Sunday, August 14, 2005

I've had it with Hotmail!

I had set up a hotmail account just to use for this blog.

Well, that plus I wanted to have an internet email account (web mail) to use when I'm traveling. With Hotmail, the price was right (free is hard to beat), and I have some friends who have used it for years and seem to like it.

At first it seemed fine, except it took me a while to get used to moving around in it, saving email addresses in "contacts" and "favorites," that sort of thing.

Then a few weeks ago I couldn't even access Hotmail. It seemed to recognizen my ID and password, but Internet Explorer kept showing me a "Could not connect to server" error message.

That went on for 4 days. I was able to send in a "customer support" email message about my problem. The next day it cleared up "all by itself."

Recently I've been sending emails, and then 2 days later receiving an auto message telling me that my email has been delayed. No reason given, but the message reassures me that I do NOT need to send the email again.

Then on the following day, I get another auto message telling me that the email could not be delivered.

That happened again today, and it was the last straw. I heard a loud "SNAP" and the camel's back broke.

I have now set up a gmail account, and my blog profile shows that as the best way to contact me. If you don't want to go to the profile page to see it, it is:

duke.earle@gmail.com

If any of you readers have saved my hotmail address in your address book or "contacts" file, please change it to the gmail address above.

And thanks, Viki, for helping me with the gmail invitation.

With Hotmail, I guess I got what I paid for. Maybe gmail will be different.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Duke_of_Earle said...

In case you're wondering, the two anonymous posts I deleted were just advertisements.

Spam has invaded blog comments. What next?

Duke_of_Earle said...

Damn! Another one, already. All in about 30 minutes. This could get serious!

Anonymous said...

I like gmail a lot better than Hotmail, it's what I use just for my blog too.

And don't sweat the spam. Sometime's it's pretty funny. They're just pumping their blog usually. I do it too.

I actually read the blog and comment on it though.

Scared Bunny-Now with 10% more raisins!

Anonymous said...

OK if I had to put up with this shit I would go back to Hotmail, unreliable or not.

Duke_of_Earle said...

Are you saying the switch of email providers brought this on? If so, I might just switch back. i'm hoping it's coincidence. Any of my regular readers experiencing this? Any advice?

kenju said...

While my computer was in the hosp. and I was using one at the library, I had trouble sending email too. Like you, I got delay messages and then non-deliverable messages. I was doing it through "Email anywhere" with Road Runner, so it is not just hotmail that has the trouble. I also have a hotmail address, and I had no trouble with that one at all.

Karyn Lyndon said...

I find I get that spam when my blog is selected for blogger's "next blog" cycle. I don't think it has to do with the new email addy.

Oh, and when you delete a comment you can check the box that says you want it deleted forever (or something like that) and it won't show up as a deleted comment.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's not the result of changing the email account, maybe it's just coincidence, but it's still a pain in the butt. I actually clicked on a couple of the links from "anonymous" just out of curiosity, and if anyone is thinking of doing the same, don't bother. Nothing there worth seeing.

Anonymous said...

You really are getting slammed with spam! WTH?

Have fun with your gmail!

Bill said...

You know, I've used yahoo for the whole time I've been a blogger and never had a problem. Maybe it's just a luck of the draw thing. Yahoo's free and pretty easy to use.

SkyMommy said...

Gmail Rocks!...That's all *smile*

Anonymous said...

The fact that you are being hit by spam has nothing to do with changing your email. Unfortunately, once your blog becomes popular, it is fed into the spam system and you get hit unless you can block them before they appear. Last year in Norway, I was welcomed with over 200 spam messages one night. They are called spam bots and it is a program written which automatically sends spam to your blog. You need to find a way to block the spam and unfortunately I cannot help you as I use MT.

the many Bs said...

congrats on your new email, John. Big bummer on the spam. I would be p*ssed to have it invade my blog comments. I don't get that many and I want them to be meaningful, not stupid spam crap. You've gotta figure out how to stop the annoying stuff (then let me know).

Anonymous said...

Well, look on the bright side - your blog must be "POPULAR" now!!!

Duke_of_Earle said...

Yeah. Woo - Hoo!

JPS said...

My Hotmail account was the most frequently off line, wonky piece of garbage in creation. Yahoo mail has never given me a single problem in seven years of using it. Microsoft finds new fields to suck in, as is their specialty.

HOTMAIL LOGINL said...

nice post