We've all experienced it - that crushing embarrassment felt just after you've hit "send" on an e-mail and realised that you've replied to an audience way beyond the intended recipient. Hannah Topping, student retention adviser at the University of Wales, Newport, must have felt this way last week when she e-mailed a large electronic discussion list that she was "gutted" because she has been unable to attend a number of conferences mainly because of a "lack of funds" at her university.