OS/2 Shareware BBS: 14 Text/14-Text.zip/netmail.txt

Text File | 1995-06-13 | 11KB | 254 lines

The following instructions explain how to send E-Mail messages via
FidoNet and Internet from the OS/2 Shareware BBS, including using
an off-line reader, such as KWQ, as well as direct entry on-line.

NOTE: this information has been tested, but is subject to change.
Most of the recent revisions (12 June 95) are due to changes
in the UUCP Gateway software implemented during Spring 1995.

This file should *not* be distributed outside of the OS/2
Shareware BBS (FidoNet 1:109/347). Feel free to use this info
to send Internet E-Mail from *this* BBS, but please do not pass
it around to users on other systems.


-> OFF-LINE READER

The off-line reader is a feature of the BBS that makes it much easier
(and cheaper) to read, review, and send messages. When you use the
BBS off-line reader, you will be downloading a QWK packet, which
contain all the messages in a packed form (usually ZIP). It is then
necessary to use a program to read the messages.

NOTE: to use the BBS off-line reader, you must "tag" the message
areas that you want to download. Make *SURE* that you tag the
NETMAIL area, as well as the PRIVATE area. This will ensure that
you receive all messages addressed privately to you. Unfortunately,
Pete Norloff has not been able to discover a way to automatically
tag those to areas for all BBS users.

This document refers to KWQ, which is one of a number of off-line
reader programs for OS/2. The same techniques should also work for
MR/2, or SLMR. Note that since the BBS makes *only* QWK packets,
you must use a reader program that can read that packet format.

The E-Mail techniques described here can also be used "on-line",
skipping the off-line reader part entirely. However, this is tedious
(editing messages with the Maximus editor is a pain), and expensive
(especially if you have to call long-distance to the BBS).


-> FIDONET E-MAIL:

First, let's review how to compose a FidoNet message
when using an off-line reader program, such as KWQ.

When sending a FidoNet message, the header fields
are as follows (Subject & Tagline are your choice):

From: <your name>
To: <recipient's name>
Conf: Netmail

The first line of the message body contains "To: <Fido address>"
The second line is blank.
Your message text can start on line three.


-> FIDO ADDRESSES:

FidoNet addresses are in a form ZZ:NNNN/FFFF.PPPP

ZZ is the Zone. Zone 1 is North America, Zone 2 is Europe, and so on.
Note: there are auxiliary nets with high zone numbers, such 40 or 81.

NNNN is the Net, and can be from 1 to 4 digits.

FFFF is the Fido System number; again, 1 to 4 digits.

PPPP is the Point ID, and is omitted if it is zero (skip the period, too).


-> INTERNET E-MAIL:

To send an Internet message, you have to use an Internet UUCP Gateway,
which is located on a different FidoNet system. The UUCP Gateway
address is 1:109/42 - here's how to set it up with KWQ:

From: <your name>
To: UUCP
Conf: Netmail

The first line of the message text contains "To: 1:109/42"
The second line is blank.
The third line contains "To: <Internet address>"
The fourth line is blank.
Your message can start on line five.

Do not include the quote marks ("), or angle brackets (<>) in the
address lines. It is *crucial* to format everything *exactly* right.

NOTE: the new Gateway gateway software no longer will continue to
scan for additional TO: lines in the message, as the old version did.
To send duplicate copies of the message to a second address, you
should put a comma & space after the first address, and append the
second address on the *same* TO: line. Additional "To: " lines may
or may not foul up the address system in the gateway.

Any mistakes will cause the mail to bounce (see BOUNCED E-MAIL, below).

The blank line(s) may not be absolutely necessary, but it is
reasonable safeguard for the mailer, and improves legibility.
Therefore, always put in a blank line after each address line.

Most Internet addresses are entirely lowercase, but there are
some exceptions to this custom. Also, you should normally *not*
include any address info with your name in the "From" field in
the KWQ message header.


-> RECEIVING E-MAIL:

Anyone on a FidoNet BBS system can send you a message via Fido by
using your name and the FidoNet address (1:109/347) for the OS/2
Shareware BBS. Internet users can send E-Mail to you directly at the
BBS, by using the gateway in reverse - translating your Fido address
on the BBS into the Internet form: [e-mail]
This gives a method (and an address) to exchange Internet E-Mail.

Note that you should *not* use the Internet form to send mail to
anyone on FidoNet - it is much better to send direct FidoNet mail.

Remember to "tag" the NETMAIL message area on the BBS, so that private
NetMail will be included in the QWK packets downloaded from the BBS.
You should also tag the PRIVATE area (formerly named COMMENT), so that
you will receive private notes sent to you by other BBS users.


