Outlook Express combines the functionality of two Internet applications.
It allows you to (1) send and retrieve e-mail and (2) read and post
messages to Usenet newsgroups. We'll cover the e-mail related
functions of Outlook Express first.
Microsoft is constantly updating Outlook Express 5, especially with
Windows98 Update feature. This means that it is possible for you
to already have a never version of Outlook Express 5 installed on
your computer than the one on the MindSpring CD. If you receive
such a notice during the installation, we recommend that you keep
your currently installed version and not install the MindSpring
version. This will not cause any incompatibilities with the rest
of your MindSpring 4.0 software.
Outlook Express uses a simple interface that makes it easy
for you to navigate. By dividing the window into a series of panes (sub-windows),
you can see everything at once and always know where you are.
The Folder
List Pane
- This is the left most pane which contains your various
mail and news folders .
The Message
List Pane
- This is the upper-right pane which lists all of the
messages or article headers within a folder.
The Preview
Pane
- This is the lower-right pane which displays the actual
message or article content.
You can adjust the size of these different panes by placing
your cursor near the edge of a pane until your cursor becomes a bi-directional
arrow. Then while holding your mouse button, drag the pane to the
desired size.
After connecting to MindSpring, click the E-mail button at
the bottom of the MindSpring 4 window, then click on the E-mail icon
to the left side of the E-Mail window.
Upon launching Outlook Express 5.0 for the first time,
you may be asked a few initial questions.
You may be asked if you want to dial a connection other than your
MindSpring connection when first starting Outlook Express. If you
see such a message, choose
Don't Dial a Connection
from the dialogue box. Outlook Express will then use your current
connection to the Internet. The message won't appear after
that.
In some cases you may be asked if you would like to make Outlook
Express your default e-mail client. Choose
Yes
if you are asked. This means that anytime you click on
a mail link (or anything outside of Outlook Express that requires
an e-mail client), Outlook Express will be opened automatically.
When Outlook Express opens, click on the
Send/Receive
button. Outlook
Express will automatically contact the mail server at MindSpring
to check for new mail and begin downloading it. It will also send
any outgoing mail that you might have waiting.
Note:
Outlook Express may attempt to connect using a connection
other than your MindSpring connection when first checking or sending
mail. If you see such a message, choose
Try to locate the server on the current connection
from the dialogue box. The message won't appear
after that.
If you are asked for your password, remember to enter it in
lower case, unless you have specifically requested a password in uppercase
(the Internet can be very picky). There will be a check box called
Remember Password
. Check this box if you do not want Outlook Express to
ask you for your password each time you log in.
If you have new mail, Outlook Express will automatically open your
Inbox
and display the new messages in the Message List pane.
The
Inbox
is a folder that stores your incoming mail.
When you have finished checking for new e-mail you should
see the contents of your Inbox listed in the Message List pane.
If you don't see any messages, click on the
Inbox
icon in the Folders List (the left
pane).
Columns
Of The Message List
Icon
Description
The ! icon indicates the message priority
The paperclip icon indicates that there is
an attached file with the message.
The flag column displays messages that you
have flagged as important. This is good for reminding you to go
back and read a message.
The open envelope icon indicates that the message
has been read.
The closed envelope icon indicates that the
message has not been read.
The From field contains information about the
message's sender. It also shows you the message's
status.
The Subject field tells you what the message
is about.
The Received field tells you when the message
was sent.
Click on a message you want to read from the Message
List. The contents of the message will appear in the Preview pane
just below the Message List. You may not be able
to see the entire message within the Preview pane
and may need to use the scroll bars on the right and bottom sides
of this pane. Double-clicking on the message in the Message
List will display the message in its own dedicated window.
To delete an unwanted e-mail message click on the message
in the Message List pane and press the delete key.
Or you can drag the unwanted message from the Message
List pane to the
Deleted Items
folder in the Folders List pane.
When a blank message appears, type an e-mail address in the
To:
field. Then type a subject (a brief description of the
e-mail contents) in the
Subject:
field. Type the body of the message in the space below
the
Subject
field. You can move between these fields by clicking with
the mouse or using the tab key.
E-mail should always have a brief subject. The subject
lets the recipient know at a glance what the e-mail is about.
The
CC:
field (Carbon Copy) allows you to send an electronic copy
of the message to a different address. Type the desired e-mail address
in this space.
The
BCC:
field (Blind Carbon Copy) allows you to send an electronic
copy of the message to an e-mail address but does not reveal to
the primary recipients that you have done so. Type the desired address
for the invisible recipient(s) in this space.
You can send to multiple addresses by placing a comma
and space after each e-mail address, then typing the next address.
Click on the
Contact Card icon to open the Outlook Express Address Book.
We will tell you about the Address Book in the
Using the Address Book
section later in this chapter.
Once you have finished creating your message, click the
Send
button to have Outlook Express send your message.
The icons and menus at the top of a new message window control how
the message is sent and received.
The Text Editing Tools
These buttons allow you to
Cut
,
Copy
,
Paste
, and
Undo
text (in case you make a mistake and need to Undo it)
just like in a word processing program.
The Check Button
When you can't remember someone's complete
e-mail address, you can enter a part of the address or nickname,
and then use the
Check Names
button to search for matches. Outlook Express first searches
your address book and if no matches are found, searches the directory
services you have set up to check e-mail addresses.
The Sign Button
The
Sign
button appends a signature to the bottom of your outgoing
message. This signature is a text message that normally contains
your contact information. Any text in the signature file will be
added automatically to the end of an outgoing message. When pressed,
a ribbon will appear on the right of the
To:
field to let you know the signature will be appended.
To modify a signature, go to the main Outlook Express window, choose
Options
from the
Tools
menu, and click the
Signature
tab. Click
New
, type in your signature message, and then click
OK
.
The Attachment Button
The
Attachment
button allows you to attach a file to your outgoing message
.
Select the message to which you want to reply and click the
Reply
button. This
will create a new message with the original sender's address
in the
To:
field and will fill out the
Subject:
field with the word "Re:" and the original
subject.
The
Reply All
button works the
same way as the
Reply
button, except that it will also send a reply to all addresses
that were in the
CC:
field of the original message.
After choosing one of the reply options, the original message
will be quoted below your new message. This quoted text allows you to
refer to the previous e-mail without having to retype. The original
message displayed just below yours is divided by a header showing
when the original message starts. The original message may also
have the
>
symbol before each line so the reader does not confuse
it with your message.
From the
Message
menu, you also have the option to
Forward
e-mail.
Forward
will pass the message on to the address you enter into
the
To:
field, and include the original message below your own,
divided by a header marking the original message.
By default, Outlook Express sends e-mail in HTML format, just like
a web page. This allows you to include pictures, fonts, and other
fancy features normally found on web pages and not e-mail. However
some of your recipients may be using non-HTML compatible e-mail
programs. Outlook Express allows you to send the e-mail as text
only.
There's no need to type the same e-mail address over
and over again. Outlook Express includes an Address Book for frequently used
addresses. Once created, Address Book entries can easily be accessed
easily by clicking on the
New Mail
button, then the Contact Card icon.
The
Properties
window asks you to enter information for the Address Book
entry. You can also
use the tabs across the top to enter home, business and other information.
The
Other
section is there for your convenience and can be used
to keep track of additional information about your contacts.
From the
Personal
tab, use the
Display
drop-down menu to control how the recipients name is displayed
in your Address Book. You can choose either the
Name
field in various formations or the
Nickname
field.
You are required to fill in the
E-Mail Addresses
field. It should contain a full e-mail address in the
form user@domain.com. After entering an e-mail address,
click on the
Add
button. Click
OK
to close the window.
The
Nickname
is a name that can be typed in the
To:
field of a message rather than the person's full
address. This saves you from having to remember or type everyone's
full address each time.Clicking the
New
button (from the
Address Book
window) and selecting
New Group
allows you to define a group of addresses as a single
contact. This is useful for project groups at work, or mailing lists
as you can send e-mail to an entire list of e-mail addresses just
by entering the group name.
To send an e-mail message with a nickname, just type the nickname
of the person (Outlook may automatically complete the nickname before
you finish typing it) in the
To:
field, and press the
Send
button when you are finished typing the message. You can
also click on the
Addresses
button and click once on an address to select it. Then
click on the
Action
button and select
Send Mail
to open
a new message.
When you select a name from the address book, Outlook Express may
place the nickname instead of the full e-mail address in the
To:
field. Outlook Express will still send to the correct address, even
though you will only see the nickname.
Now that you have mastered the art of sending and receiving e-mail,
you may notice that your
Inbox
can get a bit crowded with old e-mail. Outlook Express
allows you to create new mailbox folders for storing and sorting
your mail.
To create a new mailbox folder, click on the
File
menu, and choose
New Folder
. A
Create Folder
window will appear. Choose a name for the new folder and
click
OK
. The new mailbox folder will appear within the Folders
List. Once
created, open the folder by clicking its icon in the Folders
List pane.
