Tag Archives: email

Introducing Falconmail.me

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I’m introducing a new email forwarding service called Falconmail.me which allows you to share an email address that is 14 characters shorter than Daytona State College’s standard @falconmail.daytonastate.edu student email addresses.

How it works

My email is richard_thripp@falconmail.daytonastate.edu, but if I give out the email address richard_thripp@falconmail.me, email sent to the Falconmail.me address will be directly forwarded to the falconmail.daytonastate.edu by the host.thripp.com mailserver. Then, if you’ve set your Daytona State College email address to forward to your own account (i.e. Gmail or Hotmail), DSC will forward it to you, so the message will be forwarded twice.

I’ve tested this, and it works perfectly for me. I’ve set my server to just forward all email sent to Falconmail.me to falconmail.daytonastate.edu. The only danger is if the Daytona State IT department decides to block Falconmail.me, the forwarding will immediately cease to work. I encourage them not to do this but instead use their own spam filtering, and I may add spam filtering to Falconmail.me in the future. I am also willing to transfer the domain to the college if they will actually use it.

If you are a DSC student, you have an email in the format firstname_lastname@falconmail.daytonastate.edu, so you can immediately begin sharing firstname_lastname@falconmail.me with people to save them some typing. Falconmail.me, DaytonaState.org, and Thripp.com are hosted on a WiredTree Hybrid Dedicated server with over 99.9% uptime, so no emails should be lost.

I will be keeping no records whatsoever of any emails forwarded through Falconmail.me. I set up a domain-level forwarder in cPanel and I have no interest in collecting personal data. I just saw that the Falconmail.me domain was unregistered and I thought it would make a cool service.

.me is a new top-level domain introduced in 2007 for the country of Montenegro, but it is being marketed as a multinational domain for self-identification. This means you can use Falconmail as a verb and say “Falconmail me” to your friends, and the phrase matches the domain.

Enjoy your new Falconmail.me forwarding email address!

How to Log In to Florida Online at Daytona State College

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MVSmith asked this question over in the Daytona State College forum:

Virtual College

Where did it go?

I’m signed up for Sociology via online with the VC and not only have I not yet heard from the professor, but the links I have to the VC no longer work. On top of that, I’ve been searching the new site for DSC and there’s nothing there (that I’ve found anyways).

So, if we have a class online, how do we get to it?

It’s a good question. The new virtual college is confusing. My Physics professor, Dr. Gajendra Tulsian, asked a student to log in to his account on Monday for a demonstration. He didn’t know how, the next student didn’t either, and the system wasn’t even working for the last one. Barring problems on the college’s end, here’s the reply I wrote detailing the steps:

They do make it confusing, I know. Here’s what to do:

1. Go to class.daytonastate.edu.
2. Enter your user name as first initial, last name, last three digits of student ID. Mine is rthripp658, for example.
3. Enter your password. I think this is your Falconmail password. Use the Forgot Password link if you need to, and the system will email your password to your Falconmail account.

And to log in to your Falconnet account, click the “Falconnet” button at the top of the daytonastate.edu home page, log-in with your Student ID and password as birth date (081791, for example), click the big “Check Email” button toward the top-right, click “Continue…”, and finally, click “Inbox.” Too many steps, I know.

Once you’re in at class.daytonastate.edu, there are even more steps. Under “My Courses,” you may have to click the little plus sign to the right of “FA08″ (for Fall 2008) to get your course list to appear. Then, click the course you want to go to in the list. Then you’re at the course home page, where everything happens. There should be links at the top-left, below the college logo, which may say “Content Discussions Links Quizzes” (it varies by course). “Content” is where all the class material will be; mandatory reading, study guides, etc. Discussions are private, online forums for the class students. Participation is often mandatory; check the home page or Content pages to find out. “Links” are just links to other online resources. “Quizzes” aren’t just quizzes; they’re where you’ll be taking all your full-blown exams.

Good luck with your course, and let me know if you need help with anything else. Check out my article, How to Ace a Daytona State Online Exam; I’ve written some good tips there.

DSC Honors College sends email, reveals addresses

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I got this email from the Honors college department today, at 10:41 A.M. local time (EDT):

From: Beverly Gibson <gibsonbe@daytonastate.edu>

Welcome Daytona State College Student,

Would you like to get more out of your college experience? Then consider joining the Honors College! The benefits are numerous and include, smaller classes, a tightly knit group of fellow motivated students, more in depth and interesting classes, research experience, and many opportunities for scholarships. You are receiving this correspondence because you have been identified as having an excellent record of academic performance, and as such, you may be eligible to join the Honors College. If you are interested in this great opportunity then consider applying today! Just stop by Bldg. 330, Rm. 238, and see Dr. Ron Morrison, chair of the Honors College and pick up your application and get started right now on your road to academic excellence!

