Back in the day, AT&T bought out MediaOne. In early 2002, the e-mail address transition from @mediaone.net to @attbi.com was set to occur.
Customers recieved self-help instructions on how to create the new addresses. It was not a given that if you had joesmith@mediaone.net you would by default get joesmith@attbi.com. So customers went to a website that gave instructions on setting up the new account, having mail forwarded, etc.
It was the forwarding part that confirmed my suspicions that people are stupid.
I was getting a deluge of calls that e-mails sent to the old @mediaone.net were NOT being forwarded, in fact they were being returned as undeliverable. My first suspicion was an operational glitch at AT&T. Ruled that out with a phone call.
Turns out, on the web page that let the user forward e-mails, the instructions were written something like this:
Enter the e-mail address(es) that you would like your MediaOne e-mails forwarded to. Type them in the text box like this: address1, address2, address3, etc.
...
People were typing in the word 'address1' as the address to have mail forwarded to.
The result being a returned e-mail like this:
This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason:
The following destination addresses were unknown (please check the addresses and re-mail the message):
SMTP <address1>
Please reply to <postmaster@mediaone.net>
if you feel this message to be in error.
Very hard to diplomatically tell people the error of their ways in a case like this.
Customers recieved self-help instructions on how to create the new addresses. It was not a given that if you had joesmith@mediaone.net you would by default get joesmith@attbi.com. So customers went to a website that gave instructions on setting up the new account, having mail forwarded, etc.
It was the forwarding part that confirmed my suspicions that people are stupid.
I was getting a deluge of calls that e-mails sent to the old @mediaone.net were NOT being forwarded, in fact they were being returned as undeliverable. My first suspicion was an operational glitch at AT&T. Ruled that out with a phone call.
Turns out, on the web page that let the user forward e-mails, the instructions were written something like this:
Enter the e-mail address(es) that you would like your MediaOne e-mails forwarded to. Type them in the text box like this: address1, address2, address3, etc.
...
People were typing in the word 'address1' as the address to have mail forwarded to.
The result being a returned e-mail like this:
This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason:
The following destination addresses were unknown (please check the addresses and re-mail the message):
SMTP <address1>
Please reply to <postmaster@mediaone.net>
if you feel this message to be in error.
Very hard to diplomatically tell people the error of their ways in a case like this.
Originally posted by: CaptainGoodnight
Where is that?
On my linux box at home. Good luck getting through the security system =)
Originally posted by: Jero
Originally posted by: CaptainGoodnight
Where is that?
On my linux box at home. Good luck getting through the security system =)
I WANT TO RAPE YOUR FIREWALL AND FONDLE YOUR LINUCKS!!!1!
Originally posted by: jagec
Originally posted by: Jero
Originally posted by: CaptainGoodnight
Where is that?
On my linux box at home. Good luck getting through the security system =)
I WANT TO RAPE YOUR FIREWALL AND FONDLE YOUR LINUCKS!!!1!
I'm sorry but you can only rape a windows based firewall.
Please try again.
if your a competent system admin then it can be very secure
I only have a few ports open for select applications and make sure my open source software is constantly up to date to get rid of any potential security vulnerabilities.
if your a competent system admin then it can be very secure
I only have a few ports open for select applications and make sure my open source software is constantly up to date to get rid of any potential security vulnerabilities.
[/quote]
Oh, of course. But I'm sure if all of anandtech contributed their CPU cycles for a brute-force password cracker...
Originally posted by: jagec
if your a competent system admin then it can be very secure
I only have a few ports open for select applications and make sure my open source software is constantly up to date to get rid of any potential security vulnerabilities.
Oh, of course. But I'm sure if all of anandtech contributed their CPU cycles for a brute-force password cracker...
[/quote]then all I would do is ssh to my box
su to root
shutdown -h 1
Goodbye trouble
Originally posted by: Jero
Originally posted by: jagec
Oh, of course. But I'm sure if all of anandtech contributed their CPU cycles for a brute-force password cracker...
then all I would do is ssh to my box
su to root
shutdown -h 1
Goodbye trouble
Spoilsport.
