THE PROBLEM
So you've signed to WCenter and are getting hundreds of messages a day and -- dammit! -- you're paying up the ying-yang for the glibness of every WC employee from here to Titicaca. What to do?THE SOLUTION
There's a handy feature on AOL called FlashSession. It's basically an automated mail-downloader, and you can find it under the MAIL menu. There's two choices: "Flashsession..." and "Activate Flashsession Now". You have two basic options here -- to download the mail right now, while you wait, or to setup a download to happen while you're away from your computer.To do it chop-chop, right-o on the bleedin' double, choose "Activate Flashsession Now." It gives you the option to sign off as soon as the download's done, and a screen asking which screen names you'd like your mail downloaded from -- e.g., your serious academic one, or that uber-hip alter-ego you use to cruise for online dates, you randy devil... after you're done choosing, click on the highlighted "Go Ahead" button.
And away it goes! It takes my own computer about 3 seconds a message.. and once it's done, you're free to sign off. Your mail will be in the "Online Mail" folder of your AOL application folder.
Your other choice is to click on "Flashsession" under the MAIL menu. This gives you a number of options -- for example, the ability to Flash both incoming mail, outgoing mail, and outgoing files. Even more nifty is the "Schedule FlashSession" icon. Click this, and your computer will dial up and download mail *all by itself*! Yes, folks, it's the latest technology of the 1970s. Anyway, I've found it handy to set up downloads for 0400 and 1600 (it uses a 24-hour clock). That way, I get fairly fresh mail each morning and evening, *and* my modem avoids AOL's "rush hours".
Oh, and don't forget to leave your computer turned on. (duh.)
EXTRA HINTS
I offer these bits of obviousness because it took me a while to cotton to them:And finally, if you have the time to read through *all* the WCenter posts -- what the heck, why not? It's probably better than that crap you were going to watch on TV tonight... :)
- View your "Online Mail" folder by name, not icon. That way, threads come together by virtue of their common subject line. If there's a thread you know you're not interested in, you can (on the Mac, at least) drag a defining box around all of them and drag them critters right to the trash.
- If it's a new subject, look at the originating post (the one without Re) first to see if it's of any interest. This probably won't be anywhere near the rest of the thread, which will all be down in the R's with the other "Re"s. But do bear in mind that threads often end up covering a multitude of added subjects.
- The scheduled computer-run "Flashsession" is handy because if you miss logging on for a few days, you won't have a 30 minute long "FlashSession Now" on your own time.
- I never use the "Compose Mail" command on AOL paid time. Instead, I compose replies off-line on Microsoft Word, and then use a "Save As" command to save it as "text only." (In Word, it's a pull-down bar in the Save As screen; it usually just says "Normal"). That way I can compose, spellcheck, and revise at my leisure. Also, it gives you a chance to think twice about ill-considered hip-shots... Once on AOL, pull down the FILE menu and use the "Open" command. This will put your offline text up on the screen. Then choose "Address Memo" under the MAIL menu, and your document will be formatted into email.
-- Paul Collins
CUNY Graduate Center