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.

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.

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.

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.