By T.J. Ripley
Most likely you've heard of Lycos. As one of the most popular Web
properties, it maintains a network of portals that provide a directory of
information (www.lycos.com), search Web sites (www.hotbot.com) and build
communities (www.tripod.com). You might not know that Lycos also maintains a
good email lookup directory named WhoWhere? (http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/)
that contains over 11 million email addresses.
At first glance, you can see how this site might be useful if you're trying
to find the email address of a person you know. On the main page of
WhoWhere?, you just need to enter the first and last name of the person,
select Email and click Search. You'll get a list of people who match your
search criteria. If the name is a common one you may wind up with a lot of
listings.
If you know where that person has an email account, you can include that
information in your search criteria. Just go to the Search Email page (at
http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/Email), enter the person's name and include
the name of the domain on which the person has an account. For example, you
might enter aol.com, earthlink.net or ucla.edu in the search field.
The Search Email page also allows you to broaden or narrow your search to
include all matches or only exact matches. If you decide to use the exact
match option, be aware that it can be very limiting. If you search for an
exact match for Sue Jones, you won't find people who are listed as Susan
Jones. For such names, you may want to run several searches using each
variation of the name.
Another use for WhoWhere? - and one that isn't immediately apparent - is to
conduct searches for certain kinds of people. Though you can only search
through the community of people who have registered with Lycos, the depth
and breadth of information they include about themselves is quite useful.
>From the WhoWhere? Communities Advanced Search page (at
http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/AdvancedE), you can conduct searches using
criteria such as location, school or group. For example, you can search for
people who live in Ohio and attended Stanford or people who work at KPMG and
live in New York.
Though there is no reverse email lookup capability on WhoWhere? (finding
information about a person based on his or her email address), it is a
powerful lookup tool well worth exploring.
-- T.J. Ripley is a journalist and Web explorer who contributes to AIRS
research and writing.
About AIRS
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