Messages disappeared

I am very puzzled about this. I’ve used SpamSieve for several years and haven’t noticed anything like this before … but who knows.
This morning when I woke my computer up from sleep I had a bunch of Growlmail messages reporting received messages. However when I went to view them they weren’t there. There were a couple of messages from before I put the computer to sleep but not for some time after I woke the computer up. I checked in the Console, SpamSieve log and the missing messages show there:

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: Paul AndBaby York Ⓥ invited you to the event “Free showing of film Earth 2100: what will the next 90…
From: notification+kjdmu157pmh_@facebookmail.com
Identifier: 4SjfkCY71X7gAEcGpwn22g==
Reason: (
"notification+kjdmu157pmh_@facebookmail.com
) matched rule <From (address) Is Equal to "notification+kjdmu157pmh_@facebookmail.com"> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 04:54:04 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: [growl-discuss] Re: stop this now
From: phx404@gmail.com
Identifier: WirgeI6ZhO4BrdrlgnxTlw==
Reason: (
“<growldiscuss.googlegroups.com>”
) matched rule <List-ID Is Equal to “<growldiscuss.googlegroups.com>”> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 04:54:04 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: [growl-discuss] Re: stop this now
From: phx404@gmail.com
Identifier: IwgNtOCI9DKU0itUCWcPOw==
Reason: (
“<growldiscuss.googlegroups.com>”
) matched rule <List-ID Is Equal to “<growldiscuss.googlegroups.com>”> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 04:54:05 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: Find Out Where Top Mayoral Candidates Stand on Environment <=========== MISSING
From: tea@torontoenvironment.org
Identifier: 2zGXhudqO2koAs/gy+WAPA==
Reason: (
"tea@torontoenvironment.org"
) matched rule <From (address) Is Equal to "tea@torontoenvironment.org"> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:34 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: “This is not a POLITICAL party! Fundraiser and musical extravaganza! " sent you a message on Facebo… <=========== MISSING
From: notification+24==4j_c@facebookmail.com
Identifier: KnRkjNEWUeyONPaXdqMmOw==
Reason: (
"notification+24==4j_c@facebookmail.com
) matched rule <From (address) Is Equal to "notification+24==4j_c@facebookmail.com"> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:35 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: Your Weekly Digg Digest <=========== MISSING
From: noreply@digg.com
Identifier: KKl2s0LsA4iXOI5xxGfFHQ==
Reason: (
"noreply@digg.com"
) matched rule <From (address) Is Equal to "noreply@digg.com"> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:35 -0400

Predicted: Good (4)
Subject: [News] Yojimbo 3.0 Free Upgrade Notice for Order ST72979673 <=========== MISSING
From: fulfillment@barebones.com
Identifier: atT1QeDQJlPCOpC0qbDwIw==
Reason: P(spam)=0.000[0.000], bias=0.500, U:whats(0.005), F:Software(0.005), U:yojimbo(0.005), U:yojimbo(0.005), yojimbo(0.005), yojimbo(0.005), bedford(0.007), pc-based(0.019), 1048(0.019), ipad(0.019), ipad(0.019), 10.6(0.019), support@(0.030), p.o(0.048), compatible(0.053)
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:38 -0400

Trained: Good (Auto)
Subject: [News] Yojimbo 3.0 Free Upgrade Notice for Order ST72979673 <=========== MISSING
Identifier: atT1QeDQJlPCOpC0qbDwIw==
Actions: added rule <From (address) Is Equal to "fulfillment@barebones.com"> to SpamSieve whitelist, added rule <From (name) Is Equal to “Bare Bones Software - Customer Service”> to SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:38 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: [growl-discuss] Re: Feature request: “seen all” button <=========== MISSING
From: hosmanadam@gmail.com
Identifier: UBa7vxuWbrAfvXpSgXWU1A==
Reason: (
“<growldiscuss.googlegroups.com>”
) matched rule <List-ID Is Equal to “<growldiscuss.googlegroups.com>”> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:38 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: Climate cherry pickers: Falling humidity <=========== MISSING
From: no-reply@skepticalscience.com
Identifier: QhpAXAQhNQNIP0XCTDtdoQ==
Reason: (
“Skeptical Science”
) matched rule <From (name) Is Equal to “Skeptical Science”> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:40 -0400

Predicted: Good (1)
Subject: [ooo-announce] OpenOffice.org Newsletter - October 2010 <====== NOT missing
From: kay.koll@oracle.com
Identifier: O/FvyqKg7wsDWPpfMvyfYw==
Reason: (
“contact announce-help@openoffice.org; run by ezmlm”
) matched rule <Mailing-List Is Equal to “contact announce-help@openoffice.org; run by ezmlm”> in SpamSieve whitelist
Date: 2010-10-24 09:25:43 -0400

Can you suggest what might have happened to these messages and if I can recover them. I use IMAP but I have rules that move messages into folders on my mac when they are received so these messages are not visible in my IMAP account.

SpamSieve never deletes any messages, and neither, as far as I know, does Growl. (Plus, SpamSieve thought these messages were good, so it wouldn’t even move them.) My guess is that there’s a problem with Mail’s database. Do the message show up if you search for them via Spotlight (from the Finder, not from within Mail)?

I checked the mailbox folder, I checked trash, I checked with pathfinder’s find function and they are nowhere to be found.

I really recommend trying Spotlight from the Finder. Set it to search “This Mac” and “Contents”.

If the problem is with Mail’s database, you could quit Mail and delete the file:

/Users/<username>/Library/Mail/Envelope Index

Then it will build a new one for you.

I tried spotlight and it did not find the missing mail messages. I already tried to rebuild the mailbox and all it did was mark a whole bunch of messages as unread. I did not delete the Envelope Index … is that different from rebuilding?

Yes, deleting the Envelope Index does a more complete rebuild. However, if Spotlight didn’t find the messages, chances are that they aren’t on your Mac.

I suspect that Apple Mail.app is doing it … perhaps some glitch with the rules. I use IMAP and my rules move the messages to On My Mac folders … perhaps something went wrong in that process.

Thanks for reassuring me.