Glossary of Terms

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P

Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

M

MacTCP - TCP/IP for the Macintosh. Not very interesting except that you can't put your Mac on the Internet without it.

Mail - Pieces of paper stuffed in envelopes with stamps on the outside. This old-fashioned type of mail is known among computer users as snail-mail, other types of mail include voice mail and e-mail (or electronic mail), which is a powerful service the Internet provides.

Mail Server - A computer on the Internet that provides mail services. A mail server usually sends mail out for you (using a system called SMTP) and may also enable you to download your mail to a PC or Mac by using a protocol called POP.

Mail Order/Telephone Order Discount Rate (MOTO) - The discount rate charged by the merchant account provider for credit card transaction where no actual credit card was available to the merchant. MOTO rates are generally higher than swipe discount rates to account for the increased chance of fraud or non-payment.

Mail Forwarding - You can get a distinct POP mail account (it does not have the same extension address as your Internet Service Provider) where you can have mail sent to in your web site's name. You then can simply direct any email address where you would like your mail forwarded to. Example: If you ran www.yourcompany.com, you would want feedback to be sent to an email account entitled: feedback@yourcompany.com. You could have all mail forwarded from that email address to your normal ISP address.

Mailing List - A special kind of e-mail address that re-mails any incoming mail to a list of subscribers to the mailing list. Each mailing list has a specific topic, so you subscribe to the ones of interest.

Mainframe - A large computer usually sold complete with all its peripherals and often a closed architecture (meaning not friendly to other vendors' products). Often refers to large IBM machines.

Majordomo - Like LISTSERV, a program that handles mailing lists.

Megabyte - A million bytes. Also See: Byte, Bit, and Kilobyte

Merchant Bank - A bank that holds the merchant account. After a consumer buys a product using a credit card, the merchant bank places funds into a merchant account in exchange for the right to collect on the debt owed by a consumer. Also See: Merchant Account Provider.

Merchant Account - A bank account established by a merchant to receive the proceeds of credit card purchases. By establishing a merchant account, the merchant bank agrees to pay the merchant for valid credit card purchases in exchange for the right to collect on the debt owed by the consumer.

Merchant Bank - When a credit card authorization is processed, the first stop is the bank where the online store has a merchant account. This bank is the merchant's bank.

Merchant Services Provider - A bank, ISO, or other firm that provides services for processing financial transactions, usually credit card sales. Many MSPs provide merchant accounts, while others require their clients to establish merchant accounts on their own. Some MSPs claim that they do not require merchant accounts; this may indicate factoring, which is illegal in many areas.

Merchant Account Provider (MAP) - A bank or other institution that hosts merchant accounts and processes online credit card transactions. The term is also often used broadly to include any credit card processing service, including ISOs.

Message - A piece of e-mail or a posting to a newsgroup.

Micropayment - Very small charges, perhaps even less than a penny, processed through e-commerce systems. Until this time, E-commerce has been largely limited to purchases of $10.00 or more. With micro payment, however, e-commerce merchants can sell products for far lower prices, such as small fees for downloading documents or charges per click for online advertising. Micropayment systems are still largely experimental and not widely available.

Microsoft Explorer - Microsoft's popular version of web browser. Also See: Browser Microsoft FrontPage - See MS FrontPage

Microsoft Network (MSN) - A commercial online service run by Microsoft and usable only if you have Windows 95. If your MSN username is Bill Gates, your Internet e-mail address is billgates@msn.com.

MIME - (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) - used to send anything other than straight text through e-mail. Outlook, Eudora, Pegasus and other email programs support MIME.

Mirror - An FTP server that provides copies of the same files as another server. Some FTP servers are so popular that other servers have been set up to mirror them and spread the FTP load on to more than one site.

Modem - A gizmo that lets your computer talk on the phone. A modem can be internal (a board that lives inside your computer) or external (a box that connects to your computer's serial port). Either way, you need a phone wire to connect the modem to your phone jack.

Moderated Mailing List - A mailing list run by a moderator.

Moderator - Someone who looks first at the messages posted to a mailing list or newsgroup before releasing him or her to the public. The moderator can nix messages that are stupid (in his opinion, of course), redundant, or inappropriate for the list or newsgroup (wildly off the topic or offensive, for example).

Monthly Minimum - The minimum amount (in dollars or other currency) in fees and percentages charged by a merchant services provider in a given month. If account activity does not generate the monthly minimum, the account holder must make up the difference.

Mosaic - The web browser that started it all. Allows you to view and rear information on the World Wide Web. Comes in Windows, Mac, and UNIX flavours. Mosaic has lost most of its fans to Netscape and Microsoft. Also See: Microsoft Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Browser.

Motif - A graphical user interface for UNIX computers, sort of like Windows for the PC. Claimed to be ugly. Also See: Xwindows.

MS FrontPage - A widely used website creation tool which allows users to manage their web site as well as incorporate special pre-created coding. However, the hosting service must have FrontPage 98/2000 extensions installed in order for you to get the full benefit of using FrontPage 98/2000. For more information go to http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage