View source for E-Mail, newsgroups, and forums

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Formats for the storage or transmission of messages (singly or in groups) for electronic mail, discussion lists, forums, newsgroups, BBSs, social networking, etc.  See also [[Web]], [[Address books and contacts]].

== Abbreviations, conventions, etc. in messaging ==
Online messages can be a language all their own, with different dialects for different types of messages, but often "leaking" from one service to another. Here are a few of the things to watch out for:
* [[Emoticons]] - smileys, frowneys, etc :-)
* [[Hashtags, at-signs, retweets, etc.]] - Twitterisms that often turn up elsewhere
* [[Txtspeak]] - various abbreviations sometimes used in chats

== Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) ==

[http://www.masswerk.at/googleBBS/ If Google was an '80s BBS...]

=== Programs ===

* [[Fido BBS]]
* [[Opus-CBCS]] (BBS software)
** [[Opus Embedded Commands]] (OEC)
* [[PCBoard]]

=== Networks, protocols and formats ===

* [[AVATAR]]
* [[EMSI/IEMSI]]
* [[FidoNet message packet]]
* [[FidoNet nodelist]]
** [[FidoNet nodediff]]
* [[FOSSIL]]
* [[Wazoo]]
* [[XMODEM]]
* [[YMODEM]]
* [[YooHoo]]
* [[ZMODEM]]

== Chat, Texting and Instant Messaging ==

* [[AOL Instant Messenger]]
* [[ICQ]]
* [[IRC]] (Internet Relay Chat)
* [[Puffchat]]
* [[SMS]] (text messaging on phones)
* [[Slack]]
* [[Snapchat]]
* [[XMPP]] (Jabber)

== E-Mail ==

=== Standards and protocols ===

* [[Bang path]]
* [[Habeas Warrant Mark]]
* [[IMAP]]
* [[Internet e-mail message format]] (RFC 733/RFC 822/RFC 2822/RFC 5322)
* [[Maildir]]
* [[MAPI]]
* [[mbox]]
* [[POP3]]
* [[QWK]]
* [[SMTP]]
* [[SOUP]]
* [[SPF]]
* [[T.37]] (fax to e-mail)
* [[UUCP]]
* [[X-Face]]

=== Specific programs ===

==== Clients ====

* AOL
** [[AOL e-mail messages]]
** [[AOL Personal Filing Cabinet]] (includes e-mail as well as other things)
* [[Apple Mail]]
* [[Blue Wave]]
* [[Eudora]]
* Lotus Notes
** [[Notes Storage Facility]] (NSF)
* [[Mailpile]]
* [[Microsoft Entourage]]
* [[Microsoft Outlook]]
** [[Nickfile]] (NK2)
** [[Personal Folder File]] (PAB, PST, OST)
** [[Outlook for Mac Data File]] (OLM)
** [[Outlook Item File]] (MSG)
* [[MLM]] (Novell Groupwise)
* [[Outlook Express Database]] (DBX)
* [[Pegasus Mail]]
* [[Pine]]
* [[Thunderbird]]
** [[Thunderbird Message File]]

==== Servers ====

* [[Mercury]]
* [[Microsoft Exchange]]

==== Webmail services ====

* [[Gmail]]
* [[Hotmail]]
* [[ProtonMail]]

==== E-mail archiving ====

* [[Mailbag]]
* [[Sonasoft]]

== Forums / web comment threads ==

* [[Discourse]]
* [[Disqus]]
* [[Google Groups]]
* [[phpBB]]
* [[Yahoo Groups]]

== Messaging service integration ==

* [[Slack]]

== Online Services ==
(the old, proprietary variety)

* [[AOL]]
* [[CompuServe]]
* [[Prodigy]]
* [[The Source]]

== Secure messaging ==

See also [[Encryption]], [[Security]]

* [[ByLock]]
* [[Confide]]
* [[Crypho]]
* [[PGP]]
* [[PKCS7]]
* [[Privacy-Enhanced Mail (RFC 1421)]]
* [[ProtonMail]]
* [[SafeSlinger]]
* [[saltpack]]
* [[SecureDrop]] (was DeadDrop)
* [[Silent Circle Instant Messaging Protocol]]
* [[S/MIME]]

== Social Networking ==

* [[Ello]]
* [[Facebook]]
* [[Friendster]]
* [[Google+]]
* [[Instagram]]
* [[LinkedIn]]
* [[MySpace]]
* [[Pinterest]]
* [[pump.io]]
* [[Snake]]
* [[Tumblr]]
* [[Twister]]
* [[Twitter]]
* [[Reddit]]
* [[Discord]]

== Transfer Encodings ==

* [[ASCII Encoded HP 48 Object]] (ASC)
* [[Base64]]
* [[Crockford Base32]]
* [[MIME]]
* [[MIME types]]
* [[Quoted-printable]]
* [[Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format]] (TNEF; winmail.dat)
* [[Uuencoding]]
* [[Xxencoding]]
* [[yEnc]]

See also the main article, [[Transfer Encodings]].

