A brief MBA’s introduction to

Netscapefor E-mail

andDiscussion Groups

MBA Computing Education1999-2000, Version 1.2

This brief introduction is intended to help youget up and running using Netscape Communicator 4.5x

for electronic mail and discussion groupsin Fuqua’s daytime MBA program.

An Appendix briefly describes how to configureNetscape on your home computer to

access Duke/Fuqua e-mail andFuqua discussion groups.

For more information about the featuresand functions available in Netscape Communicator

see Netscape’s excellent online reference guide.You can access that reference by clicking the Help option from Netscape’s menus.

Also see the Quick Guide to Messenger E-Mailavailable for download from the web

at this URL:

http://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~pecklund/ComputerSkills99/extras.htm

-Paula Ecklund, Fall 1999

Table of Contents Page

I. Introduction......................................................................................................... 1

II. Your First FuquaNet Access .............................................................................. 1Important Recommendations

III. Accessing Messenger from Within Netscape.................................................... 2

IV. Selecting Messenger E-Mail Preferences on FuquaNetIdentity ....................................................................................................... 5Mail Servers............................................................................................... 5Addressing................................................................................................. 6Messages .................................................................................................. 7Window Settings ........................................................................................ 7Copies and Folders.................................................................................... 8Formatting.................................................................................................. 8Return Receipts ......................................................................................... 8

V. Using Messenger for E-MailTo Send a Message................................................................................... 9To Read a Message................................................................................... 12To Delete a Message................................................................................. 12Reply To Options ....................................................................................... 13To Forward a Message .............................................................................. 13

VI. Organizing Your E-Mail MessagesThe Inbox................................................................................................... 13Sorting ....................................................................................................... 13Folders....................................................................................................... 14

VII. Online E-Mail Address BooksCreating an Address Book ......................................................................... 15Adding an Entry to an Address Book.......................................................... 16To Create an E-Mail Distribution List.......................................................... 16

VIII. Using Messenger for Discussion GroupsDiscussion Group Server Access............................................................... 17How the Messenger Window is Arranged for Discussion Groups............... 18Subscribing to Discussion Groups ............................................................. 19Threading................................................................................................... 20Threading Tips........................................................................................... 20Tips on Reading Discussion Group Postings ............................................. 21Replying to a Post & Posting a New Message ........................................... 22Honor Code & Community Norms.............................................................. 22

Page

Appendix

I. Configuring Netscape Messenger for Use at HomeOptional: Establish Fuqua’s External Web Page as the Default

Browser Location...................................................................... 23Necessary: Include Your Personal Identifying Info.......................... 23Necessary: Identify the Mail Servers for Incoming &

Outgoing E-Mail (and set your e-mail deletion preference) ....... 24Optional, but you probably want: Access to Online Address

Books ....................................................................................... 25Optional: Local Locations for Copies and Folders........................... 27Necessary: Fuqua Discussion Group Server Subscriptions ............ 27

II. Summary of Passwords to Use When Accessing MessengerServices ......................................................................................... 29

c:\data\DemoNotes\Messenger\MessengerMBAIntro.doc 7/99

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I. IntroductionNetscape Communicator Version 4.5x includes electronic-mail (e-mail) and discussiongroup1 capability. Both these features are available in their own window by choosing theMessenger option from Netscape’s menus. These notes introduce how to use Messengerboth for e-mail and discussion groups.

E-mail is used extensively here at Fuqua. If you’ve used some other Windows-basede-mail software in the past you’ll have little problem adapting to Netscape’s. Discussiongroups are also used extensively at Fuqua, for academics, for administrativecommunications, and for community discussions. You’ll find that your faculty usediscussion groups in a variety of ways to support their teaching. Some may make the useof discussion groups a formal part of a course, while others will use them less formally,and in some cases not at all. You’ll need to be familiar with the basics of reading,posting, and managing discussion group messages.

The descriptions of use and setting preferences in these notes focus on your use ofMessenger as it’s installed on Fuqua’s network of MBA computers in labs, library, andteam rooms (FuquaNet). At the end of these notes is an Appendix describing how toconfigure Netscape Messenger on your home computer so you can use it there as well.Should you have problems with setting preferences or completing your homeconfiguration, contact Fuqua’s Technical Support Center (TSC) for assistance. You canreach the staff of the TSC at telephone 919/660-7878, in room 229 West Wing, or viae-mail at tsc-help@fuqua.duke.edu.

II. Your First FuquaNet AccessFuqua’s MBA computers have three desktop icons that can give you access to Messengerservices:

� a FuquaMail icon� a FuquaWorld icon� a Netscape Communicator icon

Fuqua’s IT group recommends that you begin using Netscape and Messenger onFuquaNet by first opening the “FuquaMail” icon2. The first time you access Netscape onFuquaNet by choosing the FuquaMail icon, you’ll be prompted to provide some specialidentifying information about yourself. The personal information you provide at theprompts is stored in a special “Netscape” folder on your personal space on FuquaNet’s H:drive. You’re prompted for:

� your full name (e.g., John B. Doe)� your complete e-mail address (e.g., jdoe4@mail.duke.edu)� your password (your e-mail password)

After this very first access, use whichever of the three icons you prefer to accessMessenger services.

1 Netscape terms this feature “newsgroups”. Since this newsgroup feature is often used at Fuqua for

discussions, I’ll refer to the feature as “discussion groups” in these notes.2 If you log in and get e-mail is working properly the first time, then the other Netscape services will

automatically be configured properly for you as well.

