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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-lcc!ptsfa!cogent!mark
From: mark@cogent.UUCP (Captain Neptune)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: netnews general information query
Message-ID: <145@cogent.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Jan-87 01:04:58 EST
Article-I.D.: cogent.145
Posted: Thu Jan 22 01:04:58 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 23-Jan-87 21:04:32 EST
References: <1113@ihdev.UUCP>
Reply-To: mark@cogent.UUCP (Mark Steven Jeghers)
Organization: Cogent Software Solutions, Stockton, CA
Lines: 45
Keywords: outsider, no contacts, uninformed, Catch-22
Summary: Getting in is rough!!

In article <1113@ihdev.UUCP> heneghan@ihdev.UUCP (J. T. Heneghan) writes:
>I would like to do a research paper on the net. I am looking
>for information on a myriad of related topics:
>a.) How does one get on the net?
For a person on the outside trying to get in, the answer is:

                WITH GREAT DIFICULTY

The problem is that when you don't have contacts, you have no way to ask
what to do.  Generally, it is hard to find a person who knows unless you
were already in the midst of people who DO know (which is not as large
a group as we might think).  I know my grammer is poor here, but I am
trying to describe a Catch-22 situation.  For the person on the outside
looking in, it appears like an "exclusive members-only" club that doesn't
want any outsiders getting in.  This is certainly untrue, but that is how
it can APPEAR.

I poked around for leads for about a year.  I eventually got a listing of
the California netmap.  I then got a mail link to ONE site that we were
working with at the time, and they were in Toronto!  With a few clues,
I deduced that they were hooked to ihnp4 and I managed to send mail thru
Toronto to ihnp4 and on to various sites in California asking for
connectivity.  I finally got a response from someone who was willing to
give me a mail feed if I polled.  I was quite excited to get this far!
That person helped me to locate others who improved my connectivity and
got me going with a news feed.

The people who helped me deserve mention and public thanks from myself.
They are:

     Bridgett Dobbins at dual
     David St. Pierre at ptsfa

Their generosity finally brought to fruition a year of my efforts that
entailed much blind searching and frustration.
-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|     Mark Steven Jeghers         ECHOMPGULP - process has eaten it          |
| cryptography, terrorist, DES, drugs, cipher, secret, decode, NSA, CIA, NRO |
|                                                                            |
|     {ihnp4,cbosgd,lll-lcc,lll-crg}|{dual,ptsfa}!cogent!mark                |
|                                                                            |
| Cogent Software Solutions can not be held responsible for anything said    |
| by the above person since they have no control over him in the first place |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+