Alachua Freenet e-mail forwarding file FAQs

Important note: the AFN file that causes your e-mail to be forwarded is named ".forward". Don't overlook the "dot" at the beginning of the name. Any filename that begins with a period like this one is intentionally invisible to many viewing methods.

How do I forward e-mail from my Alachua Freenet account to another account.

To forward e-mail from the Alachua Freenet to another address, create a simple text file in your home directory with a filename of ".forward" (without the quotes). The contents of the file is the e-mail address (or addresses if you want more than one, one address per line) to which you want the e-mail forwarded.

How do I stop my e-mail from being forwarded.

If you already have a .forward file, remove it to eliminate forwarding.

How can I work on a .forward file in my home directory, Option 1, using Pine e-mail signature editor

You can delete, add, or edit your AFN e-mail forwarding file using the Pine e-mail "Signature" function from a Telnet connection. Since this function is designed for working on the file usually called ".signature", it requires several steps to make it apply to other files.

Deleting a .forward file

1. From the AFN main menu, highlight option "1. Check your mail", then press <Enter>.
2. From the Pine main menu, press "S" to select "Setup"
3. Press "S" again to select "Signature" setup task.
4. You are now in the Pico editor, working on your signature file called .signature. This is the file that is automatically added to the bottom of your e-mail messages when you use Pine. If you don't have a signature file, the screen will be blank, which doesn't matter as you don't need to have one.
5. Press Ctrl-R (hold down the Control key, usually marked Ctrl, then press "R"). This selection is shown as ^R for "Read File" on the bottom menu.
6. Press Ctrl-T for option "To Files" at the "File to insert from home directory:" prompt to go to a list of the files in your home directory.
7. Use the arrow cursor keys to highlight the .forward file.
8. Press "D" to delete the highlighted file. Press "Y" twice to verify and confirm that you really want the file deleted even though it can't be recovered after it's gone.
9. Press "E" to exit file browser.
10. Press Ctrl-C to cancel the "File Insert" function.
11. Press Ctrl-C again to cancel edit of the .signature file.

Adding a .forward file if you don't have a .signature file

1. From the AFN main menu, highlight option "1. Check your mail", then press <Enter>.
2. From the Pine main menu, press "S" to select "Setup"
3. Press "S" again to select "Signature" setup task.
4. You are now in the Pico editor, working on your signature file called .signature. This is the file that is automatically added to the bottom of your e-mail messages when you use Pine. If you don't have a signature file, the screen will be blank, which doesn't matter as you don't need to have one.
5. Type in the full e-mail address where you want your mail sent, for example johndoe@yahoo.com
6. Press Ctrl-X to exit. Press "Y" to confirm exit. This has saved the forwarding address you entered as .signature.
7. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to re-enter the signature editing function.
8. Press Ctrl-R, "Read File" function.
9. Press Ctrl-T, "To Files" function.
10. Use arrow cursor keys to move highlight over the file name ".signature"
11. Press "R" to rename the file.
12. Backspace or delete over the .signature name to change it to .forward, then press <Enter>. Yes, it does start with a period ".".
13. Press "E" to exit file browser.
14. Press Ctrl-C to cancel the "File insert" function.
15. Press "Y" to cancel edit of the .signature file.

Adding a .forward file if you already have a .signature file, or editing your .forward file

If you already have a .signature file, follow steps 1 through 6 the same as deleting a file to enter the file browsing function. At this point, highlight the .signature file, then press "R" to rename it to something else, such as "sigsave". You have to rename the .signature file to work on the .forward file. Once the changes have been made to the file you want to use for forwarding, exit the editor to save the file as .signature, then follow the same steps as adding the .forward file if you don't have a .signature file. The last step is to re-enter the .signature file editor again to rename your saved file back to .signature.

How can I work on a .forward file in my home directory, Option 2, using FTP

Files beginning with "." (the period, or dot, character) are intentionally invisible to many viewing methods, including some graphical versions of FTP, but you can use a command line version of the FTP program after making a PPP or SLIP connection to add, update or delete the file. Windows 95/98/NT/2000 operating environments have a version of the program that work fine from a command prompt. First, create the .forward file on your local machine. It must be text only, and can be created with a simple editor like notepad. Then FTP to ftp.afn.org (not just afn.org, that's a different machine). Log in with your username and password, then enter use FTP commands to put or delete the .forward file. You can also replace an existing file with a new one using the "put" command.

Some useful FTP commands:

help     Show the list of commands
put      Put a file from the local machine to the distant machine
get      Get a file from the distant machine to the local machine
del      Delete a file
quit (or bye)      Exit the connection and program

Example screen display when deleting a .forward file:

C:\WINDOWS>ftp ftp.afn.org
Connected to freenet6.afn.org.
220 ProFTPD 1.2.0pre3 Server (AFN FTP Server) [freenet6.afn.org]
User (freenet6.afn.org:(none)): afn99999
331 Password required for afn99999.
Password: <password doesn't show when typed>
230 User afn99999 logged in.
ftp> del .forward
250 DELE command successful.
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.

C:\WINDOWS>