Please explain this non-UL e-mail...

[johnson]

List:
Subject: ListBot Warning

This is an automatically generated message created by the ListBot system.

This is a warning message to let you know that your mail is bouncing.
If this email reaches you, then please disregard this message.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

The MSN ListBot Team
Nevermind the fact that I'd not be able to do anything with this message if it didn't reach me. I've gotten five or six of these over the last three months. What's the story behind these?

[Patty O'Furniture]

Apparently you have insufficient funds in your email account.

[PlanMan]

Oh those crazies at MS...

Sounds kinda like the way we check attendance at some meetings, "Anyone who isn't here, please raise your hand."

Seriously, I have no idea what your ListBot message could mean.

[WillGolfForFood]

Eternally Bouncing email is a constant problem among mail systems. This is apparently an attempt (one which I'm not familiar with) to detect/prevent it.

Imagine the case where "mickey@mouse.com" sends a message to "elmer@fudd.com" and receives a bounced email message "no such address" - except that by the time that bounced mail message arrives at mouse.com, mickey has already cancelled his account, so mouse.com sends a bounced email message back to fudd.com - which sends a bounced email message back to mouse.com, etc, etc.

I've also run into eternal bounces caused by the automated "I'm on vacation intil the 13th" email responses being sent back to a sender - who's also since gone on vacation and turned on his automated "I'm on vacation" responder.

(The system I'm most familiar with just drops messages o the floor if they look like they've bounced back and forth more than fifty times. It's basic problem is that it's not always possible to detect the number of cycles an email has gone through.)

[WillGolfForFood]

It's basic problem

Oops - make that "Its basic problem".

[johnson]

I could see that that might be the case, but this is sent to my personal e-mail, which is in no way related to MSN, and I've not sent e-mails to any MSN or related addresses...

[delphica]

Might you have sent an email to elmer@fudd.com, who has configured his personal account to foward messages to his office account at elmer@msn.com? This could lead into the cycle described by Mr. ForFood.

With all the email aliases and automatic forwards running around these days, I find I often receive responses to my own emails from addresses that I have never heard of, and sometimes have a tricky time figuring out who they are from.