Email addresses
Types
- mailbox: messages can be:
- read and sent using your web browser at webmail.*.org, and
- downloaded from *.org via POP3 with optional SSL secure connection.
- mail redirect or group: incoming email is redirected automatically to other email addresses.
- auto-responder: incoming email is sent a prepared reply (avoid this).
- alias: behaves the same as another address.
Limits
- We can have up to 10 addresses of each type (above), except we can have an unlimited number of alias addresses.
- Each address can be any combination of types.
- We do not have an SMTP server to send email from your computer, but usually any
from
address can be specified.
- All changes (add and remove addresses, and change what they do) are done only by the email address administrator.
Be careful
- No filtering is done on incoming email, so anyone can send email to addresses of those types;
spam and viruses are not removed.
- To avoid receiving spam, don't put addresses on the web; instead, put a link to a web page for more information.
(Addresses on paper are safer, because they can't be collected by spammers automatically.)
- Don't report spam received via redirect unless the original email destination won't be blamed as the spam source.
- When email is redirected to an address that rejects the email, that address is included in the bounce message to the "from" address.
- Read how you receive spam and computer viruses,
and considerations when writing email.
Software-managed Email Lists
- Email lists can handle thousands of addresses when managed
by software such as Mailman.
- You can require messages be approved before being posted.
- You can set topics, key words appearing in subject lines, that list members can use to select which email to receive.
- You can allow people to add and remove their own address to/from the list.
- An authorized person configures the list, maintains the member list, and approves/denies message posts.
- Read about email list privacy issues.
This page was created by David Cohen and last changed 2006 November 21.