Information Technology Email FAQ

The following links describe some of the different types of email that may be received:

Undeliverable Email

Example of an email message which is undeliverable:

From: Symantec_AntiVirus_for_SMTP_Gateways@stcc.edu
To: user@stcc.edu
Date: 5/5/04  8:00AM
Subject: Returned mail
--- The message cannot be delivered to the following address. ---
wrong_user@somewhere.com    Mailbox unknown or not accepting mail.
550 No such recipient

Explanation:

This occurs when the message cannot be delivered at all, either because there is no recipient with that email ID or their account has been disabled for some reason.

The most common cause is that the sender was either given an incorrect address or has typed the address incorrectly. In this case our server will not make any further delivery attempts. The sender must then try to correct the problem (based upon the reason provided) and resend the message.

Delivery is delayed

Example of an email message where delivery is delayed:

From: Symantec_AntiVirus_for_SMTP_Gateways@stcc.edu
To: user@stcc.edu
Date: 5/5/04  8:00AM
Subject: Delivery failure notification
Your message with Subject: Class Schedule
could not be delivered to the following recipients:
user@somewhere.com
Please do not resend your original message.
Delivery attempts will continue to be made for 1 day(s).

Explanation:

This occurs when the recipients email server is unavailable.

Possible reasons could be a network problem or the server is down or too busy to accept new messages. This is a common problem with large providers with many users such as AOL and many of the free internet email providers such as Yahoo!, HotMail, etc.

Our server will continue to attempt delivery for 1 day (24 hrs). Delayed messages typically get delivered within that time period without any further action from the sender or any further messages from our system.

If the message remains undeliverable after 1 day (24 hrs.) the sender will receive another message from our system notifying them that the message could not be delivered at all and the reason why. The sender must then try to correct the problem (based upon the reason provided) and resend the message.

Deleted Text

Example of an email message with "DELETED0.TXT" attached:

From: user@somewhere.com
To: user@stcc.edu
Date: 5/5/04  8:00AM
Subject: Random Subject Line
Message body can be just about anything!
(DELETED0.TXT file is attached to the message)

Explanation:

This occurs when a message addressed to you had an infected file (virus) attached.

Our system scans all incoming email for viruses and attempts to repair any infections it finds. If an infected file cannot be repaired it is deleted and the system replaces the infected file with a plain text file. The text file explains what the system found and the action it took. This file is safe to open and read if desired however you can also safely delete the message without reading the file.

The file name consists of the word "DELETED", followed by a number (usually zero) and has the file extension .TXT indicating a text file. The number corresponds to the number of files involved, starting with zero. So, for example, a message with two infected file attachments that cannot be repaired would contain two text files; DELETED0.TXT and DELETED1.TXT.

Since the system has no way of knowing whether the body of the message actually contains useful information, the original content of the message is passed along to the recipient. Only the infected files are repaired or removed.

Please keep in mind that while some infected files can be repaired the vast majority of them were useless to begin with and will remain so even if repaired.

Possible Spam

Example of an email message with "Possible Spam:" in the subject:

From: "Spammer" <spammer@spam.com>
To: user@stcc.edu
Date: 5/5/04  8:00AM
Subject: Possible Spam: odrpeca Really Best Pharmacy Offer. Special offer
Great deals on stuff you really don't need!

Explanation:

This occurs when our system suspects a message addressed to you is spam.

Along with scanning incoming email messages for viruses our system attempts to identify unsolicited bulk email commonly referred to as spam. The phrase "Possible Spam:" is pre-pended to the subject line of incoming email messages by our system. The system uses a proprietary method of comparing certain characteristics of incoming messages with those common to spam and uses the phrase to simply "mark" the messages it determines could be spam. (It does nothing else to the message.)

By adding the phrase "Possible Spam:" the system gives the messages a common element which can be used to manage them. An example would be creating a rule in GroupWise that moves all messages that contain "Possible Spam:" in the subject line to a separate folder. This helps keep your main inbox a little cleaner and still allows you to check the messages the system has marked and deal with them as you see fit.