I was updating some plugins, most notably wp-cache, wp-hashcash, and wp-contact form. I’ve been bitten on the ass by changes to the WP Contact Form before because of my finicky email setup, so I tested it again to make sure it’s still working. And it’s not. After an hour or so of fiddling, I think to check past email messages and realize, as a clutch of ulcers spontaneously erupt into existence, that the email address has been broken for the past 6 months 6 weeks.

Grimace.

What had happened was that one of the email forwarding rules for my ISP—you guessed it, the one that whitelists the form email—was missing. So while my email form used to work, when that forwarding rule went missing, all related email ceased to flow in. I had originally set my global email rules to bounce unrecognized email to the sender, but they apparently disabled that because of the sheer volume of spam they get…they’d be bouncing more email than delivering.

All the email related to DavidSeah.Com flows into a single mailbox folder in my mail program. The configuration of that folder is such that it doesn’t display the TO: line. I get comment approval notification sent also to that mailbox, in addition to spam reports, so I didn’t notice that I wasn’t getting email to that broken email account.

The funny thing is…after I joined 9rules, I made sure the email form was working (and it was broken then too). That was only a couple of months ago. It must have been going to a different address before, or maybe a database rollback occured and changed the WP Contact Form settings back. GAH. I’m not sure what happened.

Up to now, I was marvelling at what a quiet place the Internet was…”I write, and no one has been moved to write to me! I need to write better articles!” Well, I still need to do that, but if you did write to me and didn’t receive a reply…

My Sincerest Apologies. I am A Big Stupid Head.

If you still want to write, try using the contact form again (I’m crossing my fingers) and use one of the handy pre-written templates below:

1. Dear Stupid-Head! I read your comment on my blog, and wanted to let you know that it’s rude not to leave a deliverable email address. Please, get a clue.

2. Dear Stupid-Head! I receieved an email from you, and when I took the time out of my busy day to reply, I never heard from you again! I assumed you were just an ass, but now that I know you’re just dumb I’ll rephrase my reply using smaller words.

3. Dear Stupid-Head! I had written to ask you out on a hot date, but sheesh…you can’t even get your email to work? Get it together man! Maybe you should try AOL! P.S. You will DIE ALONE.

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p>Sigh.

Oh, and then I discovered that the mail function on my server also doesn’t work quite the same way that WP Contact Form assumes—it doesn’t allow changing the FROM: field—but that was easy by comparison. Otherwise, WP-Contact Form has nothing wrong with it…operator error is at fault here.

UPDATE:

Actually, it looks like it’s only been since maybe late-September, when another bout of contact-form spamming was going on. I must have changed the email addresses then, and didn’t change it back. Sometimes those multiple admin panels screw you with WordPress, inadvertently overwriting the fresh new thing you did on a different window.

I also remember seeing a funny screen refresh while on the mail server control panel when the cat jumped on the table, but thought it was nothing. Coincidence? Probably…you know you’re clutching at straws when you think the cat is a possible explanation.