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III. Accessing Messenger from within NetscapeIf you’re starting out from the Netscape Communicator browser window, you can openthe Messenger interface using any one of these methods:• From Netscape’s menus, select Communicator, and then Messenger.• - Or - Hold down the Control key and press the number “2” key.• - Or - Click the “Inbox” icon on the small task bar that appears at the lower right

corner of the Netscape window.

The five items on this task bar are (from left to right):

Navigator the browser interface

Inbox the e-mail interface (in a new window)

Read Newsgroups the electronic discussion groupinterface (in a new window, the same one use

Address Book the online address book

Composer Netscape’s web page editor

The e-mail “Inbox”icon on the task bar atthe lower right of the

Netscape window.

d for e-mail)

The icon for discussiongroups. Both icons take

you to the same newwindow and interface.

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When you direct Netscape to open either e-mail or discussion groups, a new Messengerwindow opens. (Your browser window remains open as a separate window.) The basicMessenger window interface looks like the illustration below. It accommodates both thee-mail and discussion group features:

Things to note about this new Messenger window:• At the top of the window are Netscape’s menus, as usual.• The window is divided into two main panels. The left-hand panel displays items in

the two primary services available to you: E-mail and discussion groups. (The newsservers you see listed will depend on your subscriptions. On FuquaNet you’resubscribed automatically to mbanews.fuqua.duke.edu and news.duke.edu.) Note that allthe items in this list have “plus boxes” at left indicating that they can be expanded.

• The right-hand panel (blank in the illustration above) displays entries from whateverleft-hand item you select and expand. If you select and expand an entry — say youre-mail “Inbox” entry — the headers for all the e-mail messages in your Inbox displayin this right-hand panel. And when you select an e-mail header from the right-handpanel, the e-mail text displays in a new third panel beneath it, as in the illustrationbelow. (You can adjust this 3-pane arrangement to suit yourself.)

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IV. Selecting Messenger E-Mail Preferences on FuquaNetSome of Netscape Messenger is preconfigured for you when you use it on FuquaNet.And Netscape provides you with a wide variety of “preference” options you can set foryourself. When you use Messenger e-mail at Fuqua, these preferences are automaticallystored in your “Netscape” folder on your personal H:\ drive space. So no matter whatFuqua MBA computer you use, the preferences you set will “follow” you.

When you use Messenger at home, you can duplicate most of the settings you’ve selectedat Fuqua, but some additional configuration information is also required. See theAppendix at the end of these notes for how to configure Messenger on your homemachine, both for e-mail and for discussion groups.

This section describes some of the most useful optional configuration choices available toyou. You can reach these configuration options by choosing Edit and then Preferencesfrom Netscape’s main menu. A “Preferences” dialog opens, like the one in the illustrationbelow.

The options in the “Category” list (Appearance, Navigator, Mail &Newsgroups, etc.) are all expandable. Choosing and expanding anoption changes the information that appears at the right of the dialog’sdisplay.

Selecting the “Mail & Newsgroups” option from the “Category” list.Click the “plus box” to its left to expand it and show the configurableitems beneath it.

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IdentityWhen you access Messenger on FuquaNet, your name and e-mail address should alreadybe filled in3. As an option, you can supply the name of a “signature file” or (as analternative) create what Netscape calls a “vCard” or virtual card. A vCard is identifyinginformation about yourself, something like a business card, that you can have Messengeradd at the end of all the e-mail messages you send.

Mail ServersThis part of the configuration sequence asks for information about the computer thathandles the e-mail sent to you (the Incoming Mail Server) as well as the computer thathandles the e-mail you send to others (Outgoing Mail Server). When you’re working atFuqua, your Incoming and Outgoing Mail Servers are Duke University computers. Thispart of Messenger has been preconfigured for your use when you’re at Fuqua so you neednot make any configuration changes here. However you will need to add this informationto your home configuration to use Messenger properly there.

Still under the “Mail Servers” header, you may also choose to set how Messenger handlese-mail messages you delete. To do this:

1. Make sure your Duke Incoming Mail Server is selected, as in this illustration.

2. Click the Edit button to re-open the “Mail Server Properties” dialog. This dialog hasthree tabs. The “IMAP” tab is of particular interest. Click it to bring it to the fore.

3. On this tab look at the “When I delete a message” choices.

3 Remember that you supplied this information at the prompts on your very first access and the information

was recorded in the “Netscape” system folder.

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Three deletion options appear in this dialog, but only the 2nd and 3rd options areavailable (due to compatibility issues between Messenger and the mail server).

If you select the second option (“Mark it as deleted”), then when you delete amessage, Messenger marks it in the message list with a red “X”. With this optionselected, a Compact This Folder command is available under Messenger’s File menu.Choosing the Compact command deletes messages in the message list that aremarked with the “X”.

If you select the third option (“Remove it immediately”), Messenger gets rid of amessage as soon as you delete it. You can “undo” a deleted message to restore it toyour message list, but only in the current session. When you exit Messenger, anymessages you’ve deleted are then gone for good.

Choosing Clean up(“Expunge”) Inbox on exit directs Messenger to get rid of alldeleted messages when you exit. Since the Empty Trash on exit command is notcurrently functional, don’t select it.

4. Make whatever deletion choices you prefer and click OK to close this dialog andreturn to the main “Preferences” dialog.

