Editing 2822: *@gmail.com
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by [email protected] - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
− | When performing operations on computer files using a command prompt, the asterisk (*) may be used to represent a collection of items whose names match a particular format. For example, "*.txt" denotes all files whose names end in ".txt". This is called a | + | When performing operations on computer files using a command prompt, the asterisk (*) may be used to represent a collection of items whose names match a particular format. For example, "*.txt" denotes all files whose names end in ".txt". This is called a wildcard. Similarly, the e-mail address *@gmail.com, as illustrated in the comic, is a proposed feature from Randall that would send an email to ''every'' {{w|Gmail}} user, without having each and every valid Gmail address at hand (of which there are about 1.8 billion). For obvious reasons, this is not actually a feature, but Randall suggests that if Google ever wanted to shut Gmail down, they could do either do it this way (possibly causing a service-ending overload of resources) ''or'' allow someone this one last boon (as a farewell gift, knowing that there would be relatively few additional repercussions to deal with). Google does not seem particularly likely to shut down Gmail, as it is a source of information for their advertising and other businesses, but they are known for [https://killedbygoogle.com/ abandoning programs and projects] even after they have been found useful (by at least some people) for years. |
Reply-all is a sometimes useful feature of email that nonetheless commonly causes headaches and annoyances for both users and administrators. By allowing users to simply reply to everyone copied on the email, it encourages users to do this rather than think carefully about which people their response should be addressed to. This causes lots of users to receive irrelevant emails, and email servers to have to process and store a lot of unnecessary data. Randall's email is essentially designed to induce every Gmail user to email every other Gmail user, generating an excessively large number of emails. | Reply-all is a sometimes useful feature of email that nonetheless commonly causes headaches and annoyances for both users and administrators. By allowing users to simply reply to everyone copied on the email, it encourages users to do this rather than think carefully about which people their response should be addressed to. This causes lots of users to receive irrelevant emails, and email servers to have to process and store a lot of unnecessary data. Randall's email is essentially designed to induce every Gmail user to email every other Gmail user, generating an excessively large number of emails. | ||
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In reality, the asterisk wildcard is not generally usable via email servers, although email ''clients'' may sometimes implement such a function, internally, perhaps to support mailing-list functions (though more commonly this is done via named address-book 'groups'). That said, the asterisk ''character'' is a valid one that may form part of the name of a mailbox, including group-boxes that might facilitate server-side distribution. | In reality, the asterisk wildcard is not generally usable via email servers, although email ''clients'' may sometimes implement such a function, internally, perhaps to support mailing-list functions (though more commonly this is done via named address-book 'groups'). That said, the asterisk ''character'' is a valid one that may form part of the name of a mailbox, including group-boxes that might facilitate server-side distribution. | ||
− | + | The title text suggests a reply where someone decides that all users of {{w|Outlook.com}} (formerly Hotmail) and {{w|Yahoo! Mail}}, two further well-known mail services with similarly large user bases, should also be included - "loop in" is common business jargon for [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/loop_in#English meaning "include in communication about something"], related to "being in the loop" meaning "being informed and up to date". This also alludes to an occurrence in email chains where a user replies to simply add another user into the chain, which doesn't add much information to the group. | |
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− | The title text suggests a reply where someone decides that all users of {{w|Outlook.com}} (formerly Hotmail) and {{w|Yahoo! Mail}}, two further well-known mail services with similarly large user bases, should also be included - "loop in" is common business jargon for | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== |