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Parkinson's Awareness Month - Day 14 I've gathered links, bookmarks, and URL's for Parkinson Resources on the WWWeb and I plan to post them in bunches on this List in my own personal attempt to raise Parkinson's Awareness around the world... I encourage you all to jump in and critique, improve, support these efforts in whatever way you see fit.... I somehow thought these posts would spawn a lot of interactivity... This hasn't really happened... To date I have 5 sites to add to the list (as a result of interactivity). C'mon guys... We can do better... And don't be afraid to jump in.... I've strayed a little from Parkinson's today but hopefully these "tools" will help everyone post positively and search for more and better informed wwwebsites on PD. WWWeb Resources 14 - E-Mail 102 & Internet Search 103 Here are my "bookmarks" on "newbies" and E-Mail... E-Mail Tips http://everythingemail.net/email_help_tips.html Be sure to surf this site and all the links backwards & forwards, up & down. It's a delight. Don't miss the TOURBUS! Every computer is different but I'll try to explain E-Mail 102... E-mail is sent from one computer to another by SMPT Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. This means simply that everything you send on an e-mail will be sent in a SIMPLE text format. If you send anything other than plain text it will be translated to a text format, transmitted, and must be interpreted by the receiver. If we don't all run the same software package with the same interpretation capability then errors will occur. What we are doing on the list, is using the text only (no graphics - GIF's - JPG's etc.) to maintain the intelligence of universality. We serve 1900+ members in 37 countries and while the mainstream may use IBM clones running Win95 or better the beauty of this List is that no one HAS to. Almost every software package that is pre 1995 or made by someone other than Micro-Soft is unable to interpret the newer standards of formatting that MS Outlook Express (in particular) applies by default. That is why, from time to time, members are gently chided re: GIF's, JPG's, rich text formatting, HTML encoding, attachments etc. because it can be unintelligible to some members. The members on digest format and on AOL find it particularly annoying because they get bundled messages and it is awkward to delete individual posts. In the worst cases it blocks e-mail at their server and they are required to dial up the help line to straighten it all out. When everyone sets their defaults to plain text only and avoids multi-part formatting this List runs very smoothly. I use a 386 clone with 16Megs of RAM and a 200M hard drive with Win3.1 and Pegasus email client and Opera as the browser. I do this on purpose so that I can support the similarly configured computers that are given to some of our support group. Some of our members are on severely limited incomes and simply do not have the ability to upgrade. I deliberately avoid MS Outlook Express because of it's buggy nature, susceptibility to viruses, tendency to default to Rich Text formatting, etc. Pegasus e-mail client also has filters, works extremely efficiently, is dependable etc. (and it is downloadable freeware) Software selection / upgrading is up to the individual and the comfort level of all members is best served by plain text, no pressure to upgrade etc. Running the latest powerful software on the latest powerful hardware IS most efficient when browsing the Internet. That said, I think it absolutely essential to maintain the universality of the List by applying the simple protocols of plain text only for our e-mail. How E-Mail Works http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/20how.htm Guides to E-Mail Netiquette http://www.shu.ac.uk/services/cis/help/netiquette.htm (links) Internet Mail Enhancement Patch http://www.slipstick.com/addins/utilities/imep.htm Bob Brand's E-Mail Pet Peeves - A MUST READ! http://www.thebee.com/bweb/iinfo43.htm http://www.thebee.com/bweb/factsoflife.htm http://www.thebee.com/bweb/iinfo115.htm Bob Brand's Internet for Real People http://www.thebee.com/bweb/brand.htm http://www.thebee.com/bweb/index2.htm Netiquette Guidelines http://www.dtcc.edu/cs/rfc1855.html Netiquette Help http://netnet.net/~neverman/help.htm Emily Post's e-Mail Etiquette (satire) http://www.templetons.com/brad/emily.html On the Net, you are what you e-mail. Before you send that file, go down our checklist and think about how you can avoid any risk of giving offense. 1. Don't attach an image or document to an e-mail message if the recipient isn't expecting it. 2. If you're sending text (say, a press release or a resume), don't convert it into Adobe Acrobat format--such files are too big. 3. Don't send attachments to a mailing list discussion group (unless it's encouraged in the group or participants ask for them). 4. Before sending a file, ask recipients how they want it to arrive --inserted inside the message as encoded text or broken down into several small attachments. 5. When you reply to a message with an attachment, make sure the attachment doesn't accompany your reply. Many mail programs retain the attachment unless you configure them not to. 6. It's generally wise to attach only one file to an e-mail message because many online services--America Online among them--can't handle more than one. To send multiple files, attach each to a separate message. 7. Before sending a big file, find out if the recipient has a compression utility such as WinZip or PKZip. If so, compress the file. I hope this helps... Next... How to search the Internet.... (Much easier than E-Mail 102) ***************************************************************************** This one's easy... Internet Search 103 Internet Beginner's Guides & Tutorials http://www.refdesk.com/factbeg.html http://livinginternet.com/ Then start searching for anything at all but use all of these 3 search engines one at a time and only look at the top 5 hits... you will soon discover a pattern to searching... it's that simple... I use these 3 all the time, the very best all 'round Search Engines goin'... Google http://www.google.com FastSearch http://www.alltheweb.com Pandia http://www.pandia.com (Try their MetaSearch and/or PowerSearch) You can try other search engines too but the above 3 get the best results most of the time.... The next thing to do is "team searching" where you select an "item" to search on and team up with someone. You seach independently for a day or so (or an hour) and then compare results. Or, you offer each other "challenges" such as "What are zitter mutant rats?" This was an actual question posed here on the List after the rats were mentioned in a scientific review... "You have to be careful if you don't know where you're going because you might not get there". - Yogi Berra University of Albany Internet Tutorials http://www.albany.edu/library/internet/ Sample - Boolean Searching on the Internet http://www.albany.edu/library/internet/boolean.html Power Reporting - Resources for Journalists Home Page http://powerreporting.com/ Search Engines http://powerreporting.com/category/Search_tools/Engines Search Tools http://powerreporting.com/category/Search_tools Non Profit Research http://powerreporting.com/category/Nonprofit_research Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/ Search Engine Directory http://www.dnc.net/users/king/search.htm Search Engine Guide http://www.searchengineguide.com/ The Chocolate Lovers' Page The chocolate search engine. No kidding. http://chocolate.scream.org/ My personal favorite search engine... http://www.google.com Scroll these URL's, peruse them, forward them to someone to promote Parkinson's Awareness.... murray ********************************************************** Disclaimer: Be forewarned... you must never assume that information obtained from the web is necessarily the best information available (or even valid). Remember, no one sets content rules on the Internet. That said, there is an education awaiting you! Links to Web sites are provided for information purposes. I assume no responsibility or liability for material on linked sites. Please Be Advised: Medical information should always be reviewed with your physician or attending professional before attempting to change any medication or therapy. ***********************************************************