Technology / Email Glossary

Sent Emails: Number of email names transmitted in a single broadcast. Does not reflect how many were delivered or viewed by recipients.

Server: A program or computer system that stores and distributes email from one mailbox to another, or relays email from one server to another in a network.

Shared Server: An email server used by more than one company or sender. Shared servers are less expensive to use because the broadcast vendor can spread the cost over more users. However, senders sharing a . . . View Full Definition

Signature: A line or two of information found in the closing of an email, usually followed the sender's name. Signatures can include advertising information, such as a company name, product, brand mess . . . View Full Definition

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP): SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a standard set of rules that define an email message format, and the message transfer agent (MTA), which stores and forwards email. SMTP was originall . . . View Full Definition

SMTP Log File: A file showing all conversations back and forth between servers during the email send and receive process. Used to uncover problems with various deliverability factors such as unknown user rates.

Snail Mail: A term for postal mail. This term started due to the slow pace of postal mail compared to the instant delivery of email.

Soft Bounce: Email sent to an active (live) email address but which is turned away before being delivered. Often, the problem is temporary -- the server is down or the recipient's mailbox is over quota. . . . View Full Definition

Solo Mailing: A one-time broadcast to an email list, separate from regular newsletters or promotions, and often including a message from an outside advertiser or a special promotion from the list owner.

Spam: The popular name for unsolicited commercial email. However, some email recipients define spam as any email they no longer want to receive, even if it comes from a mailing list they joined vo . . . View Full Definition

Spam Filter: Systems that watch for spam and block it before it can hit the inbox. Spam filters can be complaint or content based.

Spam-Trap Address: An email address that is set up specifically to catch people who are harvesting addresses or using directory attacks to send unsolicited email. Used by Brightmail, ISPs and many in the anti- . . . View Full Definition

Spamcop: A blacklist and IP-address database, formerly privately owned but now part of the email vendor Ironport. Many ISPs check the IP addresses of incoming email against Spamcop's records to deter . . . View Full Definition

Spell Check: Checks an email message before sending allowing you to correct any spelling errors. This feature is usually similar to the spell checkers found in word processors.

SPF: SPF (Sender Policy Framework) compares an email sender's actual IP address to a list of IP addresses authorized to send mail from that domain. This list is published in the domain's DNS record.

Split Mailbox: A method of forwarding your @mit.edu email to another email account while having a copy still sent to your MIT (Athena) account.

Sponsorship Swap: An agreement between email list owners, publishers or advertisers to sponsor each other's mailings or newsletters for free. See ad swap.

Spoofing: The practice of changing the sender's name in an email message so that it looks as if it came from another address.

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