Word to describe sending an out of date email after spending a long time composing it

Question

I sometimes spend a chunk of time (lets say 30 minutes) composing an email which, when I've checked it, I send. My next step is almost always to re-check the inbox. Occasionally I discover that whilst I was composing the email, the situation to which the email relates has moved on and the email I sent is now inaccurate.

The same word might also apply to a scientist who spends perhaps years doing research and then publishes, without checking that the assumptions his work is based on are still correct.

The upshot of the situation would be the need to issue a rapid update to the email/work to correct it.

UPDATE: Thanks for the answers so far. I think that 'obsolete' describes the situation that the work (or email) finds itself it. Could also be 'superceded'. Also liked E-moot.

However, I think that 'scooped' comes closest to what I was after. I'm really looking for a word which describes the experience of the person having done the work that is now obsolete (superceded or E-moot). As in "Jack was left feeling ?????? on realising his carefully constructed email was rendered obsolete by Tim's reply sent 5 minutes earlier".

Something that combines 'scooped' with 'deflated' might fit the bill.

It's probably adding to much to say that the feeling of deflatedness is caused in no small part by the knowledge that if less time had been spent on spelling, grammar and formatting, the work could have been sent/published whilst still relevant.

UPDATE 4/4/14: Got to say that "Ninja'd" comes closest to what I'm after. It combines the notion that I was beaten by someone with superior speed with the feeling of being phyiscally assaulted. If this does have a basis in internet culture then all the better. Nuts to the scientists. "Ninja'd" also addresses the 'too much time spent on formatting etc.' requirement since it suggests whoever Ninja'd me was possible more efficient or focussed.

Really enjoying this SE site - thanks everyone.

Answer 1

I have seen the neologism "Ninja'd" for a similar situation applied to Internet forums, on several forums. But this certainly doesn't describe what one may feel in reaction, it only describes the action.

Where I've seen it:

• I've first seen it on Keenspot webcomic discussion forums.
• I see it most notably on the TV Tropes forum (which adds a tendency, on threads dedicated to works containing a ninja character, to use that character's name instead). The administrators recently added a ninja smiley to the forum just for this purpose.

Answer 2

Obsolete

Please delete my obsolete response

Answer 3

Moot comes to mind. I say this in the sense that your work up to now has been purely academic with no practical application anymore.

After all the work composing that email, it wound up being moot.

Answer 4

Stale

I replied, but my email was stale.

Answer 5

I think the word belated is applicable here also

Answer 6

A scientist (or journalist) who is second-to-the-punch has been scooped. If their work addresses a special case of some more general case that has since been investigated fully then it has been subsumed by the latter work.

Answer 7

The idiom miss the boat comes to mind.

Answer 8

"mortified" means feeling very embarrassed and foolish, so you could say you were mortified to find that you had sent a moot email, though you might need something stronger for the research scenario.

"gutted" is a great slang word in BrE (though I can't attest for how widespread it is outside of Australia and NZ) meaning Bitterly disappointed or upset. It is likely related to gutting an animal, thus describing the feeling as if your insides have been figuratively wrenched out.

"devastated", to feel extreme emotional pain, is a much stronger word, and thus better suited to the research example than the email example.

In either case, you might feel "defeated" - frustrated by nullification or by prevention of success.

Answer 9

Jack was left feeling needlessly exhausted on realising his carefully constructed email was rendered obsolete by Tim's reply sent 5 minutes earlier

Maybe bitterly exhausted to give it that sense of "if only I spent less time grammar-checking, my work wouldn't be for waste"

Answer 10

All dressed up and nowhere to go.

Day late and a dollar short.

Close the barn door after the horse ran off.

All these idiomatic phrases, which long predate the cyber age, express the chagrin one feels when effort has been expended toward some end that is no longer attainable.

Answer 11

'Nugatory' describes the work involved

Answer 12

Exhume comes to mind.

As in "exhume from the vault".

Also, "wake from hibernation" would be a very poetic way of saying it, especially if one likes bears and other wildlife.