Saturday, January 31, 2009

Fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd:re Infinite loop

Crys is wondering how long it would take to max out two gmail accounts if they were set such that all the messages received in account A are forwarded to account B and all the messages received in account B are forwarded to account A.
The underlying assumption is that this would create a loop of forwards. If it doesn't, why not?
If it does, only data from actual tests with gmail accounts are acceptable responses.

16 comments:

Ambuj Saxena said...

This is probably what you are looking for.

Crystal Blur said...

Ambuj,
Good job! You get 500 points. But why doesn't it work? Damn you google!

Ambuj Saxena said...

Simple, Google just added a test case before using the canned response function.

PS: I looked through your website, but couldn't find any link to redeem the 500 points that I have earned. :P

raghu said...

i cant believe girls like this even exist :D

TP said...

I suppose there might exist a mail server that'd send response without the header of 'auto-reply' or atleast the header that other server might not understand.

Turns out this is indeed possible

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Server_Software/Email_Servers/Exchange/Q_21917225.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+unread

Drunken Master said...

I'm glad I prefer watching sports and reruns...

Joy Forever said...

I have only one gmail account and that is already 75% full. You can't trick me into blowing it up by trying out something like this!
But to give an unacceptable response, I think Gmail has some way of preventing such a thing.

Crystal Blur said...

Ambuj,

You need atleast 10000 points to redeem and as always there will be black out dates...2009 and 2010 is blacked out.

raghu,
I will take that as a back-handed compliment.

TP,
Thanks for the link...I found it entertaining...the poor thing :) Oh and you also get 500 points.

Drunken Master,
What do you mean by your comment?

On the same topic...I watched the 5th set of Aus Open mens final on ESPN360...and was I glad I could forward most of the 5th set...I would've hated it to watch it live.

Joy,
Ek woh zamana tha jab shishya apne guru ko angootha de dete the, aur aaj kal ke naujavan...ek gmail account tak nahi de sakte. Deeply disappointed...deeply! :p

Drunken Master said...

Crys, What I meant was, I'm glad I don't get eaten by conundrums such as the one you posted. I'd much rather sit and watch some people duke it out it.
I decided to watch the final live, just didn't have the patience to avoid finding out the score later.

Amey said...

Well, we need to setup some conditions for the experiment:
1. What is the size of email/attachment
2. How much does a gmail mailbox size increase in time it takes an email to forward?

Dhimant Parekh said...

Perhaps its covered by other comments. But a mail account 'B' which is set to forward all mails to account 'A' will not forward mails which are incoming from 'A'. So I don't think this loop will ever occur.

Ravi Kiran said...

Hi...
And welcome back :)

Drunken Master said...

I think you will find this very interesting

http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/espn-stands-fir.html

skeptic optimist said...

Being an old fan of your blog - I am surprised that some techie guys have actually replied with technical answers to this !! With Google having hired so many geniuses and by the gaffes at Google that have become the norm than exception I wonder between the free food, the indoor inplace swimming, the foos ball tables, ping pong, the great Google benefits, the fancy Google campuses, the Google memorabilia do these "Googlers" have forgotten something important they were hired for - Work !!!

simpsimply said...

Though this post was not the typical crys writing, am glad you are back on your blog ! Do read my post about taking breaks when you have time.

Gandalf said...

Woo!! Welcome back!