FYI on Questions and Answers: Answers to commonly asked "new internet user" questions
RFC 1177

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• IESG evaluation record
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• Email expansions
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Network Working Group                                          G. Malkin
Request for Comments: 1177                            FTP Software, Inc.
FYI: 4                                                         A. Marine
                                                                     SRI
                                                             J. Reynolds
                                                                     ISI
                                                             August 1990

                      FYI on Questions and Answers
        Answers to Commonly asked "New Internet User" Questions

Status of this Memo

   This FYI RFC is one of three FYI's called, "Questions and Answers"
   (Q/A), produced by the User Services Working Group (USWG) of the
   Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).  The goal is to document the
   most commonly asked questions and answers in the Internet.

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify any standard.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction....................................................   1
   2. Acknowledgements................................................   2
   3. Questions About the Internet....................................   2
   4. Questions About TCP/IP..........................................   3
   5. Questions About Internet Documentation..........................   4
   6. Questions about Internet Organizations and Contacts.............   6
   7. Questions About Services........................................   9
   8. Mailing Lists...................................................  11
   9. References......................................................  11
   10. Suggested Reading..............................................  12
   11. Condensed Glossary.............................................  12
   12. Security Considerations........................................  23
   13. Authors' Addresses.............................................  24

1. Introduction

   New users joining the Internet community for the first time have had
   the same questions as did everyone else who has ever joined.  Our
   quest is to provide the Internet community with up to date, basic
   Internet knowledge and experience, while moving the redundancies away
   from the electronic mailing lists so that the lists' subscribers do
   not have to read the same queries and answers over and over again.

   Future updates of this memo will be produced as USWG members become

User Services Working Group                                     [Page 1]
RFC 1177            FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users         August 1990

   aware of additional questions that should be included, and of
   deficiencies or inaccuracies that should be amended in this document.
   Additional FYI Q/A's will be published which will deal with
   intermediate and advanced Q/A topics.

   The Q/A mailing lists are maintained by Gary Malkin at FTP.COM.  They
   are used by a subgroup of the USWG to discuss the Q/A FYIs.  They
   include:

   quail@ftp.com           This is a discussion mailing list.  Its
                           primary use is for pre-release (to the
                           USWG) review of the Q/A FYIs.

   quail-request@ftp.com   This is how you join the quail mailing list.

   quail-box@ftp.com       This is where the questions and answers
                           will be forwarded-and-stored.  It is
                           not necessary to be on the quail mailing
                           list to forward to the quail-box.

2. Acknowledgements

   The following people deserve thanks for their help and contributions
   to the FYI Q/As: Berlin Moore (PREPNet), Craig Partridge (BBN),
   Jon Postel (ISI), Karen Roubicek (BBNST), James Van Bokkelen (FTP
   Software, Inc.), John Wobus (Syracuse University), and David Paul
   Zimmerman (Rutgers).

3. Questions About the Internet

   I just got on the Internet.  What can I do now?

      You now have access to all the resources you are authorized to use
      on your own Internet host, on any other Internet host on which you
      have an account, and on any other Internet host that offers
      publicly accessible information.  The Internet gives you the
      ability to move information between these hosts via file
      transfers.  Once you are logged into one host, you can use the
      Internet to open a connection to another, log in, and use its
      services interactively.  In addition, you can send electronic mail
      to users at any Internet site and to users on many non-Internet
      sites that are accessible via electronic mail.

      There are various other services you can use.  For example, some
      hosts provide access to specialized databases or to archives of
      information.  The Internet Resource Guide provides information
      regarding some of these sites.  The Internet Resource Guide lists