Here’s another popular Internet activity: you can send electronic mail (e-mail). An e-mail message imitates a regular letter or postcard but is transmitted electronically so you don’t have to lick a stamp, don’t have to walk to the mailbox to send it, and don’t have to wait for the letter to be processed by the postal system.

E-mail zips through the Internet at lightning speed, so a letter sent from Japan to the United States takes just minutes (sometimes even seconds) to reach its destination. Unlike regular mail, which the Post Office usually delivers just once a day, e-mail can arrive anytime, day or night. If your friends try to send you e-mail messages while your computer is turned off, your Internet service provider will hold their messages for you until you turn your computer back on and reconnect to the Internet.

Since sending e-mail is so much faster than using the Post Office (which is about as slow as a snail), the Post Office’s mail is nicknamed snail mail. Yes, e-mail travels fast, typically takes just a few minutes to reach its destination, and is usually free; snail mail travels slowly, typically takes several days to reach its destination, and usually costs 33 cents (for a stamp) plus money for paper and an envelope. So if your friend promises to send you a letter “soon”, ask “Are you going to send it by e-mail or snail mail?”

An “e-mail message” is sometimes called just “an e-mail”. Instead of saying “I sent three e-mail messages”, an expert says “I sent three e-mails”.

To use e-mail, you need a program called an e-mail client. Here are the most popular e-mail clients:

I’ll explain how to use those e-mail clients.

Some folks use these e-mail clients instead, which are similar:

Launch your e-mail client

Here’s how to start using e-mail.

Explorer 5.5 & 6 While you’re running Explorer, you see a Mail button at the top of the screen. Click that button, then click “Read Mail”.

(To deal with e-mail while you’re not running Explorer, do this: for Explorer 6, click “Start” then “Outlook Express”; for Explorer 5.5, click the tiny Outlook Express icon, which is to the right of the Start button and shows an envelope with arrows orbiting around it; then click “Read Mail”.)

If the computer says “Internet Connection Wizard”, do this:

You’ll see the Outlook Express window. If it doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize it (by clicking its maximize button, which is next to the X button).

Explorer 5 While you’re running Explorer 5, you see a Mail button at the top of the screen. Click that button, then click “Read Mail”.

(To deal with e-mail while you’re not running Explorer 5, click the tiny Outlook Express icon, which is to the right of the Start button and shows an envelope with arrows orbiting around it; then answer any questions about your ISP and password; then click “Read Mail”.)

You’ll see the Outlook Express window. If it doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize it (by clicking its maximize button, which is next to the X button).

Explorer 4 While you’re running Explorer 4, you see a Mail button at the top of the screen. Click that button, then click “Read Mail”.

(To deal with e-mail while you’re not running Explorer 4, double-click the icon that says “Outlook Express” or single-click the tiny Outlook Express icon, which is to the right of the Start button and shows an “e” above an envelope; then answer any questions about your ISP and password; then click “Read Mail”.)

If the computer says “Please select a folder”, press ENTER.

You’ll see the Outlook Express window. If it doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize it (by clicking its maximize button, which is next to the X button).

Explorer 3 While you’re running Explorer 3, you see a Mail button at the top of the screen. Click that button, then click “Read Mail”.

(To deal with e-mail while you’re not running Explorer 3, do this instead: click “Start” then “Programs” then “Internet Mail”; then answer any questions about your ISP and password.)

You’ll see the Internet Mail window. If it doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize it (by clicking its maximize button, which is next to the X button).

If you haven’t used Explorer 3 before, tell it you want all e-mail transmissions to be automated! Here’s how:

Navigator If you’re using Navigator 3, do this:

If you’re using Navigator 4.6, do this:

If the Netscape Mail window doesn’t consume the whole screen yet, maximize the window (by clicking the window’s maximize button, which is next to the X button).

Incoming mail

Here’s how to handle incoming mail.

Explorer Explorer 4&5&5.5&6 begin like this:

Explorer 3 begins like this:

Then the top pane shows a list of all e-mail messages that other people have sent you. For each message, the list shows whom the message is from (the sender’s name), the message’s subject (what the message is about), and when the message was received (the date and time).

The first time Microsoft’s Explorer is used on your computer, the top pane shows you’ve received a message from Microsoft. (Explorer 4 shows you’ve received two messages from Microsoft.) After you’ve used Explorer awhile, you’ll probably receive additional messages, from your friends!

