# Empty e-mails ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221 "2002-11-17T23:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/1 "2002-11-17T23:40:20Z")
I keep receiving e-mails that are empty. In other words, when I open these e-mails (probably spam) in my Hotmail account, there is nothing there. Is this some possible virus, or do these people expect to me to reply or what? I would never reply, I am just curious as to why I am receiving empty e-mails, or as to why anyone would send them. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/2 "2002-11-17T23:42:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by simple homer \* > \*\*I keep receiving e-mails that are empty. In other words, when I open these e-mails (probably spam) in my Hotmail account, there is nothing there. \*\* I have no explanation, but this happens to me, too. Will wait with bated breath for enlightenment. peace, ~mixie ---
**Author:** ![Devil\_s\_Advocate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Devil\_s\_Advocate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Devil_s_Advocate)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/3 "2002-11-17T23:53:10Z")
MixieArmadillo, do you have Hotmail too? I have it too, and I see empty e-mails as well. (By the way, are ā€œe-mailā€ and ā€œemailā€ both correct?) ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/4 "2002-11-17T23:59:49Z")
Yup, itā€™s a hotmail account. About the hyphen (or lack thereof), I have no information at this time. peace, ~mixie ---
**Author:** ![substatique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@substatique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/substatique)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/5 "2002-11-18T00:03:02Z")
I get those in my hotmail account; it has started only recently. At the newspaper I work for, ā€œe-mailā€ is standard practice. Of course, the main intent of language is clarity, and few people will be confused by ā€œemail.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/6 "2002-11-18T00:45:51Z")
I dumped several e-mails at work before I discovered that often thereā€™s a attachment thingie up in tne toolbar area. Nothing in the body, though. We have outlook, and it only started after an upgade. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![sandalfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sandalfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandalfeet)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/7 "2002-11-18T01:31:30Z")
i get those a few times a week now. I have hotmail as well. ---
**Author:** ![mazzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mazzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazzer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/8 "2002-11-18T02:18:30Z")
I have gotten one before, on a regular POP account (using MS Outlook). No ā€œTo:ā€, no ā€œFrom:ā€, no anything. Headers were blank, too. If I had to guess, I would say it was a mail server fart. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/9 "2002-11-18T08:32:06Z")
Actually this has happened with both my Yahoo and Hotmail accounts. Cannot find any attachments at all. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/10 "2002-11-18T08:35:26Z")
**mail server fart** Band name; I like it. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/11 "2002-11-18T09:07:34Z")
I was getting a lot of these and I didnā€™t know what they were until I started using Mailwasher - they are virus-infected messages; the Hotmail server has removed the virus, but this seems to have destroyed the content of the message (if there ever was one). ---
**Author:** ![Taboo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Taboo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taboo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/12 "2002-11-18T09:08:20Z")
lmao @ mail server fart. I think its a MSN thing with hotmail. I have webtv which is now MSN and I am getting them in my webtv mail as well. who knowsā€¦but I cannot recieve a virus in webtv cause im not on a computer system. SOmetimes when I get mail if it is attemted with an attatchment the webtv will let me know it cannot open the attatchment cause it does not recognize it. weirdā€¦ Taboo ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/13 "2002-11-18T10:26:26Z")
Theory: test email from spammers to check which accounts are active or not. Blank to reduce server load. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/14 "2002-11-18T10:28:45Z")
**Mangetout** is right. Theyā€™re virus that have been caught but for some reason the email still goes through, itā€™s just blank. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/15 "2002-11-18T10:37:16Z")
Next time I get one ([which](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?&threadid=144647) should be sometime today), Iā€™ll post the headers here; they are definitely (ex)viral messages (or at least the ones coming my way have been) - the headers always mention a .exe, .com, .scr file or something. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/16 "2002-11-18T11:10:36Z")
. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/17 "2002-11-18T11:12:06Z")
I donā€™t think itā€™s just hotmail. I get them on my freeuk account. ---
**Author:** ![NYR407](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@NYR407](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NYR407)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empty-e-mails/137221/18 "2002-11-18T14:23:21Z")
As Mangetout and Cisco already said, there was a virus that detected in the e-mail. My guess as to why you still receive the e-mail (my preference of spelling) is because the server does not know if the e-mail was spam or an actual message from someone you know. So they send you the e-mail incase there was text outside of the attachment that you may have wanted to read. I get it all the time from my Yahoo account. I noticed that if I expand the Header to ā€œFull Headerā€ I get the e-mail where the virus originated. I told my friend about this but, long story short, he hasnā€™t cured the virus. I am not even sure that he can if the virus already has his e-mail list but I still get them with his e-mail as the ā€œreturn pathā€. SOB! While writing this I checked my e-mail to make sure that I got the terminology correct and I noticed that I got a return mail from an e-mail I didnā€™t send! Again this has my friend as the Return Path but it looks as though an virus e-mail was sent using my yahoo account name.