The EggMail vBMS Closure was a data loss event on the Cracked Egg Studios web site that took place on or about February 3, 2009, when browser-based access to the EggMail service was discontinued.
Background
EggMail is an email service that manages email communications involving studio-branded domain names. From 2007 through early 2009, EggMail managed communications involving the single domain name crackedeggstudios.net, with members of the forum who were either CES Staff or Network Partner being provided an email address matching their forum username.
Internally, EggMail relied on a modified version of an already defunct vBulletin addon called vBMS, short for "vBulletin Mail System." The addon worked by having access to a single master email address, in this case vbms@crackedeggstudios.net, which was the mailbox where all users' mail was actually sent or received. Because the individual mailboxes did not actually exist on the server, incoming mail was processed through that catch-all address. When the addon processed an email message, it copied the message into the forum database and delivered it to the appropriate forum user account.
Because vBMS was a defunct product, it fell to the studio to maintain the software whenever vBulletin received updates or bugs were discovered. Over time, this became a drain on studio development resources, that by 2009, was deemed not worth continuing.
Internally, EggMail relied on a modified version of an already defunct vBulletin addon called vBMS, short for "vBulletin Mail System." The addon worked by having access to a single master email address, in this case vbms@crackedeggstudios.net, which was the mailbox where all users' mail was actually sent or received. Because the individual mailboxes did not actually exist on the server, incoming mail was processed through that catch-all address. When the addon processed an email message, it copied the message into the forum database and delivered it to the appropriate forum user account.
Because vBMS was a defunct product, it fell to the studio to maintain the software whenever vBulletin received updates or bugs were discovered. Over time, this became a drain on studio development resources, that by 2009, was deemed not worth continuing.
The Event
On February 2, 2009, the studio made the decision to handle future mail through its main domain crackedeggstudios.com, to provide distinct mailboxes to users, and to require users to use their own email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook, in order to access their mail.
On February 3, 2009, the studio removed the vBMS software, thus removing browser-based access, and removing already-delivered messages from the database. Because vBMS functioned without real mailboxes for each user, switching to local email clients while maintaining existing messages was not possible, so users lost access to all email messages from the entirety of EggMail's lifetime to that date.
Because the web site also had an undiscovered issue with database backups, such that no backups were generated between January 2008 and June 2009, vBMS messages delivered during this period were not preserved in database backups. Thus, most EggMail messages from before February 3, 2009, were permanently lost in this event.
On February 3, 2009, the studio removed the vBMS software, thus removing browser-based access, and removing already-delivered messages from the database. Because vBMS functioned without real mailboxes for each user, switching to local email clients while maintaining existing messages was not possible, so users lost access to all email messages from the entirety of EggMail's lifetime to that date.
Because the web site also had an undiscovered issue with database backups, such that no backups were generated between January 2008 and June 2009, vBMS messages delivered during this period were not preserved in database backups. Thus, most EggMail messages from before February 3, 2009, were permanently lost in this event.