1. Hotmail claims they have all these nifty site-wide spam-protection features; so supposedly it should block such a scan attempts. Besides, let me offer you one simple trick: when signing up at some website, or for snail mail catalogs, etc, make a single mistake in the spelling of your name; on each site a different one. It doesn't really hurt, because you can always claim that _they_ misspelled your name somehow; but the advantage it gives you is, you can always tell who exactly sold your address out. Just match the misspelled name on the envelope with your list of how exactly you misspelled your name at each particular company.
2. Well, it's out of my business actually, but let me disbeleive you. One can always squeese out extra $50 or so; it's only a matter of saving on simple things (and willingness to do so, too). No Starbucks coffee; less driving and more public transportation; going to movies less frequently or not going at all, etc etc. Though again, it's out of my business, so I'm not gonna discuss it here. I only have to note that it works for me pretty well.
3. It's hard to evaluate customer service. Maybe they're amazing to serve a homewife type of user, but as soon as they encounter a knowlegeable person, they fail miserably. For one instance, Earthlink customer support kept insisting that something is wrong on my side even after I determined that the trouble is somewhere at the exchange. "No no, your modem is bad, we send you a replacement". Still doesn't work. Two weeks later, "We're really sorry, it turns out that somebody improperly re-routed wires in the switchbox on our side. -- Damn you, I told you that within first ten seconds of my call!!!" Outcome quite positive though, next month of service free and a free cable modem, too. :) Same thing for Yahoo DSL, "Guys, you gave us these IPs saying they're our static IPs, but I can ping them even with all my equipmenty off; therefore, I can't use them because some other computer is using them. You have to reconfigure this-and-this. -- Nah, you have trouble with your computer, ....... Damn, the procedure I have in my book doesn't work, we need to check, call next week... (next week) ...We're sorry, we gave you addresses from the wrong pool... -- Damn, that was the first thing I told you!!!"
4. Strict netowrk environments usually block ALL types of streaming content, and even some websites, so you can't listen to audio streams in such an environments anyway; so what's the difference? And, where's the once famous American spirit of independence? Yes independence comes at a price, but I still beleive it's worth to rule your site yourself than to let some abusive company host it.
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2. Well, it's out of my business actually, but let me disbeleive you. One can always squeese out extra $50 or so; it's only a matter of saving on simple things (and willingness to do so, too). No Starbucks coffee; less driving and more public transportation; going to movies less frequently or not going at all, etc etc. Though again, it's out of my business, so I'm not gonna discuss it here. I only have to note that it works for me pretty well.
3. It's hard to evaluate customer service. Maybe they're amazing to serve a homewife type of user, but as soon as they encounter a knowlegeable person, they fail miserably. For one instance, Earthlink customer support kept insisting that something is wrong on my side even after I determined that the trouble is somewhere at the exchange. "No no, your modem is bad, we send you a replacement". Still doesn't work. Two weeks later, "We're really sorry, it turns out that somebody improperly re-routed wires in the switchbox on our side. -- Damn you, I told you that within first ten seconds of my call!!!" Outcome quite positive though, next month of service free and a free cable modem, too. :) Same thing for Yahoo DSL, "Guys, you gave us these IPs saying they're our static IPs, but I can ping them even with all my equipmenty off; therefore, I can't use them because some other computer is using them. You have to reconfigure this-and-this. -- Nah, you have trouble with your computer, ....... Damn, the procedure I have in my book doesn't work, we need to check, call next week... (next week) ...We're sorry, we gave you addresses from the wrong pool... -- Damn, that was the first thing I told you!!!"
4. Strict netowrk environments usually block ALL types of streaming content, and even some websites, so you can't listen to audio streams in such an environments anyway; so what's the difference? And, where's the once famous American spirit of independence? Yes independence comes at a price, but I still beleive it's worth to rule your site yourself than to let some abusive company host it.