Vacation FAQ

When you leave the Island for any significant period of time, you may wish to keep up with your e-mail. This document lists some of the options you may wish to consider during your absence.

Call Long-Distance

The simplest solution, is to dial long-distance from wherever you are staying. While this will incur extra cost for you, reducing the complexities of life may be worth it to you.

The only change to your computer's configuration will be to change the VNI number in your dialer from 696-6650 to 1-508-696-6650 (some areas no longer require the '1' preceeding the area code)

Please be aware that some hotels have special long-distance arrangements which attach extra charges to your call. The extra charges are reimbursed by the long-distance carrier back to the hotel. Some of these deals make calling from a hotel room very expensive.

Use Your Host's Computer

If your host has a machine they are willing to let you use, you can add some settings to their e-mail client so that you can read your mail.

Many e-mail clients (Eudora in particular) have the concept of separate user personalities which allows multiple individuals to add distinct configuration options for themselves. If your host uses such a program, you will be able to share their computer without interfering with their own e-mail settings.

In order to read mail from VNI you will have to add your POP (Post Office Protocol) information. If your account at VNI is named joeuser, then your POP account is joeuser@vineyard.net. Some programs (e.g. Netscape's Navigator and Communicator) like you to enter this information as 2 separate items, username: joeuser and POP Hostname: vineyard.net.

There are often additional items you can include in your personality configuration. Your POP information is the only essential item. Fill in the others as you see fit. Do not attempt to use VNI's smtp server from outside Vineyard.NET for your outgoing messages. Our server will reject most of your attempts as probably being those of a marketer using our server to distribute advertising (an all-too frequent event).

Adjusting your mail settings

If you have taken your computer with you on your trip, and have found a local ISP, you will need to make some adjustment to the settings in your e-mail program.

You will have to change the name of the server which handles your outgoing mail. This is alternatively referred to as either a mail host or an smtp (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) host. At Vineyard.NET, this host is named smtp.vineyard.net and mail.vineyard.net (the machine goes by both names to allow easier setup). Your new provider will probably use a similar name scheme.

You will have to change your smtp host because Vineyard.NET's is very strict. To help cut down on marketers ability to spam our customers, our smtp server will refuse connection requests from outside Vineyard.NET.

Along with your Internet access the local provider will most likely also provide you with a POP account to receive mail. So you will have 2 POP accounts: joeuser@vineyard.net and anotherjoeuser@someplace.else.com. You will now have to deal with both in one way or another.

Option 1

Just read both addresses whenever you check your mail.

• Advantages: not much good to say about this option other than that it will work.
• Disadvantages: Very inelegant. Checking a single POP consumes enough time, checking two just adds to your burden.

Option 2

Have VNI forward incoming mail for you. You can configure this option yourself. Please see our FAQ on the subject for more information.

• Advantages: Anything sent to joeuser@vineyard.net will transparently bounce to anotherjoeuser@someplace.else.com. You won't have to tell anyone that you have a new address. It is unlikely that anyone will steal your password.
• Disadvantages: You will have to adjust your Eudora settings to point to the new POP address and the local smtp server (but you only have to do it once when you get there and once when you come back). Leave your return address alone so that it still says joeuser@vineyard.net.

  Be careful of your return address. Even if you do not edit your return address in Eudora, smart folk will notice that your message headers do not agree with your return address. If they are semi-clever, they will start using the address they noted in the headers because they don't respect that you know what you are doing. This is ok, except that when vacation is over, the address they oh-so-cleverly started using will cease to function. (If they are real-clever, they will respect that you know what you are doing and ignore the discrepancy).

Option 3

Simply ignore anotherjoeuser@someplace.else.com. Never look at that POP. Don't tell anyone it exists. Just use joeuser@vineyard.net for all your mail (ie. Don't even LOOK at your Eudora settings. Just leave 'em alone). Believe it or not it will work (albeit a bit more slowly depending on how far away you are).

• Advantages: Very simple. You don't really have to think much about mail. It just works the way it is set up now.
• Disadvantages: There is always the possibility that something important will show up at anotherjoeuser@someplace.else.com. If you tell no one about the address, the only folks using the address should be your host ISP. Someone might steal your password.

Option 4

Same as above but ask that your temporary provider forward anything sent to anotherjoeuser@someplace.else.com to joeuser@vineyard.net.

• Advantages: This covers about all the bases.
• Disadvantages: Not clear how various ISP's will react to such temporary measures. Many ISP's do not have the ability to easily forward customer mail. Someone might steal your password.

Someone might steal your password

Password stealing involves a longish discussion. Suffice to say that if you login into a site via dozens of intervening computers on a regular basis, the odds are good that somewhere along that path an illicit program will make a copy of your login conversation. There is little risk of this happening when you use one of Vineyard.NET's modems to dial into VNI because there are no intervening computers.

Our system on Vineyard.NET is quite secure. If someone manages to sniff your password, their ability to do harm is limited. They will be able to download your mail, send mail in your name, use your Vineyard.NET, dial-up, etc. They will not be able to access any payment information you have given us. That information is encrypted on our system.

This is not really a big threat if you take some steps.

• Do not use a password which is common to a lot of computers. For example, if you have an AOL account with the exact same login and password combination as your VNI account, the thief may attempt the obvious and login to AOL with your account.
• Change your password with some regularity. Especially after you return to the Island and there is no longer a risk that someone will steal your password.
• There exist some protocols on our system which solve this difficulty (S/Key and APOP). Their use is a bit complicated, but we will be happy to implement one for you and instruct you in their use if you so desire. Please get in touch with us if you are interested.
• If you really need secure mail, you should consider using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) to encrypt your messages. Like any padlock, using PGP adds some complexity; but it can be very secure and after it is set up correctly, Eudora can encrypt/decrypt messages for you with little or no intervention on your part.

Use the vacation script

Vacation is a program which will automatically reply to all messages sent to your e-mail address. Typically the automatic message reads somewhat like:

I will not be at work for the month of October. I will be receiving e-mail, but I will not be responding (except for emergencies) until November first.

-- Joe User

Vacation will allow you to compose your message, and (if you have configured pseudonyms for yourself) allow you to select which of your pseudonyms to appear in the From: header of the message.

Mailing list problems when using vacation

It is suggested that you take yourself off of any mailing lists before you use vacation. This is because there is no definitive way to distinguish between e-mails sent from mailing lists and e-mails from individuals.

Some mail lists are configured such that your polite vacation message will be sent back to the list every time a message comes from it. If the list is busy, this means that your vacation message might be sent to every reader on the list 10, 20, 100 times each day. This will likely annoy folks.