Issues with Webmail

ecwootten · 2 Mar 2022, 11:38 PM

I've been having (highly intermittent) issues with Fastmail's webmail for quite a few months now. Most of the time it's fine, but issues include:

- trying to select messages by ticking tickyboxes, and getting stuck on the 'selecting messages' pop up
- viewing a message, hitting delete and having it delete a random message from my inbox and display a random other message (instead of deleting the one I'm on, and displaying the next)
- viewing a message, hitting next, and having it display a random other message from my inbox
- inbox in an unexpected order, with a lot of messages displayed as blank lines

In all cases, a force-refresh clears the issues but it seems to be happening more and more frequently. Has anyone else seen anything like this?

I'm using an up-to-date Firefox (97.0.1) on Windows 10.

BritTim · 3 Mar 2022, 12:35 AM

I suspect that some of this is due to network instability.

Often, when unexpected results are encountered after a mouse click, it is because an extra inadvertent mouse click happens immediately after. This is usually a hardware issue, but sometimes because you click again when you believe the first mouse click was not received. Have you seen anything with other applications that could confirm such behaviour?

Such experiences are very frustrating, of course, but is probably nothing Fastmail can do anything to mitigate.

ecwootten · 3 Mar 2022, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BritTim

I suspect that some of this is due to network instability.

Thanks - I'm with VirginMedia, so this is always a viable explanation

Quote:

Originally Posted by BritTim

Often, when unexpected results are encountered after a mouse click, it is because an extra inadvertent mouse click happens immediately after.

I don't think it's hardware - I've had the same problems regardless of whether I'm using my laptop trackpad or an external mouse. I also haven't had problems with any other applications.

Also not sure how extra mouseclicks could cause my Inbox to be re-ordered at random - I don't think there's a shuffle button. Yet!

I use gmail for a separate email identity, and that's has consistently been fine even when Fastmail is acting up. So if it's network instability, gmail is handling it a lot better!

xyzzy · 3 Mar 2022, 11:24 AM

Some simple things to try...

1. Logout and back into your FastMail.
2. Relaunch your browser.
3. Try a different browser for comparison.
4. Do you have the same problems when you use the FM beta (beta.fastmail.com)?

ecwootten · 5 Mar 2022, 07:15 PM

Thanks for the suggestions, xyzzy.

As this has been happening across several months, it's already survived logging out, restarting the browser, and rebooting Windows.

I'll try another browser, and the beta interface. Since it's the kind of problem that crops up perhaps once or twice a week, it may be a while before I can draw any conclusions!

JeremyNicoll · 6 Mar 2022, 10:39 PM

For what it's worth, I'm also in the UK, and on a Virgin Media connection.

I've not seen any of the issues the OP describes, using FM's webmail. I also use Firefox, currently v97.0.1 (though I see there's a newer one just released), but on Win 8.1 (though I doubt the version of Windows is relevant).

Things that might be different though are that it's my normal practice to delete ALL firefox history, cookies, cache etc at least once per day, though that doesn't /always/ happen if eg I fall asleep with lots of browser tabs open - then the next day I tend to finish what I was using them for then clear the history. Also I don't use any FF extensions except those that are shipped by default with FF.

Terry · 7 Mar 2022, 01:01 PM

Perhaps clear your cache and cookies in your browser.

ecwootten · 2 Apr 2022, 10:03 PM

OK.... so, no, trying the beta interface didn't make any difference. The problems seemed to be getting more frequent (despite there being no apparently network issues), but I think I may have a candidate to blame...

I keep my inbox ordered with the most-recently-received at the bottom, and my inbox was rather full. (~800 mails, which is not many if you go for the gmail-style most-recent-at-the-top-and-never-file-anything, but quite a lot if you're constantly scrolling to the bottom). I've cleared out a bunch of mails, and haven't had any further problems.

Given that fastmail's UI has a lot of, ahem, "mis-features" if you use your inbox in this way, I'm guessing that they don't test this mode much.

2 Mar 2022, 11:38 PM	#1
ecwootten Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 43	Issues with Webmail I've been having (highly intermittent) issues with Fastmail's webmail for quite a few months now. Most of the time it's fine, but issues include: - trying to select messages by ticking tickyboxes, and getting stuck on the 'selecting messages' pop up - viewing a message, hitting delete and having it delete a random message from my inbox and display a random other message (instead of deleting the one I'm on, and displaying the next) - viewing a message, hitting next, and having it display a random other message from my inbox - inbox in an unexpected order, with a lot of messages displayed as blank lines In all cases, a force-refresh clears the issues but it seems to be happening more and more frequently. Has anyone else seen anything like this? I'm using an up-to-date Firefox (97.0.1) on Windows 10.

3 Mar 2022, 12:35 AM	#2
BritTim The "e" in e-mail Join Date: May 2003 Location: mostly in Thailand Posts: 3,095	I suspect that some of this is due to network instability. Often, when unexpected results are encountered after a mouse click, it is because an extra inadvertent mouse click happens immediately after. This is usually a hardware issue, but sometimes because you click again when you believe the first mouse click was not received. Have you seen anything with other applications that could confirm such behaviour? Such experiences are very frustrating, of course, but is probably nothing Fastmail can do anything to mitigate.

3 Mar 2022, 11:24 AM	#4
xyzzy Essential Contributor Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 478	Some simple things to try... 1. Logout and back into your FastMail. 2. Relaunch your browser. 3. Try a different browser for comparison. 4. Do you have the same problems when you use the FM beta (beta.fastmail.com)?

5 Mar 2022, 07:15 PM	#5
ecwootten Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 43	Thanks for the suggestions, xyzzy. As this has been happening across several months, it's already survived logging out, restarting the browser, and rebooting Windows. I'll try another browser, and the beta interface. Since it's the kind of problem that crops up perhaps once or twice a week, it may be a while before I can draw any conclusions!

6 Mar 2022, 10:39 PM	#6
JeremyNicoll Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Scotland Posts: 491	For what it's worth, I'm also in the UK, and on a Virgin Media connection. I've not seen any of the issues the OP describes, using FM's webmail. I also use Firefox, currently v97.0.1 (though I see there's a newer one just released), but on Win 8.1 (though I doubt the version of Windows is relevant). Things that might be different though are that it's my normal practice to delete ALL firefox history, cookies, cache etc at least once per day, though that doesn't /always/ happen if eg I fall asleep with lots of browser tabs open - then the next day I tend to finish what I was using them for then clear the history. Also I don't use any FF extensions except those that are shipped by default with FF.

7 Mar 2022, 01:01 PM	#7
Terry The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: VK4 Posts: 3,029	Perhaps clear your cache and cookies in your browser.

2 Apr 2022, 10:03 PM	#8
ecwootten Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 43	OK.... so, no, trying the beta interface didn't make any difference. The problems seemed to be getting more frequent (despite there being no apparently network issues), but I think I may have a candidate to blame... I keep my inbox ordered with the most-recently-received at the bottom, and my inbox was rather full. (~800 mails, which is not many if you go for the gmail-style most-recent-at-the-top-and-never-file-anything, but quite a lot if you're constantly scrolling to the bottom). I've cleared out a bunch of mails, and haven't had any further problems. Given that fastmail's UI has a lot of, ahem, "mis-features" if you use your inbox in this way, I'm guessing that they don't test this mode much.