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GLOSSARY OF EMAIL TERMS
Alias: An abbreviated link(URL)
that is distinguished in some fashion from other
links(even if they go to the same web site.) An
alias allows tracking of which message contained
the link the user clicked on. An alias might be
as simple as italicized text in the body of an
e-mail.
B cc (Blind Carbon Copy): A
copy of an email message sent to a recipient
whose email address does not appear in the
message. There is typically a field to enter
this option under the field for the primary
email address.
Blacklist: This is a list of
email addresses and/or IP addresses of spammers.
Blacklists are used to completely block mail at
the server, so that it never reaches its
intended recipient. Instead of relying solely on
a spam filter, a blacklist blocks it before it
even gets there.
Bounces: These are messages
that do not reach their intended destinations.
There are "hard" and "soft" bounces. A Hard
bounce is the result of an invalid email
address, while a soft bounce is from temporary
situations, for example from an overloaded
in-box.
Cc(Carbon Copy): A carbon copy
is a copy of an email sent to an addressee other
than the main addressee. This option is usually
the secondary field under the main address
field. This applies to both web mail and SMTP
clients.
DNS: Domain Name Server (or
system): An Internet service that translates
domain names into IP(Internet Protocol)
addresses. It divides a word such as Google into
a series of numbers, divided by decimals, so
that each visited site has its own unique
assigned number.
Domain name: A name that
identifies a single or a group of IP addresses.
They always have a minimum of two parts that are
separated by dots(Google). The left, and more
specific part of the domain, is the second-level
domain. The right, more general section is the
top level domain.
Email harvesting: An often
illegal practice in which one uses a program to
scan Web pages for the purpose of collecting
email addresses to spam. These programs dig into
the Web page to find out who has visited and
then collects their email addresses and stores
them, usually sending them to a certain
individual or group.
Email marketing: The consensual
use of email lists to deliver marketing campaign
literature. Most times, those that get these
types of emails will have signed up in advance
to ask for them.
Email headers: The section of
an email message that contains the sender's and
recipient's email addresses as well as the
routing information. It is located at the top of
the original email sent to a recipient. I will
show everywhere the email has been.
False Positive: An accidentally
rejected or filtered piece of legitimate mail
that gets caught in a spam filter. Unless a
recipient checks their spam folder, or puts the
sender on a white list, this problem can be
recurring.
Helo: A HELO is essentially a
server's way of saying "hello". It is regarded
now as obsolete and most mail clients use EHLO
now, which means "extended Hello". It is used to
determine the originating server and pings
another computer with a signal, so it is known
by the user that they have mail.
Local host: The computer to
which a user's terminal is directly connected,
and which the email comes from.
Mime(Multi-Purpose Internet Mail
Extensions): An extension of the email
standard that allows users to exchange text,
audio or visual files in a short amount of time.
Open Relay: Third-party
relaying of email messages though a mail server.
Often used by spammers to hide the source of
their large volume mailings.
Plain text: Text in an email
message that contains no formatting elements(ie:
color, bold, italics, etc.), pictures, or HTML.
Pop3(Post Office Protocol): A
protocol used to retrieve email from a mail
server and deliver it to a mail client program.
Proxy: A computer system or
router that breaks the connection between sender
and receiver, giving anonymity.
Re mailer: A company that
forwards e-mail anonymously, stripping out the
sender's name and e-mail address.
Reverse Dns Lookup: The process
of looking up and translating an IP address into
a domain name.
Sender Id: An authentication
protocol used to verify that the originating IP
address is authorized to send email for the
domain name declared in the visible "From" or
"Sender" lines of the email message.
SMTP(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol):
A protocol used to send email on the Internet.
SMTP is a set of rules regarding the interaction
between a program sending email and a program
receiving email. These can include, but are not
limited to filters and special folders.
Snail mail: USPS mail,
delivered to your home in paper format via
postman.
Soft bounces: Occurs when you
try to send email to someone who has a full
in-box, or a site is doing maintenance or some
other temporary occurrence that causes the
intended email to bounce, and requires
resending.
Spam: Unsolicited, unwelcome
email sent out in large volumes to many email
addresses at once. Spam can also be sent several
times to the same address.
Spoofing: A method used in
conjunction with spamming whereas the spammer
finds a way to falsify the sending email
address, so as to not be detected.
Tracking: A method used in
email marketing. It counts clicks on advertised
sites, and also how many times a Web page is
opened.
Web mail: Web mail (or
Web-based e-mail) is an e-mail service intended
to be primarily accessed via a web browser.
White list : A list of
pre-authorized email addresses from which email
messages can be delivered regardless of spam
filters.
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