| From: | Marc Renouf renouf@********.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | [GridSec] Mail Problems and How To Handle Them |
| Date: | Tue, 27 Apr 1999 14:29:25 -0400 (EDT) |
> Okay, as I've stated, I'm having problems getting certain emails.
> Usually, it's the email that starts off a thread that I'm
> noticing(like the orginal post inaugerating our newest GridSec guard,
> for example).
> I was under the impression, due to complaints from Gurth, that I
> was not the only one with this problem.
You are not. I occasionally have the same problem, as well as
sometimes getting messages *severely* out of order (messages will
occasionally show up a week or so late). I sometimes see a reply to a
message before I see the original, though this is more a function of my
system's peculiarities when delivering mail than anything else (i.e. the
problem is *not* with ShadowRN, so I just have to deal).
The barrage of week-old posts hasn't happened since the fairly
early days of this list (thanks to Mark and Adam for fixing this one), but
yes, I too occasionally suffer from dropped messages (though it is
thankfully rare).
Whether this is a problem with the RN listserver, or with your
system on the delivery end, or even with any routers in between remains to
be seen. As this is potentially a problem with the list software itself,
any such inquiries should be directed to Mark Imbriaco
<mark@*********.html.com>, the List Administrator, and/or Adam Jury
<adamj@*********.html.com>, the Assistant Admin.
If you have reason to suspect that there is a problem sending or
receiving messages, the first place to check is the following URL:
http://jackpoint.org/mailman/listinfo/
This will allow you to check your list settings. Make sure your
subscription is not set to NOMAIL (if your ISP is bouncing messages, your
account may automagically be set to NOMAIL to avoid further bounces - this
is what happened to the folks with HotMail accounts). If this is not the
case, then something else is amiss, and you should contact Mark or Adam.
Tracking down problems like these takes time. It's often a
difficult case of figuring out what the outages have in common. When the
company I work for was experiencing similar problems, it turned out that a
specific router that served a specific hallway was running an
"autodiagnostic" routine at midnight, during which time it ignored all
incoming messages. This would not have been a problem, except that
someone decided that all in-company mass-mailings should be done at
midnight, when there was less load on the routers. Hence, people whose
mailhosts were suspended off this particular router never got company
mass-mailings. No one really complained, so it took a long time for the
Computer Services folks to figure out where the problem was.
Also be aware that once it's identified, it may not be a problem
that they can fix. The HotMail situation is a perfect example. HotMail
has sucky mail routers. Period, end of story. HotMail accounts are
likely to have messages bounce due to these self-same sucky routers. This
will result in list accounts with HotMail addresses being set to NOMAIL
when messages bounce. Mark and Adam cannot force HotMail to get better
routers nor can they make sure that they're not running over capacity.
The solution to the problem may very well be for you to get a more
dependable ISP.
In short, Mark and Adam will never be able to help you if they
don't know that a problem exists. The other side of the coin is that they
don't want spurious "my mail's busted" messages filling up their inbox
either. As members of the list, please take the extra step of checking
your list settings before approaching them with a problem.
But if there is a problem, let them know. Grousing and griping
about it to your buddies at home won't get the problem found and certainly
won't get it fixed.
Marc Renouf (ShadowRN GridSec - "Bad Cop" Division)
Other ShadowRN-related addresses and links:
Mark Imbriaco <mark@*********.html.com> List Owner
Adam Jury <adamj@*********.html.com> Assistant List Administrator
DVixen <dvixen@****.com> Keeper of the FAQs
Gurth <gurth@******.nl> GridSec Enforcer Division
David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.carl.org> GridSec "Nice Guy" Division
ShadowRN FAQ <http://shadowrun.html.com/hlair/faqindex.php3>;
