CHAPTER 10
                  USING THE MAIL SYSTEM


INTRODUCTION

The electronic mail system of OSFN can be a very powerful 
service that will keep you in touch with a potentially 
very large group of people.

You can exchange mail with any registered OSFN user, and 
in addition can exchange mail with any user of a computer 
that is connected to any network linked by the worldwide 
network of networks called the Internet.  There are now 
over a million computers on the Internet, so your E-mail 
horizons are certainly very broad.

With that many connected computers, clearly mail 
addressing has to be correct in order to get a message to 
the right person.  The system has evolved over the years, 
and has become quite flexible, and relatively simple and 
easy to use.


A typical address incorporates country codes,network 
codes, institution codes, computer names and user ID's.  
For instance, my Internet address is:
         ab022@osfn.rhilinet.gov

A quick translation:
"ab022" is my user ID,
"osfn" is the name for the OSFN computer
"rhilinet" is the code for the Rhode Island Library
         Network,
"gov" is the code for government.

A message with that address put on the Internet, anywhere 
in the world, will very quickly end up in my mailbox on 
the OSFN computer.  For mail exchanged between OSFN users, 
simpler addressing is possible, and only the user ID (i.e. 
ab022) is required.

For mail between OSFN users, getting the address right is 
trivial, since the user ID's available through the 
Directory Services menu will quickly tell you what is 
right.

In the case of Internet addresses, it is not so simple 
since a comprehensive address directory does not exist.  
Getting the address of a person may involve an exchange of 
letter mail or a telephone call.

If you receive Internet mail, the reply is simple since 
the message will carry the return address of the sender.  
Also, when you originate mail on OSFN, your correct 
Internet address is entered automatically in the From: 
header.

It should be noted that if you send Internet mail with an 
invalid address, at some point it will be determined that 
the address does not exist, and the message will be sent 
back to you with a note indicating where the delivery 
failure occurred in the Internet.


SENDING MAIL

When you want to send mail go to the Post Office menu 
SELECT - Send Mail.  Once chosen, it will lead you through 
the process of creating a mail message, then the step of 
sending it.

First, you will be asked to verify that you want to send 
mail (answer "y").  Then you will be asked for the address 
of the person or persons to receive the message.  Here you 
can reply with one address, or with several addresses with 
a comma separating each.


NOTE: The address can be in the simple OSFN form (e.g., 
aa331) if it is for a local user, or in the full Internet 
form if it is for an external user (e.g. 
joebago@whitehouse.com).


If OSFN ID's were used, the system will respond with the 
full names and ask that you confirm that they are correct.  
In the case of Internet addresses, since OSFN has no 
knowledge of who they are, you will get an indication that 
the addressee is unknown, and you will be asked to confirm 
that this is OK anyway.

Next you will be asked for a message subject.  Here you 
should enter a brief (half a dozen words or so) indication 
of what the message is about, with a minimum of ambiguity.  
For instance use "My holiday plans for March" instead of 
just "Holidays".

That subject line is important because it will be used to 
identify your message subject in the receiver's list of 
mail messages, and it will be automatically used in any 
subsequent reply to your message.

Having finished the preliminaries, you will then be 
presented with an editor screen showing the header of your 
message.

You should be warned that if you have not selected an 
editor (SEE the section on Free-Net Setup), you will be 
using the default editor which is very rudimentary, and a 
pain to use.  You may edit the contents of the header if 
the need for a change of address or subject comes to mind.  
Do not however modify the format of the header, or 
individual line heading (To:, Subject:, Cc:, etc).

Another point that should be made about sending mail is 
that the system does not automatically save you a copy of 
the messages that you send.  If you want to save a copy of 
anything, be sure to enter your user ID in the Cc: portion 
of the message header.

The next step is to move the cursor down to the space 
below the header and to enter the text of the message.  
This portion is free form, and you can use it in any way 
that gets your message across.