Here’s how to deal with a long list of messages:

Look in the top pane, at the list of messages you received. Decide which message you want to read, and click the sender’s name. Then the bottom pane starts showing you the complete message. Read it.

The complete message is probably too long to fit in the bottom pane. To see the rest of the message, press that pane’s scroll-down arrow (the symbol ₆ or Ú at the pane’s bottom right corner).

Navigator The screen is divided into three windowpanes (which I’ll call “left”, “top”, and “bottom”).

The left pane includes 3 important icons: Inbox (which holds mail that other people have sent you), Sent (which holds copies of mail you’ve sent to other people), and Trash (which holds messages you’re deleting). Click the Inbox icon.

Then the top pane shows a list of all e-mail messages that other people have sent you. For each message, the list shows the sender (whom the message is from), the message’s subject (what the message is about), and the date (when the message was sent).

The first time Netscape Navigator 3 is used on your computer, the top pane shows you’ve received a message from “Mozilla”, who is Netscape Corporation’s mascot.

After you’ve used Netscape Navigator awhile, you’ll probably received messages from your friends. Here’s how to deal with a long list of messages:

Look in the top pane, at the list of messages you received. Decide which message you want to read, and click the sender’s name. Then the bottom pane starts showing you the complete message. Read it.

The complete message is probably too long to fit in the bottom pane. To see the rest of the message, press that pane’s scroll-down arrow (the symbol ₆ or Ú at the pane’s bottom right corner).

Another way to see the rest of the message is to adjust the gray bar that separates the bottom pane from the top pane: drag that bar up, so the bottom pane becomes bigger and you can see more in it.

In Navigator 4.6, the bottom pane might not be wide enough. To make it wider, adjust the gray bar that separates the bottom pane from the left pane: drag that bar slightly to the left, so the bottom pane becomes slightly bigger and you can see more in it. If the bottom pane still isn’t wide enough, do this trick: click “View” (which is on the top menu bar), then put a check mark before “Wrap Long Lines” (by clicking there).

How to send mail

To write an e-mail message, perform 5 steps.

Step 1: get the window Click the New Message button.

You’ll see the New Message window. (Navigator calls it the Composition window.)

Step 2: choose a recipient To whom do you want to send the message? To send an e-mail message to a person, you must find out that person’s e-mail address. For example, if you want to send an e-mail message to me, you need to know that my e-mail address is “russ@secretfun.com”.

For the Internet, each e-mail address contains the symbol “@”, which is pronounced “at”. For example, my Internet address, “russ@secretfun.com”, is pronounced “russ at secret fun dot com”.

(To send me e-mail, you can use either my new address, “russ@secretfun.com”, or my old address, “poo@gis.net”. Either way will reach me.)

To find out the e-mail addresses of your friends and other people, ask them (by chatting with them in person or by phoning them or by sending them snail-mail postcards).

If you send e-mail to the following celebrities and nuts, they’ll probably read what you wrote, though they might not have enough time to write back:

A longer list of celebrity e-mail addresses is at celebrityemail.hollywood.com.

When you type an e-mail address, you don’t have to capitalize. The computer ignores capitalization.

Never put a blank space in the middle of an e-mail address.

Warning: people often change their e-mail addresses, so don’t be surprised if your message comes back, marked undeliverable.

Type the e-mail address of the person to whom you want to send your message. If you’re a shy beginner who’s nervous about bothering people, try sending an e-mail message to a close friend or me or yourself. Sending an e-mail message to yourself is called “doing a Fats Waller”, since he was the first singer to popularize this song:

If you send an e-mail message to me, I’ll read it (unless my e-mail address has changed) and try to send you a reply, but be patient (since I check my e-mail just a few times per week) and avoid asking for computer advice (since I give advice just by regular phone calls at 603-666-6644, not by e-mail).

At the end of the e-mail address, press the TAB several times (once for Navigator 4.6, twice for Navigator 3 and Explorer 3&5&5.5&6, three times for Explorer 4), so you’re at the line marked “Subject”.

Step 3: choose a subject Type a phrase summarizing the subject (such as “let’s lunch” or “I’m testing”). At the end of that typing, press the TAB key again.

