Letters: Mike Johnson |
No, I
wasn’t desperately trying to get your attention when you started
receiving hundreds of copies of the February Calendar from my e-mailing
at 4:08 p.m. on Wednesday January 31st. I use the Netscape 4.5 List
feature to send out these bulk e-mails. I’m on the list too so I
was quickly aware of the problem. Some of you let me know too -
and how! The responses varied from sympathetic to creative. I was
particularly impressed by those of you who added to the problem
by bouncing multiple messages back to me. Understandably, many of
you suspected the problem was in your computer and wanted reassurance
that others were victims too. I appreciated your anxiety since I
was a victim of a similar problem a few months ago.
So imagine my dilemma; should I reply and run the risk of multiplying
the problem? I resisted. But you persisted, and after calling Cox
Cable and running a few tests on my guinea pig friends I began to
send the following reply to individual respondents:
”Sorry for the hundreds of e-mails re the Mensa February Calendar.
It seems to be happening to all 300 of our e-mail recipients. Cox
cable accepts responsibility for the bouncing but after hours of
phone calls
all I can get is that they’re working on it. They claim it is a
problem in the Phoenix area, not just us. I don’t know if this is
correct. The e-mails still go even when my computer is turned off.
Pray that someone at Cox will get it straight soon. In the mean
time you might see if your server can hold them back. If you have
any special requests like being dropped from our list please hold
them till we get this cured. Mike J”
Over the next couple of days and nights Jerry Corbin and I spent
many hours on the phone to Cox Cable. Each time we would get a new
service agent. Apparently they are not reusable. Each time we would
start all
over and get a new “explanation”. Cox confessed that it was a problem
with their server(s) in Phoenix. We could do nothing. Finally after
elevation to the Cox “level 2” problem solvers we got a more helpful
agent, Tiffany”. Tiffany promised to elevate us to the stratospheric
”level 2.5". She promised to call and let us know when the
problem was resolved. We are still waiting for the call and for
answers to our subsequent e-mails to her. The problem did finally
taper off on Saturday after over 48 hours of chaos. We have been
unable to get a postmortem from Cox. But we were led to believe
this was an isolated instance. We have updated the virus tester
on my computer (no virus found or suspected). We are installing
a firewall to curb possible outside intrusion or sabotage. We will
setup
backup mailing Mensa sources using a variety of servers so that
we can safely e-mail advice if we have future problems. BUT.
If this should occur again my friends have shown me a quick
fix using the Netscape “Filter” feature which can easily divert
the offending e-mails to Trash. You might do a preemptive check
for the corresponding
feature on your browser, just in case.
We will wait a while before I send the next mailing. When we
are comfortable with our improved system I’ll send an e-mail asking
again if you want to be dropped. I’ll also suggest you supply a
phone number: 80% of those who phoned my recorder never left a return
number. I’d particularly like to thank Jerry Corbin, Terri
Pokosh, Laura Oliveira, Bruce Stiles and others for their help in
this matter.
Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson, etc