5. MAIL
Mail allows you to send private items to other members. At HOMEBASE,
select Mail by typing M (or 2 if you are using line mode) to look at your mail
items. Mail items are sometimes called messages in this guide.
A screen called MAIL WAITING LIST will appear. The screen will look like this:
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MAIL WAITING LIST (200) Page 1 out of 2
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M 85 Michael Eisner (ME,322) 6/16/92 3 lines thanks for info
M 114 Bob Czech (BMC,939) 6/16/92 8 line going to Holland
M 116.2 Walter D’Costa (Walt,2024) 6/16/92 3 line meeting on tuesday
M 138 Bob Arms (Bob A.,102) 6/17/92 2 lines lunch tomorrow
M 158.1 Jim Whitescarver (Jim,928) 6/17/92 19 lines accomodations
M 189 Ellen Schreihofer (El,109) 6/18/92 5 lines new priorities
M 199 Account Manager (Act,102) 8/18/92 4 lines need billing info
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Next Back Scan View/read Compose/write Reply Accepted Thread Find
Drop Intake Preview Write Use Keys Zip
Next page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase )
ACTION CHOICE> N
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Here you will see a very different set of choices from those HOMEBASE provided. These choices represent EIES® actions such as View, Scan, and Compose.
The text area of the screen is above the menu. MAIL WAITING LIST displays the messages that have arrived since the last time you were on-line. This is called waiting mail because it is waiting for your attention. The LIST choice on the menu always displays the items in their shortest form, referred to in this guide as headers. In this case, a one line header is shown for each message.
If you have more than 8 waiting mail items, type N for Next page to see all your new mail headers.
5.1 THE BASIC ACTION COMMANDS OF EIES®
At any Mail, Conference, Directory, or Notifications screen, these choices are always available.
Next page Back page
If titles or text take up more than one screen, these choices move you forward or backwards.
Scan title View full text/read
These choice numbers vary slightly depending on the screen you are looking at. Scan shows you up to four lines of information about the item. View shows you the full text and accepts the item, moving it into the accepted list. It also sends a notification to the sender that you have received the message they sent.
Compose/write
Moves you into the EIES® scratchpad so you can compose your own comment or mail.
Reply
This also moves you into the EIES® scratchpad to compose a reply to a comment or mail.
list Accepted list Waiting
Items needing your attention are called Waiting. Once you View them, they are called Accepted. With this choice you can switch back and forth between Waiting and Accepted items. List shows you only a one-line header for very quick browsing.
scan Thread
Gathers a list of all items related to a particular item you select.
Find
Locates a particular item when you do not know its number. Searches for
items by author, subject, keyword, or date. Searches both waiting and
accepted items.
Drop item and replies
Removes a particular item and all responses to it from your accepted list. This also prevents any future replies from appearing. This is useful for very busy conferences, you can drop conversations that do not interest you.
The following choices appear only on some EIES® menus and may not always appear with the same menu number. The capital letter for each choice always remains the same. We advise that you select choices with the capital letter rather then the number.
Intake (accept without viewing)
Moves items instantly from waiting to accepted. Intake does not display the text of the item. A notification of receipt is sent to the author of any item you Intake.
Preview (view without accepting)
Sometimes you may not want to remove an item from waiting just yet, perhaps because you want to reply to it soon. Preview lets you see the full text, but does not move the item to accepted.
Write (mail to author)
This is similar to reply. Write sends mail to only the author of an item.
Modify or delete
Changes or erases an item you have already entered. EIES® will ask which item you wish to Modify. The new menu choices will allow you to modify the text, subject, association, and keys, or delete the item.
Use attachment
Some items have attachments such as forms, documents, or programs. Selecting Use attachment will allow you to access the attachment.
personal Keys
Allows you to attach a key word, selected by you, to any item you choose.
Zip
For use with View screens. If you have read the first page of a long text item, and wish to move to the next item without reading any more, select Zip. The item will automatically be accepted.
The MAIL WAITING LIST is your in-box. It displays the messages that have arrived since the last time you were on-line. A list displays items in their shortest form, called headers. A header includes the item number, author, date the item was sent, number of lines in the item, and the subject.