Step 4: type the message Go ahead: type the message, such as “Let’s have lunch together in Antarctica tomorrow!” or “I’m testing my e-mail system, so please tell me whether you received this test message.” Your message can be as long as you wish — many paragraphs! Type the message as if you were using a word processor. For example, press the ENTER key just when you reach the end of a paragraph. If you wish, maximize the window you’re typing in (by clicking the window’s maximize button, which is next to the X button).

Step 5: send the message When you finish typing the message, click the Send button (which looks like a flying envelope).

The window you typed in will close automatically. (If you’re using Navigator, you might have to wait one or two minutes for the window to close. Be patient.)

When do messages transmit?

When you try to send or receive a message, when does the transmission actually occur?

Receiving a message from a friend When a friend tries to send you a message, the message goes from your friend’s computer to your friend’s Internet Service Provider (ISP), which passes the message on to your ISP. The message is stored on your ISP’s hard disk.

Since your ISP’s computer is always turned on (day and night, 24 hours), it’s always ready to receive messages your friends try to send you, even while your own computer is turned off.

When you try to examine your Inbox, your computer ought to contact your ISP and tell the ISP to transmit any new messages to your computer; but if your computer is lazy, it might not contact your ISP immediately to get the newest messages. Instead, your computer might decide to wait awhile before bothering your ISP. For example, your computer might contact your ISP just once every 30 minutes to check whether there are any new messages for you; or your computer might not contact your ISP until the next time you start running the e-mail program — which might be the next day.

Here’s how to make your computer communicate with your ISP now, so all the messages you’re trying to receive get transmitted to your Inbox now:

Sending a message to a friend When you tell the computer to send a message to a friend, here’s what happens.…

Automatic transmission If you wish, you can make your computer and your ISP send messages to each other more frequently, automatically, without their waiting for you to click a “Send and Receive” or “Send/Recv” or “Get Mail” or “Get Msg” button. I’ll explain how.

But beware! If you make your computer and your ISP automatically transmit messages more frequently, you’ll consume more of your ISP’s time, which will cost you more money if your ISP is charging you by the minute. Also, you’ll consume more of your own computer’s time, so your computer will be interrupted from performing other tasks and seem sluggish. Also, you’ll consume more of your own time, because you’ll more frequently have to help keep the connection going by retyping your password.

If you’re sharing your computer with colleagues, get their permission before making the following changes.

Smiley’s pals

A text smiley face is called a smiley. If you rotate that face 90°, it looks like this:

People writing e-mail messages often type that symbol to mean “I’m smiling; I’m just kidding”.

For example, suppose you want to tell President Bush that you disagree with his speech. If you communicate the old-fashioned way, with pencil and paper, you’ll probably begin like this:

But people who communicate by e-mail tend to be more blunt:

The symbol “:-)” means “I’m just kidding”. That symbol’s important. Forgot to include it? Then poor Bill, worried about getting boiled in oil, might have the Secret Service arrest you for plotting an assassination.

The smiley, “:-)”, has many variations:

Since those symbolic pictures (icons) help you emote, they’re called emoticons (pronounced “ee MOTE ee cons”).

Acronyms

People writing e-mail messages often use these expressions and abbreviations:

Those abbreviations are called acronyms.

What messages did you send?

To check which messages you sent, do this.…

You’ll see a list of messages you sent. For each message, the list shows the address you sent it to, the message’s subject, and when you sent it.

When you finish admiring that list, make the screen become normal again by doing this.…

Reply

While you’re reading a message that somebody’s sent you, here’s how to reply.

Click the Reply To Author button. (Explorer 5&5.5&6 and Navigator 4.6 call it just the “Reply” button. Navigator 3 calls it the “Re:Mail” button.) Then type your reply.

While you type, the computer shows a copy of the message you’re replying to.

If you want to abridge that copy (so it doesn’t clutter your screen), use your mouse: drag across the part you want to delete, then press the DELETE key.

When you finish typing your reply, click the Send button (which looks like a flying envelope). The computer will send your reply, along with your abridged copy of the message you’re replying to.

Delete old messages

The list of received messages — and the list of sent messages — can become long and hard to manage. To reduce the clutter, delete any messages that no longer interest you.

Explorer Here’s how to delete a message you received (or a copy of a message you sent): make the message’s name appear in the top pane, then click the name (so it turns blue), then press the DELETE key.

