(M,4,1) (M,14,4,2)
>>>ABOUT THE POST OFFICE<<<

The post office is the area of FreePort set aside for sending and
receiving electronic mail (Email). Every user with a FreePort ID and
password has a personal electronic mailbox on the FreePort; any
registered user on FreePort may send Email to any other user on the
system.  Any registered user may also send and receive mail via
the Internet and Bitnet networks to other computers (see below).
Visitors to the system who do not yet have ID's may neither
send nor receive mail.

>>>>DISCOVERING THAT YOU HAVE MAIL<<<<
When messages arrive in your mailbox, a "new mail has arrived!" note
will be flashed on your screen.  If you are already in the post office, the
message will appear when you either leave the post office or use the
"w" command  to write a fresh version of youR mail list.  If you are not
currently logged on, you will receive this note immediately upon
logging on. (NOTE: An odd side effect of this function is that any user
receives "new mail !" upon his or her first login --whether or not
there is really mail there. It does not recur.)

>>>>CHECKING YOUR MAIL<<<<
To check your mail, you may take either of two routes: you may 1)
proceed to the post office by choosing "post office" from FreePort's
main menu, then choose "check mail" from the post office menu; or 2)
use the shortcut "mail" at any arrow prompt.. Either will show you a
list of messages waiting to be read in your mailbox. You can then
choose by number any message you wish to read.

When you check your mail for the first time, you will see a list of one
or more message subjects numbered from one to however many
messages you have.  One of them will have an asterisk next to its
number; this is the "current" message, and any actions you take from
the menu at the bottom of the screen will act on this current message.
Messages are selected for reading by typing the message number.
As you read messages they will acquire the letter "R" to the left of their
numbers. If you choose to delete a message, it will show the letter "D"
to the left of its number unless an asterisk is already occupying the
space.  As long as a message displays "D", it may be undeleted (with a
"U") and restored to its full glory. Both the "D" and the message will
disappear forever as soon as you exit the post office (or use the "w"
command to write out a fresh mail list).

>>>>SENDING FreePort MAIL<<<<
You may send electronic mail to any FreePort user for whom you
know an id. (You can look them up by name in the post office if you
have forgotten their id).

Choosing "send mail" produces a prompt asking for the addressee.
Type in the FreePort id (not the name) of the person to whom you
wish to send mail (you may specify multiple addresses on the "To:"
line if you separate them with commas). You will be prompted for a
subject which describes the message in brief; this subject will be title
which they see in the numbered list of messages when they go to check
their own mail.

After you have specified an id and a subject and confirmed the accuracy
of both, you will be taken to a screen with simple instructions for
typing in a message. Among other things it will tell you that every line
of a message can be no more than 65 characters (a sample line of 65
dashes is provided) and must end with a carriage return.  It will also
suggest that you end messages by typing three pound signs (###) on a
line of their own.  Messages are typed in here; mistakes noticed on a
given line >after< one has already hit return may be corrected only be
starting the message over. (If that is unacceptable, see the next
paragraph -- an editor is what you need.)

If you are a more advanced FreePort user and have chosen an editor
(see additional info in the help desk section) you will see an editing
screen from your chosen editor instead of the 65 dashes and the ###
suggestion.  This will allow you full power to edit any and all portions
of your message until you are satisfied with the whole thing, at which
point you issue the exit command expected by your editor (:wq for ex,
esc shift-ZZ for Vi, and ctrl-X ctr-C y for Chet's editor).

Regardless of whether you got there with three pound signs or an
editor exit, the final screen in sending  a message allows you to choose
"send a message" (among other things). This is the choice which will
cause your message to be delivered.

Incidentally, two of the choices deserve a caution. "Edit the message"
should not be chosen unless you have selected an editor (see above),
and "Check spelling" should not be chosen unless you have read the
online documentation for the spelling checker >first<; unlike the rest
of FreePort, the spelling checker is neither menu-driven nor user
-friendly.

>>>>SENDING INTERNET AND BITNET MAIL<<<<
You may send mail using the Internet and Bitnet computer networks
to anyone in the world who has an Internet or Bitnet address. You must
determine this address on your own; neither on FreePort nor anywhere
else is there a central directory in which you could look up, say, "George
P. Burdell at Georgia Tech" and determine what his Internet address is
(or even whether he has one).  The usual method is a phone call or letter...
we know -- old technology.  Still, this capability gives you access to well
over 100,000 sites around the world, including almost all North American
colleges and at least one site in almost every country in the world.

To send outgoing mail on the Internet, you simply substitute the
recipient's Internet address for the more common FreePort address
on the To: line in the FreePort post office.

Examples: To: w.g.anderson@massey.ac.nz
          To: nicodemus@phoenix.princeton.edu

To send outgoing mail on Bitnet, follow the same procedure and
add one additional step: append ".bitnet" after the address (that's "dot
bitnet", without quotes).
Examples: To: macpherson@oregon.bitnet
          To: r1328@csuohio.bitnet

In the case of outgoing Internet and Bitnet mail, the FreePort system will
check for a "well-formed" (that is, legitimately constructed) address, but
will not confirm that such an address actually >does< exist. Should your
mail be undeliverable you will find it returned to your box after a while,
marked undeliverable by one of the daemons lurking in the background.

>>>>USING SIGNATURE FILES<<<<
A signature file is a standard message of up to four lines in length
which will be appended to >every< message or posting you send on the
FreePort.  It may contain anything you wish provided it's not
offensive, but bear in mind that items such as jokes go stale quickly. If
you have not chosen an editor your signature file must be completely
re-typed in order to change it. If you have chosen an editor you may
edit the signature file as though it were a message.  The best way to
confirm the correct functioning of your signature file is to send Email
to yourself; when you receive and read it you will see your signature
file.

Copyright 1991 Case Western Reserve University.  All Rights Reserved.