Virus, shmirus – let’s get together

Something odd hit my email inbox during the weekend. From someone whose name I barely knew came an email with a vast tower of addresses, followed by the single word test.

I looked at it and wondered why Rachael Lee Coleman, the managing editor of the Miami SunPost, would send me a test. I had had a few exchanges with her predecessor but no contact with Ms. Coleman.

My suspicious mind tossed up the concept of the dreaded virus. And life went on.

Monday morning my inboxes were starting to fill up faster than normal, and a lot of the incoming had that same vast tower of email addresses, followed by the single word test, and then one more single word: received.

It was looking more like a virus, I suspected. A few more emails down the pike, and I saw that others were suspecting virus and saying so. Still, it didn’t grow exponentially. My two computers and two email-account inboxes did not ex- or implode.

Coincidentally (as it happened), I was getting emails bounced back from an editor at the Miami Herald, and I suspected that the Herald’s meager servers might be glutted with zillions of those messages with vast towers of email addresses. I called the Herald’s local news desk – No, no advisories from our firewall people, she said. Guess it must be a concern for them.

I also asked the Associated Press if anything was up. Again, not a hint. Queries to several other people more i-intelligent than I also yielded nothing, and then in the afternoon it became clear:

Ms. Coleman sent this to the vast tower of addresses: “I apologize for the initial mass email. I did not send it – our computer guy was here fixing my computer over the weekend and inadvertently emailed everyone who had ever been emailed from this computer. As this is not a mailing list, please do not reply to these messages. I sincerely apologize for any problems this has caused.”

Then came another little rush of emails to all of us – now a community of hundreds of local people, as we could guess from the email addresses, hardly any of them clearly out of town.

Commented one Helen Hill to the community – and to Rachael Lee Coleman: “So you’ve got all of us – disparate people – linked only (by) a computer guy’s error, buzzing at the messages. Some are angry at the intrusion, others happily applaud the idea of turning lemons into lemonade with a new network!

“It’s the perfect parody of an online community site.

“Good work!”

Suzanne Valentine, with a dot-UK email address and maybe the most distant recipient, commented, “My particular favorite so far is Rachael’s apology about the email blast by way of an email blast – such irony.”

Humorist Buzz Fleischman, familiar to those of us who are addicted to WLRN, chirped in with a suggestion “to all my new friends.” His idea: “I think we should all get together and meet face to face. I will recognize you by the bulge caused by 250 or so business cards in your jacket pocket. Talk about networking.

“I guess this is an opportunity to ‘network’ so here’s my website.”

http://www.theradiobuzz.com

A philosophical note from Jonty Braun: “Many of the world’s greatest inventions were created by a harmless error. Nothing like a random event to make new friends and for shameless plugs. Thanks computer guy!”

Jonty also left a web address: “Check out www.karmicshopping.com perfect for your holiday shopping.”

In the spirit of things, I’m going to fire of a “reply to all” and lay my blog on them, too. Shameless plug.