Once you have created mailboxes, you can drag an e-mail message
from the
Inbox
and drop it on one of your new mailbox folder icons in
the Folders List.
Mailbox folders can also be placed inside of other folders.
For example, you can create a folder for work and store separate mailbox
folders for e-mail you receive from each of your co-workers. Once
the new mailbox folder has been created, other mailbox folders can
be dragged in and out of it using the icons in the Folders
List. To do this, click and hold down on a mailbox folder, while
dragging and dropping it on another mailbox folder.
Outlook Express can attach a file on your computer to an outgoing
e-mail message. The file can be a program or document of any kind.
Outlook Express will convert the file into an e-mail-ready format
that is automatically attached and sent along with your message.
The conversion process allows you to send any type of file such
as a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, a graphic file or even a
small program. When it reaches its destination, your recipient's
e-mail program will translate the file back to its original format
automatically.
To attach a file to an e-mail message, simply create a new message
and click the
Attach
button. Choose
the file you wish to attach from the standard Windows dialog box
that appears. When you are finished creating your new message, click
the
Send
button. The message and the attachment will be sent to
your intended recipient.
There are a few things to keep in mind when attaching a file:
Keep the size of your attachments
as small as possible. The attached file takes time to send and receive,
and if a large file is transferred, Outlook Express may time out,
resulting in an error. For this reason, anything over one megabyte
should be sent via FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
You should also consider using a program like WinZip (available
at http://www.shareware.com )
to compress your file so it will take less time to transfer. Remember
that the person receiving the file will also need WinZip to decompress
the file.
Remember that you are forcing the recipient to wait,
possibly for quite a while, as the message is downloaded.
Your recipient must have a program that will allow
him or her to read the file you sent.
When you receive an attached file in Outlook Express, you
will see a small paperclip icon next to the message in your Message List pane.
If the attachment is a supported picture file then Outlook Express
will display the file at the bottom of the Preview pane.
Several MindSpring account plans also include additional e-mail addresses.
Others may obtain additional e-mail addresses from MindSpring for
an extra charge. You can check your current usage plan and add a
second mailbox by using your Web browser to visit the MindSpring
Account Management page:
http://www.mindspring.com/acct-mgmt/
Once you've set up a second e-mail address with MindSpring, you
will need to configure Outlook Express to access the new mailbox.
A Microsoft Wizard will launch and walk you through
the settings. You will need to enter the following information:
Your name, or a brief label to describe
the account
Your new e-mail address
Your e-mail server names (this will vary depending
on your type of account).
The incoming server is pop.domain.com
The outgoing server is smtp.domain.comSelect POP3 from the pull down menu. Make sure to replace domain with
the domain that follows the @ symbol in your MindSpring
e-mail address (Example: pop.mindspring.com or pop.pipline.com).
Your Internet Mail
Account Name
This is the first part of your e-mail address.
Do not type in the "@mindspring.com" part
of your address.
The new account will be checked automatically the next
time you select the
Send/Receive
button.
If you have existing e-mail, Outlook Express will not delete
it. In fact, when launching Outlook Express for the first time you
may be asked if you would like to import your old mail. If you are
not asked, the Outlook Import Wizard can be started manually. Using the
Outlook Import Wizard, you can easily import mail messages from
a variety of popular Internet e-mail programs such as Eudora or
an older version of Outlook. This comes in handy if you have already
existing e-mail that you don't want to lose.
To Import Messages:
From the
File
menu, point to
Import
, then select
Messages
.
Select
Eudora
(or another e-mail client you wish to import from) and
select
Next
.
Verify the location of your messages then select
Next
.
Choose
All Folders
to import the messages, then click
Next
. You can also choose
Select Folders
to import messages from one or more folders.
Just because you switch e-mail programs doesn't mean
you lose all your e-mail addresses. You can import address book
contacts from Eudora or other Windows Address Book files (WAB).
To Import Windows Address Book:
From the
File
menu, point to
Import
, and select
Windows Address Book
.
Select the address book or file type you want to import,
then click
Open
.
To Import A Eudora Address Book:
From the
File
menu, point to
Import
, and select
Other Address Book
.
Select the address book or file type you want to import,
then click
Open
.
The Internet Connection Wizard will help walk you through
the steps of setting up your new e-mail identity.
To Create a New Identity
Enter your
Display Name
as you would like it to appear in the
From:
field of all your outgoing e-mail (e.g., Jane Jetson or
Jane at work). Then click
Next
.