Beverly Gibson
Staff Assistant
Honors College

What was more interesting than the message is that Beverly Gibson failed to use the blind carbon-copy (BCC) field in her email software, so I got a whole list of all the people this message was sent to. The list is below. I’ve removed the .edu part to shield the account holders from spam bots.

richard_mcgahey@falconmail.daytonastate,
richard_owens5230@falconmail.daytonastate,
richard_sanders5418@falconmail.daytonastate,
richard_savidge@falconmail.daytonastate,
richard_thripp@falconmail.daytonastate,
richard_walker3229@falconmail.daytonastate,
richard_williams3330@falconmail.daytonastate,
richard_wilson5807@falconmail.daytonastate,
rina_lopez@falconmail.daytonastate,
rita_osborn3621@falconmail.daytonastate,
robbie_cooper@falconmail.daytonastate,
roberta_enquist@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_bowden@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_colavita@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_coleman4430@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_eichorst@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_haley1715@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_hehre@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_holzschuh@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_horn640@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_mcginty1226@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_mckee3117@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_mitchell4230@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_mustone@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_ogden508@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_rauh@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_renforth@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_rogers846@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_ryan847@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_smith2927@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_stewart508@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_wohlrab@falconmail.daytonastate,
robert_wolfe847@falconmail.daytonastate,
robin_beddard@falconmail.daytonastate,
robin_feger@falconmail.daytonastate,
robin_hodge@falconmail.daytonastate,
robin_jackson@falconmail.daytonastate,
robin_parks@falconmail.daytonastate,
robin_powell@falconmail.daytonastate,
robyn_ferguson@falconmail.daytonastate,
robyn_winkler@falconmail.daytonastate,
rochelle_forbes1509@falconmail.daytonastate,
rodriguez_carol_a._rodriguez_c@falconmail.daytonastate,
roeill._kristina_roeill._krist@falconmail.daytonastate,
roger_buccolo@falconmail.daytonastate,
rohini_persaud@falconmail.daytonastate,
romina_dana@falconmail.daytonastate,
romina_perri@falconmail.daytonastate,
ronald_barnard@falconmail.daytonastate,
ronald_bryant@falconmail.daytonastate,
ronald_powell@falconmail.daytonastate,
ronald_zimmet@falconmail.daytonastate,
ronnie_gutierrez@falconmail.daytonastate,
rony_bailey@falconmail.daytonastate,
rosalie_villecco1841@falconmail.daytonastate,
rosalynda_frangi@falconmail.daytonastate,
rosa_rodriguez4059@falconmail.daytonastate,
roselyn_brown@falconmail.daytonastate,
rosemarie_nazarak@falconmail.daytonastate,
rosemarie_savini-volpe@falconmail.daytonastate,
rosey_withrow@falconmail.daytonastate,
rose_carlson@falconmail.daytonastate,
rose_freycinet@falconmail.daytonastate,
rose_mazzullo@falconmail.daytonastate,
rossana_matos@falconmail.daytonastate,
rowena_sarmiento@falconmail.daytonastate,
rowland_spellman@falconmail.daytonastate,
roxanne_moodie@falconmail.daytonastate,
ruben_ramirez@falconmail.daytonastate,
rudo_nemasango@falconmail.daytonastate,
rudra_desai@falconmail.daytonastate,
rudrea_kirkpatrick@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_gibbons@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_haworth@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_jordan4759@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_lee2856@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_mccloud3255@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_parish@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_sandberg@falconmail.daytonastate,
russell_wasileski@falconmail.daytonastate,
ruthann_omeara@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryanne_collier@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_favreau@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_harris234@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_heise@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_hunt2051@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_ianacone@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_kalle@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_manos@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_revek@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_rivas@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_ruffel@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_sutton@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_truong@falconmail.daytonastate,
ryan_urice@falconmail.daytonastate,
rylee_martin@falconmail.daytonastate,
sabrina_girard-stuckey@falconmail.daytonastate,
sabrina_johnson2006@falconmail.daytonastate,
sabrina_tirfagnehu@falconmail.daytonastate,
sadye_greenberger@falconmail.daytonastate

Doubtlessly, these names and emails are all public record, but I’ve never got an email from the college where the addresses were shown. This is unusual. It must’ve been Beverly’s effort, rather than the normal channels (such as the “mass mailers” we students get for tuition billing). I assume this email was sent to several thousand students in chunks of 100, as there are just 100 addresses in the list and they’re all alphabetical. We don’t even get a whole letter. Just two-thirds the R’s and the start of the S’s.

I find the college’s collision-handling interesting―that is, assigning accounts to students with names that are already taken. It seems to be a birthday in some cases, like 1226 or 508, but other numbers like 3229 disprove that. sabrina_johnson2006@falconmail.daytonastate is different; it seems to be for the year 2006. Maybe students get to pick the numbers?

