mbox stands for mailbox. They can be created for a new item or you can add items to an existing mbox.

1. When you receive a web generated alias request save to mbox.alias.
2. When you receive mail in the postmaster's mailbox addressed or cc'd to abuse@virginia.edu you may delete them. Postmaster receives a copy of these messages because postmaster is the first backup for abuse and therefore needs to be aware of current abuse issues.
3. If you receive a message in postmaster and you are not sure what to do save it in mbox.questions or mbox.jayne. Please notify Jayne via email if you save anything to mbox.jayne.
4. If you are working on a problem that has come into the postmaster's mailbox and it might not be resolved by the end of your shift save the incoming message and your response to mbox.identifier. For U.Va. individuals, the Identifier should be the sender's UVa computing id. For other individuals, some other one word identifier can be used. You must make a corresponding entry in file named ongoing.

To edit the ongoing file go to a separate window for postmaster in /home/upostmst on list.mail and type: jove ongoing -or- pico ongoing -or- vi ongoing. These commands will open the ongoing file with the Jove (or Pico) editor. You may use any editor you wish to make changes in the ongoing file. For jove, the command and resultant editor session will look something like this:

mailhub: /home/upostmst $ jove ongoing

postmaster issues, 02/01

02/14 mbox.jmp8x                 wideawake and wideawake-members - psg3a
02/14 mbox.jmp8x                 list ownership transfer -jpa
02/13 mbox.alh2u                  deletion of junta2001 list - mpc3c
02/13 mbox.mak9x                 puzzlehunt mailing list - mpc3c
02/12 mbox.outblaze              orbz blacklist - tc4x

To help keep this information current, please:

when something is going (even has the potential to go) beyond your shift, save into a file whose name is similar to mbox.computingid:

• the original incoming message
  
• a copy of any response that you make
  
• any reponses the person makes to you

and put an entry into the ongoing file about the mbox.

Should you resolve something from an ongoing mbox, please:

• remove all messages from the mbox and delete the mbox
• remove the entry from the ongoing file

Remembering to scan the ongoing file when your shift begins will give you a hint about responses you may be receiving during your shift ...

To access mail saved in an mbox go to the prompt in any upostmst window and type mail -f mbox.mboxname. For example:

mail -f mbox.abuse

mail -f mbox.outblaze

Your screen will look something like this:

mailhub: /home/upostmst $ mail -f mbox.outblaze
Mail User's Shell (7.2.6 03/03/1995): Type '?' for help.
"mbox.outblaze": 1 message, 0 new, 0 unread
> 1 Outblaze Postmaster Feb 13 1:25 (63 lines) Re: Question[uva02020041
Msg 1 of 1:

Should a customer send additional information about an ongoing situation while you are postmaster, you should try to resolve the situation.

If you are unable to resolve the situation, save copies of all incoming and outgoing mesages about the situation to the appropriate mbox.

If you are able to resolve the situation, you need to delete the mbox and edit (using Jove, Pico, or other editor) the ongoing file to remove the mbox entry from it.