Select
I already have an e-mail address that I'd like to use
and enter your e-mail address. The click
Next
.
Select
POP3
for the incoming mail server.
Enter the following information:
Incoming mail (POP3, IMAP, HTTP) server:
pop.mindspring.com
If your e-mail address ends in anything other than @mindspring.com,
then choose from the list below as applicable to your e-mail address:
pop.pipeline.com
pop.sprynet.com
pop.ix.netcom.com
pop.igc.org
pop.gowebway.com
pop.travelin.com
pop.interserv.com
Outgoing mail (SMTP) server:
mail.mindspring.com
If your e-mail address ends in anything other than @mindspring.com,
choose from the list below as applicable to your e-mail address:
smtp.pipeline.com
smtp.sprynet.com
smtp.ix.netcom.com
mail.igc.org
smtp.gowebway.com
smtp.travelin.com
smtp.interserv.com
Click
Next
.
Enter the following information:
Account name:
Enter the first part of your e-mail address before the @doman.com
(e.g., if your address is sue@mindspring.com, you
will enter sue)
yourmailbox@pipeline.com
yourmailbox@sprynet.com
yourmailbox@ix.netcom.com
yourmailbox@igc.org
yourmailbox@gowebway.com
yourmailbox@travelin.com
yourmailbox@interserv.com
Password:
Enter your password
Note:
If you would like Outlook Express to enter your password
automatically when checking for new e-mail, place a check next to
Remember Password
.
Do not place a check next to
Logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA).
Click
Next
. Then click
Finish
.
Note:
If the Internet Connection Wizard detects another e-mail
program, you will have the option of importing e-mail and address
books from the other program. If you would like to import e-mail
and address books from the other e-mail program, select the program
and click
Next
.
In addition to being an e-mail application, Outlook Express
is also a newsgroup reader. A newsgroup is a collection of articles posted
by people to a server. The server may hold thousands of various
newsgroups each with their own topic of discussion. When a message
is posted to a group, it is displayed for everyone else on that
news server to see, much like a public forum. In each newsgroup
you can read articles, post questions, open new avenues for debate,
and give your own opinions. Each newsgroup has its own flavor, culture,
and level of seriousness. MindSpring currently offers over 20,000
newsgroups for your enjoyment.
The messages posted by people are referred to as Articles,
and series of articles that refer to each other are called Threads.
Each article has two parts: a
Header which gives technical information about
the article itself, and a
Body which contains the actual content of the
article.
Newsgroup
subjects are organized using an abbreviation in their names. Some
of the main subject categories for newsgroups are:
comp
Computer science and related topics (Example: comp.programming)
news
Groups concerned with the news network and news software
(Example: news.announce.newsgroups)
rec
Recreational activities, hobbies, the arts (Example: rec.autos.antique)
sci
Scientific research (Example: sci.anthropology)
soc
Social issues (Example: soc.net-people)
talk
Debate on controversial topics (Example: talk.philosophy.humanism)
misc
Everything else (Example: misc.creativity)
alt
The alternative group. This is a place where anyone can create
a topic, and the topics can get pretty strange. There is something
to offend everyone in the alt hierarchy, so tread carefully. (Example: alt.alien.visitors)
mindspring
Only MindSpring customers can see or post to these groups.
They are devoted solely to MindSpring customers and include help
groups, Windows and Mac OS groups, and local groups for discussing
topics of interest in your area.(Example: mindspring.discussion.general)
Because the newsgroups are often unregulated, you may find conversation
in some newsgroups to be offensive. Newsgroup discussions can range
from innocuous G-rated material to extremely explicit subject matter
for adults only. It may be appropriate for parents to review carefully
postings that their children are reading. Please also remember that
not everyone on the Internet is necessarily who they claim to be,
so be wary when agreeing to meet someone you don't know.
Although some newsgroups are monitored by newsgroup moderators,
MindSpring has very little or no control over the topics and discussions
in the newsgroups.
Once you are connected to MindSpring, click the Chat icon
near the bottom of the MindSpring 4 window, then click the
Newsgroups
button near
the left side of the
Chat
window.
Once you have launched Outlook Express, click on the
news
icon in the Folders List, and the
program automatically downloads the list of available newsgroups
to your computer (click
Yes
if asked). Although this process takes several minutes,
you will only need to do it once.
Select
News
in the
Accounts
section and click
Add
(or
Properties
to change an existing account).
On the
General
tab: In the
News Account
field type MindSpring News.