That tells the computer you want to delete the message. The computer moves the message into the Deleted Items folder (which resembles the Windows Recycle Bin).

To find out what’s in the Deleted Items folder, do this:

You’ll see what’s in the Deleted Items folder: a list of the messages you deleted. When you’re 100% sure that you no longer want any of those messages, do this: click anywhere in that list of messages, choose “Select All’’ from the Edit menu (so all the messages turn blue), then press the DELETE key, then click the Yes button. Then all messages in the Deleted Items folder vanish.

Navigator Here’s how to delete a message you received (or a copy of a message you sent): make the message’s name appear in the top right pane, then click the name (so it turns blue), then press the DELETE key.

That tells the computer you want to delete the message. The computer moves the message into the Trash folder, which appears in the top left pane. (The Trash folder resembles Windows 95’s Recycle Bin.)

To find out what’s in the Trash folder, click the Trash folder’s icon. Then the Trash folder’s contents appear in the top pane.

When you’re 100% sure that you no longer want any of the messages that are in the Trash folder, choose “Empty Trash Folder” from the File menu. Then all messages in the Trash folder vanish.

Signature

At the bottom of your e-mail message, you can include a few lines that identify who you are. Those lines are called your signature (or sig).

For example, your sig can include your full name, address, and phone number. You can mention your office’s address & phone number, but be cautious about revealing your home address & phone number, since e-mail messages are often peeked at by strangers.

If you’re employed, you might also wish to give your company’s name, your title, and a disclaimer, such as “The opinions I expressed aren’t necessarily my employer’s.” You might also wish to reveal your personality, by including your favorite saying (such as “Keep on truckin’” or “Power to the people” or “May the Lord bless you” or “Turned on by Twinkies”. But keep your sig short: any sig containing more than 4 lines of text is considered an impolite waste of your reader’s time.

Don’t bother putting your e-mail address in your sig, since your e-mail address appears automatically at the top of your message.

Explorer Explorer lets you put the same sig on all your e-mail messages easily. (Netscape’s attempt to do the same is too awkward to be useful.)

In Explorer 5&5.5&6, begin this way:

In Explorer 4, begin this way:

In Explorer 3, begin this way instead:

Next to “Text”, you see a big white box. Click in that box’s top left corner.

Press ENTER (so the top line of your sig will be blank). Type five dashes (so the second line of your sig will be “-----”) and press ENTER. Then type whatever words and numbers you want to be in your sig (pressing the ENTER key at the end of each line).

Click “OK”. (If you’re using Explorer 4, click “OK” again.)

Now the computer will automatically put that sig at the bottom of each new message you write.

While you edit a message, edit its sig! Customize its sig to match the rest of the message.

An e-mail message can have a file attached to it.

Send a file attachment

While you’re writing a message, here’s how to insert a file (such as a picture you drew in Paint, or a document composed in WordPad or Microsoft Word).

For Explorer 5&5.5, do this:

For Explorer 3&4, do this:

For Navigator 3, do this:

For Navigator 4.6, do this:

Which file do you want to insert? Make its icon appear on the screen. (If its icon is not on the screen because the computer is showing a different folder, do this: click the ₆ or Ú next to the folder’s name, then click the hard disk’s “C:” icon, then double-click the folders that the file is in.)

When the file’s icon is finally on the screen, double-click that icon.

Here’s what happens next.…

Finally, click the Send button (which looks like a flying envelope). That makes the computer send the message and attached file.

Receive a file attachment

Here’s what to do if a friend sends you a message that includes an attached file:

Navigator While you’re reading the message, you’ll see an icon underneath the message. Click that icon. (If the computer says “Warning”, click “Open it” and then “OK”.)

Explorer While you’re reading the message (in the bottom pane), you’ll see a paper clip in that pane’s top right corner. Click the paper clip.

Under that paper clip, you’ll see the attached file’s icon. Click that icon. (If the computer says “Open Attachment Warning”, click “Open it” and then “OK”.)

Final steps The computer will try to show you the pictures and words that are in the attached file, by running the program that created the file. For example, if the file is a picture created by Paint, the computer will try to run Paint; if the file is a document created by Microsoft Word, the computer will try to run Microsoft Word. If the file is a forwarded message created by Navigator, no new program needs to run, since Explorer can imitate Navigator. (If the file was created by software that your computer doesn’t own and your computer doesn’t know how to handle the file, your computer will gripe by saying “Open With”.)

