Introduction to e-mail:

Electronic mail (e-mail) lets you send messages to other Victoria Telecommunity Network members, and to people anywhere in the world, as long as they have an e-mail address. You can include text that you have typed and you can also attach(*) other files such as graphic images, word processor or spreadsheet files.


E-mail Topics:


What does the address mean?

A basic understanding of Internet email address will make it easier to comprehend and remember the ones you encounter. Addresses often give some information about the user, provided you know how to interpret it.

E-mail addresses usually look like this:

rcurrie@computer.ns.ca
The first section, before the @, is the username, (sometimes called a userID, or user ID) of the person. On Victoria Telecommunity Network, usernames are a series of numbers and letters, like aa019. On other systems, the userID may be some form of the person's name - for example, a user named Ned Pointsman might have a username npointsman.

The middle section of the address is the @ (at) symbol. Think of an address as describing someone at someplace.

The third section is the site address, the location of the user account. This is usually a series of words or abbreviations, separated by periods. On Victoria Telecommunity Network, this section of the name is victoria.tc.ca. Each item is called a domain. Reading from right to left, each successive domain is more specific than the previous one. The last item is the top level domain name. Sometimes this is a country code. ca stands for Canada. If this address were in England, it would end with uk, for United Kingdom. This can also indicate the type of site such as edu (educational), com (commercial), net (network) etc...

To the left are any mid-level domain names, which narrow down the location. A site may have a number of mid-level domain names, or none at all. Finally, is the machine name, the name of the computer being used to service the account.

In the United States, and sometimes in other countries, a different sort of addressing is often used. Instead of a top-level domain of .us, American addresses often use one of several top-level domains describing the type of organization running the account.

Examples of US domain names:


What if my message doesn't get through?

E-mail addresses have to be entered exactly. A mistake will mean that the message will be returned to you as undeliverable, in the same way as the post office returns mail which cannot be delivered. This is sometimes known as having your mail "bounced." Mail is often returned as undeliverable due to a mistake in the address, or because of a technical problem in the network. Check the address and try sending the message again.

How do I find someone's address?

While there are services available on the Internet to help you find addresses, there is nothing like the phone company's directory assistance. The best way to find someone's e-mail address is to phone or write them. If you have a message which someone has sent you, it will include the sender's e-mail address, so you can reply to it.

Victoria Telecommunity Network has a search capability, allowing you to look up other Victoria Telecommunity Network users and find their addresses. This function is on the "CSuite Services Page" or can be accessed from anywhere with [go people].


How to forward e-mail

It's easy to forward e-mail to another Internet address. Use the shortcut command [go forward].

To 'un-forward' your mail use the same procedure but instead of specifying another address enter 'none' (without the quotes).

And now you are ready to learn the basics of the PINE Email program on Victoria Telecommunity Network. How do I send and read mail?


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