aredlich@maths.tcd.ie (Alex Redlich) (02/24/90)
Hi,
Is it possible to extrapolate information from other computer systems
(around the world) such as to find out the directory of accounts of
the particular system in question?
For example, how do I find out if someone has an account in a system
in Syracuse University,USA.?
If it cannot be done directly are there any other detours that can be
taken?
Please Email any replies to me.
Thanks,
Alex.bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) (02/25/90)
>Is it possible to extrapolate information from other computer systems >(around the world) such as to find out the directory of accounts of >the particular system in question? >For example, how do I find out if someone has an account in a system >in Syracuse University,USA.? >If it cannot be done directly are there any other detours that can be >taken? This is worth posting (it comes up often and is sort of covered in the Frequently Asked Questions posting.) The short answer is, use the telephone (call the party in question or the department and ask.) I realize that overseas this method isn't that convenient, but it's also costing some tens of dollars to get an answer by posting it. You might try sending to "postmaster@machine", if you can find an appropriate machine name to target. Unfortunately, to be honest, when people did this to me at a large university I usually considered it a nuisance (it's not like I have the info at the tip of my fingers, and there were dozens of machines to snoop.) Worse, even on finding an account it's not clear the person reads mail on that machine. I found a professor's account for someone and later, after much frustration, it turned out he never used the account but his grad students would (it appeared to have been logged in recently) and just threw away his e-mail or something like that, he simply did not use e-mail (probably didn't get much.) Another time I (for a different prof) inadvertantly sent someone to the wrong system, one logged on rarely. After a few experiences like that I started just sending back department phone numbers and suggesting they call. Telephoning really does make sense. There is a White Pages Project (X.500) on-going which is supposed to fill this void a bit (network servers you can query for info like you want) but it's not nearly done and probably won't answer the question "does the person really read e-mail?". -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | {xylogics,uunet}!world!bzs | bzs@world.std.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD