how simple can I get

[justsomegurl.livejournal.com]

I had a customer who was getting repeat e-mails. I did the normal thing and checked her mailbox. I found a 6MB e-mail and she has dialup. I tried explaining the problem as simple as I could. I said "The mail gets stuck on the big message and starts over at the beginning". She didn't understand. I questioned, "Do you understand that it is stuck?" She understood that, but she said she didn't understand that it was starting over at the beginning. How could you explain that in a simpler way? Is starting over technical language? I guess it is too much to expect anyone to use common sense!

Comments

[ghostdandp.livejournal.com]

I woulda used my straw analogy.

"Your email is like 10 gallosn of water, and dialup is like using a straw to get that water, so it goes and tries to get that 10 gallons, obviously isn't going to do it quickly, so it gives up after a while. The next time you check your mail, that 10 gallon jug is still there waiting for you to get it"

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

i don't entirely understand that either. If I were designing a mailreader, I'd make it delete the messages from ther server as they were downloaded.

but shrug. it's not really incomprehensible in principle, just as a design decision.

[justsomegurl.livejournal.com]

That would save our techs alot of grief. However most of our customers opt to use OE. I am not aware of any way to setup OE to delete the messages from server as they are downloaded.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

That doesn't take into account that all the water gets spit back into the jug whenever it gives up. :)

[jecook]

::laughs::

It's Microsloth. If it made sense, they either didn't write it, or they are going to buy it/run it out of business shortly.

[bard-mercutio.livejournal.com]

"Your mother made you a pie. Partway out the door, she trips and spills the pie. Now, she *could* bring you the smooshed pieces with the gravel in them, but she's your mother. She bakes you a new pie. But she's never gonna get through the door as long as your father is building that shark pit in front of it."

[codevixen.livejournal.com]

I almost laughed audibly in my classroom. O.O That was hilarious!

[gaymafiakingpin.livejournal.com]

For something like that I don't usually try to use analogies as that tends to confuse people even more. I tell them straight-out that "[their] email program (which I'll usually use the actual name of, to prevent more confusion) will grab all of the email that is in line before the huge email. When it gets to the huge email it struggles with it and gives up. Since Outlook Express doesn't tell the mailbox to delete all of the messages until it is sure that it has grabbed all of them, the next time you go to check your email those same emails that you already grabbed are still there. Outlook Express will just keep grabbing them over and over again until we delete this 12 MB email. "Do you want me to delete that for you?"

In my experience the person either understands at that point or they are so confused that they are too embarrassed to ask any more questions.

[shirenomad]

It's metaquotin' time!

via Metaquotes

[azurelunatic]

*giggle*

[cyrus7.livejournal.com]

When it (the mailbox) gets full, it pees it back in to the jug.