is short for

electronic mail. Sending and receiving e-mail, if you have access to the internet, is extremely simple. Millions of people do it every day and all your messages are sent as far round the world as you like for the cost of a telephone call to your 'internet access provider'. When you sign up with an access provider you get an e-mail address which looks something like:
santa@npole.com
primeminister@downingstreet.gov
noddy@toytown.co.uk
Not everyone's address looks as simple as these, and some, from Compuserve, are just a string of numbers.
If you're new to e-mail, here are a few pointers to help you get started:
Where your e-mail program has 'TO' and a blank line, you must fill in the address of the person you want to mail. You can put more than one address if you want the message to go to a number of people. Usually you can separate addresses with a space. The address must be exactly accurate with big & small letters, dots, lines and squiggles exactly where they should be, and no extra spaces. If you make a mistake your e-mail will eventually be returned by the internet with a message saying it couldn't be delivered.
Next is usually the subject - you can call your e-mail anything you like.
Finally you type your message in the large blank space.
TIPS & HINTS FOR WRITING AN E-MAIL
If you try telling a funny story in an e-mail you'll soon realise that there are some things you can't say very well in this way. You can't change your tone of voice, shrug your shoulders, raise an eyebrow or clap your hand to your forehead for example. Of course people who write books manage, but we're not all clever enough with words to be authors. We also tend to write e-mails quickly. As a result there are lots of misunderstandings between senders and receivers of e-mails. Just writing a very short mail can be mistaken for rudeness or anger.
One way of getting round this problem is by using 'emoticons', also known as 'smileys'. A smiley is a little picture created with a few keyboard strokes of a smiling face turned on its side like this :-)
Here are some more:
:-( frown
;-) wink
:-o surprise
They are used to mean 'I'm joking', or 'I'm sad' etc.
It's always best to be polite in e-mails, especially when writing to people who aren't your personal friends.
Always read over your message to make sure it makes sense and the spelling's OK before you send it.
Don't write anything you want to be private - that's not guaranteed.
Don't write anything you might regret later; if you're angry about something cool off first and reply later. If someone sends you an angry e-mail ('a flame'), don't reply in a similar way. Don't be dragged into e-mail fights.
ATTACHING & RECEIVING FILES WITH E-MAILS
You can usually attach a file by clicking a drop-down menu called insert and choosing 'file'. Then you'll have to find the file you want to attach. It can be text or a picture but always remember that the person you're sending it to won't be able to see it if their computer isn't whizzy enough. If you're sending pictures you'll probably need to tell the e-mail program to use 'MIME encoding'. There'll be an option somewhere that lets you do this.
When you receive an attached file, your e-mail program will probably do any decoding that's needed.
Now it's time for you to try an e-mail. Click on the 'send a mail' link below to have a go.

Back to mess..........Forward to send mail
Last Updated: May 19th, 1999