When you finish looking at the pictures and words that are in the attached file, close whatever program created it (such as Paint or Microsoft Word) by choosing Exit from the File menu. You’ll return to seeing the Navigator (or Explorer) screen.

An e-mail message can be sent to many people. Here’s how.…

Multiple addresses

If you want to send a message to several people, put commas between their addresses. For example, if you want to send a message to the President of the United States (whose address is president@whitehouse.gov) and also to me (russ@secretfun.com), address the mail to:

That little list of addresses is called the mailing list.

The space after the comma is optional.

(For Explorer 3, you must put a semicolon instead of a comma. For Explorer 4&5&5.5&6, you can put either a comma or a semicolon.)

Carbon copies

Here’s how to send a message mainly to the President of the United States but also send me a copy:

Here’s how to send a message mainly to the President of the United States but also send me a copy, and make the copy be secret, so the President of the United States doesn’t know the copy was sent to me:

That procedure works just if your screen shows a Bcc box.

Replies

If somebody sends you a message, you can reply to the message by clicking either the Reply button or the Reply To All button.

If you click the Reply button, your reply will be sent to just the person who sent you the message. If you click the Reply To All button instead, your reply will be sent to the person who sent you the message and also to everybody else on that person’s mailing list.

For example, if Bob sends a message addressed to a list of three people (you and Sue and Jill) and you want to reply, you can either click the Reply button (which sends your reply just to Bob) or click the Reply To All button (which sends your reply to Bob and also to the other people on Bob’s mailing list: Sue and Jill).

Forward

While you’re reading a message you received, here’s how to send a copy of it to a friend.

Click the Forward button. (Explorer 4 calls it the Forward Message button.) Type your friend’s e-mail address. Press the TAB key several times, until you’re in the big white box where you can type a message. Type a comment to your friend, such as “Here’s a joke Mary sent me.”

Click the Send button (which looks like a flying envelope).

Privacy

Remember this poem:

For example, suppose you send an e-mail message to Bob. Your message might be read by people other than Bob, for one of these reasons:

According to United States law, if you’re an employee who writes an e-mail message by using the company’s computer, the message becomes the company’s property, and your boss is allowed to look at it. Your message has no privacy. Moreover, if your company is sued (by a competitor or customer), United States law can require your company to reveal all e-mail messages about the lawsuit’s topic and about all the people involved in it: the cute joke you wrote can embarrass you when the judge makes you read it to the courtroom.

You should therefore be especially careful about writing any e-mails that contain sexual references (such as “I love your body, so let’s go out on a date and have sex!”) or anger (such as “The boss is a jerk, a prick, I wish he were dead, I hope somebody kills him!”), since your e-mail might accidentally fall into the hands of the one person to whom you don’t want to show that message. Here’s the most important rule about e-mail messages:

No “Undo”

When you tell the computer to send an e-mail message (by clicking the Send button, Reply button, or Reply To All button), the computer immediately tries to transmit the message to your ISP (which in turn will try to pass the message to the recipient’s ISP). You cannot cancel the transmission easily, since there’s no “Undo button”.

If you try to wreck the transmission (by unplugging your modem or by turning off your computer’s power), your computer will detect sabotage and overcome it: the next time you run your e-mail program, the computer will try again to transmit the wrecked message (by using a copy of the message that the computer keeps in your computer’s Outbox folder).

Since e-mail transmissions can’t be easily canceled, remember:

Bad e-mail

You’ll receive several kinds of e-mail messages.

Some will be from your friends, to whom you revealed your e-mail address. Some will be from your company’s customers, suppliers, employees, and business associates. Some will be from companies whose Web sites you visited and to whom you revealed your e-mail address, so the company can send you the latest news weekly or even daily.

Unfortunately, some will be from strangers who managed to find out your e-mail address and who send you ads every day, hawking pornography and get-rich-quick schemes.

Pornography

Most e-mails hawking pornography try to make you to visit a sexy Web site, full of nude women who try to get you to reveal your credit-card number and become a paying member. Other pornographic e-mails try to make you phone a sexy girl whose area code just happens to be in the Caribbean or Asia or Hong Kong or some other island that will give you a huge phone bill, whose profits go to a foreign phone company that secretly gives the scheme’s manager a cut.

