1. When you want to make a single, easy-to-remember-and-type alias, for a person who is NOT already on the FirstClass system, use the New Contact button, which will be visible when you open your Contacts.
This will bring up a screen like the following. Fill in what you would like to be able to type when you make a new email message -- in this case, I want to be able to type, simply, "Kate Bates," to email my mom.
Then, click the Email/URL tab and enter the person's actual email address.
Now, I can make a new message and just type "Kate Bates" and that's what I will see in the To: field. But when I send the message, it will go to her fully-qualified email address.
CAVEAT: Only put ONE email address in ONE of the "Business" or "Personal" fields. If you put multiple addresses in those fields and then send an email to the contact, your message may only go to the first email address in the list, or may not go through at all. If you want to have a mailing LIST of people, read below.
2. When you want to make a mailing LIST of multiple people, whether they be already on the FirstClass system or outside of it or both, you must click the arrow next to the New Contact button and select New Mail List.
Then, you can fill in the list members. The list members can be other FirstClass users OR my own single-person-alias contacts OR fully-qualified email addresses. Note the different icons for each.
CAVEAT: Your lists will look weird in the Contacts view; they will only show the first address in the "E-mail address" column. Dumb, I know. E.g. my Tech Folks list has 5 people on it, the first of whom is Tammie Patten, so that's what's in the email column.
3. Don't do this:
In other words, don't make a Contact alias to another FirstClass user where the Contact Name and the E-mail Address are identical. It seems to be problematic. Use a shortened name or a nickname instead.