Internet Interests

Email – More powerful than a letter!

Sending out a letter used to be a pretty easy thing to do. You wrote the letter, addressed the envelope, put some postage on it and dropped it in a mailbox. Some days I wonder why email can’t be just as simple.

Today’s email offers much more power than most people either realize or take advantage of. To that end, my column this month will try to explain some of the more popular features of email (and how some of them can easily drive you crazy.) I would like to point out before I begin that not all mail programs support the features discussed below.

FROM – This is usually the person who sent you the email. However, it could also be an email server automated message. For example, delivery/read receipts, broadcast messages, and online form results, are all sent from a computer (mail server) rather than an actual person.

TO – This is who you are sending your email to. In some cases, you may be able to send your message to several people in this space. This is pretty much the same thing as sending out a CC since all the recipients will be able to see who the other recipients were.

SUBJECT – This is your email’s title. You need to be careful in choosing your words for this little message. DON’T LEAVE IT BLANK! An easy way for your message to be ignored is to leave it blank since this is how many email viruses arrive. You wouldn’t drink liquid from an unlabeled bottle and many people won’t open mail if it doesn’t have a SUBJECT.

REPLY – Easily the most popular feature of email. When you REPLY to an email, your message is automatically addressed back to the person who sent you the email you are currently looking at.

CC: - (Carbon or Courtesy Copy) – This feature sends a copy of your message to one or more other people. All of the recipients of your email will be able to see who else received a copy.

BC (or BCC): - (Blind Copy) – This feature sends a copy of your message to one or more other people but unlike a CC message, a BC message will not show anyone who else received a copy. Hence the name, BLIND copy.

REPLY TO ALL – If you received a message that was sent out more than one person, choosing to REPLY TO ALL will send your reply back both the original sender and everyone else who received a copy of the email except those people who received Blind Copies.

DELIVERY RECEIPT – This feature will send you an automated email letting you know when your email was delivered. Unless the recipient chooses to not acknowledge having received your email either by choice or because they set up their email to automatically reject all receipts.

READ RECEIPT – Unlike a DELIVERY RECEIPT, a READ RECEIPT will send you an automated email letting you know when your email is actually opened and looked at. Unless the recipient chooses to not acknowledge having received your email either by choice or because they set up their email to automatically reject all receipts. (If you have setup a Preview Pane or other tool that automatically displays the first few lines of your emails and you have setup automated READ RECEIPTs to be sent back when you open an email, you will automatically send back a READ RECEIPT without actually having looked at the message.)

ATTACHMENTS - An attachment is a file that you send (or receive) along with your email.  Attachments may be a file that you manually choose to send or they may be automated (ex., *.vcf (virtual card file)) business card files that allow you to electronically add yourself to other people's Contacts list.

WARNING - Attachments are the most common method for spreading a virus.  ALWAYS be wary of ANY attachment that you receive.  Treat them as if they were a bomb ready to go off.  If you don't know, or are suspicious of, the Sender AND you don't know what the attachment is... DON'T OPEN IT!!!

INTERNET POSTAGE – There is no such thing as Internet Postage. There are no pending laws to enact any sort of Internet Postage. The USPS is not pressuring Congress to create Internet Postage Stamps at 5 cents apiece. The Internet Postage myth is a hoax that has been circling the Internet for more than 5 years. Yes, it is true that misinformed political candidates have spoken out against a mythical tax proposal believing it to be a real one that they were unfamiliar with but which they still had an opinion on. (Ref: 2000 NY Senatorial Debates)

COURTESY – Email can make you seem better than you really are. (Be sure to read The Email Trap below before setting up any of the following suggestions.)

The Email Trap - Setting up all sorts of automated email options are useful but you must carefully think about what each message is going to really end up doing if follows your instructions. For instance, suppose you set up your office email to automatically forward a copy of your emails to your home office computer. If you forget and do the same thing with your home computer and tell it to forward copies to your work computer, you will quickly find that you can’t receive any new emails because both of your email boxes are filled with copies of the same message being bounced back and forth.

A good tip for preventing this is to be sure to always test any new email “recipes” that you come up right away. If something goes wrong, it is easier to figure out what went wrong now rather than trying to figure it out later when you may have forgotten what you were originally trying to achieve. If possible, try to apply date ranges for your out-of-office type replies and then schedule yourself an appointment to go and confirm that the email has indeed gone back to normal upon your return.

I hope that this has helped answer questions that many of you may have had.

If it doesn't, send me an email.

Respectfully submitted by Steve Duell
SFBA Chapter Webmaster
Send replies to webmaster@sfasis.org