A basic guide to electronic mail (e-mail)
Check Messages
Type of Account |
Examples |
Check with |
| Web-based (usually free) | Mail.com, HotMail, Juno, America On-Line, and many more | Go directly to their web site by clicking on their name at left. |
| Standard Internet (POP3) |
GCN, Internet Alaska, PTINet, Gustavus School, Gustavus Library, and most Internet Service Providers.
Note: For GCN subscribers checking mail from home, see the GCN Setup Page. |
For GCN Users: SquirrelMail For other POP3 users: Mailman Examples: For nborson@gustavus.ak.us, For librarian@gustavus.lib.ak.us |
|
Telnet |
There are a few old machines out there that can only be checked with this tool, but I don't know of any examples. | Telnet - click on the link, then choose connect and enter the name of the host, for example seaknet.alaska.edu |
|
Other May not be accessible from the library, often by design. |
Proprietary systems such as cc:Mail, Notes, or Exchange used by Corporate networks or government agencies including the State of Alaska and the National Park Service | Ask your systems administrator if there is a way to check your mail with one of the three tools above. |
Do Not modify the settings on the public-use computers to check your Internet POP3 mailbox; use mailman instead. This will prevent problems for other patrons and it will keep your mail in your mailbox where other people won't see it and you can retrieve it later.
Privacy Warning
Whichever of the four types you are using, Electronic Mail is not private. Unless it is encrypted (you would know if it were), it can be intercepted and read anywhere between the you and your correspondent. Passwords are sent between your program and the mail server in clear text, where eavesdroppers can intercept and read them. Generally, there is so much traffic on the Internet that a snooper who would care is not likely to intercept your personal messages. But if there is communication you really, really would not want to have public, don't send it via e-mail! Also consider using a password that would not matter greatly if it were intercepted.
Obtaining an E-Mail Account
Most people who do not own their own computer choose to sign up for a free web-based e-mail account. This allows you to easily check your mail from any Internet-connected machine whether it is at a library, an airport, or a friend's house. Often, family members each obtain an individual account using these services even if the household owns a computer. That way, they have their own private e-mailboxes with their own individual addresses. Your messages stay on the service provider's computer instead of getting downloaded to the one you are working at, so they are still available for access from a different computer later.
To sign up for one of these services, simply pick one, go to their web site, and click on the link to register as a new user. You will be asked to answer a series of questions and pick an e-mail address for yourself, and then you will have your own free lifetime e-mail address! It really couldn't be simpler! The hardest part is probably choosing which of the many providers to use. I like Mail.com because it gives you the choice of checking your mail with a web browser or forwarding it to a standard Internet mailbox (POP3 or IMAP). Popular web-based mail providers like HotMail do not give you this option.
You sacrifice some flexibility and functionality by going with web-based e-mail instead of standard Internet mail (POP3). For example, you cannot work off-line, and it is usually harder to work with file attachments using web-based mail services. Most of them impose a size limit on attachments and limit the size of your mailbox. On the other hand, POP3 mailboxes are usually not free (they are available for about $5/month from providers like Hurricane Electric or Pair Networks) and they are harder to work with if you do not have your own computer. For example, you can check your POP3 mailbox from the library using Mailman, but you cannot sort messages into folders or mark them as read. To gain the full benefit of a POP3 mailbox, you need your own computer and a mail program like Outlook, Communicator, or Eudora properly set up for you. If you connect your computer to the Internet, your Internet Service Provider (GCN) will include at least one POP3 mailbox with your account.
Consider E-Mail Forwarding!
No matter what service provider you choose, you will probably end up switching to a different one before you die! If you have a POP3 mailbox from your Internet Service Provider, you may move or switch ISPs or the ISP may go under. If you have a free web-based account you will probably someday get a POP3 mailbox, which has a different address. Making those changes means changing your e-mail address. That can be a major nuisance if you have many e-mail correspondents. You can prevent this headache and give yourself the ultimate in flexibility by signing up for a free lifetime e-mail address. These services now allow you to either store your messages there and view them with a web browser or forward your messages to a mailbox of your choosing (such as the POP3 mailbox provided by your ISP). You change the delivery point as often as you like and your correspondents just keep mailing to your permanent address. You can sign up for this type of service at mail.com or many others. Note that there are forwarding services that will not store your mail; these are less useful.
Example 1: You don't have a computer, so you sign up for a mail.com address, and you check your mail with a web browser from the library or a friend's house. Then you get a computer at home and connect it to the Internet with SEAKnet. You want to take advantage of the benefits of the POP3 mailbox that comes with SEAKnet, so you begin forwarding your mail.com mail to your SEAKnet POP3 mailbox. You set your e-mail address in your mail program to still be your mail.com address. Everyone continues sending messages to your mail.com address and messages from you look like they're from your mail.com address, but you're able to use whatever mail program you choose.
Example 2: (continued from above). You go on an extended trip. Since you're traveling internationally you don't want to lug your desktop computer with you, but you want to be able to check your e-mail. Simply log on to mail.com and tell it to store your messages so you can check them with any web browser, and you have all the benefits of web-based mail. When you get home, start forwarding to your SEAKnet POP3 mailbox again.
Example 3: (continued from above). You move from Gustavus for the winter or maybe permanently. Your SEAKnet account is closed and your SEAKnet POP3 mailbox doesn't work any more. In your new home, you choose a different Internet Service Provider and they give you a different POP3 mailbox. Before you close your SEAKnet account, you tell mail.com to store your messages. After you are set up with your new ISP, you tell mail.com to forward your mail there. You haven't lost any messages that anyone sent you and everyone can continue using the mail.com address they're used to.
Subscribe to Gustavus E-Mailing Lists!
The library's mail server offers an excellent way to keep in touch with Gustavus news and to spread the word if you have something to share. Library patrons should consider subscribing to the patrons list for library news. All Gustavus community members should subscribe to the community news list and send news-worthy announcements to the list at news@gca.gustavus.ak.us
For instructions and a list of the lists, see Electronic Mailing Lists.
To learn more about e-mail and the Internet, check out Microsoft's Internet Tutorial or Learn The Net. See our article on Readable E-Mail for information on how to make sure you send mail in a format that others can read.
