[Alpine-info] Vanishing Emails!

[Bret Busby via Alpine-info]

On 6/6/24 05:11, Chris M via Alpine-info wrote:

> 

> 

> On Thu, 6 Jun 2024, Bret Busby via Alpine-info wrote:

> 

>> Messages do not necessarily "just disapeared into nowhere!" - they are 

>> just hiding from you - unless you have a filter set to delete 

>> messages, rather than moving them. If you do not have filters that 

>> delete messages, then, you need to go looking for the missing 

>> messages, like looking for chook nests, to find the eggs, when the 

>> chooks run free.

>>

> 

> 

> It was weird because Alpine was showing 7 emails and Fastmail webmail 

> was only showing 5. I must of accidently "s" back to the inbox or 

> something and it caused a double copy of the email. I do keep my web 

> browser open and I check the Fastmail website after I "s" archives2024 

> just to make sure that the email really got copied to that folder. I am 

> just nervous using IMAP, like I said in that private email to you 

> yesterday, I've used POP3 all of these years and this is the first time 

> I've used IMAP in a longggg time.

> 

> I've always used POP because I keep EVERYTHING, I hardly ever delete an 

> email. I've had to have Alpine  make me a trash bin called "trashed" 

> because when you hit "d" in Alpine, it doesn't move the email to the 

> fastmail trash can, it just perm deletes them.

> 

> Then I told fastmail's website to empty that "trashed" folder every 60 

> days.

> 

> I tried to set my account up as POP3, but I couldn't figure out how to 

> get ALPINE to connect, it just kept saying " UNEXPECTED ERROR POP SERVER 

> SAID +SERVER READY" or something to that effect.

> 

> Chris


One of the possibilities, is that you may have a circular set of filters.

I encountered this, some time ago, where a message would be directed 
into one folder, by a filter, then, directed back to the originating 
folder, by another filter.

Because, when a folder is opened, the filters that operate on that 
folder, operate, before the user sees the messages in the folder, I was 
getting messages that were downloaded, filtered into one folder, then, 
when I opened that folder, they were filtered into another folder, and, 
then, when I opened the second folder, they were filtered out of that 
folder, back to the folder, from which they had been filtered into that 
folder.

Circular filtering.

So, I was getting messages coming in, that I never saw (until I realised 
the problem, and, fixed it (I though that I had fixed all of the 
instantiations, but, I might not have, because I still get some messages 
disappear, when they are downloaded) ). That is one of the reasons that 
I use Tbird as a webmail application, and, if I see a message that I 
think is so important that I want to be absolutely sure of not losing 
it, I forward it to myself, so that a copy goes into the Sent messages 
folder, which does not get filtered.

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............