Date: Mon, 01 May 1995 08:57:30 -0500
Subject: Wizard's Tracking Tips
Sender: Pendulum-Owner@UCAR.EDU
 
Here are a few ways to find somebody.  
 
First - finger their account e.g.  finger lugnut@fish.net
Unfortunately some systems will reject your request, but if they don't it can
yield a wealth of information.  Info includes Name,  Last time mail was
retrieved,
New Mail date and time.  Potentially *very* useful is the plan file.  If you
would
like to make emergency contact information available to us, this would be a
good place to put it - that way you can avoid putting it on the list, but we can
get it if we need it (assuming your system will let us finger you, you might ask
somebody to do a test fingering).
 
Use the Netfind program, based on finger and more sophisticated.
Telnet to the closest Netfind server.  Try
mudhoney.micro.umn.edu
log on as netfind
choose search
enter name and keywords
 
Check the NIC to see who and what the provider is - this can give you clues
to where the person might be and may yield useful phone numbers and other info.
You can do this with whois fish.net  .
 
Are they on a University system ?  Some sort of Nationwide provider ?
A mom and pop pop (sorry, bad joke) ?  All of these things will impact the
strategy
and likelihood of success.
 
If they are on Compuserve, AOL, etc. then you'll have to get somebody with
access
to that service to look in the members directory.  Some of us have multiple
access
so just try to dig somebody up.
 
Try telneting to their host,  many schools and companies  have on-line phone
books and campus info that may be useful. Likewise for Gopher, etc.
 
Send (thoughtfully worded) email to postmaster at the host e.g.
postmaster@fish.net.
 
Once you have a City or School -
  For students call the school's main number. 
  Call directory assistance.
  Search your nationwide phone directory on CD-ROM.
If appropriate call
  Campus Security
  Local Police
      (You can ask them for a suicide prevention # if you want, or let them
       handle it)
 
Stumped ?  Search your archive for messages by the party in question - we
reveal a lot of information about ourselves to the careful reader.
 
Contact Pendulum members who are using the same host - some of us have
contact in meat life as well as cyber life.
 
Contact Pendulites who talk to that person a lot, not all communication takes
place on list and they may be privy to a clue.
 
So gumshoes, no big secrets here, just hard headed prying.  
Obviously this is all very public stuff and very mundane tools widely available
on the net.  You can generally find most folks in well under an hour,
beyond that you start to get into a search that can be more quickly
performed by the police.  If you give them as much info as you can
and make a good case for why you believe this is a "bonafide" threat
they are pretty good at finding people.  You don't even have to be an 
apprentice to do this stuff, much less a wizard (grin) !
 
Please God, don't let me hear that some jerk has read this post and is
using these tips to harass somebody.  Of course, if they do, I can find them,
and when I do, it will give a whole new meaning to the 
phrase "Reach Out and Touch Someone".
 
So what did I leave out gang ?
rwizard@mindspring.com - Il n'y a que moi qui a toujours raison.
==============================================================
OPINIONS EXPRESSED ABOVE ARE INCOTROVERTIBLE AND SHOULD 
NOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO ANY ENTITY OTHER THAN THE FABRIC OF
THE UNIVERSE.  ;*D