What to do with e-mail account when on vacation ? ;)

[Skybuck Flying]

Hello,

My mother asked me an interesting question:

"What to do with her e-mail account when she is on vacation ?"

I don't know if she will have internet access while on vacation... probably
not.

She is not so pc-savy...

Also the whole point of vacation would be to be away from it all lol.

Further more I wouldn't want my mother to be accessing her e-mail from a
internet-cafe or so for possible fear of keyloggers and what not ?! ;) :)

I sensed she is more or less worried that she might start missing e-mails ?!

She and her "contacts" exchange pictures a lot... like family/vacation
pictures and what not...

So I think her fear of the e-mail box getting full is justified.

So I ask this newsgroup, and also hoping that ISP's are reading along:

What can ISP's do to help my mother ?

Maybe give extra e-mail box space while she is on vacation ?!?

Or maybe temporarely suspending the e-mail service.. so that isp's will
notify other people that's she's on vacation and should retry later when
she's back... ?!?

Bye,
Skybuck.

[Barry Margolin]

Post by Skybuck Flying
Hello,
"What to do with her e-mail account when she is on vacation ?"
I don't know if she will have internet access while on vacation... probably
not.
She is not so pc-savy...
Also the whole point of vacation would be to be away from it all lol.
Further more I wouldn't want my mother to be accessing her e-mail from a
internet-cafe or so for possible fear of keyloggers and what not ?! ;) :)
I sensed she is more or less worried that she might start missing e-mails ?!
She and her "contacts" exchange pictures a lot... like family/vacation
pictures and what not...
So I think her fear of the e-mail box getting full is justified.

That depends on how much space her ISP provides, and how much she's
using already.

She could set up a Gmail account and forward her mail there.

Post by Skybuck Flying
What can ISP's do to help my mother ?
Maybe give extra e-mail box space while she is on vacation ?!?

I doubt they'll do that.

Post by Skybuck Flying
Or maybe temporarely suspending the e-mail service.. so that isp's will
notify other people that's she's on vacation and should retry later when
she's back... ?!?

With Comcast you can suspend secondary email accounts, and that's what
will happen. But senders will just get a generic failure message,
there's no way to tell them that it's temporary or when they should
retry.

[Albert Manfredi]

Post by Skybuck Flying
Hello,
"What to do with her e-mail account when she is on vacation ?"
I don't know if she will have internet access while on vacation... probably
not.
She is not so pc-savy...
Also the whole point of vacation would be to be away from it all lol.
Further more I wouldn't want my mother to be accessing her e-mail from a
internet-cafe or so for possible fear of keyloggers and what not ?! ;) :)
I sensed she is more or less worried that she might start missing e-mails ?!

That was going to be my suggestion. Go to an Internet cafe.

Post by Skybuck Flying
So I think her fear of the e-mail box getting full is justified.
Or maybe temporarely suspending the e-mail service.. so that isp's will
notify other people that's she's on vacation and should retry later when
she's back... ?!?

The ISP might allow that. But in any event, what's the difference? Let
the mail box get full, and then her contacts will get the "mailbox
full" error message. They would get a similar message no matter what.

The only problem is the ton of e-mails she will have waiting for her
upon her return.

This is the classic problem with all our wonderful electronic comms,
and the very reason why so many people become addicted to these
systems. It's a form of obsessive compulsive behavior. We really think
that we have to keep up with all this junk.

Bert

[Skybuck Flying]

Post by Albert Manfredi
The ISP might allow that. But in any event, what's the difference? Let
the mail box get full, and then her contacts will get the "mailbox
full" error message. They would get a similar message no matter what.

Ok, I think this will do.

What will be the behaviour of for example outlook express when it gets
"remote mailbox full message" ?

Will it ever try to resend it ?

(My bet is probably not... so there is still some possibility of missing
mails but ok that's up to the sender to understand what's going on... but
that might be a bit difficult... how to tell what messages did and did not
get through ? ;) I would reckon/expect that the "remote mailbox is full
message" would include some part of the original message ? at least subject
line or so ?)

Post by Albert Manfredi
The only problem is the ton of e-mails she will have waiting for her
upon her return.
This is the classic problem with all our wonderful electronic comms,
and the very reason why so many people become addicted to these
systems. It's a form of obsessive compulsive behavior. We really think
that we have to keep up with all this junk.

I think it's no different than a real-world-post/mail box.

Which could also get full with real mail ;) :)

Bye,
Skybuck.

[Barry Margolin]

Post by Skybuck Flying

Post by Albert Manfredi
The ISP might allow that. But in any event, what's the difference? Let
the mail box get full, and then her contacts will get the "mailbox
full" error message. They would get a similar message no matter what.

Ok, I think this will do.
What will be the behaviour of for example outlook express when it gets
"remote mailbox full message" ?

OE won't get this message. OE just uploads the message to the sender's
ISP's mail relay, and then it tries to deliver the message on your
behalf. That's when the delivery error is reported.

Post by Skybuck Flying
Will it ever try to resend it ?

If the destination mail server returns a 4xx error, that indicates a
temporary error, and the relay will keep trying for a few days. If it
returns a 5xx error, that indicates a permanent error, and a bounce
message will be sent to the sender. This will also happen if the server
reaches its retry limit.

[Albert Manfredi]

Post by Skybuck Flying

Post by Albert Manfredi
The ISP might allow that. But in any event, what's the difference? Let
the mail box get full, and then her contacts will get the "mailbox
full" error message. They would get a similar message no matter what.

OE won't get this message.  OE just uploads the message to the sender's
ISP's mail relay, and then it tries to deliver the message on your
behalf.  That's when the delivery error is reported.

Sorry if my point wasn't clear. Of course, the error messages can only
be returned after the new e-mail transmission has been attempted. I'm
not sure what other options would exist, in a system where the e-mail
client resides in a remote PC, and the intended destination SMTP
server is not contacted ahead of time, with the address of the
intended destination mailbox.

Post by Skybuck Flying
Will it ever try to resend it ?

If the destination mail server returns a 4xx error, that indicates a
temporary error, and the relay will keep trying for a few days.  If it
returns a 5xx error, that indicates a permanent error, and a bounce
message will be sent to the sender.  This will also happen if the server
reaches its retry limit.

In the ancient past, we used the DEC e-mail protocol. I think it was
called VMSmail. In that case, you never got the warning messages after
the fact. When you pushed the send button, the mail delivery to the
final destination was attempted immediately, and the e-mail client
would remain locked until the process was completed. I thought it was
annoying, but some claimed it was a "feature." It is true that you
would know instantly whether the transfer was successful.

Bert