Notice the upper right part of the screen. In the sample screen on page 13 it says Page 1 out of 2. This means that there is more than one screen of waiting mail item headers. If you have more than 8 waiting mail items (one page worth), select Next page to see the rest of your waiting mail headers.
WAITING MAIL OPTIONS
It is possible to move among four different versions of your waiting mail list. This applies to conference comments as well.
List: Displays one line of information
for each item waiting.
Scan: Displays up to four lines of
information about items.
View/read: Displays the full text of items
and moves these items to the accepted
list.
Preview: Displays the full text of items but
does not accept them. They still
remain on the MAIL WAITING LIST.
When you View a message, a notification, stating you received the item, is sent to the author. This does not occur when you Preview the message.
5.2 Reading Mail
Select View/read to read your waiting mail items. EIES® asks you: items to view (#,#-#,m#/c#cc#) (<CR> for all) >
There are several ways to answer this question. You can type particular item numbers separated by commas to view particular pieces of mail:
85,114,116.2,138,158.1,189
The item numbers are located at the far left of the screen. For example, in the following header the mail number is 158:
M 158 Alan Leurck (Al, 980) 8/20/92 L:5 new machine
Or you can type a consecutive range of item numbers, using a hyphen. For instance:
114-138
Or you could type a combination of these two methods:
85,114-138,158.1,189-206
This will show the full text of message number 85, all messages between 114 and 138 (inclusive), message 158.1 (but not message 158), and all messages between 189 and 206.
To view a message and all its replies type the message number followed by two periods:
116..
Or, if you type <CR>, EIES® will display the text of all your waiting mail items.
For example, typing 85 to view mail item number 85 from the Mail Waiting List screen on page 15 resulted in the full text displayed below:
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MAIL WAITING VIEW (220) Item 1 out of 1
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M 85 Mike Eisner (ME,322) 1/17/92 10:52:10 AM 3 lines
KEYS: virtual classroom
TO: I Subject: thanks for info
Thank you for the information on the Virtual Classroom. I look forward to
taking an online class. I plan to recommend it to some colleagues also.
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Next Back Scan Waiting Compose/write Reply Accepted Thread Find
Drop Zip Preview Use Keys View/read
Next page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase )
ACTION CHOICE> N
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If a mail item is more then one screen long, <<<_%>>> will appear in the lower left part of the text area listing the percentage of the item you have read so far. Too see the rest of the item, select Next page.
Once you have viewed a mail item it is automatically moved to your accepted list and will no longer appear as waiting mail. If you wish to see a list of your accepted items select list Accepted mail. You can perform the same actions on your accepted mail as you do for your waiting mail.
5.3 SCANNING MAIL
If you do not wish to view the full text of your waiting mail, you may wish to quickly scan the titles of the items instead. A title displays up to four lines of information about an item.
To scan your mail items make sure you are at the list Waiting mail or the list Accepted mail screen. If you have no waiting mail item please select list Accepted mail. Then select Scan title.
When EIES® asks: items to get scan info for (#,#,#)(<CR> for all)> type the number of the particular item you wish to see. Typing a <CR> by itself will display the titles of all currently waiting or accepted items. Enter the number of any one of the items on your list. A screen like this will appear:
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MAIL ACCEPTED SCAN (210) Page 1 out of 1
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M 114.2 Tanmay Kumar (tommy,2628) 4/ 7/89 12:04:54 AM 4 lines
TO: I,Jim,Srini KEYS: thanks for lunch
Subject: Lunch was fun
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Next Back View/read Accepted Compose/write Reply Waiting Thread
Find Drop Modify Use Keys
Next Page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase)
ACTION CHOICE>N
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5.4 A CLOSER LOOK AT A SINGLE TITLE:
M 85 Stuart Little (Mouse,1415) 1/16/91 11:23:46 AM 34 lines
Modified on 2/20/91 11:45:06 AM by Stuart Little (Mouse, 1415)
KEYS: Boat ride/this afternoon/sailing/excursions A: M82, c601cc64
TO: Harriet, Margalo Subject: Meet me by the Riverside
5.5 WRITING MAIL
If you wish to write a message about a new topic select Compose/write. If you wish to respond to a message someone has sent to you select Reply (see section 5.9 for more information on reply).
When you select Compose the EIES® scratchpad will appear on your monitor. It looks like this:
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ScratchPad
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1?
