uunet\!somesite\!othersite\!mybuddy
Note that this means you may not be able to respond to such a message by typing a lowercase r — you may get an error message and you'll have to create a brand-new message. If you want to get a taste of what's possible through e-mail, start an e-mail message to
almanac@oes.orst.edu
Leave the "subject:" line blank. As a message, write this:
send quote
Or, if you're feeling a little down, write this instead:
send moral-support
In either case, you will get back a message within a few seconds to a few hours (depending on the state of your host system's Internet connection). If you simply asked for a quote, you'll get back a fortune-cookie-like saying. If you asked for moral support, you'll also get back a fortune-cookie-like saying, only supposedly more uplifting. This particular "mail server" is run by Oregon State University. Its main purpose is actually to provide a way to distribute agricultural information via e-mail. If you'd like to find out how to use the server's full range of services, send a message to its address with this line in it:
send help
You'll quickly get back a lengthy document detailing just what's available and how to get it. Feeling opinionated? Want to give the President of the United States a piece of your mind? Send a message to president@whitehouse.gov. Or if the vice president will do, write vice-president@whitehouse.gov. The "mail" program is actually a very powerful one and a Netwide standard, at least on Unix computers. But it can be hard to figure out — you can type a question mark to get a list of commands, but these may be of limited use unless you're already familiar with Unix. Fortunately, there are a couple of other mail programs that are easier to use.