Student Personal E-mail Name Debut

Mei Ling Lee

With effect from 20 October 1998, student can have his/her name appeared on the PolyLink e-mail address by associating it with a Personal E-mail Name (also known as "Personal E-mail Alias"). The Personal E-mail Name not only gives a personal touch to the student's e-mail address, but is also easier for his/her e-mail correspondents to remember. The student's choice of Personal E-mail Name (Alias) can be his/her full name, initials or nickname. For example, student Sam Lee owns a PolyLink account called 98765432. He may select "Sam.Lee" to be his Personal E-mail Name. If his application is successful, his lecturers and/or friends can use either the new e-mail address "Sam.Lee@plink.cityu.edu.hk" or the original e-mail address "98765432@plink.cityu.edu.hk" to communicate with him electronically. No matter which e-mail address his correspondents choose to send mail to, messages will still be delivered to the same PolyLink account. However, all Sam's outgoing mail will now carry "Sam.Lee" in the mail header instead of his student ID number. As a result, Sam is recommended to quote his student ID number (and if necessary, other academic information such as program code and study year) in the content of the mail when submitting assignments or sending e-mail to his lecturers or department.

How to Apply

If you are a student, you can select the "Apply Personal E-mail Name ([A]lias)" option on the main menu of the PolyLink. It should be noted that you can only have ONE Personal E-mail Name (Alias) for your PolyLink account, and normally it can neither be changed nor cancelled once registered. You are therefore strongly advised to think carefully before submitting your application. Moreover, your chosen e-mail name will be retained for a period of time after your graduation and be re-used if you subscribe to the Alumni e-mail service.

If you are a staff member, a similar e-mail alias selection facility has been available since December 1997 for your personal e-mail (OpenVMS) account (<username>@cityu.edu.hk) at http://www.cityu.edu.hk/peass/stafflan/emalias.htm . Should you have any queries, please feel free to send us an e-mail at cc@plink.cityu.edu.hk .

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