# System message about E-mail **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 27, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687 "2023-07-27T14:28:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/1 "2023-07-27T14:28:44Z")
I just got this message from _system_: > We’re sorry, but we’re having trouble reaching you via email. Our last few emails to you have all bounced back as undeliverable. > > Can you make sure [your email address](https://boards.straightdope.com/my/preferences/email) is valid and working? You may also wish to add our email address to your address book / contact list to improve deliverability. I did not click on the link, but I did go to my E-mail account that I use for this site. There’s no reason any E-mail should bounce as I have, I think, exactly one person blocked. Is this system message legitimate? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/2 "2023-07-27T14:33:19Z")
Did you get the message as a PM or an Email? It appears to be legit either way. The system does do email bounce testing and your trigger was on. I just reset it. Your email Address looks 100% normal enough. I have do a little digging into causes of bounces for Emails for Discourse. * * * So you were up to a Bounce score of 4. If there are no bounces for 30 days, the bounce score resets on its own. * * * * * * From [OneSignal - What is a bounced email?](https://onesignal.com/glossary/bounced-email#:~:text=Bounced%20Email%20Defined,if%20a%20server%20outage%20occurs). > Bounced Email Defined. A bounced email is **an email that is rejected by the server and is not delivered to its intended destination**. There are many reasons why an email may “bounce.” For example, an email may bounce if the email address doesn’t exist, if a recipient’s inbox is full, or if a server outage occurs. * * * * * * So hopefully this was temporary server issue and it won’t occur again. As I said, I manually reset the bounces for you. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/3 "2023-07-27T14:44:19Z")
👍 Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/4 "2023-08-10T19:02:04Z")
I got the same PM. Spent a couple minutes and couldn’t even figure out how to tell what email I have associated with this account. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/5 "2023-08-10T20:52:04Z")
Summary\>preferences\>account You’re right, it was hard to find. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/6 "2023-08-11T15:32:57Z")
For those of you using Yahoo as your email provider, we have a lot of issues with Yahoo filtering off our emails before you even get a chance to see them. Sometimes they end up in your spam filter. Sometimes Yahoo just wishes them into the cornfield and they are gone forever. Oddly, some emails go through just fine and others don’t. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind it. Since we don’t control Yahoo, there’s not much that we can do about it. If your email here is a Yahoo account and you have another non-Yahoo option that you can use, you might want to consider changing it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/7 "2023-08-13T18:42:29Z")
Is there a reason we need to have a valid email with SDMB? My old one was a Yahoo email, which I haven’t used in years. When I tried to change it to my current email, it said it is already being used - probably from when I had trouble switching over to these new boards. I don’t want to be a problem, but I find this sort of thing terribly complicated and frustrating. Seeing as I’m not aware of any reason I’d need to communicate with the boards via email, I’m not eager to spend another second trying to figure out how to change this - unless it is terribly important to you. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-message-about-e-mail/987687/8 "2023-08-13T19:04:53Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Is there a reason we need to have a valid email with SDMB? Several reasons. You need a valid email for security reasons. It is used to verify your identity to reset your password, for example. If you have a problem with your account, we use it to confirm your identity. If you want to change your user name, we need it to remain in contact with you in case something goes wrong and you lose access to your account. If you don’t keep a valid email, then if you have issues with your account, we have no way to verify who you are. For all we know, you could be some hacker from the dark swamps of Elbonia who is trying to hijack the account. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > probably from when I had trouble switching over to these new boards We kept telling everyone not to make a new account. Just contact us and we could sort it out for you. Had you actually done that, you would still be able to use your old account and would have retained your entire posting history. We can still merge accounts if you are one of those who ignored our instructions, but it is a LOT more work now that you have a posting history with the new account. But if anyone created a new account in the move and wants it to be merged with their old account, send me a message. You will need to contact me via email, so make sure that you have a valid email on your current SDMB user name.