Preserved Topic: POP3 or IMAP

I just signed up for a domain at Dreamhost and I want to know which one most of you use and why? I'm not quite sure how to do either, but I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go. According to Dreamhosts email, IMAP sounds like the way to go, but I've never heard anyone mention it.

Thanks

BTW Doc ~ I put the referal down like this "DocOzone". If that's not correct, let me know and I'll fix it.

I've always used POP3, can't say I'm that familiar with IMAP either. POP3 is probably the way you're getting your mail now from your ISP, a mailbox on their server that you set your client (Outlook, NS, Eudora, Pegasus...) to download mail from. IF you use POP3 with Dreamshost just amke sure that you set your SMTP server as your ISP's, Dreamhost doesn't provide an SMTP server unless it's a special circumstance.

Someone extrapolate on IMAP...

http://www.imap.org/

According to that link it looks like the main difference they are touting is the ability to store messages on the server. Personally I use POP3 and in my client (Outlook at home, Outlook Express at work) settings I have it set to leave messages on the server for 5 days so that I don't lose stuff between the 2. Works fine

POP3 is more popular probably because ISPs don't want people storing huge amounts of email on their server while they bounce around.

POP3 is more of a local (your computer/client) service while IMAP is more of a server based service but the difference should be pretty transparent to the user.

I'd probably recommend POP3 simply because it saves space (this may become an issue with DreamHost if friends start sending you MP3 files or something see how much email space they give you) and is more popular in case you want to use pre built cgi-s that access mail.

Yah, if your an Ubergeek? you should use IMAP, but I have no idea why. All my hard-code geek friends tell me it's the tops, but they couldn't explain to me just why. (I may have been zoning while they explained it to me, to be fair, heh.) Chances are you'll use POP like most everyone else.

Thanks for the referal, always cool! What did you go with, the Crazy Domain Insane plan? That's where I started, but I ended up upgrading to the second level to run CGI's of my own, and they gave me telnet access because I'm such a swell guy. (I assume that's why at least! :-) I needed to upgrade that so I could host the Asylum there, it was kind of pricey, but I upgraded all (8? 10?) of my domains, ouch!

Funny, they've been migrating everyone over to the new Dreamhost 2 services (you're already there), and they're holding off on certain "problem" accounts that are going to require special treatment. Guess who merited special treatment? :-) I think I will be the *last* person they move, heh heh. I may have to shut the forum down for a couple of hours when it happens, too manyy disk writes happening to trust that while moving me to a new server! I'll let you all know with probably seconds to spare! You'll know as I know, cool?

Your pal, -doc-

Thanks everybody

It looks like POP for me too. Hey Doc, just imagine the echo in here when the Asylum is the only place left on a whole server. Then we might even have room for that smoking lounge and wet bar I've been planning in the cell next to mine.

No problem on the shutdown Doc. Got my jacuzzi running with a ups in line
And Butvher, you mean there's no echo now? Eeek! :: looks around nervously and takes another black pill ::

IMAP is mostly used by those WebMail applications (only few of them use POP3). Take a look here: http://freshmeat.net/search/?q=IMAP

Simply put, IMAP, especially IMAP4, has far more features for dealing with messages than POP3 does. IMAP would be preferred if you're using a feature rich client.

Pat Richard
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