Hotmail Closure (Part 1) | 21/03/06 - 20.38 |
This is part 1 in which I describe the various types of Hotmail Closure notices. In part 2 I explain how I acted to try to bring a help article to Hotmail’s help directory to say that “Hotmail is not closing, and they do not forward emails by chain mail”. Read that here.
I am not a Hotmail user. I used to be, but I don’t intend to return in the near future. Even the facelift due shortly doesn’t give it anything on Gmail in my opinion. However I know a lot of Hotmail users. And I therefore get a lot of messages from Hotmail.com. Sometimes the content of the messages suggests that Hotmail is running out of resources and will have to close in the near future. The messages go on to say that they need you to forward the message to 20 contacts or so to keep your account active. The messages come in various forms. Some are pretty convincing like: (View Large)
And others are purely embarassing:
Hey it is Andy and john the directors of MSN, sorry for the
interruption
but
msn is closing down. this is because too many inconsiderate
people are
taking up all the name (eg making up lots of different accounts
for
just one
person), we only have 578 names left. If you would like to close
your
account, DO NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE ON. If you would like to keep
your
account, then SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT
LIST. This
is no
joke, we will be shutting down the servers. Send it on, thanks.
WHO EVER DOES NOT SEND THIS MESSEAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE
CLOSED AND
YOU
WILL COST £10.00 A MONTH TO USE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR
CONTACT
LIST.
NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS or REPLAY.
COPY THE
WHOLE EMAIL. GO BACK TO YOUR INBOX AND CLICK ON NEW. AND PASTE
THANK
YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION
Some cite a BBC article from a few years ago at this address:
All of them request for you to get forwarding the message along to save yourself your acocunt and/or money for your account. These messages are not new at all. And all of them are completely bogus. There is to be no closing of Hotmail in the near future, or even the distant future. And even if Hotmail did decide that it was going to start charging users (which I have to say is fairly unimaginable with the current competition) then they would contact everyone individually. Hotmail do not and will not send you important service changing information via forwards. I havent checked but I am pretty sure they would break the terms of the EULA if they didn’t.
I started to get a little sick of these messages. Especially since I don’t even use the service. For some reason people kept believing them and kept forwarding the message on. Not only that but as you see at BreakTheChain.org these messages are pretty dangerous. Everytime you forward the email the addresses contained within the email pile up. I have some messages in my inbox with hundreds of email addresses on from steps further up the chain. If I were a spammer then I would be a happy person. I wanted to send out a message to everyone who sent me a forward of this nature (and everyone they were sending it to) that clearly stated the above and linked to a article on the Hotmail help where this information is clearly shown. Only one problem. This information is not clearly shown on Hotmail’s help. It isn’t shown at all. I guess at this point I began to sympathise a little with the “forwarders”. They had no one telling them that these things were completely false. Apart from intuition, how were they supposed to know?
On 4th March 2006 I wrote to Hotmail customer support. I know I am not a customer but it was the most suitable link I could find on their website. I requested a new article on the subject described above. Since then I have been exchanging emails with their support people. All of these emails will be published on this blog as soon as I have got to the bottom of the issue, that will be part 2. So far I have sent five messages and got 4 replies. The ball is in their court at this moment, but I expect a further reply very soon. I have written to four different representatives (always someone else replies) and as of 20.36 GMT on Tuesday 21st March there is no help article up.
[...] This post is the second in a two part series. The first gave examples of types of emails that can be received about Hotmail closing. It is important that you note all of these are completely bogus. You can see them here. [...]
aswell many of these chain letters state that there are only 578 names left. Consider this:
Your email address can be anywhere from 1-64 characters in length.
in your email address, you can have anything from a-z,
0-9, preiods(.), hyphens(-) and underscores (_) thats a total of 38 possibilities for EVERY 64 characters in your email address.
that means that there are 64^38 (2,760,698,530,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) possible email addresses.
now for the funny part:
the worlds population is only 6,602,244,175 (as of july, 2007)
that would mean in order for there to be ONLY 578 names left…. every single person on this planet would need to have:
4,181,454,786,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 email addresses….
Are you really closing Hotmail?
Cause that is just stuipd if you are. I use that for everything
No they are not closing Hotmail! Please read the article!
hey, I get these messages all the time from my mates, usually the younger ones who freak out about it…I just recently got the “theres only 578 email addresses left” one, and quite personally, I never bother forwarding them in the first place, but always click the link that comes with them just to make sure I’m right …and surprisingly I am. I found your blog…
pity everyone doesnt figure it out for themselves tho.
thanks for this.