Then again, seeing richard_walker3229@falconmail.daytonastate and richard_williams3330@falconmail.daytonastate right next to each other is odd, as the numbers are incremented one. Could it be a sequential counter of the people whose names have proved too common?

I don’t think so. We couldn’t have low numbers like 234 and 508 mixed in with high numbers like 5807. If it was a counter from one in order of enrollment, the people in the hundreds would’ve long since graduated.

Most of the numbers are four digits. If the students get to pick, why don’t we see numbers popular with the youngsters, like 1234, 6969, and 1337?

Could it be the last few digits of the students’ DSC ID numbers? That would be dumb, because those numbers should remain semi-private as they’re used as a password in many places, sometimes even by default.

I’m confused by these mystery numbers. 27 of 100 of the emails have them. That’s more than one-fourth. I was in QUANTA in the last two semesters. Everyone gave their email accounts, and the class list was given to each student. At least 20 of them used the college-provided accounts, and none of them had numbers.

Perhaps the numbers are meaningless? Maybe I can add any sort of numbers to my address and it will work just like normal? I should test it some time.

I also learned that the college respects hyphenated last-names in email addresses. The only two on the list are rosemarie_savini-volpe@falconmail.daytonastate and sabrina_girard-stuckey@falconmail.daytonastate. I see no hyphenated first names, but I assume the same is true for them. [Personal commentary: women with two last names are always trouble.]

Even periods seem to fly. I see rodriguez_carol_a._rodriguez_c@falconmail.daytonastate and roeill._kristina_roeill._krist@falconmail.daytonastate on the list. What is up with those addresses, anyway? They must be glitches, because they just repeat the name twice in a different way. The original typist may have fouled. I bet Rodriguez and Roeill have been missing all the automated college messages.

How about these long addresses? @falconmail.daytonastate.edu is just too much. The longest unglitched ones on the list? rosemarie_savini-volpe@falconmail.daytonastate and sabrina_girard-stuckey@falconmail.daytonastate. 51 characters each, with the .edu part. Consider that with Gmail, the longest email you can even choose is 40 characters. Would these two, with their unfortunately prolific monikers, chosen a matching electronic version? I doubt it.

I think we should choose our own addresses. Really, would immaturity be such a problem? The college could screen the addresses for swears and racial slurs. Sure, we’d have stale staples like coolguy123 and surferchick1254, but also insightful originals like morningraindrops and learnforlife.

Also, please, drop the “falconmail” thing. We know it’s mail. It’s got an @ sign in it. Even students.daytonastate.edu or u.daytonastate.edu would be a step up. Even better, would be to put us right in the root space with the faculty. I’d be richardxthripp@daytonastate.edu. Why do you have to distinguish, or poison the students with novella-length addresses? Are students much different from faculty anyway? With innovate events like QUANTA‘s student-takeover day, the lines are blurring. And you just know colleges are headed toward run-away, student-run learning communities.

But what if a new teacher’s name has been taken by a student? Just put some numbers on the end of it, or let him choose an interesting address. I doubt many people would want sharplk@daytonastate.edu anyway.

DaytonaState.org Email Accounts Available!

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2008-08-23 Update: Unfortunately, you won’t get emails from DaytonaState.org if you use your DaytonaState.org email address for your DaytonaState.org account. I just use a separate Gmail account for my DaytonaState.org / Thripp.com profile which forwards to my main email at richardxthripp@thripp.com. You can do that too.

I have some great news: DaytonaState.org email accounts are available to everyone. This is through Google Apps Email, so it’s just like Gmail except your address is you@daytonastate.org, and the part before the @ can be as short as one character (six is the minimum with Gmail).

You can’t register yourself, but send me an email at thrippr@daytonastate.org with the address you’d like, or make a comment on this post. Let me know if you’d like to appear with your name on a public list of DaytonaState.org email users I’ll be adding to the site. With Gmail’s spam protection, posting your email publicly is no big deal (I get ~200 spam messages daily).

I’ve taken thrippr@daytonastate.org, richard_thripp@daytonastate.org, and richardxthripp@daytonastate.org, but everything else is available. Right now, there are 149 accounts available.

The great thing about Gmail is the nice interface, searching, forwarding, POP and IMAP access, good spam filtering, and reliability. Unlike with Daytona State College’s email accounts, DaytonaState.org addresses don’t change and don’t expire (I plan to pay each year for the domain without ever giving it up). Also, your DSC email account has changed three times: from @falconmail.dbcc.edu to @falconmail.dbc.edu to @falconmail.daytonastate.edu, with support for the old accounts being dropped. Not so with your @daytonastate.org email.

Once I’ve registered your account, you can log in at mail.daytonastate.org.