Finally, the school's IT department is "listening" to me!
Our school assigns school emails when you become a student, and unless you're also faculty or permanent staff, you get one through Google Apps. Even if you don't request one you still get one (you have to have a school log-on and when you get that you get the email address, which is meant for official communication. You can forward emails to another or choose to use your personal email for communications, but you still get one).
Our school's IT department used to run the email system themselves, but Google convinced them to switch over (I wonder what Google offered to make that happen?). Between the time I returned to school and around 2005/6, when they switched over, I started having real problems with my school email... vanishing emails (I call it the Black Hole) both to me and from me, emails arriving late, and so on.
I just got an email three months after it was sent. The time stamps in the email "proved" that it was sent and received three months ago. Problem is, I was sitting here with the email software open WHEN IT ARRIVED and saw it appear with my own eyes. I checked the header information and yes, it had been "sent" three months ago. The header says I received it back then, but funny... it didn't show until yesterday - and appeared in an empty junk folder that I'd just emptied.
I contacted our IT department, and first they said that there were no records of this problem (I'd filed complaints, dozens, over the years), then they said I'd gotten it three months ago, then the person told me it was my software. I'd told her up front that it was a long-term problem and I'd complained about it repeatedly and that I was sitting here and saw it arrive three months after it was sent. I also told her that this problem has happened with Webmail, Outlook, Outlook Express, and Thunderbird (both Windows and Linux versions). I've accessed the Webmail using IE and Firefox, and seen this happen with both client programs and with three different operating systems (wXP, Linux Red Hat Fedora, and Linux Ubuntu).
I used to TA for my mentor, and he got involved a few years ago because critical (time dependent at that) emails back and forth were vanishing. He went right to the head of the department and raised hell about it. The problem disappeared for a few months. We hoped that something had been done. When I graduated in 2010, I still used the email address to communicate with him and the school - and noticed that the problem had popped back up. Now that I'm a doctoral student, that email address is still assigned to me and I need it more than ever.
Anyway,
FINALLY, I got a reply from the Assistant VP for the department. They're looking into it and going to Google about the problem. They admitted that there was a real problem and that it only seems to have affected me. SOMEONE FINALLY LISTENED!
I'd be a bit paranoid about it, but my best friend says that he's had the same problem with GMail - but only through Google Apps. He also says that he's heard from others about the same exact symptoms - all through Google Apps. This was a relief to learn, because in 2005 I angered a "Good Christian" on the internet by stating that one could be Christian and accept evolution. He (and some buddies of his) internet stalked me... the others got banned and were gone (they stayed away), but he stalked me for six months - using illegal "spoofing" software and hacking websites and blogs I frequented in order to attack me and make life hard. I finally got it stopped when we found out his name and the town (in NC) he lived in, and called (and emailed) the North Carolina State Police. They took it from there... and I didn't have to do anything more because the evidence (and trail) was so blatant and clear. The thing is, he also seemed to be trying to get into my email account during that period and had found out my home address and other information.
It's still a bit strange because the problems seemed to have started about the time I got the stalking stopped, or just before.
At least I'm not the only one who has experienced this and maybe, just maybe they'll fix it this time.
Our school's IT department used to run the email system themselves, but Google convinced them to switch over (I wonder what Google offered to make that happen?). Between the time I returned to school and around 2005/6, when they switched over, I started having real problems with my school email... vanishing emails (I call it the Black Hole) both to me and from me, emails arriving late, and so on.
I just got an email three months after it was sent. The time stamps in the email "proved" that it was sent and received three months ago. Problem is, I was sitting here with the email software open WHEN IT ARRIVED and saw it appear with my own eyes. I checked the header information and yes, it had been "sent" three months ago. The header says I received it back then, but funny... it didn't show until yesterday - and appeared in an empty junk folder that I'd just emptied.
I contacted our IT department, and first they said that there were no records of this problem (I'd filed complaints, dozens, over the years), then they said I'd gotten it three months ago, then the person told me it was my software. I'd told her up front that it was a long-term problem and I'd complained about it repeatedly and that I was sitting here and saw it arrive three months after it was sent. I also told her that this problem has happened with Webmail, Outlook, Outlook Express, and Thunderbird (both Windows and Linux versions). I've accessed the Webmail using IE and Firefox, and seen this happen with both client programs and with three different operating systems (wXP, Linux Red Hat Fedora, and Linux Ubuntu).
I used to TA for my mentor, and he got involved a few years ago because critical (time dependent at that) emails back and forth were vanishing. He went right to the head of the department and raised hell about it. The problem disappeared for a few months. We hoped that something had been done. When I graduated in 2010, I still used the email address to communicate with him and the school - and noticed that the problem had popped back up. Now that I'm a doctoral student, that email address is still assigned to me and I need it more than ever.
Anyway,
FINALLY, I got a reply from the Assistant VP for the department. They're looking into it and going to Google about the problem. They admitted that there was a real problem and that it only seems to have affected me. SOMEONE FINALLY LISTENED!
I'd be a bit paranoid about it, but my best friend says that he's had the same problem with GMail - but only through Google Apps. He also says that he's heard from others about the same exact symptoms - all through Google Apps. This was a relief to learn, because in 2005 I angered a "Good Christian" on the internet by stating that one could be Christian and accept evolution. He (and some buddies of his) internet stalked me... the others got banned and were gone (they stayed away), but he stalked me for six months - using illegal "spoofing" software and hacking websites and blogs I frequented in order to attack me and make life hard. I finally got it stopped when we found out his name and the town (in NC) he lived in, and called (and emailed) the North Carolina State Police. They took it from there... and I didn't have to do anything more because the evidence (and trail) was so blatant and clear. The thing is, he also seemed to be trying to get into my email account during that period and had found out my home address and other information.
It's still a bit strange because the problems seemed to have started about the time I got the stalking stopped, or just before.
At least I'm not the only one who has experienced this and maybe, just maybe they'll fix it this time.