Try your Mail Link!

The test is simple.

1. Find yourself in the directory (open your class list or search on your surname).
2. Click the little envelope next to your name.
3. Type a message, plus your name and return email.
4. Click Send.
5. Wait. (The amount of time needed to send, receive and deliver the message varies widely depending on the time of day, Internet traffic and the settings of the various servers involved. Email is not instantaneous.)
6. The next time you check your mail, you should see a message from yourself. If not, see item 5.
7. If your message hasn't arrived after several hours, please use the To The Editor form to let us know. In your message, give your full name and class year. If you know your registration number, send that, too, so that we can be sure of your identity. We'll test your form and send you a diagnosis. (If we get a large number of responses, we may use these pages for a group diagnosis.)

In most cases, problems lie with settings at the (your) receiving server. Here's some background: In order to protect the privacy of our registrants and to inhibit the collection of email addresses by spam purveyors, we use a special form. In the usual sequence, messages intended for a reader are accepted by our web server, composed and sent on to one of our (SMTP) mail servers. Our server makes contact with your mail server (POP or IMAP) and once a connection is established (analogous to making a phone call) between them, the message is transferred.

In order to reduce the volume of spam, some ISPs have undertaken measures to restrict the flow of mail. These have included arbitrary, locally imposed rules that are not defined by the official Internet governing bodies. We cannot possibly accommodate all those private rules.

That said, about half of all complaints have led to a bad email address recorded for the registrant.

So, please test your mail link and participate in our attempt to keep the lines of communication open. Thanks!

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