== Usenet ==

* [[Bang path]]
* [[NZB]]
* [[Usenet message format]] ([http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc850 RFC 850]/[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1036 RFC 1036]/[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5536 RFC 5536]/[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5537 RFC 5537]; [https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2019-11/2019-11-17.html Discussion of early Usenet format])
* [[UUCP]]

== Links ==

=== BBSing ===
* [http://software.bbsdocumentary.com/ Lots of vintage BBS software]
* [http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/01/modems-warez-and-ansi-art-remembering-bbs-life-at-2400bps/ Modems, wArEz, and ANSI art: Remembering BBS life at 2400bps]
* [https://archive.org/details/EX1FullManual Elite Exchange One BBS software manual (1989)]
* [http://breakintochat.com/blog/2014/04/09/second-collection-bbs-related-podcasts/ BBS-related podcasts]
* [https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED325112 ERIC ED325112: Electronic Bulletin Boards. (April 1986)]

=== Email ===
* [http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v7n11/MailChauvinism.php Mail Chauvinism: The Magicians, the Snark and the Camel -- Ted Nelson, 1981] 
* [http://jeffreifman.com/how-to-install-your-own-private-e-mail-server-in-the-amazon-cloud-aws/ How to self-host your own mail server in the cloud]
* [http://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-says-it-cant-search-own-emails NSA Says It Can’t Search Its Own Emails] (Just everybody else's!)
* [http://superuser.com/questions/624509/how-can-i-find-out-where-an-email-really-came-from How can I find out where an email really came from?]
* [http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131001/06440924710/new-encrypted-email-services-coming-kim-dotcoms-mega-newzbin.shtml New Encrypted Email Services Coming From Kim Dotcom's Mega And Newzbin]
* [http://www.darkmail.info/ Dark Mail Alliance] - developing end-to-end encryption for e-mail
* [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/torbirdy/ TorBirdy: extension to use Tor encryption with Thunderbird]
* [http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/11/the-daunting-challenge-of-secure-e-mail.html The Daunting Challenge of Secure E-Mail]
* [http://verify-email.org/ Verify e-mail addresses online]
* [http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg87153.html Yahoo breaks every mailing list in the world including the IETF's]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20120205214603/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2003/06/the_end_of_history.single.html The End of History: How e-mail is wrecking our national archive] (ironically, the article succumbed to linkrot, but is retrievable from the Internet Archive)
* [https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/ E-mail self-defense guide (encryption)]
* [https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:226625 Carcanet Press Email Preservation Project - Phases 2-3]
* [http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2007/R2134.pdf Framework and Functions of the "MS" Personal Message System] (David H. Crocker, 1977)
* [http://emailclientmarketshare.com/ E-mail client market share]
* [https://library.stanford.edu/projects/epadd/download EPADD: software for cataloguing e-mail archives]
* [https://hackernoon.com/the-100-correct-way-to-validate-email-addresses-7c4818f24643#.r1zdfensn The 100% Correct Way to Validate E-Mail Addresses]
* [https://archive.org/details/CLIR-pub175 The Future of Email Archives: A Report from the Task Force on Technical Approaches for Email Archives]

=== Newsgroups/Usenet ===
* [http://boingboing.net/2014/01/03/kickstarting-operator-a-censo.html Kickstarting Operator: a censorship-resistant, shape-shifting newsreader]
* [http://olduse.net/ olduse.net: "Real time" posting of 30-year-old Usenet posts]

=== Social networking ===
* [http://www.bishopfox.com/blog/2013/10/linkedin-intro/ LinkedIn ‘Intro’duces Insecurity]
* [http://boingboing.net/2014/03/03/free-download-of-danah-boyds.html Free download of danah boyd's must-read book "It's Complicated"] (about young people and social networking)
* [http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/a-new-tool-to-preserve-moments-on-the-internet/ A Dynamic New Tool to Preserve the Friendsters of the Future (NY Times Blogs)]
* [https://medium.com/backchannel/a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-1df945c09ac6 A Teenager’s View on Social Media]
* [https://medium.com/@brianstorms/a-1980-teenagers-view-of-social-media-eaf8a5fdbf6c A 1980 Teenager’s View on Social Media]
* [https://medium.com/message/an-old-fogeys-analysis-of-a-teenagers-view-on-social-media-5be16981034d An Old Fogey’s Analysis of a Teenager’s View on Social Media]

=== Misc. ===
* [http://blog.mehanjayasuriya.com/itp_thesis.pdf Online, Underground: In-progress written history of online messageboards]
* [http://prism-break.org/ Opt out of PRISM: surveillance-free alternatives to things including social networking and messaging]
* [http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2013/0614/India-to-send-world-s-last-telegram.-Stop India to send world's last telegram. Stop.]
* [http://thinkofit.com/plato/dwplato.htm PLATO: The Emergence of Online Community]
* [http://mediarchaeology.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/the-minitel-frances-1980s-internet/ The Minitel: France's 1980s "Internet"]
* [http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2014/07/lolcats-and-libraries-a-conversation-with-internet-librarian-amanda-brennan/ LOLCats and Libraries: A Conversation with Internet Librarian Amanda Brennan] (on the study of Internet memes)

[[Category:Internet]]