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Q:I have the option of buying a new computer with an internal modem, I want to find my old college sweetheart. I bet she's on-line somewhere, but how do I get her email address?
FRATBOY IN FRESNO
A:Time to don your Sam Spade trench-coat and fedora and get ready for some detective work!
There is no one way to find someone online. There are just too many services, and there's no central directory. But often, with a little digging, you can email your way to a long lost friend. You might try some of the following techniques.
First, search the online services you already belong to. Prodigy, CompuServe, America Online and the rest all have searchable member directories. You wonĄt be able to search the services you aren't a member of. But you could ask a friend to do it.
If you can't find your sweetheart there, it's time to face the big Megillah -- the Internet. There are tens of millions of people all over the world with Internet email addresses. That would be a pretty big phone book, if it even existed. The Internet is so decentralized, though, that you'll have to search in several places to find her.
First thing to do is see if she's ever posted a message in the "USENET Newsgroups." USENET is the sort of blanket name for the various "news and discussion groups' on the Internet, places where people of common interests meet online to post messages, news, comments, even trade insults. Because so many people post there, there's a chance your missing sweetheart might be one of them. At least it's worth a try. You can do this by email. Send a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu. (Check with your online service to find out how to send mail to the Internet.) In the body of the message just put one line: send usenet-addresses/ and the name of the person you're looking for.
Now, if she hasn't posted to a Usenet Newsgroup, you'll have to dig a little deeper. Even though there's no Internet phone book, there are a number of places you can search. You will need to be able to access the Internet directly to do it, though. If you don't have an Internet account, your local public or university library may. Head on over to their terminal and try the Gopher technique.
If you're an Internet pro, or you know someone who is, you can use "Gopher" to search the various Internet Directories. Gopher is a Unix program available on all Internet sites that provides menu-based access to Internet resources. Sit down at the terminal and type GOPHER YALEINFO.YALE.EDU. You'll get the menu for Yale University's Gopher Site. Select the menu item "Browse YaleInfo (Yale and Internet Information)". Then select "People on the Internet." You'll see a long list of user directories that you can search. If your sweetheart is on the Internet, she'll be in there somewhere.
If after all that you still can't find your sweetheart, well maybe it's time to forget about her and start thinking about another Internet lover.
Leo Laporte is host of "Laporte on Computers" heard Saturdays from 10am-1pm on KSFO 560 AM in San Francisco.
This column has been excerpted from Leo's book "101 Computer Answers You Should Know" published by Ziff-Davis Press, copyright 1995 Ziff-Davis Press, all rights reserved.
For more information on the book, including price and availability, call 800 688-0448 x323. If you have questions you'd like Leo to answer in a future column, email to: laporte@ccnet.com or visit Leo's web site at http://www.ccnet.com/laporte/.