AddressingThis version of Messenger supports both local and central e-mail address books. Click the“Addressing” item to display the available options. A partial illustration appears below.

1. At the top of the display, under “PinPoint Addressing”, you’ll probably want to checkboth “Address Books” (for any personal address books you want to maintain) and“Directory Server” (so you can access Fuqua’s central address book).

2. In the text box beneath “Directory Server”, Fuqua Address Book should already beentered .

3. Leave the other choices in this display at their defaults or change them to suit yourown preferences.

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Continuing on with your configuration of Messenger, re-open the “Preferences” dialog bychoosing Edit and Preferences from Netscape’s menu. Expand “Mail & Newsgroups” ifnecessary so you can see the options beneath it. Then continue by clicking the“Messages” option.

MessagesThere’s nothing critical on this part of the dialog. Set preferences to suit yourself. Beloware suggestions.

For example, in the section on Forwarding and Replying to Messages, it’s generally morecommon (and convenient) to quote a message that you forward to someone else ratherthan to send it on as an attachment. And, if you choose to quote a message to whichyou’re replying, you may want Messenger to position the cursor above the quoted text.

Window SettingsChoose the panes layout of your Messenger window here and decide whether you wantthe option to open folders and messages in new windows. If you choose to use newwindows, you can see more of the items you select, but then have more windows open onyour desktop.

Try both settings to see which worksbest for you.

Partial view of the dialog.

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Copies and FoldersAgain, nothing critical on this dialog. If you like to keep a copy of all your outgoingmessages, you can set that option here4. You can also designate a folder for drafts andtemplates. (Note that these are for ‘Local Mail’ or mail stored on your computer’s harddrive, not mail stored on Duke’s server.) For this option you’ll want to choose a folderlocated on your personal FuquaNet H: drive.

FormattingDecide here whether you want to take advantage of HTML or web-style formatting whenyou compose e-mail messages. HTML formatting permits the kind of formatting optionsyou’re accustomed to with a word processor or web editor instead of plain text (e.g., fontcolor, typeface, font style, background image, pictures, etc.). All your Fuquacorrespondents using Messenger will be able to see any formatting of this type that youadd to your e-mail messages. However, this may not be the case for your outsidecorrespondents if they’re using other e-mail clients that don’t support these features.

Return ReceiptsAgain, nothing critical. However, if you like to be notified when a correspondent towhom you’ve sent e-mail has received and/or read a message, explore the options on thispart of the dialog. Not all e-mail applications conform to the return receipt standards usedhere, so you may or may not get return receipts when you send mail to non-Messengerusers.

4 Be aware that you do not have an unlimited amount of space on Duke’s mail server computer for e-mail

messages. If you’re a prolific correspondent you may easily swamp your e-mail account space byusing this option. A better alternative might be to Bcc: yourself on any outgoing message youwant to keep.

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V. Using Messenger for E-MailThe Messenger interface follows Windows conventions, incorporating Windows-stylefeatures for moving, sizing, dragging-and-dropping, etc. If you’ve used anotherWindows-based e-mail client or are familiar with basic Windows operations, you’ll findMessenger’s e-mail feature easy to learn.

To Send a MessageWith Messenger open, select New Message from the menus. Messenger opens a“Composition” window like the one in the illustration below.

Notice that at the upper left of the Composition window, in theheader area, are three icons or tabs. The icons indicate thefollowing:

Address Message

Attach Files & Documents

Message Sending Options

When you open the Composition window, the “Address Message” tab isvisible, to give you space to indicate who to send the message to. As isusual with e-mail applications, the Composition window offers multipleentries for To:, as well as Cc: (carbon copy), Bcc: (blind carbon copy)and other sending options.

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You can have multiple “send-to” entries for a note. Once you’ve completed a To:, Cc:, orother entry, click the blank space beneath it to add an additional entry.

The second icon in the header — the paperclip icon — facilitates e-mail attachments. Tospecify an file attachment for your e-mail note, click the paperclip icon and then click theAttach menu option (or click anywhere in the blank header area that’s displayed).Messenger displays an “Enter file to attach” dialog, as in the illustration below.

When you select a file from the “Enter file to attach” window, the name of the file islisted in the header area. In the illustration below, three file attachments are listed in theheader area of the attachments tab.

Click a blank spacein the header To: area

to add another To:,Cc:, Bcc:, etc. entry.

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The third and final icon in the Composition header area is for message options for themessage you’re writing. “Return Receipt” and “Format” are probably the only options ofany interest here.

Enter in the subject text box a subject for your message and enter the text of yourmessage in the blank area at the bottom of the window.

You can vary the priority of your message by selecting one ofthe priority choices that appears when you click the drop-downarrow to the right of the Priority option.

If you’ve configured Messenger to allow HTML formatting,you’ll have the pleasure of using the options (color, typeface,font size, bold, italic, etc.) on the formatting toolbar that appearsdirectly above the message text area.

When your message is complete and ready to send, click the Send button that’s located tothe left of the toolbar beneath the menus.

Enter a messagesubject and the

text of yourmessage.

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To Read a MessageAs described above, the Messenger model uses a three-part window5 for e-mail (Netscapediscussion groups use this same model, since discussion groups share the same interface).That is:

Where1 holds a listing of entries for your e-mail (Inbox and Local Mail) and anydiscussion group servers you’ve subscribed to.

