 |
 |
Subject: How to find information in Parkinson Archives by E-mail This is a periodic posting on Finding Information In Parkinson Archives By E-mail. CHANGES: My E-Mail address will change with the next posting. I am making a seasonal relocation to Dallas for the Summer and hopefully, the Fall. See the section on how to find E-Mail addresses to find my new address. Date of Posting: April 24, 1995 For assistance E-mail [log in to unmask] Queries discussed in this article should be addressed to: [log in to unmask] <<< AND NOT TO >>> [log in to unmask] Start of Finding information in Parkinson Archives by E-mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Almost any thing discussed in Parkinson's can be found using the listserv. Every message posted to the list is archived in Notebooks which are simple to search by E-mail. All that it takes to find anything ever discussed in the PARKINSN (notice the spelling) database uses the following method. Send mail to: [log in to unmask] In the Subject: put anything or nothing at all(this isn't read by the machine) Enter the following information: //DBlook JOB Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * select blue glasses in parkinsn index Don't put anything else in the message even your signature. Explanation: The word SELECT(caps just for emphasis) is a command that the listserv understands to tell it to look for the following words just before IN(caps again just for emphasis). In this test message, the words, blue glasses are what we want the machine to look for. The words, IN PARKINSN tell the listserv where to look for blue glasses, which is in the parkinsn database. The parkinsn database includes all the notebooks which hold the Parkinson messages. Don't confuse the word Parkinson with the database name which is parkinsn. The word INDEX(caps again just for emphasis) is a command that tells the listserv to send you a list of messages that contain the words you specified. You will receive a message back from a listserv which will tell you the number of hits that resulted from your search. Below this, a list of messages will be given. The number in the first column is important. Each message will have a unique number. The Recs column shows how many lines are in the message. If you send the example of blue glasses you will receive the following message. > select blue glasses in parkinsn --> Database PARKINSN, 26 hits. > index Item # Date Time Recs Subject ------ ---- ---- ---- ------- 000595 94/06/19 10:21 50 Dyskinesia Test 001380 94/12/14 17:33 74 Asthma and PD ----------------snip----------------------------- 001760 95/02/03 10:04 60 seeing 001802 95/02/08 09:06 12 Re: light and blue glasses 001809 95/02/08 19:48 27 Re: light and blue glasses 001812 95/02/08 21:10 25 Re: light and blue glasses 001821 95/02/09 15:25 10 BLUE GLASSES 001846 95/02/13 09:35 11 Re: BLUE GLASSES 001850 95/02/13 14:30 129 Finding Information In Parkinson Archives By E-mail Each one of these messages will contain the word blue glasses in either the subject or the body. The Recs column is how many lines each message contains. How do I get these messages? Enter the following information: //DBlook JOB Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * select blue glasses in parkinsn print all (THIS IS WHERE YOU ENTER THOSE UNIQUE NUMBERS, SEPARATED WITH A SPACE, THAT WERE IN THE FIRST COLUMN) Example: print all 1821 1846 >From experience, some of the posts can be quite long and the listserv will restrict the number of lines it will send per request. You can safely retrieve up to about 700 lines of messages with a single batch command and have it all arrive in a single message without truncating. From a practical standpoint, if you save the Job Language batch command to a text file, it is easy to edit the message numbers in the print all line without having to retype the whole schmaltz each time. Can I ask more than one question in the first message requesting a parkinsn database search? Yes. Example: //DBlook JOB Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * select blue glasses in parkinsn index select left foot dragging in parkinsn index In this example, another search would be made for left foot dragging and an index would be returned. Receive those messages the same way with the print all and then the unique message number. Remember, if you request a number of messages that contain more than about 700 lines, you may not receive all of them. The posters of the original messages you receive from the archives may not be around anymore or may have different E-Mail addresses. To find current addresses of posters send mail to: [log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: rev parkinsn Send the message. You will receive current names and E-Mail addresses of all unconcealed members. If anyone finds one piece of information that they desperately needed, compiling this message was worth it. "God help us if we don't help one another" John Cottingham [log in to unmask]