hotmail

[Coljono]

With regards to the announcment re hotmail addresses
Does this mean I have to go and buy a pc instead of using my office machine? As I registered with a hotmail address can I stay or am I banned?:(

[Bob]

No, you are not banned, you obviously registered when we used the earlier version of the forum software.

In fairness to you and other hotmail users this is what has transpired, (I was informed of this by other forum site owners):

Many forums have had the problem of insulting or abusive posts, and we had one earlier this year. Normally they can be dealt with to a certain extent by using various blocking methods. If there is need to trace the offender then this can be done through the email address or IP used. However, with some free email services such as hotmail, this cannot be done. Microsoft are not able to trace the owner of an email address (so I am informed). This means that someone could post all sorts of abuse and not be traced. There appears to be move towards blocking hotmail and some other addresses.

If anyone can advise me otherwise, then I would be gratefull, I do not want to exclude genuine and decent folk if I have been misled.

Thanks

[Mike Clift]

Bob

What you say about Hotmail is 100%.

It's also true of Yahoo, Lycos, Freemail, and about 1000 other free web based services.

However all the major ISP's including BT Openworld offer Web Based Mail accounts. Anybody can sign up for a pay as you go account where they need to provide full personal information and then use it for email from any PC.

So for anybody who wants to register there's an easy solution and one that works.

Hope that helps.

Mike

[Bob]

Thanks Mike. I think that settles this issue. Hotmail will remain barred.