FSmail is chopping the end off some of my incoming Emails, as acknowledged by Freeserve Technical Support on 12/4: "We have followed exactly what you are doing (thank you for the
instructions) and can confirm that the error is with FSmail itself."
Details:
The problem was first observed on a mail received from the Yahoo Groups Server
Received: from n7.grp.scd.#### (n7.grp.scd.#### [66.218.66.91])
Sat, 3 Apr 2004 07:18:50 +0200 (CEST)
The problem occurs only (to date) on text which has been generated by weblist servers. I have problems with mail from Yahoo Groups, AOL ListServ, with an AOL log forwarded by an NTLWorld user as a crosscheck, and with forwarding a webpage of text which is also a weblist log. Of the 20 digests received in the last 36 hours, 30% were shortened. The maximum loss has been 95% of the file.
The problem appears completely repeatable. If the same file is sent it is always truncated at the same length. It is truncated whether the text is embedded in the main message text, or sent as an attachment.
The problem is at least partly independent of the source - truncation of files has occured with files that have been sent by an NTLworld user, my own Freeserve account, Freeserve tech support, AOL Listserv, and Yahoo Groups. (Its possible that it doesnt apply to all though - one test sending the file to hotmail and back appeared to show that hotmail sending the file to me did not trigger the problem).
The problem is not occuring at download to my local machine because; it occurs on different receiving machines, and the file size can already be seen to be truncated by checking my inbox on the webmail server before download.
I know already of 2 other users with the identical problem.
My problem can be demonstrated by following these instructions:
Save the following list archive from the web: http://bubl.####/mail/bild/0205.txt and send it as
an attachment the Freeserve account being tested, the sent attachment size is 232kB, and the received attachment size is 13.4kB. I have repeated similar tests many times and the cutoff is in *exactly* the same place in the text.
The only other clues I have is that there is a section in that file (about 1/4 way down) which starts "Abstract" and has some overscore characters in. If the file is chopped off shortly after this and sent it truncates. If I remove all 5 overscore characters in that section, the whole of the shortened version of the file sends correctly. However thats not the only problem with the file, it only works if you use the first third of the file, there are other problems later in the file that also stop it sending and they are not so obvious as the overscore characters. If I take the para with the offending characters and insert it another Email which doesnt have problems, it doesnt appear to create the problem, so there is some subtle problem relating to both the characters, and the context in the particular file.
Freeserve time to fix problem:
17 Emails to get their attention so far...
3 users confirmed problem...
18 days since problem began...
11 days since problem reported.....
9 days since problem confirmed by Freeserve Tech Support....... and counting.
Its interesting that there isnt a big fuss on the web about this - presumably its only affect list digest, they can always switch to individual mails, and maybe limited to some specific subset of Freeserve users. The timing is very close to the arrival of the spamfilters, but doesnt coincide with the appearance of the spam check messages at the end of the headers, which occured on 6th April. I believe they have added virus checking running now - does anyone know when that was activated, or whether it was updated on the 3rd?
I use OE5 / connect on Anytime, but receive mail through a no-ties address. Have tried various combinations of Anytime and No-Ties send account, receive account, and connection and all combinations behave the same.
I have to give Freeserve good credit that they responded to all my early Emails within 48 hours, and eventually followed my instructions and acknowledged the problem. However since then the service has deteriorated, with up to 5 days delay, also 1 email which didnt understand they had accepted the fault, and told me it had to me my machine, and another in which an enlighted Freeserve tech support person told me (dont laugh too hard):
"As previously mentioned there is nothing that would cause truncation of your files on the Freeserve servers, but the fact that we have replicated the fault here, suggests otherwise" !!!??? and
"Why this would happen i do not know." !!!!!
How charming.... but hardly a professional response.
Phil
instructions) and can confirm that the error is with FSmail itself."
Details:
The problem was first observed on a mail received from the Yahoo Groups Server
Received: from n7.grp.scd.#### (n7.grp.scd.#### [66.218.66.91])
Sat, 3 Apr 2004 07:18:50 +0200 (CEST)
The problem occurs only (to date) on text which has been generated by weblist servers. I have problems with mail from Yahoo Groups, AOL ListServ, with an AOL log forwarded by an NTLWorld user as a crosscheck, and with forwarding a webpage of text which is also a weblist log. Of the 20 digests received in the last 36 hours, 30% were shortened. The maximum loss has been 95% of the file.
The problem appears completely repeatable. If the same file is sent it is always truncated at the same length. It is truncated whether the text is embedded in the main message text, or sent as an attachment.
The problem is at least partly independent of the source - truncation of files has occured with files that have been sent by an NTLworld user, my own Freeserve account, Freeserve tech support, AOL Listserv, and Yahoo Groups. (Its possible that it doesnt apply to all though - one test sending the file to hotmail and back appeared to show that hotmail sending the file to me did not trigger the problem).
The problem is not occuring at download to my local machine because; it occurs on different receiving machines, and the file size can already be seen to be truncated by checking my inbox on the webmail server before download.
I know already of 2 other users with the identical problem.
My problem can be demonstrated by following these instructions:
Save the following list archive from the web: http://bubl.####/mail/bild/0205.txt and send it as
an attachment the Freeserve account being tested, the sent attachment size is 232kB, and the received attachment size is 13.4kB. I have repeated similar tests many times and the cutoff is in *exactly* the same place in the text.
The only other clues I have is that there is a section in that file (about 1/4 way down) which starts "Abstract" and has some overscore characters in. If the file is chopped off shortly after this and sent it truncates. If I remove all 5 overscore characters in that section, the whole of the shortened version of the file sends correctly. However thats not the only problem with the file, it only works if you use the first third of the file, there are other problems later in the file that also stop it sending and they are not so obvious as the overscore characters. If I take the para with the offending characters and insert it another Email which doesnt have problems, it doesnt appear to create the problem, so there is some subtle problem relating to both the characters, and the context in the particular file.
Freeserve time to fix problem:
17 Emails to get their attention so far...
3 users confirmed problem...
18 days since problem began...
11 days since problem reported.....
9 days since problem confirmed by Freeserve Tech Support....... and counting.
Its interesting that there isnt a big fuss on the web about this - presumably its only affect list digest, they can always switch to individual mails, and maybe limited to some specific subset of Freeserve users. The timing is very close to the arrival of the spamfilters, but doesnt coincide with the appearance of the spam check messages at the end of the headers, which occured on 6th April. I believe they have added virus checking running now - does anyone know when that was activated, or whether it was updated on the 3rd?
I use OE5 / connect on Anytime, but receive mail through a no-ties address. Have tried various combinations of Anytime and No-Ties send account, receive account, and connection and all combinations behave the same.
I have to give Freeserve good credit that they responded to all my early Emails within 48 hours, and eventually followed my instructions and acknowledged the problem. However since then the service has deteriorated, with up to 5 days delay, also 1 email which didnt understand they had accepted the fault, and told me it had to me my machine, and another in which an enlighted Freeserve tech support person told me (dont laugh too hard):
"As previously mentioned there is nothing that would cause truncation of your files on the Freeserve servers, but the fact that we have replicated the fault here, suggests otherwise" !!!??? and
"Why this would happen i do not know." !!!!!
How charming.... but hardly a professional response.
Phil























