Wildcard Emails
A VOICE email address gives you a place to receive email from agencies and service providers, either in a shared inbox that volunteers monitor for you or in a private account of your own.
Government agencies and service providers often send notices and verification codes by email, and an email account can be lost when its password recovery depends on a phone number that no longer works. A wildcard address is an email address at VOICE's own domain that you choose, such as one based on your name. It works as soon as you choose it, because email sent to any address at the domain that does not have its own mailbox arrives in one shared inbox that volunteers monitor. A wildcard address is meant for correspondence with agencies and for verification codes, rather than as a personal email account. If you would rather check your email yourself, you can have a private account instead. A volunteer sets up either kind with you at an in-person session.
Wildcard Addresses and Private Accounts
| Wildcard Address | Private Account | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Can See It | The volunteers who monitor the shared inbox | Only you |
| Password | None for you to remember | Your own, which volunteers never see |
| New Email | A volunteer contacts you in the way you chose | You sign in and check it yourself |
| Best Use | When you cannot easily check email yourself, and for codes during an in-person session | When you can sign in from a phone, a library computer, or a device at an in-person session |
Setting Up an Address
- Come to an in-person session, where each address is set up with the person who will use it.
- A volunteer explains how the shared inbox works and who can see the email that arrives, and you decide whether to go ahead, without pressure and without a deadline. If a wildcard address does not suit you, the volunteer explains the other options, including a private account.
- You choose the address, which can be based on your name, your initials, a nickname, or another name you use, and it does not need to match your legal name.
- You tell the volunteer how you would like to hear about new email, such as by a phone call, through a caseworker you name, or in person.
Incoming Email
Without opening an email, volunteers can see who sent it, its subject line, and the VOICE address that received it. They open only email that looks time-sensitive, such as a verification code you are expecting, so it can reach you quickly. Other email stays unopened until a volunteer has let you know that it arrived and you have said what you would like done with it. A volunteer can read it to you over the phone, print it for you at the next in-person session, or keep it unopened until you can open it with a volunteer at a session.
Every volunteer who monitors the shared inbox has signed a confidentiality agreement, and each email is deleted once you have received it or once your instructions for it have been carried out, as Privacy describes.
Example
Elena needs an email address to apply for benefits online. At an in-person session, a volunteer explains that volunteers will see who sends her email and the subject of each one, and that her other email stays unopened until she says what she would like done with it. She decides to go ahead, chooses an address based on her first name and last initial, and asks to hear about new email through a call to her sister's phone. When the benefits website sends a verification code, the volunteer monitoring the shared inbox sees it arrive and gives her the code within a minute, and she finishes her application before the session ends.
Common Questions
Can I Use a Private Account for Verification Codes?
Yes, as long as you can sign in on a phone or computer at the moment a website sends the code, because no one else checks a private account for you.
Can I Receive Documents at My VOICE Email Address?
Yes. Letters, forms, and other documents sent as email attachments arrive like any other email, and a volunteer can print them for you during an in-person session.
Can I Change From One Kind of Address to the Other?
Yes. You can begin with a wildcard address and later move to a private account or to a personal email account of your own, or use each kind for different purposes. A volunteer can help you decide which arrangement works best for the accounts you need.
What If I Forget the Password to My Private Account?
Ask a volunteer during an in-person session. Once a volunteer has confirmed in person that the account is yours, an administrator sets a temporary password, and you then choose a new one yourself.
Can I Close My Address Later?
Yes, at any time. A closed address is never given to anyone else, so email meant for you cannot reach another person. If you are moving to a personal email account, a volunteer can first help you change the address that your important accounts use.