The only constraint is that you are using vanilla flavored 
ascii text (standard keyboard characters, 80 characters 
per line).  When the text is finished, exit from the 
editor (control-x,control-c in the case of Chet's Editor).

At this point you have several options.  The most 
important are reading it over and checking it, editing it 
further, canceling it, or sending it.  Be sure that it is 
right before you send it, since there is no way of getting 
it back or canceling it once it has been sent.


RECEIVING MAIL

If mail is waiting for you at any time, you will see the 
note "You have new mail" displayed at the bottom of any 
menu screen.  To read it simply enter "mail" on the 
command line.  Alternately, you can go to the Post Office 
menu and SELECT - Check Your mail.  The mail reader will 
be started, and you will see a list of your mail messages.

The subject of each message will be listed, along with a 
sequential number.  At the left there will also be some 
additional codes:

F for forward,
N for a new, unread message,
R for a message that has been read,
A for a message that has been answered,
D for a message that has been flagged for
    deletion.

"*" character will appear with the currently
    active message; (that is, the message that is
    selected for reading, answering or deleting).

You may step through the mail list by entering
"-" to go backward, or
"=" to go forward.


There are many commands that can be used with the mail 
reader, and it is suggested that you enter the "h" command 
to get the full list displayed.  Some of the more useful 
ones are listed below:

   t - Type out the current mail message
   n - read the Next unread mail message
   v - View the next mail message, read or unread
   b - Back up and read the previous message
   j - Jump to a message and make that message the
         current one
   d - Delete the current message from your mailbox
   r - send a Reply back to the author of the current
         message
   T - like "t" but don't page the message
   N - like "n" but don't page the message
   V - like "v" but don't page the message
   > - save the current message to a file in your
         work directory

In addition, you can always read a particular message by 
entering the number assigned to the message.  Doing this 
will also position the "*" to that message, making it the 
active message.  You may also reposition the "*" to a new 
message without reading the message by using the  "j" 
command.

A COMMONLY ASKED QUESTION IS, "HOW CAN I TRANSFER MAIL TO 
A FILE ON MY OWN COMPUTER?"  THERE ARE TWO POSSIBLE 
APPROACHES.  THE EASIEST IS PROBABLY TO USE THE CAPTURE OR 
LOGGING OPTION THAT IS BUILT IN TO MOST TERMINAL EMULATOR 
PACKAGES.

Position the "*" so the desired message is the active one, 
then turn on the capture option.  Read through the 
message, or group of messages, using the T, N and V 
commands, and finally turn off the capture option.

At a later time, you can edit the capture file off-line to 
separate messages and delete any extraneous material 
between messages.

It should be noted that using the T, N, and V commands 
will avoid having to edit out the page breaks that 
normally would occur with every screen- full of 
information.

The second method is to use the ">" command to save the 
desired messages to files in your work directory.  
Subsequently, you can go to the File Transfer Service menu 
and do a download of the saved files to your computer.  

HINT:  This is described more fully in the Using the
       File System section of this guide.

The "r" command is very useful for doing an immediate 
reply to the active message.  When selected, this will 
immediately set up a draft message to the senders address, 
with the subject heading reading "Re: (the original 
wording of the senders subject)", and will enter the 
original text of the senders message into the editor 
screen.

NOTE:  This will only work if you have previously 
       selected an editor as explained in the 
       Free-Net Setup section.

On the editor screen, each line of the original text will 
be preceded by a ">" character to indicate it is a quote 
from the original message.  Then go through the text and 
delete the lines that need no comment, leaving only what 
is relevant to your reply.

Finally, put your responses below each of the quoted 
sections that remain.  It is a very quick and concise way 
of putting a reply together, and it lets the original 
message sender know what points you are following up on, 
and what your views are on these specific issues.  Once 
the reply message has been prepared, exit from the editor.

At this point you have the same options available that 
were discussed earlier under SENDING A MESSAGE, that is, 
reading over, editing or sending.  Be sure that it is 
right before you send it since there is no getting it back 
once sent.