2 holds headers for whatever entry you’ve selected in 1. For example, if youselect your e-mail Inbox in 1, then 2 holds the headers of all the e-mail messagesin your inbox. Headers include the sender, the e-mail subject, the send-date, andmessage priority. Note that the little icons to the left of the header text indicatethings about the e-mail messages in the list. For example, the icons indicatewhether a message is new, old, or has an attachment.

3 holds the text of whatever message or posting you select in 2. Continuing theexample above, if you click the first e-mail header in 2, the text of that e-mailmessage appears in 3.

To read an e-mail message:In 1 click either Inbox or Local MailIn 2 click the header of the message you want to readIn 3 read your message

Options after reading your message include forwarding, deleting (use the Delete optionon the menu), leaving the message in the Inbox, or moving the message to a folder forarchiving (more on folders below).

To Delete a MessageDelete a message by choosing it in area 2 (as in the illustration above) and choosingDelete from the menu. Remember that the way Messenger handles a deleted messagedepends on how you configured Messenger. (See the section above on configuring “MailServer Properties” in Mail and Newsgroups.)

5 The “Window Setting” option in the “Preferences” dialog gives you two 3-pane layout choices. The

layout illustrated above is the default.

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3

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Reply To OptionsWith a message open, choose either the Reply or Reply To All button from Messenger’stoolbar. The Reply option will reply only to the person who sent the open message to you.If the message was sent not just to you but to several people, Reply To All will reply toeveryone who received the original message.

To Forward a MessageWith a message open, choose the Forward button from Messenger’s toolbar. Themessage-to-forward appears in a composition window marked with a blue line at the leftof the message text. The To: area of the header is blank, waiting for you to specify anaddress. Notice that the subject line for the forwarded message changes automaticallyfrom original subject line to [Fwd: original subject line].

VI. Organizing Your E-Mail Messages

The InboxThe Messenger Inbox is intended to be only a transitional space for the e-mail messagesyou receive. If you don’t delete a message immediately after reading it you should have agood reason for leaving it in your Inbox because the disk space allocated to your Dukee-mail account is limited to 10 megabytes. Folders (more below) are the way to archivemail. But within your Inbox, sorting is a convenient organizing option.6

SortingSort the messages in your Inbox by any one of the headers in the pane that holds the listof message headers: Subject, the “Read/Unread” indicator (green diamond), Sender,Date, and Priority. To sort by “Subject” in A to Z order, for example, click the Subjectheader. To sort by date received, click the Date header, and so on.

Click any header to sort message listings by that header.

6 For users transitioning from Simeon, Messenger doesn’t have the same Inbox MessageGroup option

Simeon supported, but its very fast multi-sort capabilities accomplishes the same thing.

FoldersFolders are a great way to group and archive the e-mail messages you want to keep. Asyou recall, all your incoming e-mail messages arrive in your Messenger Inbox. If youwant to keep a message but no longer want it in your Inbox, you can drag and drop themessage into a folder. You can work with a message stored in a folder the same wayyou’d work with a message in your Inbox. That is, you can view it, copy it, move it, printit, and so on.

Messenger establishes some default folders for you, suchas “Unsent Messages”, “Drafts”, “Templates”, “Trash”and so on. In the illustration at right, these defaultfolders appear listed under the “Local Mail” icon.

You can also create your own folders, either in your Inbox (in which case they’re locatedon Duke’s remote mail server) or under the header “Local Mail” (in which case they’restored locally). When you’re working at Fuqua, any folders you create under “LocalMail” are stored on your FuquaNet H: drive, so are accessible from any Fuqua MBA PC(but not from your home PC). When you’re working at home, any folders you createunder “Local Mail” are stored on your home PC’s hard drive, so they’re not accessiblefrom Fuqua’s computers. Remote folders are available from any PC you use to accessyour mail, however.

To create a remote folder, right click the Inbox entry in the left-hand pane of yourMessenger window and choose New Subfolder from the pop-up menu that displays. Thencomplete the New Folder dialog thatdisplays, providing a name for thefolder.

Right-click the Inboxentry.

Enter a name for your new folder

Select the “New Subfolder”option on the pop-up menu

that displays.

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.

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By right-clicking the drop-down arrow at the rightof the Inbox entry, you view the list of already-existing folders. If you choose to, this allows youto create your folder as a subfolder of one of theseexisting folders.

VII. Online E-Mail Address Books

Creating An Address BookYou may want to create your own address books within Messenger. While you’reworking at Fuqua, any personal address books you create are saved on your FuquaNet H:drive7. To create a new address book, click the Address Book icon on the component barat the lower right of the Messenger window. The Address Book dialog opens.

Choose File, New Address Book from the Messenger menu. Enter an address book namewhen prompted and click OK.

7 Of course these address books saved to H: won’t be accessible from your home computer and any address

books you create at home won’t be accessible from Fuqua PCs.

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Your new address book then appears in the list of address books in the Address Bookdialog in the “Directory” pane.

Adding an Entry to an Address BookWhen you receive an e-mail message from someone you want to add to an address book,right-click the address and choose Add sender to the address book from the pop-up list ofoptions that displays.

Or, from the address book dialog, choose File, New Card from the menus and complete a“card” for the person you want to add. Notice that in the New Card dialog you can addmuch more information than simply e-mail id.

