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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: open relays at Earthlink
>> else. I remember having to assist flash.net customers with reconfigurating >> their POP3 and SMTP clients when that provider went to a round-robin >> load-balancing mail server system. It was ... painful. >"Well this is how we've always done it" isn't an excuse for sticking >with a boneheaded configuration. Yes, changing configurations is painful. >Yes, customers will bitch and whine and wail "But I'm not a computer person!" >Yes, support staff will have to walk customers through reconfiguring their >Endora and explaining why they need this STMP thing anyway. I've been doing >it all summer at work. Of course it's a boneheaded way to run an Internet business, if you plan to be a decent Netizen. But consider: Companies like flash.net, earthlink.net, mindspring.com, uu.net, etc., all exist for a single purpose: to make money. It is -costly- to fix broken configurations that have a direct impact on customers. You have to pay the support personnel to wade through the email and handle the calls. You may have to pay for the calls if you're dumb enough to have an 800 number for support. You may additionally have to pay the 800 bill for your customers calling your sales department 'cause they can't get through to the support department because the lines are so clogged. And you may lose customers, which costs money. Or you can continue to allow people to spam, which doesn't cost anything in any quantifiable manner, and annoys your support staff a whole lot less. Mind you, I'm all for doing the responsible thing. But I understand the bottom line concerns that sometimes prevent it. ag
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