Optionally enter your name, organization, e-mail address, and
reply-to address (for people to reply to you) in the fields below.
One the Server tab: For the
Server name
field enter nntp.domain.com (replacing domain.com with
the last half of your e-mail address following the @ symbol).
Place a check on
This server requires me to log in
.
Enter your primary mailbox name (the part of your e-mail address
proceeding the "@" symbol) for the
Account name
field.
Enter the password you use for that mailbox in the
Password
field and check
Remember password
.
Click
OK
.
Click once on the
news server icon to view the list of available groups. The first
time you do this, the program automatically downloads the list of
available newsgroups to your computer. Although this process takes
several minutes, you should only need to do it once.
When you click on the
server icon to begin using Outlook Express as a newsreader, the
menus will change to reflect the tools used in a newsgroup. If you
need to get back to the e-mail menu items, just click once on your
inbox.
After downloading the list of newsgroups, the full newsgroup
list is displayed. These
are all of the 20,000+ newsgroups that are available. As you
can imagine, these are far too many groups for anyone to manage
reasonably. The goal is to create a shorter list of your favorite
newsgroups for quick access. This process is called Subscribing to
groups.
Subscribing does not mean adding your e-mail address to any lists
or that e-mail will begin coming to you. It is simply a term used
to refer to a smaller list of groups that you intend to frequent.
This way, Outlook Express knows to keep track of articles in those
groups.
Select
Newsgroups
from the
Tools
menu. Scroll down the group list until you come to newsgroups
beginning with "mindspring". These are newsgroups
that have something to do with MindSpring, such as MindSpring-related
announcements and notices about MindSpring services as well as general
discussion groups for MindSpring users.
To subscribe, click on a group to select it and then click
on the
Subscribe
button. A small icon will appear next to the subscribed group
.
Once you have created a list of subscribed groups, use the
tabs at the bottom to change between showing
All
groups (every group MindSpring offers), and your
Subscribed
groups. When you are finished, press
OK
. You will also see the subscribe groups listed below the
news icon in the
Folders
list of the main window.
You can highlight multiple newsgroups by holding down
your ctrl key and selecting the newsgroups.
From the
News groups Subscriptions
window (select
Newsgroups
from the
Tools
menu), you can use the
Display newsgroups which contain
field to look for groups that have a specific word in
their name. For example, typing the word mindspring into
the field will bring up
mindspring.alerts
. Once you've found the newsgroup you're
looking for, you can subscribe to it .
Before you can read the articles in a newsgroup, you need
to retrieve the headers. The header of an article contains important information
including what the article's subject is and who sent the
article. It can also show you how big the article is and when it was
sent to the newsgroup. To retrieve headers, click on the desired
newsgroup in the Folders List. The headers are displayed
in the Message List pane and are organized
into threads. The original messages of a thread are at the top,
and all the posts that were sent in response to that original message
fall underneath it in a hierarchical structure.
Click on a header (from the Message List pane)
to display its message in the Preview pane
below, or double-click on the header to display it in a new window.
Now that you have had a chance to read articles from newsgroups,
you are probably anxious to post your own
message to a newsgroup. To get the hang of the process, try posting
to the
mindspring.test
newsgroup. This group was created specifically for MindSpring
users to post test or practice messages.
How To Post An Article:
Click on the
mindspring.test
newsgroup in your list of subscribed groups.
Click once on the
New Post
button.
When the new message window appears, enter a subject for
the post. In order to entice people to read your article, try to
make the subject interesting and to the point. Type the body of
your message into the bottom pane of the window.
Click the
Send
button when you are ready to post your message. Outlook
Express will go through the process of connecting to MindSpring's
news server and sending your article.
Click once on
mindspring.test
on the left side of the window and select
Refresh
from the
View
menu.
You may need to scroll down the list of headers to find
the header of your first post. You should see your subject. It may be
near the end of the list.
To see the body of your message, click on its header
in the Message List.
You have several options when replying to an article:
If it is a message that is useful
to the group, select
Reply Group
. The message will be sent to the newsgroup for everyone
to read.
The Reply Group Button
If it is useful only to the individual who posted
the article, select
Reply
. The message will be e-mailed directly to that one individual.
The Reply Button
If it is useful to the group, and time sensitive
to the individual who posted it (for example, urgent computer/ relationship/ repair
issues), select
Reply to All
from the
Message
menu. This way the individual gets the helpful message
as quickly as possible and the newsgroup may benefit from your posting.
You can also use the
Forward
button to send a copy of the post to a friend.
The Forward Button
When you are ready to post your response after selecting
the above options, click the
Send
button.