To Create an E-Mail Distribution ListIf you send e-mail frequently to the same group of people, you can create a distributionlist to make your task easier. With a distribution list, you send e-mail to the list instead ofhaving to enter each person’s address each time you send them a message.

To create a distribution list, open the address book window and click the New List buttonfrom the toolbar. Enter a list name when prompted and then enter addresses (or if theyalready exist in your own or a Fuqua address book, drag them from the Address Bookwindow into the list).

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VIII. Using Messenger for Discussion GroupsNetscape’s interface for discussion groups (or newsgroups) is the same as Netscape’sinterface for electronic mail. That is, when you open the new Messenger window whichprovides the Netscape e-mail interface, you’ve also opened the interface you’ll use fordiscussion groups. And, once you’re familiar with how the interface works for e-mail youhave a head start in using the interface for discussion groups.

The illustration below shows the left-hand pane of the Netscape Messenger window. Thee-mail server and “Inbox” and “Local Mail” icons appear collapsed at the top of the left-hand pane. Below the e-mail items in the left-hand pane appear the names of anydiscussion group servers you’ve set up access to.

First you establish access to a news server and thenyou subscribe to discussion groups that are part of(or “served by”) that server.

If you’ve subscribed to any discussion groups thatare part of a particular news server, then that serverappears in the list with a “+” icon to its left. It canbe expanded to see the list of subscribed groups.

In the illustration at right, thembanews.fuqua.duke.edu server has no “+” icon toits left because the user hasn’t yet subscribed toany discussion groups that are part of thatserver.

Discussion Group Server AccessWhile you’re working on a Fuqua MBA PC, you automatically have access to twonewsgroup server subscriptions. That is, the access setup has already been configured forthese two servers:

� mbanews.fuqua.duke.edu� news.duke.edu

For your home installation of Netscape, you’ll need to manually set up the access to atleast mbanews.fuqua.duke.edu and then subscribe to any discussion groups you have aninterest in that are served by that server. This process is described in the Appendix tothese notes.

The “mbanews.fuqua.duke.edu” is the discussion group server managed by Fuqua. Itcontains all the discussion groups for your courses, for the Fuqua administrativedepartments (to distribute announcements to you), and for general discussions within theFuqua community. This is an “authenticated” server, meaning that you must provide anauthorized ID and password to access any discussion groups on this server. Use yourFuquaWorld ID and password to access the Fuqua discussion group server.

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The “news.duke.edu” discussion group server is managed by Duke University8. While itdoesn’t serve any Fuqua-specific material, you might browse it and find some discussiongroups of interest to you. In addition, the Internet Service Provider you contract with forinternet service to your home may provide you with access to some other discussiongroup resources.

How the Messenger Window is Arranged for Discussion GroupsThe window layout for discussion groups is the same as the layout for e-mail. That is:

The left-hand paneShows the list of discussion group servers. Expanding any server displayshows the actual newsgroups made available by that server. [This is alsothe pane that displays your e-mail “Inbox” and “Local Mail” icons andany folders established beneath them].

The upper right-hand paneShows the list of discussion group posting headers that are containedwithin the discussion group you select in the left-hand pane. A postingheader is basically the subject line for a posting and includes identifyinginformation such as the name of the person posting, the date and timeposted, etc. [If you have an e-mail icon selected, this is also the pane thatdisplays the e-mail header information.]

The lower right-hand paneShows the body of a discussion group posting you’ve selected in theupper right-hand pane. [If you have an e-mail header selected, this is alsothe pane that displays the text of the e-mail message.]

8 Note that “news.duke.edu” is available to you only while you’re working from a Fuqua PC or if you

connect to the Internet from home by using Duke’s modem pool. Although this server is notauthenticated using an ID and password, its use is restricted to computers that provide a Duke IPaddress.

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Subscribing to Discussion GroupsThere are many discussion groups available at Fuqua, for classes, administrativeannouncements, clubs, activities, testing, buying and selling, and for communitydiscussion at large. If you use the Messenger interface to read Fuqua’s discussion groups,you’ll want to subscribe to the particular groups of interest to you so they’re easilyaccessible in the Messenger window.

To subscribe:1. Open Messenger and click the entry for the mbanews.fuqua.duke.edu discussion

group server in the left-hand pane of the Messenger window to select it.2. From the Messenger menus, select File, Subscribe. The Communicator: Subscribe to

Newsgroups dialog opens with the “All” tab visible.3. Notice that many items in the list of “newsgroup names” are expandable (have a “+”

sign to the left of them). Expand the items you’re interested in and then go down thelist and click in the column to the right of any newsgroup name to replace the smalldiamond with a purple check mark.

(Alternatively, you can select a discussion group name and click the Subscribe key.)

4. When you’ve subscribed to all the discussion groups you’re interested inparticipating in, click the OK button to close the dialog and register yoursubscriptions.

Return to this dialog at any time to change your subscriptions.

Note: To quickly unsubscribe to any subscribed discussion group, right-click the group inthe left-hand Messenger window pane and choose Remove Newsgroup from the pop-upmenu that displays.

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ThreadingMessage “threading” is a feature of Messenger’s discussion group software that’s criticalto following an electronic discussion. Threading refers to Messenger’s ability to grouptogether postings on the same topic. Even if many messages are being posted to adiscussion group, threading keeps postings on the same topic together in the headerdisplay (the upper right-hand pane), no matter what sequence they were posted in.

