Frequently asked questions
What is dabnet.org?
dabnet.org is a 'domain' or base address on the Internet. On 14 January 2000 the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton bought the 'domain name' dabnet.org in order to use it as its 'identity' in cyberspace. (it cost us £47 for two years!)
Why 'dabnet.org'?
dabnet.org was chosen as the name over a number of other contenders because it is short, easy to remember and easy to communicate. As you have probably realised 'dab' stands for 'diocese of arundel and brighton' and 'net' refers to the Internet. 'dabnet' or dabnet.org always appears in lower case because in the Internet things tend to be case sensitive and if you were to type Dabnet or DABNET you might not get where you want to be. We chose .org because it is the usual 'top level domain' for charities and non-profit organisations.
What does dabnet.org offer?
dabnet.org itself is just a domain name. However through our web hosting service
Global Gold and
Cubik we are able to offer two main services at the moment: the Web Pages you are currently looking at and email forwarding.
What is email forwarding?
Email forwarding allows us to provide email addresses of name@dabnet.org and to have any mail sent to that address forwarded to their own email address. So if for example Fr. Joe of St Jude's parish who has an email account with freeprovidor.co.uk could have email sent to st.jude@dabnet.org forwarded to his own email address of fr.joe@freeprovidor.co.uk
How do I get email forwarding?
You will need to contact the webmaster and let him know what your email address is and what 'identity' you want to be on
dabnet.org - we suggest identities of the form firstname.secondname@dabnet.org for people, st.parish@dabnet.org for parishes and agency@dabnet.org for agencies. At the moment we are concentrating on setting up the agencies and offices and so we ask parishes and other eligible individuals (schools, clergy, diocesan epmloyees etc.) to be patient for a while.
do not under any circumstances publish a dabnet.org address until you have had it confirmed by the dabnet.org webmaster How much will email forwarding cost me?
Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Niente. But the webmaster is always open to donations! Preferable currencies used tenners or Islay malts.
Can dabnet.org provide Internet access?
No. dabnet.org only provide the web service and email forwarding. In order to use our email forwarding service you need Internet access and an email address. We suggest one of the many free services available. The webmaster uses junglenet.co.uk but there are many other such as freeserve.co.uk, freebeeb.com tesco.net etc. etc. One advantage of using
dabnet.org as your email address is if you change Internet accounts you only have to tell one person - the
dabnet.org webmaster - as the webmaster can then re-route email sent to your dabnet address to your new account.
Will dabnet.org affect my current Internet setup?
No. It is completely separate from (and unconnected with) the btinternet service used by many of the diocesan services. Those who use the BT service will still need it (or some other Internet service provider) for Internet access. However once you have a
dabnet.org address you can chose to modify your email settings so that messages you send out appear to come from
dabnet.org rather than the email address of your service provider.
How do I change my email 'identity' to my new dabnet.org address?
Once you have had your new
dabnet address confirmed:
- In Outlook Express go to the 'Tools' menu and select 'Accounts'. A dialogue box will appear.
- Click the 'Mail' tab if necessary, then select the account to which you are having your dabnet mail sent.
- Click the 'Properties' button and another dialogue box will appear.
- Click the 'general' tab if necessary and then enter your new dabnet email address in the box marked 'E-mail address'. Make sure you get it correct! You don't need to change anything else.
- Finally, click the OK button on that dialogue box and the 'close' button on the previous dialogue box
If you use another email program then there will be a similar process. I will endeavour to find out the process for other popular email programmes on request.
Who is this webmaster person then?
Fr. Tony Milner at the moment, but maintenance of email forwarding will probably pass out of his hands in the not-to-distant future if he has anything to do with it....
If you have any comments or further questions feel free to email the webmaster at (not surprisingly) webmaster@dabnet.org
