Email is not that different from regular mail, actually: you have a
message, an address, and a carrier that figures out to get it from
here to there.
The difference is that email messages--and any attachments--are
broken down into small chunks of data called packets, which
travel independently, weaving their way along with innumerable other
packets traveling to different destinations. It's as if each page of a
letter was mailed separately. On the way, the packets are passed from
one server to the next until they reach their final destination. Any
given message's packets and attached file may travel by several
different routes, so the components often arrive out of order and at
different times. Once all the packets have arrived, they are
recombined into their original form.
This makes sending the message faster, because it doesn't require
transmitting one big, bandwidth-hogging piece of data. But it also
means that an entire message can be held up if one little piece is
missing. Usually, however, this entire process, traveling 3,000 miles
or more, takes less than a minute to complete.
But what if you don't know a person's email address? It's actually
pretty easy to track someone down on the Net. Web sites such as WhoWhere,
Four11, and Bigfoot
list individual and business email addresses; all you have to do is
type in the name. Most search engine sites offer similar features, as
do the Netscape
Messenger, Microsoft
Outlook Express, and Eudora
email programs.
If you want to send or receive a mass mailing, you need to
subscribe to a mailing list, also known as a listserv. (See CNET's
feature "how
to set up and run your own Internet mailing list" for more
information.) Usenet
newsgroups, on the other hand, are publicly stored messages that
anyone can look at; you don't have to be a member of a list to read
these messages.