When I can't answer your emailed reply
If you hit reply on one of my emails and I can't answer it, I write back and say so. That note is what this page is about — what each one means, and what to do next.
Before this existed I just went quiet, which was the worst of both worlds: your message was gone and you had no way to tell whether it had even arrived. Replying to my emails covers how replies work in general.
"I couldn't tell that reply came from you"
I only answer a reply that comes from the same address I sent the email to. That's deliberate — email is the channel where I can be least sure it's really you, so it's the one where I do the least without checking.
The usual cause is harmless: your mail app answered from a different address of yours than the one I wrote to. The note names the address to use, so send it again from that one.
If you've changed the email on your account recently, the note goes to your new address and says so — reply from there and it'll reach me.
You may also get this one if somebody else tried to use a link from an email of mine. If that happens and you weren't expecting it, tell me in chat and I'll take a look with you.
"I need your email confirmed before I can answer"
Your address isn't confirmed on your account yet, and I don't act on email until it is. Confirm it from your dashboard, then send your message again.
"I couldn't get to your reply just now"
A lot arrived at once and I couldn't get to yours. Nothing is wrong on your end and nothing you did caused it. Try again in a little while, or say it to me in chat and I'll answer there straight away.
"Something went wrong on my end"
Exactly what it says — my fault, not yours, and nothing for you to go looking for. Try again shortly. If it keeps happening, tell me in chat and a real person can help too.
Two things worth knowing
You can't reply to these notes. They come from an address I don't read, on purpose: a note about a reply I couldn't answer shouldn't turn into another reply I'd have to turn away. Say it to me in chat instead and I'll pick it straight up.
You'll get at most one a day for any given email of mine. If several replies to the same email run into trouble, you get one note, not a pile of them.
When you'll still hear nothing
A few cases still go by without a word from me, and they're worth knowing about so you don't go looking for a problem you don't have:
- A real burst of replies. More than a handful inside a couple of minutes and the extra ones stop before I can even tell they're yours — so there's nothing for me to write back to, and you get nothing at all. Space them out a little and they come through. (This is different from "I couldn't get to your reply just now" above, which you do hear about — that one is about a busy hour, not a burst.)
- The address your reply came to isn't one I recognise. Then I have no way of knowing who to write to, and I'd rather stay quiet than write to a stranger.
- An automatic reply — an out-of-office, or a bounce from your mail provider. I don't answer those, and I don't write back about them either.
If you think a message of yours went missing and none of those fit, tell me in chat. A reply that went nowhere is worth reporting.