Messenger marks the beginning of a thread with a small spool-of-thread icon at the left ofthe message header that’s the first posting in the thread. In addition, a “+” icon alsoappears to indicate that there are more message headers beneath. In the illustration below,the message header “*** CMLE POSTINGS & RULES ***” is the first posting in athread. It’s expanded so the other posting headers in that thread are also visible. Note thatMessenger indents the threaded messages and includes dotted lines between them so youcan trace what messages were posted in direct or indirect response to the original post.

There’s nothing special about starting a thread. If you post a message that someone elselater responds to, a thread has begun.

To respond to a message so your response is part of the thread, make sure the text of theposting you’re replying to is visible in the lower right-hand pane and click the Replybutton (instead of the New Msg button) on the Messenger toolbar. This opens theComposition window where you write your posting. Then when you hit the Send buttonin the Composition window, your posting header appears in the upper right-hand panearranged in a thread.

Threading TipsUse an appropriate subject line

Readers of a thread will find it very useful if you change the subject lineof your threaded posting to reflect your contribution to the thread. In theillustration above, one contributor to the thread has done this (with thesubject line “Log-on, log-off…”) while the other three contributors havenot.

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Quote selectivelyWhen adding a reply to a posting you may have the Netscape preferenceturned on that automatically quotes in full the post you’re replying to. Inmost cases, it’s not important to readers of the thread to see the entireprevious post quoted in your posting. Delete parts of the quoted text (orthe entire thing) that aren’t immediately relevant to your contribution.

Start a New Thread if NecessarySometimes a lively online discussion starts branching off into a newdirection that’s no longer relevant to the subject of the original post. Ifthis happens, start a new thread on the new topic. It’s a service to thediscussion group readers if you indicate in a posting that you’re takingthe new discussion topic to a new thread.

View, Messages, Threads with UnreadIf you’re following an ongoing thread you can direct Messenger to goimmediately to the threaded postings you haven’t yet read by choosingthese commands from the Messenger menus: View, Messages, Threadswith Unread

Tips on Reading Discussion Group PostingsWhen you select a discussion group posting header in the upper right-hand pane, the textof the posting appears in the lower right-hand pane. Here are some tips on readingdiscussion group postings:

� If necessary, Netscape makes scroll bars available at the right and bottom ofthe posting text pane. You may prefer to fully expand the Messenger windowfor a better view. You can adjust the relative pane sizes within the Messengerwindow by dragging the bars between the panes.

� The View, Messages menu items open a cascaded menu that gives you anumber of handy viewing options. Particularly useful, for example, is theoption View, Messages, Unread. If you have this option turned on for adiscussion group you regularly read, the volume of posting headers thatMessenger displays will be reduced considerably.

� Choosing Message, Mark, All Read is another convenient option especiallyin conjunction with View, Messages, Unread. Use this option if you can seeby the posting subject headers that you don’t want to read any of the postingsand want these headers not to display the next time you access the discussiongroup. A quick alternative to selecting this option from the menus is the keycombination Shift+C.

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Replying to a Post & Posting a New MessageReplying to a post

With the posting you want to reply to visible in the lower right-handpane, choose the Reply button from the Messenger toolbar. TheComposition window opens. Enter your posting text in this window,change the subject line to reflect your posting, and click the Compositionwindow’s Send button. A message posted in this way becomes part of athread.

Posting a new messageChoose the New Msg button from the Messenger toolbar to open theComposition window.

Note that the Composition window options are the same for newsgroup postingsas they are for e-mail messages. That is, you can direct your posting to anynumber of groups as well as individuals, you can attach a file or web page, youcan copy yourself, and so on.

When you post a reply or a new message, don’t expect to see your posting appearon the header list immediately. Depending on the volume of traffic on thenewsgroup server computer, your posting may appear quickly or only after a fewminutes. Use the File, Get New Messages command, if you like, to view yourposting header as soon as it’s available.

Honor Code & Community NormsYour participation in Fuqua’s electronic discussion groups is subject to the Fuqua honorcode as well as Fuqua community norms.� The honor code requires that anything you post be posted under your own name.� Unless specifically invited, refrain from posting to any discussion group for a class in

which you’re not a member.� The normal rules of polite social discourse also apply to the electronic discussion

groups. While energetic debate is welcome, avoid inappropriate comments orpersonal attacks.

� If a discussion is no longer of interest to the community of readers, take it to anothervenue such as a face-to-face discussion, private e-mail, etc.

� In most cases you should avoid posting the same message to many discussion groupsin an effort to gain wider readership. Each discussion group is intended for aparticular kind of posting. For example, a discussion group with the word“announce” in its name is generally intended to be for one-way announcements whilea discussion group with the word “forum” in its name is intended for discussionsfrom the community.

End

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Appendix

I. Configuring Netscape Messenger for Use At HomeAs described above, when you use a Fuqua MBA computer to access Messenger for e-mail and discussion groups, the required configuration information is already establishedand you need only set any preference options you might want. However, in order toaccess Duke/Fuqua e-mail and the Fuqua discussion groups on your home computer, youmust manually add some configuration information to your Netscape installation. ThisAppendix describes the configuration steps to follow on your home PC and assume youalready have Netscape Communicator 4.5x installed.

Should you encounter any difficulty with these configuration instructions, contactFuqua’s Technical Support Center (TSC) staff at telephone 919/660-7878, in suite 229West, or via e-mail at tsc-help@fuqua.duke.edu.