                 ADDITIONAL MAIL OPTIONS

THE ALIAS FILE

You may send mail to a number of individuals, or to groups 
of individuals frequently, and find that it is 
inconvenient and error prone to have to look up and type 
in the obscure mail addresses required.  The Alias file is 
the answer to your problem.  You may set up your Alias 
file by going to the Post Office menu and SELECTING Edit 
Your Personal Aliases File.

In each entry in this file, you can assign an easy to 
remember "nickname" to the individual or group, a colon, 
and then the exact mail address or addresses that 
correspond.  The address list for a nickname may span 
several lines provided that the first character
of the second and subsequent lines is a space or tab 
character.

When preparing a mail message, you can enter the alias in 
place of the real address, and the system will look up the 
alias then plug in the valid Email addresses 
automatically.


An example of an alias file might look like the following:

sam: aa331
zeke: zabercrombie@csvax.ubc.ca
the_gang: aa331, zabercrombie@csvax.ubc.ca,
qsmythe@watdcx.uwaterloo.ca, 
peterz@madhouse.utcs.utoronto.ca
joe: jdoakes@ncrs.dots.doe.ca

NOTE:  A POINT FOR CAUTION: IF YOU LEAVE A PARTIALLY 
       EDITED ALIAS FILE THAT CONTAINS CORRUPTED 
       INFORMATION, YOU MAY FIND THAT YOU CANNOT SEND 
       MAIL AT ALL.  IF THIS SHOULD HAPPEN, CLEAN UP 
       THE FILE.


YOUR SIGNATURE FILE

Use of your signature file is a quick way to automatically 
add a standard end to every mail message or discussion 
group posting just before it is sent.  To set it up, go to 
the Post Office menu and SELECT - Edit Your Signature 
File.

You will then see an edit screen (you must have an editor 
previously selected), and then you can type in up to four 
lines of ascii text.  Your full name and user ID are 
suggested, along with anything else that is pertinent.  It 
is suggested that you try to keep it short.


FORWARDING MAIL

There may be occasions when you receive a mail message 
which you want to pass on to a third party.  While still 
in the mail reader, you can issue the "f" command.  You 
will be asked for the address or addresses to which the 
message is to be forwarded.

Then automatically, the necessary mail header will be 
prepared with a forwarded mail subject, and the message to 
be forwarded will be incorporated in the body of the new 
message.

You may then send it immediately.  You may also append 
some explanatory notes at the bottom if wish before 
sending by choosing the append option on the option list.  
(See the next section.)


APPENDING NEW TEXT TO A MESSAGE

There may be occasions when you want to quickly add 
something to the end of a mail message that you have 
prepared and read over.  The mail preparation menu, SELECT 
- Append To The Message gives you this option.

When selected, you enter the edit screen of the simple 
mail editor (not the editor that you may have selected 
under setup), and you can put together a message that will 
be added to the end of the current message.


NOTE:  You tell this editor to end the appended text
       with a new line containing only "###" and a
       return.  If it is a short addition, and you
       want it on the end of a message, you can do it
       faster with append than by SELECTING - Edit
       the Message option.


APPENDING A FILE TO A MESSAGE

There may be occasions when you want to add a file from 
your work directory to a mail message.  The file may have 
been uploaded from your PC, it may have come as a file 
transfer from someone else, or it may have originated as a 
mail message that you have put in your work directory.

The first step is to create the mail message header in the 
usual way.  If you want to have some introductory text 
prior to the file, add that to the message body, then exit 
from the editor.  On the mail preparation menu SELECT - 
Append A File To The Message.

You will then be asked for the name of the file.  If you 
give the proper name for a file that exist in your work 
directory, it will then be appended to the message, and 
you will be returned to the mail preparation menu.  At 
this point you can read, edit, append further, or send the 
message.

CAUTION!  FILE APPENDING WILL ONLY WORK FOR A TEXT FILE 
(I.E. DON'T TRY THIS WITH A BINARY FILE).

.