Originally posted by: jagec
Originally posted by: Jero
Originally posted by: jagec
Oh, of course. But I'm sure if all of anandtech contributed their CPU cycles for a brute-force password cracker...
then all I would do is ssh to my box
su to root
shutdown -h 1
Goodbye trouble
Spoilsport.
LOL, yeah as if I want anyone to ruin any of my hardware.
Seriously though....
Unless you know of vulnerabilities which have not had a fix released yet. Good luck!
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Why didn't AT&T automate this process?
Automate it how?
The user name assignment process could not be automated easily because user names coming from MediaOne may have already been taken by existing AT&T Broadband customers. As such, a manual user name change and verification was warranted. Mind you, most people were lucky and kept their original user names, but some had to change.
The forwarding was designed so that once you updated your e-mail client with the new ATTBI settings, e-mails addressed to MediaOne could be, at the customer's option, forwarded to other accounts during the final transition phase.
The underlying problem was that the web page designed to handle this was horribly designed. Very bad user interface, unclear writing, etc. Would have saved a lot of headache had it been well designed.
My co-worker just had a call from some university's research lab. They had a powerful electron microscope lab (million dollar plus) being run off an old system running Windows 95. The system crashed, and they needed drivers for its TNT2.
Originally posted by: TechnoPro
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Why didn't AT&T automate this process?
Automate it how?
The user name assignment process could not be automated easily because user names coming from MediaOne may have already been taken by existing AT&T Broadband customers. As such, a manual user name change and verification was warranted. Mind you, most people were lucky and kept their original user names, but some had to change.
The forwarding was designed so that once you updated your e-mail client with the new ATTBI settings, e-mails addressed to MediaOne could be, at the customer's option, forwarded to other accounts during the final transition phase.
The underlying problem was that the web page designed to handle this was horribly designed. Very bad user interface, unclear writing, etc. Would have saved a lot of headache had it been well designed.
wouldn't it have been easier on everyone just to maintain the @mediaone ??
Saw a guy who had tried to wedge a P4 processor into his Socket A board.
Had someone ask me what cable was needed to plug his Play Station 2 into the PC's PS2 port
And for some reason most people can never say "USB", it's always "UBS, UB2, etc..." or some variation. I've given up on correcting those.
Had someone ask me what cable was needed to plug his Play Station 2 into the PC's PS2 port
And for some reason most people can never say "USB", it's always "UBS, UB2, etc..." or some variation. I've given up on correcting those.
Easier from a technical standpoint, sure. But from a marketing and brand identity perspective, no. AT&T felt the need to strengthen their branding, so to them, inconveniencing the customer was acceptable.
Also, the switch could have been a condition of the sale, stipulated by one or both parties.
I wish I had taken screen shots of that transfer web page. It was an abomination of design and user-friendliness.
So true about the USB slip-up. I always hear the "I have a UBS printer." At first I got worried that there was some new technology that I hadn't ever heard of...
now, why would a company want to be logical like that? seriously, they probably wanted to kill the name.
DivideBYZero
Lifer
- May 18, 2001
- 24,117
- 2
- 0
"Can we monitor an Industrial Cement mixer with Patrol Enterprise Manager?"
I said "If you can get messages out in a log file or via an ip stream, HELL YEAH, BEEEYATCH"
(didn't actually say the last bit, but it was dull without it)
I said "If you can get messages out in a log file or via an ip stream, HELL YEAH, BEEEYATCH"
(didn't actually say the last bit, but it was dull without it)
SaigonK
Diamond Member
I had a woman call me to say she couldnt get on the internet, she tried signing up and when it asked for her CC# she put her card in the PC and it wouldnt work form there,,,did she need to upgrade or something?
After a drop by their home, it was credit card - 1 floppy drive - 0
Had to buy a new one cause she put the damn VISA in her floppy drive...whcked!
After a drop by their home, it was credit card - 1 floppy drive - 0
Had to buy a new one cause she put the damn VISA in her floppy drive...whcked!
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 22K
-
News NVIDIA and Intel to Develop AI Infrastructure and Personal Computing Products- Started by poke01
- Replies: 384
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
Facebook
Twitter