Talk:Email

Unfinished merge of Email systemEmail system

From a search through Email's revision history, it seems the merge of Email systemEmail system was never completed. It is worth attempting, as email systems are a robust topic of study. Tule-hog (talk) 22:49, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Energy use vs snail mail

I often hear people claiming that the energy use of email are higher than post mail. A fact based conclusion here would be good! Nallebrean (talk) 10:52, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

There's no mechanism for making a firm factual answer. A google search reveals lots of speculative articles and claims, some saying email uses more, some saying it uses less. It seems 'obvious' to me email uses less, considering the energy involved in manufacture of paper, ink, the fuel used by trucks to drive letters to and from source and destination. But we don't add speculative claims where there isn't a strong consensus among the sources. If you want a riposte for what other people claim, perhaps direct them to this article - , taking strong note of the title - "thought experiment", not verifiable fact. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 16:58, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

If you include the energy use of a server, likely running 24/7 though most of the time might not be doing anything, it might be more. But most often, servers are doing something, or at least need to be available for other uses. Reminds me of someone considering the energy use to run the clock in a microwave oven, compared to the energy used to heat food. But they are very efficient in heating food, compared to traditional ovens. And one might otherwise need a regular electric clock. You have to be careful how you calculate the energy cost. Gah4 (talk) 06:31, 2 September 2026 (UTC)

DECnet

It seems that the article leaves out much of DECnet and the mail system it had starting early 1980's. Partly, it was slow in implementation with the cost of DECnet, and especially the cost of long distance networking. In the earlier years, it was only within a school or other organization. But through much of the 1980's, DECnet mail existing along side SMTP on IP networks. There were gateways, often Ultrix machines. There were machines that would forward mail between them, even for users without an account on the machine. Maybe by 1990, VAX/VMS had enough support for SMTP that people stopped using DECnet mail. Gah4 (talk) 06:45, 2 September 2026 (UTC)

The article also omits AOL, which was a major player in the e-mail business, best known for its unsolicited coffee coasters ;-) -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 13:29, 2 September 2026 (UTC)

Earlier instance of the use of "CC"

I am reading an old, hand-written, technical document dated from July, 1967, and in the title block of the paper, the author wrote a:

To:

From:

Subject:

References:

Date:

CC:

This predates the reference for the use of this information on this page by 8 years. ~2026-51064-70 (talk) 15:20, 22 September 2026 (UTC)

The article does make it clear that it means in the context of email, though. The Carbon copy and other articles deal with earlier non-email uses. --Joy (talk) 16:43, 22 September 2026 (UTC)