Get-rich-quick schemes

Some e-mails hawking get-rich-quick schemes try to get you to send money for useless e-mails you’re supposed to resell but won’t.

Most get-rich-quick e-mails try to get you to send $10 each to 5 people, while you hope many people, in return, will be stupid enough to send $10 each to you. You’ll soon discover that most people are not stupider than you, and only you are stupid enough to lose $50.

Such a scheme is called a chain letter or a pyramid scheme. It’s the worst form of multi-level marketing (MLM).

The post office has ruled all such chain-letter pyramid schemes are illegal and constitute mail fraud, since the only way to get rich in such a scheme is to make hundreds of stupid people become poor. Most such schemes claim to be legal but aren’t.

What bad e-mail is called

Unsolicited and unwanted e-mail is called junk e-mail. It’s mass-produced and sent to millions of folks all over the world, using a technique called bulk e-mail.

The term “spam”

Junk e-mail is called spam. Here’s why.…

In 1937, the Hormel meatpacking company invented a new kind of pink luncheon meat, made of spicy salted ham, packed in gelatin, and sold in a can. Hormel held a contest to name the meat. The contest’s winner got $100 by suggesting to call it “Spam”, because it was the “spicy ham (sold in a can)”. Hormel called it the “meat of many uses” and advertised it as a cheap substitute for hamburger.

During World War 2, the U.S. government bought 15 million cans of Spam each week, to send to U.S. and Allied soldiers and also to British and Russian citizens, who were short of beef and used Spam as a substitute. Spam was one of the few meats that the U.S. and British governments didn’t require citizens to ration. For many British families, Spam was the only meat they ate for many months.

Because of the U.S. government’s mass distribution of Spam worldwide, Spam became internationally famous as the symbol of cheap unavoidable junk food from America. (It came before McDonald’s.)

Soldiers called it “the ham that didn’t pass its physical” and “a meatball without basic training”.

After the war, President Eisenhower wrote a letter to Hormel saying, “I ate my share of Spam along with millions of soldiers. I will even confess to a few unkind words about it — uttered during the strain of battle, you understand. But as a former Commander-in-Chief, I believe I can still officially forgive you your only sin: sending us so much of it.” Nikita Khrushchev, who headed Russia during the Cold War, said that the U.S.’s donation of Spam to Russia was responsible for saving the lives of the Russian army during World War 2. Margaret Thatcher, who became prime minister of England, called Spam a “war-time delicacy”.

Hormel sold a cumulative total of 1 billion cans of Spam by 1959, 2 billion by 1963, 4 billion by 1986, 5 billion by 1999, even though the population of the whole world is just 6 billion.

Now Spam is especially popular in Hawaii, because Hawaiians learned to eat it while helping World World 2’s navy.

In 1970, a British comedy troupe called Monty Python’s Flying Circus did a comedy skit in which a waitress says that the what’s available for breakfast is “egg and bacon; egg, sausage, and bacon; egg and Spam; egg, bacon, and Spam; egg, bacon, sausage, and Spam; Spam, bacon, sausage, and Spam; Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon, and Spam; Spam, sausage, Spam, Spam, Spam, bacon, Spam, tomato, and Spam; Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam; Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam” — and then all discourse is drowned out by marching Vikings singing “Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam…” The BBC and PBS televised that skit many times and introduced new generations to the culture of Spam.

Computerists have invented thousands of haiku poems about Spam. Each poem has 17 syllables, such as:

A person who sends junk e-mail (spam) is called a spammer and is said to be spamming.

Why you shouldn’t spam

The U.S. government is in the process of passing more laws to restrict spam (the inedible kind). Since spamming can be illegal and put you in jail, remember:

If you’re trying to advertise your business, you’ll be tempted to send bulk e-mail (spam). It costs you nearly nothing, since Internet e-mail is free (unlike traditional mail, which costs 34¢ each, plus the cost of paper, plus the cost of putting labels onto all the envelopes). But since spam is associated with dishonest hucksters, sending spam can do your business’s reputation more harm than good. And if every business were to start sending spam, the Internet would get so clogged that it could no longer be free. Excessive e-commerce could kill this country’s Internet. Many computerists complain that they receive 50 spams each day, clogging their Inboxes. Subscribers to America On Line (AOL) get the most spam. So if you’re an advertiser, remember: