{"id":2823,"date":"2016-04-21T18:49:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T18:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/igotoffer.com\/blog\/?p=2823"},"modified":"2017-10-18T00:41:35","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T00:41:35","slug":"online-postal-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/igotoffer.com\/blog\/online-postal-service","title":{"rendered":"Online Postal Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gmail reigns supreme among email services. However, the case was not always so. For example, many years ago, different email services were available. The following text shows how people viewed email a long time ago. Apparently, the concept of sending and receiving electronic mail was even a difficult to understand concept. How different it is from today, when most people use email automatically!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Online Postal Service<\/span><\/h2>\n

Forget licking envelopes. Here\u2019s how to zap messages to your pals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people go online to talk, and since you can\u2019t hear anyone in cyberspace (not yet, anyway), the way most people \u201ctalk\u201d is through e-mail. Short for electronic mail, e-mail is exactly what it sounds like: letters that you write, send, and read from your computer. E-mail has at least two things to recommend it: it\u2019s fast and cheap.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMessages can be delivered within seconds, so you don\u2019t have to wait a week or two while your letter is being delivered to France and Japan or wherever,\u201d writes Peter Kent, author of The Complete Idiot\u2019s Guide to the Internet (Alpha Books, $19.95). \u201cYou don\u2019t have to worry about time zones, figuring out exactly when your friend or colleague is getting up, to make a call. Also you can respond whenever you want to.\u201d The cost is often cheaper than sending a message by mail, and it\u2019s almost always cheaper than placing a phone call.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like regular mail, e-mail has its own protocols. \u201cThe Internet is a massive global network,\u201d Kent writes, \u201cso you have to be very specific \u2013 sometimes even more specific than you would be in addressing a letter \u2013 in telling the Net where you where you want your message sent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Your address is made up of two parts: your log-in name (whatever name you type in to get online) and your domain\u2019s name (where your computer is located on the Internet). These two segments are separated by an @ sign. Consider the following example: mbrobins@echonyc.com. The first part, mbrobbins, is the domain name. If you\u2019re trying to give somebody this address over the phone, you\u2019d say M.B.Robbins at echo NYC dot com.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Commercial online services or e=mail services work slightly differently. Here\u2019s the rundown of some of the bigger ones:<\/span><\/p>\n

Compuserve:<\/em> Members are assigned numbers. Find addressee\u2019s number, then type number@compuserve.com<\/span><\/p>\n

Prodigy:<\/em> loginname@prodigy.com<\/span><\/p>\n

America Online:<\/em> loginname@aol.com<\/span><\/p>\n

Genie:<\/em> loginname@genie.geis.com<\/span><\/p>\n

Mcimail<\/em>: number@mcimail.com<\/span><\/p>\n

Lost in Cyberspace?<\/span><\/h3>\n

An old-fashioned book may be your best bet. Here comes our favorite:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Internet Directory<\/em>. Eric Braun, Ballantine Books, 1994.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00adSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n