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+ end/send :: print formatted << insert mode on * delete line
- quit :- print unformatted > insert mode off :#-# print range
? help /old/new change text < inset line =# go to line #
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Please go ahead and type a mail item. You need not enter a <CR> after every line. EIES® does this for you automatically. Notice as you type that each line is numbered on the left-hand side of the monitor. This number helps you find your place in the text.
Type a <CR> only at the end of paragraphs.
Here’s a sample of what your screen might look like:
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ScratchPad
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1? I’m glad to hear that the information was helpful. I have not
2? had the opportunity to take a Virtual Classroom course, but I
3? hope to do so soon. I understand that most students do very
4? well in VC courses. Keep in touch.
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+ end/send :: print formatted << insert mode on * delete line
- quit :- print unformatted > insert mode off :#-# print range
? help /old/new change text < inset line =# go to line #
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5.6 EDITING WHAT YOU’VE TYPED
At the bottom of the screen are commands to edit what you’ve typed. Don’t forget a carriage return <CR> after each command. Most of these commands use the line numbers at the left of the screen.
For example, to add a new line before line 4 of your message type = 4 to go to line 4. Then type: <4
To change the word glad to delighted on line 1 type: /glad/delighted/1
To delete lines 6 and 7, type: *6-7 To display lines 5 through 20 on the screen, type: :5-20
To display the contents of the scratchpad as it will appear to the reader, type: ::
To display the contents of each line in the scratchpad type: :-
Type ?compose for a more complete description of editing options.
Note: These commands work for the EIES® line editor. See section 8.8 for other available editors.
5.7 SENDING MAIL
After you have finished composing your mail item, type a + on a line by itself. Then you will be asked the following questions:
EIES® Question Type in Response
Attachments (Y/N) > Y if you have a computer file, form, EIES®
item, or long text document to add to your
message. If you don’t, type N. For more
information on Attachments see section 9.
Members to send to > Type the name or number of the person to
whom you would like to send the mail (for
example, John or 110).
Subject > The title or subject matter. Type <CR>
if you do not want to include a subject.
Associated Items (n#,m#,c#cc#) > Any items you wish to associate with your
mail item. M408 would associate your
item with mail number 408; C600CC123
would associate your item with comment
number 123 in conference 600. Type <CR>
to leave no associations.
Key Words (/phrase/phrase/) > Words or phrases that might make it easier
to find this particular mail item later. If
you have no keywords type <CR>.
Use Normal Signature (Y/N) > Y if you wish to have your name to appear
in the mail header. N will send the mail
item anonymously.
OK to send (Y/N)> Y if you want to go ahead and send the
mail. N if you do not want to send it.
When you have answered the above questions, you will be told that the item is being sent, and a number will be assigned to it.
EIES® now sends the message to the member(s) you specified and gives it a number. A notification will automatically be sent to you when the item is received. The item is preserved in the system as an Accepted item. You may see this message again, simply by asking for it by the number it was assigned. If you later decide to send the message to another member, you can use the +copy command (see Appendix E).
5.8 SUBJECT VS. KEY WORDS
The subject is normally used to give a title to an item. Key words are important topics that are discussed in the text. For example, Moby Dick could be the subject of an item, and whale could be the key word. Key words help you keep track of mail or conference comments. When you or anyone else enters a new item, mail, or conference comment, the system prompts for a key word. Later, you can use the Find command to locate items with this key word.
5.9 Reply
If you wish to respond to mail that someone has sent to you, select Reply. EIES®will ask: Enter item number (#/m#/c#cc##/<CR> for current item)>. Type the number of the item you wish to reply to. If you press only <CR> the item which you are currently viewing will be selected. Type your reply in the scratchpad and type a + on a line by itself when you’re finished. EIES® will ask you if you have any attachments, then EIES® will automatically fill in the name of the members to send to, subject, associated items, and keywords. Press <CR> if you wish to leave them the same as those of the item you are replying to; otherwise, type new ones. Your reply will be automatically numbered to associate it with the original item. For example, if you replied to mail item M658, the reply would be given number M658.1.
5.10 Finding User Numbers and Nicknames
If you are unsure of a member’s user number or nickname, you can enter part of their name. For example, if you want to send mail to James Miller you can enter Jam or JM. EIES® will search all the members and display any members whose name begins with Jam or whose initials are JM. EIES® will again ask Members to send to> select the correct user number or nickname from the list.
