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This article covers answers to common questions about alum email forwarding.
Overview
This service is being retired and will end on May 31, 2027.
Some alums may have a "legacy alum email forwarding service". This article covers answers to common questions about the service.
What will happen when the alum forwarding email service ends on May 31, 2027?
Messages sent to your @alumnae.mtholyoke.edu email address on or after May 31, 2027 will not be delivered to your personal email address.
The sender will receive a bounceback message informing them that their message was not delivered.
I'm not sure if I have an alum forwarding address. How can I find out?
Do you have, or have you ever used, an email address that ends in @alumnae.mtholyoke.edu? If your answer is no, or not anymore, then you do not have an alum forwarding address.
If you are unsure, you can search your inbox for "@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu" or create an alum email forwarding support ticket and ask if you have an alum forwarding address.
What will messages that are sent to my forwarding address look like?
Emails from regular people
Emails sent to your alum forwarding email from regular people will show as being directly from them.
For example, a message from Mary Lyon to Jeannette Marks would show as being sent from Mary Lyon.
Emails from bulk senders
Email that you receive from bulk senders with specific settings will appear as if they are from "[sender] via [your-forwarding-username]@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu"
For example, a message from Chewy to Mary Lyon would appear as being sent from "Chewy.com via mlyon@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu"
Why does this happen? Bulk senders have extra settings to ensure that their messages are delivered. This means they’re held to a higher standard for email delivery. When email from bulk senders like this are sent to a Google Group, the header is modified to ensure the email is delivered. This is a change from the previous alumnae forwarding service, where the emails from the bulk senders might have been rejected and never gotten to you, which is why you might see an influx of email that seems spammy, or that you don't remember subscribing to. However, these emails are considered legitimate by Google's standards.
More information from Google about this process.
How do I update my forwarding address?
Create a help ticket, including both the current personal email address where your @alumnae.mtholyoke.edu address directs mail and the new personal email address where you'd like messages to be sent instead, and LITS will make the change.
How can I stop participating in the legacy alum email forwarding service?
- Send an email to [your forwarding username]+unsubscribe@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu. You will get a confirmation message letting you know you've unsubscribed.
- For example, if your forwarding address is fperkins@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu, you'd unsubscribe by sending an email to fperkins+unsubscribe@alumnae.mtholyoke.edu.
- Sending a message to your +unsubscribe address will automatically unsubscribe you from the service. The content of your message doesn't matter. The +unsubscribe email addresses are not monitored.
- Notify your network
- You are responsible for informing your network of changes to your contact information.
- Unsubscribing from the forwarding group will NOT notify people who contact you via your @alumnae.mtholyoke.edu address.
- People may continue to email that address and not know that you are no longer receiving their messages.
Help - I've unsubscribed by accident!
Prior to May 31, 2027, LITS can help you resume the forwarding feature if you've unsubscribed by accident.
However, be aware that LITS regularly removes forwarding addresses that are unused. Please let us know promptly if you've unsubscribed by accident so we can reinstate forwarding before your forwarding account is removed. If the forwarding account has been removed, we will not reinstate it as this legacy service is only available for active users.