e - m a i l I n t r o

W h a t i s E - M a i l ?

The folks at http://www.whatis.com/ define e-mail as:

[...]the exchange of computer-stored messages by telecommunication.

E-mail is not only another way to stay in touch with friends and family, but also very useful for business.

T h e t h r e e t y p e s o f e - m a i l

Text-based
This refers to a program running on a big computer which requires you to either dial in or use telnet. Examples of this include Elm, and Pine. Typically, you might get an Elm or Pine account through your college or university.

Client-server
This refers to using a piece of software called a 'client' on your computer and a piece of software called a 'server' at your Internet Service Provider or ISP.

Examples of client software include Eudora Pro, Netscape Communicator, and Microsoft Outlook Express. The first program is a stand-alone e-mail client... Netscape Communicator and Outlook Express have e-mail clients built into web browsers.

The server software on your ISP's machine does two things: sends your e-mail out to others, and receives and stores e-mails that are coming to you. When you tell your client software to get new e-mails, the server software sends any e-mails it's got to your computer for the client software to show you.

Web-based
This is an e-mail service designed to provide you with service from any web browser. Examples include Hotmail, Mail.com, Yahoo Mail, and many, many others. This type of account is frequently available for free, in exchange for which, the vendor will post advertising on their web pages for you to see.

T h e p a r t s o f a n e - m a i l a d d r e s s

johnsmith@websurf.net
johnsmith	@	websurf.net
USER NAME The USER NAME identifies the individual person using that e-mail account.	SEPARATOR The SEPARATOR is just a symbol designed to keep USER NAMES and DOMAIN NAMES separate.	DOMAIN NAME The DOMAIN NAME identifies the computer which hosts that e-mail account.

E-mail addresses NEVER have spaces in them.
If you look closely, it might be an underline character, such as john_smith@websurf.net, but it's not going to be a space.
E-mail addresses ARE case sensitive.
JOHN_SMITH@WEBSURF.NET is NOT the same as john_smith@websurf.net.

N e t i q u e t t e
Netiquette is just politeness for the Internet. Specifically, here are some do's and dont's:

DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!
This is the equivalent of shouting... it might get someone's attention, but it's difficult to read.

Don't forward virus warning and chain letters to everyone you know.
Nearly all virus warnings are bogus. Before forwarding a virus warning to anyone, please check the Computer Virus Myths and Hoaxes web site.

Be careful how you use humor and sarcasm
One of the tough things to remember about e-mail is that it is a limited means of communications... if you say something, but you're kidding, you can get across the fact you're kidding by the way you speak, or by the way you hold your face... that option doesn't exist in e-mail... aside from smileys or emoticons... which aren't a good substitiute for careful thinking and writing.

Don't flame people
Flaming is the art of arguing in an obnoxious manner... A good example would be if someone sends you an e-mail about how much they like their new Macintosh... if you reply to that with an e-mail about how stupid and slow they are because "everyone knows Macintosh computers are trash", you've just flamed someone.

H o w d o I s e l e c t a n e - m a i l a d d r e s s ?

This depends on who you're getting e-mail service from... if it's through work or school, the computer folks will probably assign you an e-mail address... if it's from an ISP, they might assign one to you and let you set up an alias or two, that point to that first account... if it's a web-based e-mail service, they'll let you try several different e-mail addresses until you get one that isn't already taken... which can be difficult!

W h a t ' s a n A d d r e s s B o o k ?

Rather than having to remember that your friend's e-mail address is johnsmith@websurf.net, nearly all e-mail software programs will let you store that in an Address Book and pop up that address book to choose who a message is intended for when you want to create a new message.

W h a t ' s a S i g n a t u r e ?

A signature, or .sig, is a few lines of text that is automatically added to the end of an e-mail, such as:

-----------------------
Johnny Q. Smith
Websurf Internet Solutions
6730 W Kellogg Ste 5
Wichita, KS 67209

It's generally considered rude to have a signature that's more than four or five lines of text...

W h a t ' s a n A t t a c h m e n t ?

One of the neat things about client-server and web-based e-mail is that you can send/receive attachments... something you can't do with text-based e-mail.
One of the bad things about client-server and web-based e-mail is that you can send/receive attachments... something you can't do with text-based e-mail.

Seriously, if you're using client-server or web-based e-mail, keep your anti-virus software up-to-date. Both McAfee and Norton work pretty well.

Another problem folks have with attachments is that while your brother might have Microsoft Word and e-mail you a document that's in Microsoft Word format... unless you have software which can open that Microsoft Word format file, you can't read the document your brother has sent you.

H o w d o I g e t s o m e o n e ' s e - m a i l a d d r e s s ?

Call them up and ask them. While there are several online directories, the odds of getting someone's current, appropriate e-mail address aren't very high... you might get their work instead of home address, or you might get an old address they used in college, etc.

W h a t i s S P A M a n d h o w s h o u l d I d e a l w i t h i t ?

Websurf SPAM Info

W h a t i s a m a i l i n g l i s t ?

A mailing list is a software program which lets you post a message to a whole group of folks at one time.
As a general rule, you post messages to a mailing list by sending an e-mail to a particular e-mail address. You can subscribe (join) a mailing list by either filling out a form on a web site, or sending an e-mail to a different e-mail address.

W h a t i s ' b o u n c e d ' e - m a i l ?

If an e-mail message is undeliverable, your service provider will 'bounce', or return, the message to you. When you get a bounced e-mail, go ahead and read the message to see why your message bounced... there will be a lot of extra junk in the message... here are some common reasons for e-mail bouncing:

Host Unknown
This means the computer where you've sent the e-mail couldn't be found. Check the spelling of the domain name... the part to the right of the at-sign (@).
User Unknown
This means the computer where you've sent the e-mail doesn't have a user by the name you've submitted. Check the spelling of the user name... the part to the left of the at-sign (@).
User is over mailbox limit
Not much you can do about this... typically, they haven't checked their e-mail account for a while or they've gotten a lot of e-mails all at once.

W h a t a r e ' m a i l b o x e s ' ?

Storage folders for e-mail messages. By default incoming messages are usually sent to an "In" mailbox. Copies of your outbound messages are usually saved in either an "Out" or "Sent" mailbox. You can create your own mailboxes and put e-mail in them to your heart's content... it's also possible to use Filters to automatically send e-mail to a particular mailbox.

W h a t i s a n e - m a i l f i l t e r ?

This is just a rule you've created which does something to an e-mail message. For instance, I might create a filter that takes any e-mails sent to me by people at Websurf and have them put into a folder labelled, "Staff"... in this case, I tell the software to look for the domain name "websurf.net" in the "From:" field and then transfer that message to the folder I created called "Staff".

Excerpted from Brig McCoy's Technology Training pages