If the user to whom you are trying to send mail does not appear on the list of matches try some other combination of letters such as Jim. If you are still unable to find the member you are looking for, try searching through the EIES® member directory (see section 8).
5.11 Reading Accepted (old) Mail
Once you have accepted mail with View/read or Intake, that item is moved to your accepted mail. You can switch back and forth between your waiting (new) and accepted (old) items using the list Accepted and list Waiting choices. Any mail item that you author is stored as accepted mail also. If you wish to access an item that has been accepted, select list Accepted mail. This will display the headers of mail that you have accepted or mail that you authored. The list displays the most recent items first. You can scan and view these items as you would with Waiting mail.
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MAIL ACCEPTED LIST (250) Page 1 out of 3
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M 2457 James Whitescarver (Jim, 982) 3/16/92 4 lines test
M 2430.2 Bob Arms (Bob A., 102) 3/15/92 12 lines Starting to learn
M 2286.1 Ellen Schreihofer( El,109) 3/15/92 3 lines 2 pm is ok to meet
M 2331 Tanmay Kumar (tommy, 2628) 3/15/92 10 lines applause
M 2286 Roxanne Hiltz (Roxanne, 120) 3/14/92 8 lines 2 pm is ok to meet
M 2280 Sreenivas Reddy (srini,2231) 3/14/92 3 lines
M 2242.2 Jim Whitesvarver (jim,982) 3/14/92 2 lines visitor needs a demo
M 2242.1.1 Eileen Michie (I,1240) 3/14/92 4 lines visitor neeeds a demo
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Next Back Scan View/read Compose/write Reply Waiting Thread Find
Drop Modify Personal Use Keys Zip
Next page ( ? help, - escape, ++ homebase )
ACTION CHOICE> N
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5.12 INTERNET MAIL
Internet is a large computer network which links together many organizations around the world. Internet is made up of many smaller networks including BITNET, NSFnet, and CSnet. Internet mail is sent using an address. All Internet addresses follow the same basic format:
loginId@host.site.domain.
Host is the name of the machine an account is on, site is the location of the host computer, and domain is a three letter name which describes the type of organization.
Sending Internet Mail
EIES® users can send mail to people on Internet. To do so you must first obtain the Internet address of the person to whom you wish to send mail. Then follow the Starting Guide instructions for sending mail up to the point where you are asked for the Members to send to. At this point enter the Internet address.
For example, if you were sending Internet mail to John Doe on a machine named Pluto at Jersey College the address would look like this:
Members to send to > john@pluto.rutgers.edu
You may send the same mail item to a number of different Internet addresses and EIES® users by seperating the names and addresses by commas.
NOTE: If you are sending mail to BITNET users you must end the address with .bitnet. For example:
Members to send to > smith@csvax.bitnet
Internet does not give a confirmation that mail items have been accepted, so you will not receive a notification that the Internet mail item has been received.
Receiving Internet Mail
If you wish to have someone send Internet mail to your EIES® account, you first need to find out your address. Your Internet address depends upon the host computer you sign on to and your method of accessing EIES®. You can get this information from your account manager. Your EIES® login id would be the first part of the address, followed by the host computer address. For example, to send Internet mail to Mary Jones on the EIES® system at NJIT the address would look like this:
mary@eies2.njit.edu
To receive Internet mail that has been sent to your EIES® account, type +getmail at any EIES® prompt. Later, type ++;m to see the mail. It may take several minutes for your Internet mail to appear on your MAIL WAITING LIST screen.
If you would like your Internet mail to be delivered to you automatically you can set you user options to do so. At HOMEBASE select Directory. You will now be at the DIRECTORY SELECTION screen. Select Your own settings, then type U to select set User options. Now select set User options. Then select Unix. This is a toggle switch for Internet mail. A toggle switch is like a light bulb. Once you turn it on it stays on until you turn it off. When you select Unix EIES® will tell you the status of your Internet mail. To set it to on, just press return. This can also be done at the WELCOME screen.
Once you receive Internet mail on your EIES® account, it is treated like any other EIES® mail item with a few exceptions. You may reply to it, scan it, view it; however, you will not be able to search for the item by author name.