Chapter
3--E-Mail Management
(Web 101--Making the 'Net Work for You by Wendy Lehnert, Addison Wesley,
2003)
This summary does not substitute for reading
this chapter. There is information contained within the chapter about e-mail,
viruses, e-mail security, etc., that you should familiarize yourself with
in order to become an e-mail user prepared for how the Internet continues
to revolutionize communication..
E-mail is a tool for business and personal
communication that enables individuals to communicate with each other quickly--much
faster than through the use of traditional mail. More e-mail is delivered
than mail delivered by the U.S. Post Office. E-mail is the most widely used
application on the Internet. There is, however, a dark side to e-mail. E-mail
can become time-consuming. It can undermine what has traditionally been "normal
working hours" by requiring the checking of workplace e-mail from home
or the development of what has become known as an e-mail habit. "The
ubiquitous availability of e-mail access seems like a wonderful convenience
at first but can result in 'e-mail burnout' when people let the technology
run them, instead of the other way around."
Anatomy of E-Mail Messages
-
E-mail messages are generally
short
-
E-mail messages should address
one topic
-
Most e-mail messages are
plain text
-
Messages are generally informal
but should still contain correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization
-
Some e-mail messages are
replies to previously received messages
-
Messages can be sent to one
person or to multiple recipients
-
Messages can be forwarded
to others, "live on and on," and can come back to haunt you
- E-mail is neither secure nor "truly
private"
- E-mail is "timely!"
- Individuals can send, read, reply to, forward,
save, or delete e-mail messages
Each e-mail message contains a header
and a message body. The header contains addressing information
(who the message is from, the recipient, who is receiving copies, the date,
the time, and the subject of the message). When an e-mail message is sent, the
From and Date fields are automatically filled in for the recipient. The sender
completes the To field and the Subject field. To send an e-mail message, the
e-mail address must be entered correctly in the To field. An incorrect address
will result in the message being bounced back to the sender or received by the
wrong person. Full e-mail headers are available (generally not seen) that contain
routing information and various time stamps. The sender of the message can send
copies (cc) or blind copies (bcc) to others. The recipient of the e-mail message
will see who received the cc copies of the message; those who received the blind
copies (bcc) will not be seen by the recipient of the message. Incoming e-mail
is received into an area called the inbox.
jdoe@anywhere.com
The line above is an example of an e-mail
address. The first part (jdoe) is the user id. A user id can be an individual's
first initial and last name or another similar combination. The rest of the
e-mail address consists of a DNS (Domain Name Service) or host address.
If you do not know what someone's e-mail address, it is not wise to guess at
an individual's e-mail address. Online directories can assist you in finding
e-mail addresses but your best method is to contact the individual and ask for
the e-mail address. An e-mail client is the mailer software you use to gain
access to e-mail. All enable you to send, receive, reply to, forward, save,
and customize your e-mail.
E-Mail Management Functions
- Create and use abbreviations (or shortcuts) of e-mail
addresses called nicknames (also called aliases) to quickly enter addresses
in the To field
- Collect and save frequently used e-mail addresses
in a feature called an address book
- Distribution lists can be created by assigning
a nickname to a list of individuals who have been entered in the address book
- Good e-mail clients support the ability to sort mail
and save it in folders or filter messages into Folders or Trash
- Unread mail messages can be tagged for easy identification
- A reply function allowing you to include the original
message in your reply, delete the original message, or edit the original message
within your reply
- A signature file automatically appends to the
end of an e-mail message and identifies the sender with name, title, organization,
mailing address, telephone number, fax, and e-mail address. Non-business signature
files can be created with favorite quotes or humorous cartoons. It is recommended
that signature files should not exceed four lines.
- A Reply To feature that allows the recipient to reply
to only the sender; a Reply To All feature that allows the recipient to reply
to all who received the message, including those listed in the To field, the
cc field, and the bcc field
MIME Attachments and HTML-Enabled Mailers
It is now possible to add files to your text e-mail
message, called attachments. These attachments can be Word documents, Excel
spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, graphic files, sound files, web pages,
or a number of other files. This ability to attach documents to an e-mail message
was made possible in 1991 with the encoding and unencoding of binary files automatically
with a special e-mail protocol called Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extension
(MIME). MIME is now a globally recognized standard. When you send an attachment,
it is advisable that you include some details within your e-mail message telling
the recipient that you are including an attachment with some information about
its name, format, and file size. The recipient uses your message to determine
that the message is truly from you and not one of the destructive e-mail attachment
viruses.
An HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) enabled
mailer allows e-mail messages to be sent with a web page attached that will
appear at the bottom of the e-mail message as if it were a part of the message.
HTML-enabled e-mail also automatically hyperlinks e-mail addresses and URLs
so that the recipient can click on them. HTML-enabled e-mail also enables advertisers
or others to send entire web pages as the e-mail message.
E-Mail Netiquette and
Netspeak
E-mail Etiquette is called netiquette. Like other forms
of etiquette, it is all about respect. When you do not practice e-mail netiquette,
you run a risk of being flamed with one or more angry e-mail messages.
When someone sends a large number (hundreds or more) of e-mail messages to
one person, clogging the recipient's inbox, this is called sending an e-mail
bomb. Flames and e-mail bombs are both examples of poor netiquette. Practicing
good e-mail netiquette includes:
- keeping messages short and to the point
- using good grammar and spelling
- avoid sarcasm and be careful about using humor that
may not be understood
- use uppercase sparingly--IT IS CONSIDERED YELLING
- do not leave the Subject field blank
- always include your name and e-mail address in the
body of your message
Some people use emoticons (also called smilees)
to express their emotions. These are combinations of keyboard characters to
express happiness :-) or sadness :-( or surprise :-o or any number of combinations.
Those who use emoticons want to ensure that their e-mail messages are not misunderstood.
Flames and Flame Wars
An angry e-mail message is a flame. The Internet tends to
be somewhat anonymous and, therefore, creates an atmosphere that tends to encourage
flaming others in e-mail. When two people begin flaming each other, it
is known as a flame war. It is recommended that when angered by an e-mail
message, you wait before responding and cool down. Do not involve yourself in
a flame war.
SMTP and Mail Servers
E-mail utilizes the client-server model utilized on the Internet.
The mailer used to read and send e-mail is the e-mail client, which depends
on e-mail servers that manage the incoming and outgoing e-mail. The servers
might be part of your workplace IT department or your Internet Service Provider.
Mail is sent over the Internet using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
SMTP is one of the oldest Internet protocols and is the universal standard for
moving mail over the Net.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a web protocol
and is also a mail protocol by Web sites that provide Web-based e-mail services
(Yahoo mail or Hotmail). Other protocols for e-mail are Post Office Protocol
3 (POP3) or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), which are the
e-mail protocols utilized by Internet Service Providers. The POP3 or IMAP protocol
used by your service provider are generally selected for you--you do not have
a choice in the protocol provided for you. Most ISPs offer one of these two
services and not both. "POP was designed to support off-line mail management,
when people had to pay for connect time by the hour." POP still enables
users to download e-mail; disconnect, read e-mail and compose answers off-line;
reconnect and send e-mail. POP dominated e-mail throughout the 1990s but is
increasingly being replaced by IMAP. IMAP is an "online" mail management
system. All incoming e-mail stays on the server and the user has access to space
on the server for the creation of folders for filtering and storage. However,
the IMAP e-mail management program can also work off-line or in a disconnected
mode.
Filtering and Routing
When you receive a large percentage of e-mail from
a limited number of people, you might want to consider routing (or directing)
the e-mail from those individuals into folders by filtering, which is
a means of recognizing the messages to be routed by keywords in the subject
field, the e-mail address in the from field, or something in the body of the
message. The disadvantage of filtering and routing is that once the messages
no longer appear in the Inbox, they can be forgotten if you do not move to the
folders to see incoming messages.
Spams
Spams are unsolicited e-mail about subjects that you are not interested in receiving
(political causes, advertisements). In order to prevent being spammed in e-mail,
you could simply delete the messages or filter them and route them to Trash
or another folder. It is not worth the effort to reply to the message and ask
not to be contacted. These accounts are often terminated or abandoned immediately
after mail is sent to you. It is also easy to forge mail headers, so the information
in the From field may not be accurate. Rather, examine the message header for
the full return e-mail address. Send a message to the postmaster of the DNS.
For example, postmaster@aol.com to report abuse from someone who sent abusive
e-mail or Spam from an aol e-mail address.
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