Mailing list data isn't always properly interpreted in the sent e-mail
I'm running the latest Thunderbird: 91.4.0, and have been sending out e-mail to a list for about a year now without any problem - until now. The problem is best explained by illustrating it here. These are a subset of lines in my CSV mailing list definition:
Mary Susan, (Spear) Johns,Mary Susan (Spear) Johns,,ahjohns04@sbcglobal.net,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Frederick,Schomann,Frederick Schomann,,kschomann@netwurx.net,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Marilyn,(Defenbaugh) Pugh,Marilyn (Defenbaugh) Pugh,,pcorvette@embarqmail.com,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Frederick,Weninger,Frederick Weninger,,frederickw@cox.net,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Mary,McDermott,Mary McDermott,,MCDMH1923@aol.com,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Note the middle line, starting with Marilyn. I've checked the definition many times and can find no problem with it. When I use this list in my "To" text box, Thunderbird fills in the "To" box with the actual data, and it's almost always accurate. But in this case, it appears to have made the wrong replacement. When I examine the actual sent e-mail, the "To" line contains the following subset:
<leighton@teleport.com>, "Linda (Laughery) Prechtel" <prechtellinda@hotmail.com>, "Linda (Losee) Trader" <Latrader@comcast.net>, "Lou (Norton) Gutshall" <lou.gutshall6@gmail.com>, "Mary Susan (Spear) Johns" <ahjohns04@sbcglobal.net>, "Frederick Schomann" <kschomann@netwurx.net>, "pcorvette" <pcorvette@embarqmail.com>, "Frederick Weninger" <frederickw@cox.net>, "Mary McDermott" <MCDMH1923@aol.com>, "Maureen (Humphrey) Wteczycki" <sonnymimi@hotmail.com>, "Michele (Humphrey) Kirar" <mickeycet@aol.com>, "joanne" <mybuddyoliver@yahoo.com>, "Natel (Kypriotou) Matschulat"
Note that Marilyn's actual name has been replaced by her e-mail name (without the URL). I've never seen this happen before. I checked over my entire list of about 80 addresses, but didn't see any other error like this.
Why is this translation error happening?
All Replies (2)
Are you using this with an addon? I imported the CSV as provided into an address book without issue. But as it is not the complete list as you use it that really means little.
Issues like you describe in CSV generally originate in an error in the number of commas in the previous row or a missing carriage return or even having edited the file in excel and had it convert the text into something other than unicode. (I use libreoffice for such activity because it does not need to "import" unicode).
Thanks for the reply Matt. No, this isn't an addon. Right, I suspect that this issue has to do with the size of my mailing list, which is about 88 addresses. And, unfortunately, you can't see this error UNTIL the mailing goes out, so debugging it involves sending to a whole lot of people just for testing - sure to annoy them! While I think I started with a CSV list about a year ago, I've maintained it in Thunderbird since then. The only reason I export it is to examine it in a different light. But I can find no errors in the Thunderbird version of the list nor in the exported version. Also, to export this list, Thunderbird does the CSV formatting, so I would expect that if Thunderbird had a problem reading the list, that problem would also show up in the exported CSV file. But it doesn't
If there were a Thunderbird support person willing to look into this, I can send them the entire list. But I wish there was a way to duplicate this problem without actually sending an e-mail to the entire list.