NAMESERVER will accommodate any of the approximately 500,000 people througho ut the world connected to BITNET or its affiliated networks. The information provided below will give you an idea of what NAMESERV can do. OF course, at any time, you can SEND NAMESERV@DREW HELP and receive up-to-date HELP informatio n on using the system. To receive the entire help file, just SEND NAMESERV@DREW HELP FILE. REGISTERING Registering on NAMESERV is easy. Just send an interactive command in the followi ng format (you can also send the message via electronic mail where the only text in the message should be the command shown below. We expect this feature to be available by the time this art icle is published): SEND NAMESERV@DREW REGISTER first last [keyword1...keyword5] an example: SEND NAMESERV@DREW REGISTER John Doe physics modula_2 engineering To send the above command using electronic mail, the text of the message should include only the following: REGISTER John Doe physics modula_2 engineering On an IBM system, the command is identical except for the beginning syntax which would be: TELL NAMESERV AT DREW REGISTER John Doe physics modula_2 engineering The system does not care about upper or lower case entries, they are shown above for clarity. It will keep track of the date you registered and each year on that date will send you a re-registration reminder. If you don't re-register, your name will be automatically dropped from the list (you will be sent another message when you are dropped). This will allow the system to mai ntain an up to date list. If you re-do your registration at any time during the year, the date you r e-register will be the new date that the one year expiration period will be based on. NOTE: The system was created for academic and professional use. Registrations ar e screened by the NAMESERVER for keywords that might be inappropriate or might encourage inappropr iate uses of this feature. We are very excited about providing this service to users of the n etwork, but are committed to BITNET's usage guidelines and principles and will make sure our ser vice does not allow for violation of those policies. SHOWING YOUR REGISTRATION INFORMATION To see what your entry looks like, just type: SEND NAMESERV@DREW SHOW and your registration information will appear. If you want to change it, just re -register as shown above. Formats for mailing a SHOW command or sending a SHOW command from an IBM system are similar to the example above. SEARCHING FOR ANOTHER USER There are a variety of options that allow you to search for different informatio n. The general format of the command is: SEARCH/[qualifier] search_pattern The qualifiers are as follows: NAME: Looks for first and last name, i.e. JOHN DOE. This is the default if no qu alifier is present. FIRST: Searches for first name only LAST: Searches for last name only USER: Looks for the username. You may enter the full address (USERNAME@NODE) or just the username. NODE: Will locate all users at a specific location FIELD: Searches the keyword fields for matches Examples: SEARCH/NAME John Doe SEARCH/NODE Drew SEARCH/FIELD physics SEARCH/USER JDOE REMOVING YOURSELF FROM THE SYSTEM SEND NAMESERV@DREW REMOVE This program was written by Drew junior Jac Fried. Jac spent several weeks this summer designing and programming this innovative feature. If you have any suggestions or comments for Jac, please send him mail, his address is JFRIED@DREW.1