DIALUP? - KEEP HUGE E-MAILS FROM BRINGING YOU DOWN

If you use dialup to collect your e-mail and you want to stop large attachments from getting to your account, here are some solutions:

Thanks to Rob, one of our technical support gurus, for this article.

DOMAIN NAME OPTIONS - HOST IT, PARK IT, GRIP IT, FORWARD IT, OR LEAVE YOUR CARD ON IT

You've got some nifty new options now. Apart from the normal domain "hosting," you can now park it, grip it, forward it, or put up your business card on it.

All of the options below are available through the Helpdesk under your account. Check it out by logging into the Helpdesk, selecting "Account Manager," and then clicking on the "Hosts" tab.

Host It

"Hosting" is the option with which most people are familiar. You "point" your domain name at the place in your account where your website resides. You get web statistics with your domain and you can accept e-mail using it. Someone typing your domain into the address bar of their browser will get your website.

Of course, there is a fee attached to it as well--$4.95 for each one pointed somewhere (even if all your domain names point at that same somewhere).

Park It

Most people are also familiar with this concept. You buy a domain name but don't do anything with it. In other words, you've reserved it but haven't pointed it anywhere.

Someone typing your domain into the address bar of their browser will get an error message.

No services, such as hosting, web stats, or e-mail are available for parked domains.

Grip It

We're not sure why this service is called "gripping" but it is. If you "grip" your domain name, you can point it to an URL, which will load in the main frame of a framed page. So, if someone types your domain name into the address bar of their browser, your browser will load a framed page--one frame of which will have a height of zero and another of full height--with the URL you've specified loading in the visible (i.e. non-zero height) frame.

Why do this? Well, this is very similar to domain forwarding (discussed below) but it allows you to load the URL you've specified into a browser window with the gripped address. In other words, the domain name you've gripped appears in the address bar of the browser but the loaded page is another.

No services, such as hosting, web stats, or e-mail are available for gripped domains.

Forward It

This is very similar to gripping but, instead of loading another URL into a frame, the browser is redirected to another domain name. For example, if you owned the domain name "widgets.com" and "low-cost-widgets.com", you could use "widgets.com" as your main domain name but forward anyone looking for "low-cost-widgets.com" to "widgets.com."

No services, such as hosting, web stats, or e-mail are available for forwarded domains.

Put a Business Card on It

This option has the appearance of "almost" web hosting. When someone types a "business card" domain name into the address bar of their browser, a page will display in the browser window. The page will contain a limited amount of pre-defined information. On Islandnet.com, business card pages can have the following information:

• Company Name
• Your Name
• Your Title
• Three lines for your address
• Two lines for your phone number
• Your e-mail address (cannot be related to the domain name)

Presto! It may not be a website but at least people will know your company name, who you are, and how to contact you.

No services, such as hosting, web stats, or e-mail are available for "business card" domains.

NETIQUETTE - HOW TO BE A NOT RUDE DUDE OR DUDETTE

Actually, the "all caps is shouting rule" is fairly well known. Here are a few more netiquette tidbits that we at Islandnet generally try to live by:

Unsolicited E-mails (SPAM) - Don't Send 'Em

If you've been a Islandnet.com customer for a while, maybe the header above caused an involuntary chuckle. That's because we can be downright belligerent (in a nice way) about this issue. This isn't so much "netiquete" as it is a rule for survival, particularly if you have an Islandnet account.

Of course, we don't mean you can't send someone a friendly, "Hey, I love your site. Can I link to it?" type of e-mail. On the other hand if your e-mail ends with "I've got this great deal on Viagra. Want some?" or something along those lines, you'll probably get to know our nice but belligerent side.

Click here if you'd like to read our SPAM FAQs.

Use Text-only E-mail if You Can

Okay, we'll admit text-only e-mail messages aren't as "purdy" as HTML e-mails. Flowers 'n cute bunnies 'n pictures are nice. We like to look at 'em too. (Check out Cute Overload elsewhere in this newsletter).

We also admit there are times when sending a picture is necessary. But you can attach an image, rather than including it in the e-mail message.

HTML-based e-mails include lots of unnecessary code with the message. You don't see the code but it's there. Here's what an HTML e-mail might look like when you view the source code:

Here's what the above code said:

Not only did the above e-mail use HTML, it was entirely made up of images. Sure, it was "purdy" but it was also huge, compared to its size in text only.

Yes, we're particularly sensitive to this issue because we provide the bandwidth. We get charged for it and so we like to be efficient.

And, yes, one HTML e-mail doesn't require lots of bandwidth. But think of millions of e-mails, nay billions of 'em, and you'll get our drift. It adds up and if everyone uses HTML, bandwidth quickly becomes an issue.

Check your, ahem--Attachments

It's the day after Christmas and you're dying to share photos of your loved ones opening presents, captured for posterity in various states of Christmas morning rapture. So, you snap your pics, hurriedly download 'em from your spanking new 6.3 terra-pixel camera, and fire 'em off your relatives evenly distributed all over the globe. You then sit back, sip on some mulled cider, and wait for the appreciation to pour into your inbox.

What follows is less than appreciation. Your inbox fills up with various bounce messages, complaints, and unusual characters like "!()@)#@&#{@@#*(@)$#()@(#!!!!!!." It turns out you attached your 6.3 terra-pixel photos and sent them without resizing or optimizing for sending via e-mail. What messages didn't bounce in from the recipient's e-mail box because they were too big, filled the recipients e-mail box and everything after that bounced.

To ensure post-picture transmission popularity, make sure you've resized your photos and optimized them for transmission to your loved ones and anyone else. We've covered this particular topic before. Here's a link to that article.

When Replying - Do it in an orderly fashion

Don't 'cha hate it when people talk in code. You understand bits of the conversation but the entire meaning is lost to you.

When replying to e-mails and newsgroup postings, make sure you don't do the same. That is, when you reply to a message make sure your response is placed where it will make the most sense. If you're responding to someone's comment, make sure your reply follows the original comment so that anyone else reading it will easily understand your reply in its context.

Where there is a comment and a reply only, this may not seem like a big deal and maybe it isn't. In the context of a long e-mail or newsgroup conversation, on the other hand, continually posting a response at the top of the message will mean others will have to jump all over the place to understand what points are being made. If you haven't been "in on" the conversation from the beginning, it'll be hard to understand.

Trim Your Quotes

When you reply to an e-mail and you need to respond to one or more of the original comments, delete anything that isn't needed. So, if you're responding to an e-mail from aunt Maida about an upcoming dinner she's planning, you can respond to the dinner part and include those instructions she gave on what to bring. But if you don't feel like chatting about her Young and Restless comments, cut them out of your reply before you hit the "send" button.

Use "Emoticons" To Tell People what You Intend

Maybe using :-), ;-), :-o, or :-p seems silly to you. Or, maybe you're so good with language that your messages are never misunderstood. ;-)

If you're like the rest of us, though, sometimes you need a little help. To ensure someone knows you're joking or you intended no disrespect or harm, a smiley can help.

Of course, you could always write--"joking" or "I mean no disrespect or harm"--but maybe a smile is better, even if it is a virtual version.

Netiquette Links

Want to learn more? Here are some links to help you manage your online manners:

• Netiquette FAQ
• What exactly is "Netiquette?"
• RFC 1855 Netiquette Guidelines
• Netiquette according to Microsoft
• Wickpedia Netiquette Definition
• How to keep out of trouble with your e-mail
• Japanese Smileys