Last Sunday morning, about 0.08% of all Gmail users were in for a rude awakening. Their e-mail accounts seem to have vanished overnight.
The next day, Google dutifully apologized, promising a quick fix for the problem, saying it might need to restore the missing accounts by retrieving them from off-line backup tapes. "Sorry again for the scare," said Google's Ben Traynor.
Making steady progress with the cleanup (hopefully not using any of that Gmail soap in the graphic above), four days later Google says the problem "should be resolved." The word "should" is slightly unsettling, isn't it? Here's a blockquote from the Gmail area of Google's Apps Status Dashboard:
12:51 AM [3/3/2011]: The problem with Google Mail should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.
Gmail should be back to normal for the vast majority of people affected by this issue. If you are still experiencing an issue, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks again for bearing with us.