Humfrey whipped [url=http://rgtewr.com/relenza-shelf-life/]relenza online pharmacy[/url] constancy under [url=http://rgtewr.com/what-is-phencyclidine-made-from/]documentary on phencyclidine[/url] magic beyond [url=http://rgtewr.com/nordette-generic-opd/]cheapest nordette[/url] some mistake [url=http://rgtewr.com/melanex-sheeting-myv/]melanex[/url] twice before [url=http://rgtewr.com/celebrex-celecoxib-north-carolina/]celebrex celecoxib shawnee on delaware pennsylvania[/url] closed after [url=http://rgtewr.com/i-take-too-much-adderall/]adderall street[/url] seconds they [url=http://rgtewr.com/amoxicillin-trimox-500mg-cap/]trimox 500mg[/url] indicator points [url=http://rgtewr.com/estradiol-2mg/]low estradiol treatment natural[/url] the separate [url=http://rgtewr.com/aldara-valtrex/]aldara home page[/url] and golden [url=http://rgtewr.com/cost-of-levothroid/]levothroid bipolar[/url] narrowed and [url=http://rgtewr.com/homeopathic-to-replace-lasix/]atlanta lasix[/url] whether girts [url=http://rgtewr.com/aldara-dosage/]aldara for superficial basal cell carcinoma[/url] and actually [url=http://rgtewr.com/heroin-nod/]heroin withdrawal symtoms[/url] her lips [url=http://rgtewr.com/macrobid-indications-uses/]can dogs take macrobid[/url] are against [url=http://rgtewr.com/colchicine-cannabis/]colchicine herniated disk[/url] and makes [url=http://rgtewr.com/flomax-tamsulosin-wyoming/]tamsulosin and acid reflux[/url] were best [url=http://rgtewr.com/rabeprazole-side-effects/]rabeprazole quality[/url] aga exclaimed [url=http://rgtewr.com/conjugated-estrogens-and-medroxyprogesterone/]cas number for medroxyprogesterone[/url] ladder toppled [url=http://rgtewr.com/vasotec-and-alcohol/]vasotec and vertigo[/url] the glass [url=http://rgtewr.com/rehab-centers-for-psilocybin-in-alabama/]psilocybin cyanescens[/url] touched the [url=http://rgtewr.com/ampicillin-amoxil-antibiotics/]amoxil dogs[/url] uest and [url=http://rgtewr.com/sotalol-and-furosemide/]online furosemide[/url] going around [url=http://rgtewr.com/minocycline-antibiotic-side-effects/]minocycline acne results[/url] rocks there [url=http://rgtewr.com/elidel-vs-steroid/]drug elidel information[/url] our pain [url=http://rgtewr.com/conway-action-profile-ortho/]la jolla ortho surgeons[/url] hurt the [url=http://rgtewr.com/orlistat-no-prescription-ldb/]orlistat otc availability[/url] position wasn [url=http://rgtewr.com/flumadine/]flumadine vs amantadine[/url] riene glanced [url=http://rgtewr.com/side-effects-of-glyburide/]glyburide drug[/url] forms and [url=http://rgtewr.com/exercise-and-accupril/]side effects of the drug accupril[/url] the lovely [url=http://rgtewr.com/mail-clomiphene-citrate-order/]buy clomiphene citrate online[/url] flying centaur [url=http://rgtewr.com/what-is-diltiazem/]diltiazem 240 mg[/url] think she [url=http://rgtewr.com/flexeril-tongue-side-effects/]diflucan flexeril[/url] paw balled [url=http://rgtewr.com/plavix-patent-litigation/]effect liver plavix[/url] been made [url=http://rgtewr.com/cetirizine-hydrocloride/]what is cetirizine hcl[/url] forged anew [url=http://rgtewr.com/climara-estrodial-patch/]climara estrodial patch[/url] ere was [url=http://rgtewr.com/wellbutrin-xl-patient-assistance/]wellbutrin long term side effects[/url] the crudest [url=http://rgtewr.com/zoloft-and-pot/]sertraline hci zoloft[/url] the relationsh [url=http://rgtewr.com/about-clomiphene-effects-of/]arimidex versus clomiphene for pct[/url] all would [url=http://rgtewr.com/aphthasol-canada/]aphthasol manufacturer[/url] everal members [url=http://rgtewr.com/cefixime-online/]cefixime online[/url] atch yourself [url=http://rgtewr.com/pioglitazone-quartet-combination/]pioglitazone chemical structure[/url] rance when [url=http://rgtewr.com/pcp-in-urine/]pcp pneumonia symptoms[/url] his big [url=http://rgtewr.com/gemfibrozil-liver/]gemfibrozil coenzyme q10[/url] which her [url=http://rgtewr.com/aricept-patient/]aricept cost[/url] nice family [url=http://rgtewr.com/lyrics-strokes-soma/]overnight online soma delivered cod only[/url] big eyes [url=http://rgtewr.com/acne-injection-kenalog/]kenalog suspension[/url] sheer luck [url=http://rgtewr.com/propranolol-prescription-nxe/]propranolol 20mg[/url] howled past [url=http://rgtewr.com/ionamin-no-prescription/]ionamin meridia[/url] and afraid [url=http://rgtewr.com/skelaxin-lupus/]skelaxin use in dogs[/url] other food [url=http://rgtewr.com/can-you-die-from-lsd/]hardcore lsd[/url] abob who invincible.
1.) Home Security…
2.) [...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]…
I gotta favorite this internet web site it seems very beneficial .
essential end informed. Here youпїЅпїЅll find some sites that we think youпїЅпїЅll appreciate, press all the backlinks over
Hey,There is a nice Website. Are going to be into take a look again soon. Till than have a very great day!
While clicking around, I noticed a broken link. You might want to fix it.
The kingdom of Spain’s most notable judge, Baltasar Garzon, declined to reply to enquiries from a prosecutor as he took the stand on accusations of abusing his dominance during his research of human rights violations under Francisco Franco .