Optional: Establish Fuqua’s External Web Page as the Default Browser LocationThis is certainly not required; it’s only an option. However, if you want to see Fuqua’sexternal web site main page whenever you open your Netscape browser, do thefollowing:1. Choose Edit, Preferences from Netscape’s menus and select the “Navigator” item

from the list of options in the Preferences dialog that displays.2. In the Preferences dialog, select

� Navigator starts with home page� In the home page location text box enter the URL www.fuqua.duke.edu

3. Click OK to close the dialog and register this selection.

Necessary: Include Your Personal Identifying InformationNetscape needs to have on record some information about you before you can use it tosend e-mail. Enter that information as follows.1. Choose Edit, Preferences from Netscape’s menus and expand the “Mail &

Newsgroups” item from the list of options in the Preferences dialog that displays.2. Under the expanded “Mail & Newsgroups” header select the “Identity” option.3. Complete the text boxes as prompted, providing at minimum your name and e-mail

address. For e-mail address, use your complete address. For example, if your e-mailID were jdoe4 you’d enter the complete address jdoe4@duke.edu in the e-mail addresstext box9.

From this dialog you can also choose to use a vCard and decide what information youwant included on the vCard.

9 You may want to avoid using your Duke e-mail alias in this text box if you use the Duke e-mail request

system to get a copy of your class schedule. Currently that system does not recognize aliases. Youcan safely put your e-mail alias in the “Reply-to address” text box, however.

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Necessary: Identify the Mail Servers for Incoming & Outgoing E-Mail (and set youre-mail deletion preference)

1. Choose Edit, Preferences from Netscape’s menus and expand the “Mail &Newsgroups” item from the list of options in the Preferences dialog that displays.

2. Under the expanded “Mail & Newsgroups” header select the “Mail Servers” option.3. Click the Add button to the right of the “Incoming Mail Servers” part of the dialog. A

Mail Server Properties dialog opens. The “General” tab should be on top.4. In the Mail Server Properties dialog, in the “Server Name” text box enter

mail-xx.mail.duke.edu

where “xx” is the first two letters of your Duke e-mail ID. For example, if your IDwere jdoe4, this entry would read mail-jd.mail.duke.edu.10

5. Still in the Mail Server Properties dialog and on the “General” tab, the server typeshould already be indicated as IMAP11. For “User Name” enter your Duke e-mail ID.The prompt here wants your ID only here and not your complete e-mail address. Forexample, if your complete e-mail address were jdoe4@duke.edu, you‘d enter justjdoe4 in this text box.

6. For “Check for mail every n minutes”, enter 10 or 15. (Don’t enter a number muchsmaller than 10 here or risk invoking the wrath of the Duke e-mail systems staff.)

7. Still in the Mail Server Properties dialog, click the “IMAP” tab to bring it to thefront. You may recall from the discussion in the main part of these notes that this iswhere you can determine how Netscape Messenger handles any e-mail messages youdelete.

Remember that the first optioncurrently isn’t operational.

Select either the second or thirdoption here. (If you find afterusing Messenger for awhilethat you don’t like the optionyou’ve selected, return to thisdialog and change it.)

“Empty Trash on exit” is notcurrently available. Instead,select “Clean up (“Expunge”)Inbox on exit.

8. Leave the rest of the options on this and the “Advanced” tab at their defaults andclick OK to close the dialog and return to the main Preferences dialog.

10 The “mail” designator in the address is new this year and replaces the “acpub” designator used last year.

If you’re an MBA student from the Class of 2000 reading these instructions, substitute “acpub” for“mail”. Contact Fuqua’s TSC if you need further assistance.

11 “POP” should not be selected as the server type since POP servers download Inbox contents to the localPC and remove it completely from the mail server.

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At this point, you’ve completed defining your incoming mail server and should be backat the Mail Servers part of the display. You’re now ready to define your outgoing mailserver.

A note of explanation here: Duke University provides “back-end” e-mail services. Thatis, Duke supplies the computer that maintains your internet e-mail ID and password andholds your e-mail Inbox. When you’re working on a Fuqua MBA computer on campus,this same Duke computer also supplies you with outgoing e-mail services. However,when you’re working from home and connecting to the Internet using a commercialInternet Service Provider (ISP), your outgoing mail service is provided by your ISP andnot by Duke. You access your Duke e-mail account from home using your ISP and Dukestill provides you with the e-mail Inbox its computer holds (incoming mail). But youmust define in your Netscape Messenger configuration the information Netscape needs tosend mail through your ISP (your outgoing mail).

9. Look at the part of the dialog that has “Outgoing Mail Server” as its header.

To complete this part of the dialog, you need to know your ISP’s “SMTP servername”. You must contact your ISP for this information. Enter the information youget from your ISP in the “Outgoing mail (SMTP) server” text box. Leave the“Outgoing mail server user name” text box blank.

10. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog and register these changes.

Optional, but you probably want: Access to Online Address BooksThis version of Messenger supports both local and central e-mail address books. Toaccess Fuqua’s central address books on your home computer, do the following:

1. From Netscape’s main menu, choose Communicator and then Address Book.Netscape’s Address book window opens, and looks like the illustration below.

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From the Address Book window menus, select File and New Directory to open aDirectory Server Property dialog, like the one pictured below. Complete the“General” tab of the dialog as follows:

For “Description” enter FuquaAddress Book.

