Re: I can't get absolutely *NO* answer from your server

Rolf,

Acutally we did consider such in the initial stages of developing
www4mail. We were afraid that someone might delibrately or otherwise send
about 2000 blank mails to www4mail (maybe with a wrong address) and then
the server spends time and effort sending out 2000 error reports.

Probably a solution would be that if a particular user makes over 20
syntax errors in a particular quota week, it might not be worth it
processing his mails anymore for that quota period, in order words equate 
this condition to quota finished?

Anyway, I await your idea(s) and input on this..

Clement

On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, Rolf H. Nelson wrote:

> Clement,
> 
> It may save you support time in the long run if www4mail sends an
> email containing an error message in response to syntax errors.  In
> other words, if I send a request to www4mail that contains a syntax
> error, www4mail should send an email back to me stating that www4mail
> could not understand my request.
> 
> This allows users to realize right away that they are using incorrect
> syntax.  This is better than the current situation where www4mail does
> not respond at all, leaving users to wonder whether www4mail service
> is bogged down or otherwise unavailable.  This would save you the
> trouble of having to respond to emails such as the one below from
> users who believe the server to be down.
> 
> -Rolf
> >>>>> "ONIME" == ONIME EHIMIKA OHIREIME <onime@ictp.trieste.it> writes:
> 
>     > Now BioGate,
> 
>     > This is a very very vague question: I shall try to answer as
>     > best as I can
> 
>     > www4mail will not answer an e-mail if it falls into one of the
>     > following categories:
> 
>     > 1. www4mail cannot determine your e-mail address 2. You send
>     > your e-mail in HTML format 3. There was some syntax error in
>     > your request.
> 
> 
>     > Okay case 1 should not happen because I got your mail.
>  
>     > Case 2 - you have to ensure that you don't send out the mail in
>     > HTML format, I don't expect that Eudora does that.
> 
>     > Case 3 - Syntax Error in Request - This is very likely the
>     > source of the problem.
> 
>     > I can request that you send me a copy of the e-mail that you
>     > sent to www4mail servers.
> 
>     > BTW, I sent a test message on your behalf to
>     > www4mail@wm.ictp.trieste.it, You should have get a reply from
>     > the server.
> 
>     > Thanks Clement Onime
> 
> 
> 
>     > On Thu, 18 Mar 1999 BioGate@teseo.it wrote:
> 
>     >> Hello,
>     >> 
>     >> It's a while I'm experiencing a problem. Whatever the request I
>     >> send from this address of mine, I *NEVER* get back any answer
>     >> from your server, nor from any other www4mail's available.
>     >> I've tried to retrieve URLs, to get my weekly quota, to get the
>     >> help file but it looks like all these requests are simply
>     >> ignored.  I use the same syntax and mail software that I did
>     >> when all used to be working.
>     >> 
>     >> I talk to friends, some say they get response almost
>     >> immediately, others say they are in the same situation.
>     >> 
>     >> I think this has been dragging on for 1 month now, I'd be
>     >> thankful to you for any light you may shed. Why shouldn't your
>     >> server work "specifically" on some addresses?
>     >> 
>     >> Thanks for your time and your help, Elek
>     >> 
>     >> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> | Rolf Nelson (rolf@w3.org), Project Manager, W3C at MIT
> |   "Try to learn something about everything
> |             and everything about something."  --Huxley
> 
>  
>