It doesn't explicitly state that you need to send a D-Mail to switch world-lines. There is no ultimate law of the universe that commands only a D-Mail being sent can change things. Deleting a log of a file previously untouchable via obtaining things via D-Mail (which is what they did) could also have the same effect.
When you say "For me", that implies that you did not understand it. It's not a plot hole unless it physically cannot be explained. It can be explained, you just don't understand or like the explanation. Thus, it is not a plot hole, you just didn't understand it. Plot holes are different.
But if you think about it in the sense that messing with time doesn't cause paradox loops it makes sense.
They are going back and fixing a mistake made in the past. This would then change the future. When the world lines switch, he doesn't move in time, he just moves world lines. That's why it's different. The final trigger isn't time travel, it's a reversal of actions.
The main difference in each world line is one with WW3 and one without WW3. They are currently in the world line with WW3. Deleting the message will stop WW3 from happening, thus sending them to the original line Okabe was on.
Just because you didn't understand it doesn't mean it's a plot hole.
Ok here's the deal with the "plot hole" in Steins;Gate
The D-Mail sent that switched the world lines and kickstarted the series didn't get sent and directly affect a person. It was the action of it being sent that switched the world lines. Daru never even saw the text. The action of sending the text triggered it so they have to go back and remove the text rather than rectify one that affected someone.
> and like YOU said, no D-Mail = no switch
I meant only the FIRST D-Mail and the FIRST switch. I thought it was clear from the context, sorry if it was not.
If you cancel the reason, you cancel the consequences. They used D-Mails to cancel D-Mails because there was no other way to do it. If they somehow could delete those D-Mails from e-mail servers before they were read, that would have exactly the same effect. The D-Mail itself won't cause any changes if it's never seen.
> Okay, so you said that, and you don't found it weird that they cancel a D-Mail by deleting something in the present. Just why, you are actually contradict yourself.
No. I have exlained this already. By deleting it in the present, you prevent the time machine from being created by CERN, which in turn prevents CERN from altering the past. So basically you (indirectly) prevent CERN from altering the past. After that you cannot possibly stay in Alpha, because CERN never did it's vicious deeds in the past and the casual connection becomes the Grandpa's Paradox.
> I understand that. But it never changed the actual, I mean the one which we are following, where Okabe is, wordline. Because to switch, we need D-Mail.
To switch we need to change the past. In any way available. Okabe's (and everyone else's) choices affect the future, that's true. If Suzuha travels back to her time she will find that it is different from when she departed. The changes may be small (she may not even see them), but they will be anyway, because the worldine she departed from and the worldline she arrived at are different. That's how the present actions affect the worldline.
> So why there is a switch when he delete the D-Mail in the CERN base?
I mean, if the first D-Mail is never sent, the switch to Alpha never happens. So if the D-Mail is removed, the wordline switches back to Beta.
> But who knows? He can throw a fork in the bin, and it will have for consequence to put his lab in fire, so it's an important event
You seem to not fully grasp the concept. You don't "change" a wordline buy your current choices. You "change" it by altering past events. Like if you throw a fork, then afterwards somehow change the past as if you didn't throw it, you create a new, alternative, wordline, so now you have two: the one where you threw the fork and the one where you didn't.
> Because as you said, a wordline is built of attractor fileds
Uhm, no. It's vice versa. Suzuha exlained it, but in the anime it's given very vaguely. Attractror fields are "ropes" and timelines are "fibers". Alpha and Beta are attractor fields, or "thick" worldlines if you wish. The initial one (where the series starts) is called Beta, because this terminology was created by CERN in Alpha. Alpha consists of all wordlines with divergence from 0 to 1, Beta from 1 to 2, and so on.
Note that it has been a while since I watched the series, so I may forget or miss some details. It's just when I completed the series I had many questions, so I took time to sort things out and was completely satisfied with all the plot twists in the end.