You will, on occasion, see articles that contain file attachments such
as pictures, sounds, spreadsheets, and other types of non-text files.
When a file is attached to an article, you may see parentheses and
numbers like (1/2) or (1/1) at the end of the subject
line. This tells you that the binary file has been split into segments.
Click on the
mindspring.test
newsgroup in the
Folder
list (you must have subscribed to the group first).
Click on the
New Post
button.
Enter a subject for the post. In order to entice people
to read your article, you will want to make the subject interesting
and to the point.
Type the body of your message into the section at the
bottom of the
New Message
window.
Click on the Attachment button (the paperclip) on the
New Message
window, or select
File Attachment
from the
Insert
menu.
Select a file from the dialog box that appears and choose
OK
.
Click on the
Send
button when you are ready to post your message. Outlook
Express will go through the process of connecting to MindSpring's
news server and sending your article.
When you encounter an article that contains an attachment,
you will see the Attachment icon, which looks like a paperclip,
appear in the upper-right corner of the Preview pane.
Clicking on this icon will give you the option to view the attachment
in the Preview pane (when applicable) or to
save the attachment to disk.
Please use caution when receiving a file from someone
you do not know. There is always the possibility of a file containing
a virus, and even the sender may be unaware of it. If you have a
virus detection utility such as Norton Anti Virus, you will want
to scan the binary before using it.
Many people who use the Internet have been doing so for many years.
A general consensus has developed about what is and what is not
socially appropriate. This consensus generally is called Nettiquette.
We've listed a set of common guidelines below. Most are
common sense, but it's still a good idea to review them.
Try to avoid typing in all capital
letters. This is considered the same as shouting. Because you cannot
reflect your tone on the Internet as you can with audible speech,
the way you type (syntax) is very important.
Since Internet communication does not require face
to face contact, it is easy for people to become more verbally aggressive
than usual. Try to conduct yourself as you would in person, treating
others as you would like to be treated yourself.
Being friendly towards others on the Internet will
be rewarded with friendly replies and others will be more inclined
to help you. Everyone can appreciate a friendly person.
E-mail is a very casual method of
communication and does not need to be addressed as formally as a
written letter. Don't be afraid to send a one-sentence
e-mail.
Because of the informality, there is not as much
concern over spelling. Don't be surprised if you get e-mail
with typos and don't worry about correcting others as you
will soon find yourself making many (we all do).
Emoticons are often used to denote the tone
of an e-mail message. For example,
:)
is a smiley-- look at it sideways! A smiley indicates
that a remark is delivered with a humorous or happy intent. For
more information on emoticons, check out
The Unofficial Smiley Guide
. Use your web browser to go to http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_286.html or
see the definition of "emoticon" at http://www.yahoo.com
If you are on a mailing list, try to avoid replying
to a thread with one word such as "Me too!" These
types of replies can add up and everyone on the list has to read
through them. If you have to do so, try to truncate the original
message included in your reply so as not to repeat information too often.
Remember that since e-mail is very informal, you
may not want to use it for sensitive information. It's
easy for someone else to see other's mail (even if by accident).
For sensitive material, you may want to look into a method of encryption or
just use the phone.
If you need to send an attached file to your message,
try to keep it as small as possible since the recipient will have
to take the time to download the message. Anything over a megabyte
is best sent over FTP. Also keep in mind that the recipient needs
to have the appropriate program on their end to view the attached
file.
Most newsgroups provide a FAQ (Frequently
Asked Questions) that explains proper conduct for that particular newsgroup.
We recommend viewing the FAQ before posting to a newsgroup.
With so many people using newsgroups, it's
easy to find yourself in a petty argument that keeps going back
and forth, yet accomplishes little to nothing for the rest of the
people participating. This is referred to as a Flame War.
It's best to avoid these, or at the very least, keep them
on a personal e-mail level so the rest of the group does not have
to read though it.
When entering a newsgroup for the first time, it
is best to lurk. This means to watch quietly
until you feel comfortable with the policies of the newsgroup. This
will help avoid any possible embarrassing events.
Using newsgroups to advertise is considered very
distasteful to others. It's best to advertise only when
solicited. Cross-posting advertisements to multiple newsgroups is
a violation of MindSpring's Terms of Service.
If you want to post an article, but are worried
about making a mistake, try posting a test message to mindspring.test.
This newsgroup is intended for such things.
As with any other aspect of the Internet, try to
be as courteous and respectful as possible. Others will appreciate
it and treat you the same.
