On Tuesday, May 20, 2008, around 12 noon EDT, The Yak will change to use Google Apps for Your Domain to handle email for the three domains

• yak.net,
• milliways.org, &
• techwood.org.

If you receive email in any of those 3 domains, you must contact Strick <strick> or Donald <dmm> to create a Google Yak.Net account for you.

BTW, Strick's email and cell phone number are at the top of his Résumé

For Email Notifications:

Strick & Donald & Bowe are changing how the Yak handles mail.
On Tues May 20, at noon EDT, we are shifting most
of the email load to "Google Apps For Your Domain."

So if you receive mail via the Yak in the domains
yak.net, techwood.org, or milliways.com,
you need us to create a Google Apps account for you.

Please mail us at <yakmail> in the domain Yak.Net,
and let us know if you still use Yak Mail and want to keep
using it.  If so, we'll mail you a form to request
an account.  (You could also email <strick> or <dmm> or <bowe>,
but <yakmail> forwards to all of us.)

Call Strick at 404-452-5484 if you want to make sure
this is for real and not a scam.   See http://wiki.yak.net/902 for FAQ.

You can POP or IMAP or arrange email forwarding from the
new account.  You can also use the builtin GMail interface
from the web.

I hope this works for you, and we can make the switch smoothly.

   Thanks, strick

FAQ

Why are you doing this?

1. The YAK is drowning in SPAM.

2. The YAK is a single point of failure, and I'm not always in California to fix it.

3. Google will let you do everything the Yak does, and more.

4. Google will let you manage your own email address, so you don't have to ask us to change things for you.

What does the new email system look like?

Just like GMail. Log in at http://start.yak.net/ after we make your account. Mail will not be received there until the transition, Tues May 20, at noon EDT.

What will it cost?

Nothing. We're using the free "Standard" Google Apps for Your Domain service. It's not lame or crippled.

Can I still forward all of my mail elsewhere?

Yes.

Can I still POP my email?

Yes, or you can IMAP it.

Will I lose any email in the transition

Not much, unless you fail to contact us, to make your gmail account!

It might take Google a few minutes to take effect, but in my experiments, it's been pretty fast.

How is the transition done?

We set up the accounts first. Then on Tues May 20, at 12pm, we flip the MX records. Then we ask Google to check the MX records -- hopefully this won't take long. Then Google starts handling the mail for you, as those MX records propagate to your email senders.

For a few hours in the afternoon, some mail will be handled by Yak, and some by Google, as the MX records update.

Documentation?

You probably won't need it: https://www.google.com/support/a/

Security and Privacy?

https://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=60762

Strick believes your email & your privacy are much safer stored at Google, than sitting on the Yak.

Disclosure: I do work for Google. To be fair, I've asked other Yak people for alternative suggestions, but this seems to be the best place for YakMail.