If you want things fully perfect, I suggest that you read/play the visual novel, it does A LOT better job explaining stuff than the anime, not to mention me.
The main thing that the anime didn't even bother to explain is this: when Okabe did a second attempt to save Kurisu in the past, why didn't he meet himself who was making the first attempt? The VN doesn't have this failure though.
The initial switch from Beta to Alpha (in ep. 1) happens when Okabe unintentionally sends a D-Mail. If there's no D-Mail, there's no switch, it's simple as that. Notice, that this first D-Mail changes the past as well, that's why Okabe's memories after the switch do not match with other people's memories. Makise's life or death is not significant enough to determine if Alpha or Beta line is the "current" one. She's alive in Alpha because in this wordline the time machine used by Suzuha was (or rather will be) created by Daru, not Okabe. Hence, it malfunctioned a bit and crushed into the roof, so Nakabachi's conference was cancelled and Makise didn't meet him and didn't get killed.
The Stein's Gate wordline is still within Beta (Alpha and Beta are actually not wordlines, they are attractor fields, which consist of multiple converging wordlines) but Makise is still alive there. It MAY be NOT the only one line within Beta where she is alive, but it IS the only one Okabe is capable of reaching, because otherwise he would have to use D-Mail which would cause a switch to Alpha back again (and Mayuri dies there).
> And even if I'm wrong, just how, that's my question. Never in the anime when they modify something in the PRESENT, it changed the worldline. If it's like that, when Okabe throw a fork in the bin, it means the worldline can changed, because he didn't do like the worldline tell it. You understand what I mean?
The wordline doesn't actually "tell" anything. Some events are significant, some are not. If he, as you say, throws a fork, it's an unsignificant event. If you send a D-Mail and change something in the past, it MAY have consequences in the future (note: it doesn't HAVE to be significant, for instance in the VN there were D-Mail's that changed the past but didn't change the wordline: like Daru sent himself a D-Mail that should have helped him to win in the game against Faeris, but he lost even with this cheat). If the event is VERY significant, it causes the attractor field switch.
> Here we are. How the action of deleting the D-Mail in the present can have effect on the past? It can't, if we follow the rules of the anime
It took time before CERN noticed the D-MAIL in their database. So if you delete it before it is noticed, they won't use it to build time machine of their own, they won't alter the past and won't gain power. The current present (which is the result of altering the past using CERN's time machine) becomes impossible. Hence, the wordline changes from Alpha (where Makise is alive) to Beta (where she is dead). So yes, in this respect present can affect the past, if you keep in mind there are multiple "presents" and "pasts" which are not connected in a one-to-one manner. Basically that's how it works.
Actually the anime leaves out some details, but the one you mention is not among them. The VN does better job of tying things together.
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When you say "For me", that implies that you did not understand it. It's not a plot hole unless it physically cannot be explained. It can be explained, you just don't understand or like the explanation. Thus, it is not a plot hole, you just didn't understand it. Plot holes are different.
They are going back and fixing a mistake made in the past. This would then change the future. When the world lines switch, he doesn't move in time, he just moves world lines. That's why it's different. The final trigger isn't time travel, it's a reversal of actions.
The main difference in each world line is one with WW3 and one without WW3. They are currently in the world line with WW3. Deleting the message will stop WW3 from happening, thus sending them to the original line Okabe was on.
Just because you didn't understand it doesn't mean it's a plot hole.
The D-Mail sent that switched the world lines and kickstarted the series didn't get sent and directly affect a person. It was the action of it being sent that switched the world lines. Daru never even saw the text. The action of sending the text triggered it so they have to go back and remove the text rather than rectify one that affected someone.
It's not a plot hole.
I meant only the FIRST D-Mail and the FIRST switch. I thought it was clear from the context, sorry if it was not.
If you cancel the reason, you cancel the consequences. They used D-Mails to cancel D-Mails because there was no other way to do it. If they somehow could delete those D-Mails from e-mail servers before they were read, that would have exactly the same effect. The D-Mail itself won't cause any changes if it's never seen.
