here's the story:
two fellas started this here site so that you could write yourself a letter to be delivered at a later date. we've all had to do them in high school and college. it's sorta cool to receive a letter from yourself about where you thought you'd be a year (two years? more?) later. FutureMe.org is based on the principle that memories are less accurate than emails. we strive for accuracy.

a possibility for sure. we recommend using an address with some potential for longevity (hotmail, yahoo, your own domain). in addition, we created an account management system so that you can change the addresses of your future letters. (though that's kind of cheating.)

also, the letter will be delivered from the email address: mailer (then the at sign) futureme.org. so you may want to tell your spam guard to allow mails from that address.

so this our little twist. if you designate your e-mail as "public, but anonymous" (about 15% at this point), it will be included in the public letters section.

your email address will not be shown, but both the body and the subject of the letter will be shown in its entirety. if you want to really know the nuts and bolts, please read our notice regarding legal & privacy issues.

as of FutureMe 2.0 (spring 2007) you can indeed write to others, but only if you are a registered user. when they get the email, it will include that it was sent from your e-mail address. this policy is a bit strict perhaps, but unfortunately there are Internet hooligans out there that would abuse FutureMe otherwise.

no, your email address is kept strictly confidential and will ONLY be used for the purpose of you sending an email to your future self. so relax. and maybe remind your future self to relax as well.

well yeah, actually, FutureMe is kinda famous. it all started with being a webmonkey monkey bite, back in august 2003. then we were a yahoo! site of the day a month later. in 2004, FutureMe was selected to be exhibited at ars electronica in austria, the largest musuem of digital art in the world. in 2005, the associated press released a story featuring FutureMe that was picked up by hundreds of publications, including wired, salon the boston globe, cnn the san francisco chronicle, the washington post and the sydney morning herald to name just a few. matt and jay each spent a few days doing interviews while they should have been holiday shopping. then, in late spring 2007, we had another round of publicity, as a feature story in the LA Times Magazine, and on NPR's Weekend Edition. a few more media opportunities are in the works, so stay tuned! (get it? tuned? heh heh)

but we mostly owe our popularity to hundreds of 'blog posts throughout the years -- so thanks 'bloggers.

of course...the success of FutureMe has also spawned some cheap imitations.

the most common delivery problems are: 1) a mistyped e-mail addres 2) bounce (i.e. the e-mail doesn't exist anymore, mailbox is full, etc...) 3) getting unduly snagged by a spam filter 4) futureme.org not being on your "whitelist." if you are a registered user, you will soon be able to request a "resend."

matt sly does all things back-end.   (mattsly.com)
jay patrikios does all things front-end.   (patrikios.org)

we're glad you asked. we've set up a paypal account for you to do just that. see, if you donate a tiny amount of money, we spend less of our money. FutureMe is a free service and will remain so, but it does cost us a bit of cash to maintain the site and ensure proper delivery of your so-very-precious future letters.

another good question. the fellas have wish lists:
matt's wish list | jay's wish list.

take care.
matt and jay