I check all of my email accounts on a regular basis; so it really doesn't matter which email address you use. I tend to use various Robs World! addresses for matters related to my web site (and my D&D campaign). I use the Vaessen.net and Vaessen.name addresses for family related and specific purpose correspondence. I use the mac.com/me.com/icloud.com addresses for personal correspondence and some mailing lists (as well as Apple/Mac specific purposes). Many of the email addresses (not listed here) are used on and off for specialized purposes and projects (chat channels/applications).

I have found (over the years), that relying on other companies to provide email is a crapshoot - They inevitably get sold, go away, get absorbed in mergers, or just don't provide an adequate level of service - Not to mention that some make money by reading your email (hello Google - Yes its in their terms of service. In exchange for a free email address, you agree to allow them to read your email; so they can sell your information for advertising (and who knows what else) purposes). Owning your own domain, and managing your own email services (through a hosting provider) is a far better option. You control the email addresses, you own the domain, and you reduce the number of people between you and correcting any email issues/problems. If you add in the problems with data breaches (hello Yahoo!) and unscroupulous companies that basically refuse to manage or control spam, then you've got a lot of reasons to run your own email server/services. Ideally, you could host and manage your own email services. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to do that myself - yet.

Facsimile:
The correct spelling for 'Fax'. I can (usually) send and receive faxes directly from my computer/multi-function printer. Thanks to my multi-function printers (an MFC-J985DW and an MFC-J995DW), I can now send and receive faxes without having to disconnect and reconnect my phone line. That was a pain in the butt; having to reconfigure the phone line (from telephone to computer and back again) in order to send or receive a fax. I even managed to send faxes using a VoIP service. Yes, it can be done. How reliable are fax transmissions? I'd say they work properly (as expected/the first time) about 20% of the time. So, they suck - If you're a bank, hospital or business that insists that your customers/clients/partners send you faxes... Please stop, I'm begging you. Life is too short to waste it on fax problems. Get an secure email account/web-based messaging portal for the sake of your sanity! Stop requiring that people send unencrypted sensitive information to a common phone number in an open office.

Chat (text/audio/video & more):
I use Apple's Messages application for most of my chat requirements. It's audio, video, chat and file transfer capable. The video conference capabilities are great. I've often used chat to communicate with my friend Rob in Japan (for free/no long-distance charges). With all the enhanced capabilities, Messages is way better than the telephone. Messages uses Apple's end-to-end encrypted network infrastructure (when you use the iMessage protocol/service) for secure messaging as well as RCS (coming in 2024), MMS or SMS standards for chat connectivity and interroperability with cellular carriers and other messaging services. As of macOS 10.7 (Lion) all the separate chat accounts were merged into a single interface. Later versions of Messages dropped support for other protocols (such as Oscar/AIM, GoogleTalk, Yahoo!, MSN, Facebook (aka Messenger) and even XMPP/Jingle) primarily because those other protocols became closed/proprietary, and they cut off their API/connectivity.

You can contact me via Messages with my icloud.com/me.com/mac.com address , or my mobile number (no I'm not going to publish it here). Another great reason to use Messages - If you're invested in the Apple eco-sphere, you'll find that the application is available on all of Apple's platforms, and the 'chat' sessions span all those devices. Conversation threads begun on one device can be resumeed or carried over to any other iCloud enabled device. The integration is outstanding; allowing you to stay connected no matter where you are.

Newsletter:
I used to send out an electronic newsletter once a month. That schedule has slipped. I'm now just trying to maintain some of my primary webpages (not the "What's New?" blog postings). Things changed, my schedule doesn't allow as much time as it once did, life goes on. The newsletter used to cover what's going on with Kim and I, as well as the latest happenings at Rob's World! You can still sign up to receive this unscheduled/intermittent newsletter, just send an email to Additionally, if you're currently receiving the email, and you'd like it to stop, please send an email to I will honor all remove requests.
<https://robsworld.org/mailman/listinfo/rw_newsletter_robsworld.org>
<https://www.robsworld.org/newsletter.html>

Encryption:
GPG Mail is an open source plugin for Apple Mail. It brings the functionality to sign, verify, encrypt and decrypt email using the OpenPGP standard. I use MacGPG 2.2.41 (1051) and a licensed/paid support version of GPG Mail plugin* 7.2 build 2210 (as part of GPG Suite 2024.1b2 / released Dec 24th, 2023) with Apple's Mail.app Version 16.0 (3774.300.61.1.2), and macOS Sonoma 14.2.1, for encryption, decryption, and message authentication. If you would like to correspond in secret, please take note of my Public Keys. Note that Apple's Mail.app email client makes used of the MailKit framework.
<https://gpgtools.org/>

Thanks:
If you're one of the many individuals who've left comments in my (now defunct) guestbook, or sent me e-mail with your comments and suggestions, I'd like to thank you for your input. It has been most instrumental and constructive. You're input has helped me build a better web site.

Sincerely;
Robert L. Vaessen