Advanced Surfing 
Tips & Tricks: Chatting Off and On
Contents
I do a tremendous amount of reading on Web topics, and find the discussion lists and newletters I subscribe to a great help in keeping me abreast of the current trends. Here is a list of some of what I read regularly.
The Internet is always a great topic of conversation!
Chattering offine
At any gathering these days you find a small group talking about the Internet. Here are several entry line for joining the conversation....
- I couldn't connect to my ISP at all last night, how about you?
- What?? You don't have a cable modem yet!
- Did you hear about (latest urban myth)
- I think the (latest virus) was in the second attachment I sent you.
- I learned some nifty tips in an Internet presentation recently. Did you know...
- Should I go for $6 or $7 million at my IPO?
- My (significant other) just doesn't understand the Web.
Chattering OnLine
If your host provides access to an Internet connection...
Start by doing something good for mankind... Visitors to The Hunger Site donate free food to the hungry at no cost once a day simply through the "click of a button."
Put technology to work for you. Collect information about discounts, promotions, and free offers for Web shopping. Don't let the name fool you - Flamingo World - your first stop when shopping online.
Offer to check your hosts/hostess's Internet access speed. bandwidth place - Speed Test calculates your current Internet
access speed. Supports tests on a variety of modem types and provides comparison statistics.
Netscape: Why does it sometimes say Location: and other times
say Website: by the box where you type the URL?
answer: ---> It depends on the server software at the site. If it's Netscape brand, then its a Website:, otherwise it's just a Location:
TRACERT: The Internet is a packet switched network where all information transferred travels in little packets (1536 data bytes per). The packets hop independently to their destination. To follow your packet's path to any site... at the DOS prompt, type in
'tracert' and the name of a site:
- from MS DOS prompt: tracert www.cornell.edu
Here is a sample from my ISP in Marlton, NJ to Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). Each packet of a file makes similar hops. My command was: tracert www.cornell.edu
Tracing route to CUINFOB.CIT.cornell.edu [132.236.218.13] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 110 ms 121 ms 120 ms marltonmax.vramp.net [199.171.193.42] 2 120 ms 121 ms 120 ms marlton.vramp.net [199.171.193.120] 3 120 ms 121 ms 120 ms d3-8-0-0-26-0.a00.phlapa01.us.ra.verio.net [209.107.31.73] 4 130 ms 121 ms 120 ms g1-3-0.phl00.verio.net [129.250.31.33] 5 100 ms 121 ms 120 ms phl00.iad3.verio.net [129.250.3.105] 6 120 ms 131 ms 110 ms iad3.iad0.verio.net [129.250.2.177] 7 110 ms 121 ms 130 ms sl-mae-e2.sprintlink.net [192.41.177.242] 8 401 ms 220 ms 220 ms sl-bb5-dc-6-1-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.8.25] 9 220 ms 210 ms 211 ms sl-bb11-rly-3-2.sprintlink.net [144.232.7.165] 10 190 ms 191 ms 200 ms sl-gw9-rly-8-0.sprintlink.net [144.232.7.250] 11 201 ms 220 ms 220 ms 169.130.1.141 12 221 ms 230 ms 210 ms at-gw1-ith-0-1-0.appliedtheory.net [169.130.1.42] 13 240 ms 230 ms 201 ms at-cornell-1-0-0-T3.appliedtheory.net [169.130.61.10] 14 250 ms 211 ms 230 ms RHODES2-8540-VL8.CIT.CORNELL.EDU [132.236.222.136] 15 211 ms 741 ms 210 ms CUINFOB.CIT.CORNELL.EDU [132.236.218.13] Trace complete.
USENET
USENET newsgroups are a great source of up-to-the-minute information. It is where a lot of discussion goes on. Technical groups and other usual extract information from discussion to build FAQs and other helpful information. There are 50,000+
and growing.
- Public Internet discussion group info... (http://groups-beta.google.com/)
- Usenet basics from your guide to Internet for Beginners (http://netforbeginners.about.com/cs/usenet/)
Samples:
HTML:
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html
Browsers: comp.infosystems.www.browsers.ms-windows
You might want to browse through the discussion groups list and get links to various USENET FAQs.
Private discussion lists
Private discussion groups are also popular. Typically you must subscribe to the discussion list after which your receive member privileges. Normally only members of the group are permitted to post messages and read other's message. Several major companies now offer FREE discussion list hosting. Some ISPs offer discussion list hosting as a FREE membership benefit.
Think of any... there's a discussion list about it.
Newsletters
Usually newsletter are one way e-mail sent to you at your request. Typically they are put out by one or two individuals who are trying to champion a particular viewpoint.
There are also commercial ventures putting out technical and special interest newsletters. The cost is usually subsidized by advertising material carried within the newsletter.
Many newsletters are associated with Web site. The newsletter announces new content, tips, etc. The Web site usually keeps an archive of the newsletters.
