Email Query...........

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shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

If someone said they sent you an email at 12.15am on tues night but on my Outlook Express it said it was sent at 6.12am that same morning, is it possible my server was playing up and they got the times wrong? Or that the person who sent it was lying to me? I always thought that the click of your mouse registered the times and not the server? It was sent in England so the time difference wouldn't of affected it.

Thank you.
gmc
Posts: 13566
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:44 am

Email Query...........

Post by gmc »

If it's coming from a large organisation it's possible it's been in a queue and delayed in their server before being sent. I sometimes get e-mails within seconds at others it can be quite some time later before I receive an e-mail I know someone has just sent to me.

Also the time in outlook express shown is the time of receipt to the server not the time it was sent (at least i understand that to be the case)
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Thanxs GMC but the email was not from a large organisation, it was a private one sent from a person i have been contacting. I cant see how the time delay would be that great?
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

Here's the steps it took.

It's on someone's screen. Their clock says 12.15am. They press send.

Their Outlook Express talks to their pre-set service provider's mail server and the service provider's mail server agrees to pass it on and says bye. Their Outlook Express says "Sent" on the screen.

Their service provider's mail server now has it in a queue. That queue can be moving fast or it can be at a red light or it can be trickling. Their service provider's mail server eventually tries to speak to your service provider's mail server and asks if you exist.

Your service provider's mail server might be out to lunch. It could be down. It could be under maintenance. In that case, their service provider's mail server will set that queue entry to re-try after 1 minute, then 5 minutes, then an hour, then 4 hours (eventually out to 2 days between retries). The table of retry periods is built into their service provider's mail server.

Eventually your service provider's mail server says yes, I know that account and their service provider's mail server says good, will you take a mail for them please and sends the mail. Your service provider's mail server says bye.

Any time after then, your email package (Outlook Express?) asks your service provider's mail server to forward all the queued mail it has for your account. Your service provider's mail server might be out to lunch. It could be down. It could be under maintenance. In that case, your email package will say "mail system not responding". When it's up and ready and you retry, or if it's ready first time, you'll get all your mail in one transfer.

The 06:12am timestamp could be on any of those steps, it depends on which you're looking at. What you could do though is to look at All Headers, because every stage of that journey's timestamped inside the headers you were given with the message.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Thanks Spot, i had to reread that again so i could make sense of it...lol

I did notice that on my Outlook Express the email was displayed 5 times, so obviously there was an error there.....but because im not too sure about this person who sent me the email, im having doubts.
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

shania18;887310 wrote: Thanks Spot, i had to reread that again so i could make sense of it...lolI had to grit my teeth to send it, I was feeling so guilty at simplifying down to such bare essentials. The steps I left out were huge, I was giving a flavour.

If you find the All Headers display you'll have all the information. If you need help reading it, copy it all here down to the start of the message itself - blank out the email addresses before you post though.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Sorry Spot, but where is the Header that gives the information? Do you mean the emails that are on display?
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

shania18;887316 wrote: Sorry Spot, but where is the Header that gives the information? Do you mean the emails that are on display?


http://www.mind.net/hpage/outlookheader.html

View the source, copy/paste everything except the message and the email addresses if you want us to read the headers to you in English.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Received: from smtp-in2.blueyonder.co.uk ([172.23.146.13]) by cluster4 with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713);

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:12:27 +0100

Received: from eback03.blueyonder.co.uk ([195.188.53.214]) by smtp-in2.blueyonder.co.uk with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6713);

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:12:27 +0100

Received: from [172.23.170.141] (helo=anti-virus02-08)

by eback03.blueyonder.co.uk with smtp (Exim 4.52)

id 1K6IdH-00053p-3h

for someone@blueyonder.co.uk; Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:12:27 +0100

Received: from [213.161.68.206] (helo=sitemail.friendsreunitedconnections.co.uk)

by exim10.blueyonder.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.68)

(envelope-from )

id 1K6IdG-00007v-MC

for someone@blueyonder.co.uk; Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:12:26 +0100

Received: from web21 ([127.0.0.1]) by sitemail.friendsreunitedconnections.co.uk with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:36:25 +0100

thread-index: AcjLD75Q1CIiARSUQZuBRoqezlp69Q==

Thread-Topic: Friends Reunited Connections Message Notification

From: "sender"

To:

Subject: Friends Reunited Connections Message Notification

Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:36:25 +0100

Message-ID:

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000

Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message

Importance: normal

Priority: normal

X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.4133

X-OriginalArrivalTime: 10 Jun 2008 15:36:25.0796 (UTC) FILETIME=[BE509840:01C8CB0F]

X-Envelope-To: someone@blueyonder.co.uk

Return-Path: info@friendsreunited.co.

...........................................................................................

I didn't bother blanking out the sender. lol
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

Okay, we read this backwards. The return-path says who, at friendsreunited.co.uk, wants to be told if delivery fails. The three X-lines say the message was processed by Friends Reunited at 10 Jun 2008 15:36:25.0796 (UTC) (that's 4.36 on Tuesday afternoon British Summer Time) by an automated program called Microsoft CDO for Windows.

Going up you have the central block,

From: "sender"

To:

Subject: Friends Reunited Connections Message Notification

Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:36:25 +0100

exactly the same time on Tuesday afternoon.

Going back along the delivery trail, sitemail.friendsreunitedconnections.co.uk handled the mail at Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:36 BST (11 minutes later, friends reunited's server's queueing time) which succeeded in giving it to exim10.blueyonder.co.uk, which is the doorway into your service provider, at Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:12:26 BST (13 hours and 36 minutes later). There's your delay. Blueyonder's mail server has been up and down like a yoyo for the last two months on and off. One second later it's at eback03.blueyonder.co.uk which immediately passes it to smtp-in2.blueyonder.co.uk and into their cluster waiting for collection.

Finally, http://private.dnsstuff.com/tools/ipall ... 161.68.206 confirms that the headers started where they claimed to begin, in friendsreunitedconnections.co.uk.

Maybe he tried again after you didn't get it on Tuesday evening and that's where the mention of 12:15am comes from, but the email you're looking at started life Tuesday afternoon at 4:36pm.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Thanxs for looking into this but i was already asleep in bed when he allegedly sent that mail at 12.12am on weds in the early hours of the morning......but outlook express said it was sent at 6.12am that morning....6 hrs later.......could it be that late in registering that?
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

shania18;887361 wrote: Thanxs for looking into this but i was already asleep in bed when he allegedly sent that mail at 12.12am on weds in the early hours of the morning......but outlook express said it was sent at 6.12am that morning....6 hrs later.......could it be that late in registering that?


Outlook Express is telling you what time your Blueyonder account received the email, at 6.12am.

The headers tell you that the sender clicked Send at 4.36pm Tuesday. Blueyonder refused to accept it from Friends Reunited for the next 13 hours until 6.12am Wednesday.

You said there were 5 versions of it? I bet one of those other versions has 12.12am Wednesday as the time Send was pressed and the same 6.12am Wednesday as the time Blueyonder accepted it.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

He was sending emails on and off on tues afternoon at 4pm onwards and i recieved them all, so im not doubting any of those ones, the 5 versions i had were all 6.12am that morning, so there must of been a fault there somewhere, but i know what your saying
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

And another thing the one you said that was sent at 4.36pm wasn't that email because the contents of the mail wouldn't of made sense if it was sent at that time, if you see what i mean.
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

That all makes sense if you sent me the headers to one of the earlier emails instead of one of the five which were bothering you. On the other hand, the email whose header you sent me was definitely delayed for 13+ hours before it was delivered.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Ok, can i send you the other 4 then? and you can tell me what times they were actually sent please?
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Actually, forget about that, i can read them myself, the funny thing is,i couldn't see the 12.15am one...i will have to look further..........Sometimes i feel like im either columbo or the CIA, FBI?
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

Here, Blueyonder's service status for Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, their initial estimate of how long the problem would take to clear up...



Newsgroups: virginmedia.announce,virginmedia.announce.internet

Subject: National Issue - e-mail delays [Ticket Number : 729376]

NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:56:23 BST

Organization: Virgin Media Technical Support

Please find details below of this service affecting issue.

Raised : 10 Jun, 2008 19:56

Name : Karl Greenwood, Outage Surveillence Team

Ticket Number : 729376

Estimated Resolution : 4 Hours

Status : Opened

Priority : P1

Services Affected: Broadband Internet, Dial Up Internet

Description :

Some customers Nationally may currently be

experiencing delays in receiving e-mail. This

will affect customers with email addresses ending

@blueyonder.co.uk Our engineers are investigating

this issue and working to restore service.

Virgin Media would like to apologise for any

inconvenience caused.

- Virgin Media Technical Support



For more details on service affecting issues, visit our

website at http://status-cable.virginmedia.com/vmstatus/summary.do
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
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spot
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Location: Brigstowe

Email Query...........

Post by spot »

... and the updates...

Updates:

--------



Date : 10 Jun, 2008 22:30

Name : Karl Greenwood

Estimated Resolution : 4 Hours

Status : Updated

Description :

This issue is still under investigation by our

engineers. Further updates will be posted when

available

Virgin Media apologise for any inconvenience

caused.

- Virgin Media Technical Support



Date : 11 Jun, 2008 11:03

Name : David Powles

Estimated Resolution : 4 Hours

Status : Updated

Description :

This issue is still under investigation by our

engineers. Further updates will be posted when

available

Virgin Media apologise for any inconvenience

caused.

- Virgin Media Technical Support



Date : 11 Jun, 2008 15:52

Name : Karl Greenwood

Estimated Resolution : 4 Hours

Status : Closed

Description :

We have been advised that this issue has now been

resolved.

Virgin Media would like to apologise for any

inconvenience caused.They finally signed off on it at 3.52pm on Wednesday, I can well imagine that the first time Friends Reunited managed to get through was 6am.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
shania18
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 2:03 pm

Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Thanks for that, you have been very helpful Spot and i have really appreciated your time and effort with my problem, this has cleared up any doubts i had...........

Thank you. :)
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spot
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Location: Brigstowe

Email Query...........

Post by spot »

shania18;887979 wrote: this has cleared up any doubts i had...........It shows how people view computers differently - I thought I'd clubbed you unconscious a couple of times with the weight of evidence.

Hey, you can find and read email headers now!
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
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flopstock
Posts: 7406
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Email Query...........

Post by flopstock »

what was the question again?:wah:
I expressly forbid the use of any of my posts anywhere outside of FG (with the exception of the incredibly witty 'get a room already' )posted recently.

Folks who'd like to copy my intellectual work should expect to pay me for it.:-6

shania18
Posts: 16
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Email Query...........

Post by shania18 »

Yes i can now!............Thank you.....:-6
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spot
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Email Query...........

Post by spot »

The actual conversation between these mail servers is in computerese, they go in for huge levels of politeness between each other with codes. A typical conversation between two computers - call them tim and jen - might be:

RU?

ACK

HELO

ACK

UOK?

NAK

RLY?

ACK

SUX

ACK

BYE

SOB

ACK

BYE

If they're mail servers they'd pass an email from one to the other in the middle.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
User avatar
Chezzie
Posts: 14615
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Email Query...........

Post by Chezzie »

Hello Sux Sob Bye:-3:-3:-3:d
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