1What is online journalism? - Ayo Menulis FISIP UAJY

92 Journalism Online
domain and the style of the user name (whether they use
initials, etc.);
guess the user name, using the appropriate style, and send an
exploratory mail (‘Looking for . . . sorry if this goes to wrong
person, etc.); as you are treading on the edge of spamming
(sending unsolicited and unwanted messages), only resort to
this when all else fails and make sure you have a legitimate
purpose;
you might get lucky or you might get another person in the
organization with the same/similar name, who is used to
getting the wrong calls and e-mails and who will probably
wearily re-direct you to your source.
There are other ways to trace e-mail addresses. There are now
a number of web sites which act as large directories for e-mail
addresses. As none is complete, try a combination of them.
Again, try variations on user names, especially on the directories
that require an exact match for a successful query, for
example:
www.bigfoot.com
www.infospace.com/info/email1.htm
www.worldemail.com/
www.people.yahoo.com/
How secure is e-mail?
People are very trusting about e-mail. They type a message and
send it out into cyberspace. It usually gets to its intended
destination, but does it stop off anywhere on the way?
The answer is ‘Yes’. The message will wend its way via your
computer to the server that provides you with an Internet link
and then to your correspondent’s server and finally to you
correspondent’s computer. What you might not realize is that
your message can stay on those servers for some time . . . and
is retrievable.
So sending e-mail is not like having a private conversation with
someone. You should always be careful what you commit to e-mail
and never send them in anger. Think first, then send.