Google’s engineers have been working around the clock to fix a problem affecting a small but significant group of Gmail users. All their emails and folders have disappeared. The problem was originally believed to affect .29 percent of Gmail users, but this number was later reduced to .08 percent. With an estimated 170 million users, the problem therefore affects as many as 136,000 people.
First reported on Sunday, Google has been attempting to retrieve and restore the lost information, and offering frequent updates to its users. Tagged as a “Service disruption,” the most recent updates all read, “Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by February 28, 2011 8:00:00 AM UTC-5 with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience.”
