=== ECHOMAIL TUTORIAL === 

This is a brief tutorial about the FidoNet phenomenon called EchoMail.
It explains what an EchoMail Conference is, and how you can
effectively use EchoMail to send messages to others without becoming
unpopular!

An EchoMail Conference is a discussion on a particular topic which
takes place on a number of FidoNet bulletin boards almost
simultaneously.  A message placed in an EchoMail Conference on one
bulletin board is "echoed" to all the other boards in the network
which are participating in that conference.  There are many
conferences available, including international ones, which cover a
wide variety of subjects.  Not all conferences will necessarily be
available on all FidoNet bulletin boards.  For a list of subjects, ask
your friendly Sysop.

EchoMail allows you to talk to people on other FidoNet bulletin boards
across the country and the world without having to know who, or where
they are.  You can tell an EchoMail Conference Area from the Area
Name.  It will say something about the echo, eg.  DESQVIEW,
AUST_MODEMS etc.  All you have to do is enter a message in one of
these areas, and it is automatically sent out to any and all FidoNet
bulletin boards participating in that particular EchoMail Conference.

=== ORIGIN LINES === 

At the end of each message in an EchoMail Area there is a line called
an Origin line which shows the name and FidoNet address of the board
on which the message was entered.  At the end of the origin line there
are three numbers in parenthesis.  This is the FidoNet address of the
originating bulletin board, eg EchoMail messages entered on Sentry
have an origin line ending with "(3:711/401.0)".  The
"3" is the Zone
number for Australia/NZ/PNG, the "711" is the network number, the
"401" is the node number and ".0" is the (optional)
point number.  You
can find a listing of all the zone/net/node numbers in the entire
world in a compressed file on many FidoNet bulletin boards called
"NODELIST.???".

If you wish to send a private FidoNet NETmail message (not a public
EchoMail message) to a person who has entered a message in an EchoMail
Conference, you can discover the person's FidoNet address by checking
the origin line on the particular message.  If you do not know how to
send a FidoNet netmail message, ask your friendly Sysop.

=== PRIVATE MESSAGES === 

All the messages in an EchoMail Conference area are sent out to all
the other participating bulletin boards.  Many FidoNet bulletin boards
only allow public (not private) messages in EchoMail Conference areas.
Some FidoNet bulletin boards automatically send private messages
entered in EchoMail conferences by netmail.  Check with your friendly
Sysop!

If you want to send a private message to someone, you should generally
not use an EchoMail area.  You should, instead, use the FidoNet
netmail area (also known as the Matrix area on Opus bulletin boards).

=== PERSON-TO-PERSON MESSAGES === 

Generally, person-to-person messages should not be entered in an
EchoMail Conference.  If you have a message for Bill Bloggs, and no
one else is likely to be interested in it, then use FidoNet netmail
and not EchoMail otherwise the sysop of every bulletin board
participating in that EchoMail Conference will pay to receive it.  A
message between two users in Sydney, received on a BBS in Perth, is
not likely to win you any friends.  It can be worse!  If the
particular EchoMail Conference is an International one, your message
could end up on numerous FidoNet bulletin boards across the world.

=== THANK-YOU MESSAGES === 

If you do receive a flood of replies to a question which you entered
in an EchoMail Conference, it is only natural to want to thank each
individual who replied.  DO NOT do it!  Those 15 messages saying
"Thanks for your reply " will be echoed everywhere
and are only of interest to the addressees.  You have two choices:
(1) send a private FidoNet netmail message, or (2) send a single
"global" thank- you message in the EchoMail Conference (eg "Thanks to
all those who helped with my modem problem.  It is now fixed").

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