-> LIMITS ON MESSAGES

The gateway software will divide any large messages into sections,
with each section numbered (in the SUBJECT field of the header).
Normally, all the parts will arrive fine. The limit appears to be about
8 to 10 KB. In addition, there is a limit in Maximus to the size it
will accept. If your outgoing message is too long (perhaps 100 lines?)
it will be truncated - Maximus will DISCARD the remaining portion!


-> NOTES ON ADDRESSES:

The capitalized name in the Internet form of the FidoNet address is
one of the exceptions to the lowercase custom. BBS users with initials
or spaces in their name may need to experiment to find out what the BBS
expects to see as "First.Last"

The Gateway system NO LONGER appends the correct FidoNet and
Internet addresses to the end of the message text. If you want to
make sure that your address appears in the message body, you will
need to include it yourself. Since typing your BBS address is
tedious, create a small file that you can append easily to messages.

When you receive E-Mail (especially Internet E-Mail), there may
be all sorts of weird address information before or after the real message.
Since the introduction of the new gateway software, this happens
much less frequently, but you may see it occasionally. These are the
"footprints" of the systems that handled the message before it got it
you. The "From:" field in the header of received messages may contain
the Internet address: remember to change it back to UUCP when replying
to a message, and move the address to the proper location in the message body.


-> OTHER SYSTEMS:

Many other on-line services have gateways to the Internet.
You can use the Internet style addresses of other systems
to send E-Mail to those users:

 America On-Line: [e-mail]
 Delphi: [e-mail]
 Genie: [e-mail]
 Prodigy: [e-mail]
 MCI: [e-mail]
 CompuServe: [e-mail]

Note that on CompuServe, the numbers are separated by a comma, but the
Internet form of the CompuServe ID uses a period to divide the two
numbers. For MCImail, return messages sometimes come back with the
two numbers as one continuous string. This format should also work.


-> BOUNCED INTERNET E-MAIL:

Internet E-mail is sent directly from the OS/2 Shareware BBS to
the Gateway system, and is usually very reliable, as long as the
address(es) are correct.

If not, the UUCP Gateway will send incorrectly addressed E-Mail back
to you, with a "Bounced!" header. This is a warning that the address
was incorrect. The entire text of your message will be included in
the "Bounced!" note.

NOTE: the "Bounced!" message may mention an alternate addressing style,
which can cause problems when used via the off-line reader (there are
truncation limits imposed by the QWK standard). Do *NOT* try to place
the Internet address in the message header "TO:" section, because
if the address gets truncated, if will be impossible to deliver.

Internet E-Mail may also bounce when it reaches the destination
system, if the address is correct, but the UserID is unknown. Again,
check the address.


-> THE FIDO NODELIST:

FidoNet mail may be bounced back to the sender by *ANY* system that
thinks there may be an error. Sometimes a Fido system will have a bad
(or old) nodelist, so you may get erroneous bounce messages. It is
usually impossible to determine whether a message was sent properly,
unless the recipient replies to you.

The BBS can only send Fido E-Mail to systems in the current list of FidoNet
nodes. If you try to send to an unlisted Fido node, you will get an error
message when you try to upload the replies. For on-line message entry,
the BBS will not accept an address that is not in its current nodelist.

Sometimes waiting a week (for the updated nodelist to be applied to the
BBS system) cures the problem. On occasion, I have had to wait more
than a month for the nodelist update to reach all the local systems.

There are lots of inconsistencies and divisions in Fido. A number of
Fido systems (especially in Germany and England) have access to the
Fido echo conferences, but are currently split off into a separate
Net, and are not included in the official Fido nodelist. You may see
references to "Fido Lite" or "Fido Classic".

In addition, there are some systems out there within FidoNet that do not
have complete (or correct) nodelists. The OS/2 Shareware BBS has no
control over these Fido systems. If your Fido NetMail gets bounced on
the way to its destination, there is very little that you can do. Don't
bother asking the BBS SysOp (Pete Norloff) for help, because he can't.

Fido is nice when it works properly, but that is often not the case.


-> DIRECT ENTRY OF E-MAIL (using the "on-line" BBS editor):

For messages entered or uploaded directly into the BBS message area
(without using the off-line reader), the FidoNet address (of the
recipient, or 1:109/42 for the UUCP Internet gateway) is entered
directly into the header, before the message is typed, or uploaded.

Therefore, you should skip the "To: " & blank line for the Fido
address in the body. Internet messages (addressed to UUCP) still
need the "To: " line with the Internet address in the message body
(as the first line, since the Fido address isn't needed).


-> COMMENTS:

This information is tailored for the OS/2 Shareware BBS, and should
*not* be distributed elsewhere. Send corrections or comments to Michael
Kilby, FidoNet 1:109/347 (The OS/2 Shareware BBS, 703-385-4325), or
(via Internet) to [e-mail] for inclusion
in the next version of this document.