For “LDAP Server” type in thesetwo entries separated by a space:directory.fuqua.duke.edu anddirectory1.fuqua.duke.edu

For “Search Root” enter:o=fuqua,c=us

Enter the Search Root with nospaces between entries. “o” standsfor “organization” and “c” standsfor “country”.

If 389 isn’t already entered as“Port Number”, enter it and set“Don’t show more than n results”to 500.

2. Click OK to close the Directory Server Property dialog. Then close the Address Bookwindow.

3. Now choose Edit, Preferences from Netscape’s menus and expand the “Mail &Newsgroups” item from the list of options in the Preferences dialog that displays.

4. Under the expanded “Mail & Newsgroups” header select the “Addressing” option. Apartial illustration of what you should see appears below.

5. At the top of the display, check both “Address Books” (for any personal addressbooks you want to maintain on your home computer) and “Directory Server” (so youcan access Fuqua’s central address book).

6. In the text box beneath “Directory Server” select Fuqua Address Book if that entrydoesn’t already appear.

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7. Leave the other choices in this display at their defaults or change them to suit yourown preferences.

8. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.

Now you should have access to Fuqua’s central address book.

Optional: Local Locations for Copies and FoldersIf you like to keep copies of all your outgoing mail or drafts and templates, you can setlocations for these files on your local computer.1. Choose Edit, Preferences from Netscape’s menus and expand the “Mail &

Newsgroups” item from the list of options in the Preferences dialog that displays.2. Under the expanded “Mail & Newsgroups” header select the “Copies and Folders”

option. A partial illustration appears below.

3. Both choices in this dialog refer to ‘Local Mail’ and prompt you to choose a folder.The selections you make here refer to the hard drive space on your local computer.Remember that the options you set on your home Messenger configuration aren’tavailable while you’re on campus using a Fuqua MBA PC.

Necessary: Fuqua Discussion Group Server SubscriptionWhen you use Messenger on a Fuqua MBA PC, both the discussion group serversmbanews.fuqua.duke.edu and news.duke.edu are already part of your Messengerconfiguration. Access to these servers has been set up for you automatically and you needonly subscribe to the particular discussion groups served by those servers. However, inorder to access Fuqua discussion groups on your home computer, you must add theFuqua discussion group server to your configuration manually. Once it’s added, then youcan subscribe to any discussion groups provided by that server.

As described in the notes above, access to the news.duke.edu server is restricted tocomputers having a “Duke IP address”. All Fuqua MBA PCs are so equipped, but yourhome PC will not be unless you connect to the internet by dialing in to Duke’s modempool. Access to Fuqua’s mbanews.fuqua.duke.edu server is also restricted, but not by IPaddress. Access to this server is restricted by ID and password authentication. This meansthat you can access Fuqua’s server from home using your commercial ISP.

To configure your home installation of Messenger to gain access to the Fuquambanews.fuqua.duke.edu discussion group server:1. Open the Messenger window and from its menus select the options File, Subscribe.

The Communicator: Subscribe to Newsgroups window opens with the “All” tabvisible.

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2. From the Subscribe dialog, click the Add Server button. An Add Server dialog opensthat looks like the illustration below. Leave the server type set at “News Server(NNTP) and click the Continue button. A Newsgroup Server Properties dialog opens.

3. In the Newsgroup Server Properties dialog, enter the namembanews.fuqua.duke.edu in the “Server” text box. Leave the other options at theirdefaults and click the OK button to close this dialog and return to the Subscribedialog.

4. On the Subscribe dialog, click OK to close the dialog and register the configurationaddition.

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II. Summary of Passwords to Use When Accessing Messenger Services

Recall that you have four Duke/Fuqua computer accounts, each associated with an ID andpassword:

1. Duke e-mail2. Duke “acpub” (same ID and password as for e-mail)3. FuquaNet (the ID and password you provide to access services on any Fuqua

MBA PC in a lab, classroom team room, the Fuqua Library, etc.)4. FuquaWorld (the ID and password you provide to access Fuqua’s intranet)

Your ID should be the same across all four accounts. If you’ve synchronized yourpassword across all four accounts (as is recommended) then you need to stop to thinkwhich password is required for the particular service you’re trying to access.

If you have not synchronized your passwords and are maintaining a separate passwordfor each service, then this summary may be helpful.

First Messenger Access on FuquaNet (via the “FuquaMail” prompt)The very first time you access Messenger e-mail on Fuqua’s network by clicking the“FuquaMail” icon:

- Enter your complete e-mail address at the address prompt. (Remember to enteryour complete internet address at this prompt, not just your ID. Forexample, if your e-mail id is jdoe4, enter jdoe4@duke.edu here.)

- Enter your Duke e-mail password at the password prompt.

Subsequent E-Mail Access on FuquaNetAfter your initial login on FuquaNet using the “FuquaMail” icon, you can access yourMessenger e-mail through any of these three icons on the Fuqua MBA desktop:“FuquaMail”, “FuquaWorld”, or the “Communicator” icons. When prompted:

- Enter your Duke e-mail ID for ID (no need to enter the complete e-mailaddress).

- Enter your Duke e-mail password at the password prompt.

Fuqua Discussion Group AccessAccess to Fuqua’s discussion group server is authenticated, meaning you must provide avalid ID and password to participate. When prompted,

- Enter your FuquaWorld ID at the ID prompt.- Enter your FuquaWorld password at the password prompt.

End of Appendix