Email+Addresses+composition+of.

Email Addresses composition of.

Internet e‐mail addresses typically have two main parts:

For example :‐ Lindburgh@Wanabee.com ( Not my E‐Mail address )

First there is the user name (Lindburgh), which refers to the recipientʹs mailbox.

Then thereʹs an axon sign (@).

Next comes the host name (Wanabee), also called the domain name.

This refers to the mail server, the computer where the recipient has an electronic mailbox.

Itʹs usually the name of a company or organisation.

Finally, thereʹs a dot (.)

Followed by two or three letters (in this case, com) this indicates the type of domain.

An address ending with .com typically means that the host is a business, commercial enterprise, or an online service like Wanabee.

Most companies use this extension.

A host name ending with .edu indicates that the host is a university or educational facility.

.org indicates the host is a non‐commercial organisation.

Letʹs say you want to e‐mail the Prime Minister. You would send mail to British_Prime_Minister@Downing_Street.Gov.

.gov is used by government agencies and officials.

Other extensions you might encounter are:‐

.mil for military

.net for network.

The latter tends to be reserved for organisations such as Internet service providers.

There are plans to add additional top‐level domains, such as .web and .store,

However don’t go holding your breath

For e‐mail addresses outside of the United Kingdom, there is often a dot (. followed by

two letters representing the country.


 * For example:‐**

.ca indicates Canada,

.de indicates Germany

.nz indicates New Zealand.

. fr indicates France

For a full list of countries see my list.

So how can you find someoneʹs e‐mail address?

If you know where they work, you can guess the domain name.

But what about the recipientʹs mailbox?

At most organisations, people have their own e‐mail box.

The recipientʹs name may be just their last name (jones@Dell.com), their first initial and last name (mjones@dell.com), or their first and last name separated by a dot or an underscore (mary.jones@dell.com or mary_jones@dell.com).

Try and guess.

The worst that can happen is that the message will come back to you.

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