Emails from Heaven

There was a lot of hype when electronic mail was introduced. Women everywhere where shattered when they discovered it was a form of paperless communication NOT a new plug in robot-man who would do the washing up and put the toilet seat down. Despite this early setback electronic mail has entrenched itself in modern life.

1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
Luckily gleaning is one of my specialties. Email address's are made up of a username and a domain name and, with a bit of www.knowledge, we can identify what type of domain it is.

We can usually tell if the domain name is a common free online host for example:
bullyboy_de_la_boss@yahoo.com

Or if it is attached to a Government domain for example the now redundant:
jdellabosca@nsw.gov.au

Or if it is attached to a business web site:
jdellabosca@jdellabosca_conflict_resolution_mediation.com

Or if it from an educational institution:
jdellabosca@expensive_lessons.edu.au

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
I use the cc, or carbon copy, when I want to include people who I want to be aware of the information I am sending, but who are not directly involved, for instance:

I recently received an email invitation from a friend, front row members tickets at State of Origin 1 with free food and drink. When I replied in the affirmative I ensured I included the original text and cc'd my younger brother. He was not invited but I wanted him to be aware that I was going to be there, in the front row, members section, drinking and eating for free.

Bcc, or blind carbon copy, is a double edged sword. Its strong point is privacy protection but it is commonly used to betray personal confidentiality. Other than situations when you want to keep the people on a mail list from knowing who else is in the group I can think of few other occasions when it would be appropriate to bcc people, as it is akin to having a phone conversation on speaker when one party is unaware there is a group listening. I think the most common use for this function is as a subversive way of "dobbing" people in.

In my opinion, next to the Bible and Department Store Underwear Catalogues, the reply all button is one of the most inappropriately used things on the planet. In my work environment their is a culture of poor netiquette. It is commonplace for someone to send an email invitation, that requires a response, to a large group. Instead of replying to the sender only, the recipients reply to all. I get 50 banal emails, invariably written in all lower case, variously confirming or excusing their attendance at said event. The reply-all button should only be used when you have information that affects ALL or MOST of the people on the recipient list.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
Tip for new players...I have learnt the hard way that some of my male friends do not open attachments if the name doesn't appeal to them. I have overcome this challenge by renaming the attachment "sexy", or something similar, prior to sending it.

You have to be sure that the recipient has the software to be able to open the file. These days you are pretty safe with word and acrobat documents, but some audio and video files require specific software to open. As spam keeps reminding us, size is important, you don't want to send files that take too long to download, saving files in the correct format (for example if appropriate as a .gif instead of a .bmp) and using compression if necessary will make life a little easier.

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
I have anti-spam software which means that I am not up to date on the latest advances in personal augmentation or the current price of Viagra. I have filters set up that direct emails from certain sources into certain folders, and have a couple of email addresses blocked.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I have many folders, I am a folderphile, if I get two or more email's on a particular subject they earn themselves a new folder, or a new sub-folder, or occasionally a sub-sub folder.