> Okay, so you said that, and you don't found it weird that they cancel a D-Mail by deleting something in the present. Just why, you are actually contradict yourself.
No. I have exlained this already. By deleting it in the present, you prevent the time machine from being created by CERN, which in turn prevents CERN from altering the past. So basically you (indirectly) prevent CERN from altering the past. After that you cannot possibly stay in Alpha, because CERN never did it's vicious deeds in the past and the casual connection becomes the Grandpa's Paradox.
> I understand that. But it never changed the actual, I mean the one which we are following, where Okabe is, wordline. Because to switch, we need D-Mail.
To switch we need to change the past. In any way available. Okabe's (and everyone else's) choices affect the future, that's true. If Suzuha travels back to her time she will find that it is different from when she departed. The changes may be small (she may not even see them), but they will be anyway, because the worldine she departed from and the worldline she arrived at are different. That's how the present actions affect the worldline.
I mean, if the first D-Mail is never sent, the switch to Alpha never happens. So if the D-Mail is removed, the wordline switches back to Beta.
> But who knows? He can throw a fork in the bin, and it will have for consequence to put his lab in fire, so it's an important event
You seem to not fully grasp the concept. You don't "change" a wordline buy your current choices. You "change" it by altering past events. Like if you throw a fork, then afterwards somehow change the past as if you didn't throw it, you create a new, alternative, wordline, so now you have two: the one where you threw the fork and the one where you didn't.
> Because as you said, a wordline is built of attractor fileds
Uhm, no. It's vice versa. Suzuha exlained it, but in the anime it's given very vaguely. Attractror fields are "ropes" and timelines are "fibers". Alpha and Beta are attractor fields, or "thick" worldlines if you wish. The initial one (where the series starts) is called Beta, because this terminology was created by CERN in Alpha. Alpha consists of all wordlines with divergence from 0 to 1, Beta from 1 to 2, and so on.
If you want things fully perfect, I suggest that you read/play the visual novel, it does A LOT better job explaining stuff than the anime, not to mention me.
The main thing that the anime didn't even bother to explain is this: when Okabe did a second attempt to save Kurisu in the past, why didn't he meet himself who was making the first attempt? The VN doesn't have this failure though.
The Stein's Gate wordline is still within Beta (Alpha and Beta are actually not wordlines, they are attractor fields, which consist of multiple converging wordlines) but Makise is still alive there. It MAY be NOT the only one line within Beta where she is alive, but it IS the only one Okabe is capable of reaching, because otherwise he would have to use D-Mail which would cause a switch to Alpha back again (and Mayuri dies there).
> And even if I'm wrong, just how, that's my question. Never in the anime when they modify something in the PRESENT, it changed the worldline. If it's like that, when Okabe throw a fork in the bin, it means the worldline can changed, because he didn't do like the worldline tell it. You understand what I mean?
The wordline doesn't actually "tell" anything. Some events are significant, some are not. If he, as you say, throws a fork, it's an unsignificant event. If you send a D-Mail and change something in the past, it MAY have consequences in the future (note: it doesn't HAVE to be significant, for instance in the VN there were D-Mail's that changed the past but didn't change the wordline: like Daru sent himself a D-Mail that should have helped him to win in the game against Faeris, but he lost even with this cheat). If the event is VERY significant, it causes the attractor field switch.
It took time before CERN noticed the D-MAIL in their database. So if you delete it before it is noticed, they won't use it to build time machine of their own, they won't alter the past and won't gain power. The current present (which is the result of altering the past using CERN's time machine) becomes impossible. Hence, the wordline changes from Alpha (where Makise is alive) to Beta (where she is dead). So yes, in this respect present can affect the past, if you keep in mind there are multiple "presents" and "pasts" which are not connected in a one-to-one manner. Basically that's how it works.
Actually the anime leaves out some details, but the one you mention is not among them. The VN does better job of tying things together.