time travel?

[Guest]

I seem to have received some messages in an odd way.

...
5 12/22 7:51p
6 12/22 9:34p
7 12/22 10:42p
8 12/23 3:01a
9 12/23 1:19a
10 last one--> 12/23 1:28a

So is this related to the problems you've been having, or to something I don't understand about the way SG and email work together?

[josh]

I don't think it's related to any trouble we've been having. Did any of the messages have big attachments? That can delay their passage through. Are those the times you *received* the messages? Are they timestamps from our server? If they are timestamps from upstream servers, that could explain it because not all systems have synchronized clocks.

[Guest]

I don't think it's related to any trouble we've been having. Did any of the messages have big attachments? That can delay their passage through.

No, there were no attachments.

Are those the times you *received* the messages? Are they timestamps from our server? If they are timestamps from upstream servers, that could explain it because not all systems have synchronized clocks.

They are the times that show up when I downloaded my mail this afternoon... I guess that makes them the time of my isp's server.
After thinking about it, If this is how it works (below) then I guess the answer would be that the message got held up at fwd due to myisp. Maybe for some reason myisp wouldn't accept the email when it was forwarded and so fwd simply waited to resend later, but continued to process other messages in the queue.

The most basic view (is this right?)...

mail sent (t) --> theirisp (t+1) --> SG (t+2-4) --> myisp (t+5) --> mail received (t+6)

SG=sgqueue (t+2) -- > dec counter (t+3) --> fwd (t+4)

[Guest]

I have seen the same problem. I am receiving emails dated from between Dec 12 and Dec 21, 2004. They were definitely sent at that time and not received until now. I thought it may have been related to that server problem from a while back - I never received the missing email after it was resolved - maybe this is it a little late.

[Guest]

Just received 5 more emails dated from between dec 13 and dec 20. One of them is an order receipt which contains the dec 20 date within the email as well.

[MikeRes]

I'm receiving emails today dated 12/14/04 that contain confirmnations from ebay and paypal of DELLF coupons that I had purchased. I was wondering what happened to them.

I know that SG is offered gratis, but it really hurts when something you rely on starts to malfunction. I'd like to continue using SG to mask my real email address, but when financial data is at risk I need to be concerned.

Any suggestions on alternatives, or should I just grin and bear it?

[MikeRes]

I'm receiving emails today dated 12/14/04 that contain confirmnations from ebay and paypal of DELLF coupons that I had purchased. I was wondering what happened to them.

I know that SG is offered gratis, but it really hurts when something you rely on starts to malfunction. I'd like to continue using SG to mask my real email address, but when financial data is at risk I need to be concerned.

Any suggestions on alternatives, or should I just grin and bear it?

Right after posting this msg, I checked the Whats New forum at http://images.spamgourmet.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=435, and found that Josh told everyone that:
As many of you know, we had some major trouble in December that resulted in an outage, and a huge backlog in the mail queue. To restore service, we moved the queue offline. So far, we've been taking requests to retrieve specific messages from that queue, but today, we're making some wholesale efforts to clear it altogether. For this reason, you may be getting some messages from mid-december (better late than never ). This may continue over the next few days.
I guess I should learn to read before I post.
Sorry Josh. Keep up the good work!

[josh]

We're clearing the queue from the December crash -- that's why you're receiving email from December. It seemed like the lesser of two evils (the greater being to *not* clear it). We realized this would cause some people to freak out, but after announcing what we were doing in the "news" section, we decided to proceed with it.

[Guest]

*I* think it's perfectly fine. It sounds like very little actual mail will be lost. I always ask for and send responses to emails to confirm when important stuff gets/got through. We should all do that.

After all, email is really a giant step BACKWARDS, historically speaking.

First there was the LETTER (how would you know if they got the message? They had to write back). Then, there was the TELEGRAM, where delivery to the key operator at the far end was known, but the recipient still had to send a reply for you to know if he UNDERSTOOD the message (the telegraph company told you if it was undeliverable, and was very reliable). Finally, there was the TELEPHONE, where you received your confirmation instantly: YOU SPOKE TO THE GUY YOURSELF!

Oh, but now it's the 21st century, and we're all modern an' newfangled and all, and we have email, which is: A TELEGRAM! Not a real telegram, mind you, with people to make sure it got through or was accounted for, but a telegram handled by a bunch of DUMB MACHINES and misused by a bunch of criminals [sorry, businessmen doing creative marketing], telegrams which are lost, ignored, mis-typed etc. every day. Yeah, I feel REAL futuristic and modren [sic]. A TELEGRAM! Welcome to 1830!

In all seriousness, if anything at all gets through, and if spamgourmet continues to be even remotely as good as it has been, I consider myself lucky. You guys at spamgourmet are great.

[SysKoll]

Thanks for the kind words. Sorry we freaked out a few users, but I greatly prefered to deliver that old mail that letting it sit on our server.

I guess I was inspired by the stories of the Aeropostale pilots that I read when I was young and idealistic...

"Le courrier doit passer" -- The mail must go through.