TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2011-01 > 1295486180


From: "John Cardinal" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Problem with swbell (Yahoo) or Rootsweb
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 20:16:20 -0500
In-Reply-To: <4D378772.2090208@gmail.com>


Rick Van Dusen wrote, in part:
> I always recommend using a "disposable", email account from one of
> the free email providers and not your "real" email account for such
> public things as groups/lists, shopping online, and even tech support.

Rick,

I can't help noting the irony that the "disposable" email accounts you
recommend are the ones that are working whereas the "real" accounts are
having trouble. Note that people using such "real" accounts (ATT, sbcglobal,
AOL, and others) have had many problems in the past; this isn't the first
time by a long shot.

My advice to people is to *never* use the email account provided by your
ISP. First, your ISP may change if you move, and then your email address
changes, which is a big hassle. Next, your email address may change even if
you don't move: your ISP might sell the market to a competitor, or the ISP
may be sold or merged, etc. Perhaps more importantly, the typical ISP puts
little or no effort into service or support of email. Large ISPs have a
significant challenge to process the huge volume of email they receive and I
think they expect their users to be thankful that any messages arrive at
all! If some glitch affects you, they jump behind a defense that goes like
this:

"We can't adjust our huge, compicated email process just to meet your
particular needs! Did you read the Terms of Service? We deliver what we
want! Have a great day!"

A good alternative to an ISP-based email account is to your own domain and
signup with a web host or email host. If that host doesn't provide good
service, you can move your domain somewhere else, and there's no danger of
losing the address as long as you retain the domain. GMail and other
high-visibility free email is also a good choice, though any big
organization is likely to stomp you like a bug if they need to do so.

With regard to using throwaway email addresses for lists, etc., I think it's
reasonable advice, but more important for hiding the email address you use
for important stuff than for spam avoidance. If you are actually going to
read the list traffic, then you have to accept mail at that address, and if
you accept mail at that address, you're going to get spam. You can throwaway
the disposable address at some point and start over with a new one, but
that's a bit of a hassle, too.

John


This thread: