I had added a new email account to my domain but it could neither
successfully send nor receive. I gather that since Tiscali acquired F2S,
this is the kind of new feature that I can expect. As renewal comes up next
month, can someone recommend a reliable alternative?

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:28:21 -0400, Alan Secker <alan@asandco.co.uk> wrote:

> I had added a new email account to my domain but it could neither
> successfully send nor receive. I gather that since Tiscali acquired F2S,

I'm not clear on what the problem is. Is this a problem with the isp setting
up the email account, a problem accessing the email from Mandriva, or a problem
with a locally created email account?

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change nomail.afraid.org to ody.ca to reply by email.
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

On Tuesday 01 July 2008 20:31, someone who identifies as *David W. Hodgins*
wrote in /alt.os.linux.mandriva:/

> On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:28:21 -0400, Alan Secker <alan@asandco.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>> I had added a new email account to my domain but it could neither
>> successfully send nor receive. I gather that since Tiscali acquired F2S,
>
> I'm not clear on what the problem is. Is this a problem with the isp
> setting up the email account, a problem accessing the email from Mandriva,
> or a problem with a locally created email account?

I think what he means is that he's set up a new e-mail account in the domain
he has hosted with either his ISP or his hosting company, and that this
apparently doesn't work, and that he is looking for an alternative.

To Alan: If I am correct about the above and we're talking of domain
hosting, then I /might/ be able to do something for you.

As you may or may not remember, I'm running an IRC network with a couple of
friends - well, there were five paying members, of whom one was not paying
at all despite our pleas, so we eventually fired him, which brings us down
to four paying team members of whom only two (myself included) are actively
maintaining the network infrastructure and concerning ourselves with IRC.

Running such a network off of our own servers and hosting our own domains
and website, we've decided to offer hosting solutions as well. Strictly on
a beta-level basis at this stage - although we've been doing that for over
a year already - and without the intent of actually making a profit. Our
goal is to bring in just a bit of extra money to help pay for our
infrastructure, although we're nowhere at a break-even situation yet.

It's all still unofficial at this stage, so there are no invoices or other
paperwork, and this is because at this stage, we've still not made the
transition to a legitimate not-for-profit, given that this would import
additional costs and legal difficulties - e.g. corporate taxes, an official
double bookkeeping, et al.

Now, I don't know what your needs are, but given all of the above, should
you still be interested in a low-cost hosting solution, then I am willing
to see what I can do. I would suggest that you then contact me via e-mail
- see my signature, adapted for this one-time occasion - and tell me
exactly what you want, and then I'll get back to you with what we can offer
you. No harm done if you choose not to accept our offer, though. ;-)

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
(For e-mail: substitute /chatfactory.invalid/ by /chatfactory.net/)

Aragorn wrote:

> On Tuesday 01 July 2008 20:31, someone who identifies as *David W.
> Hodgins* wrote in /alt.os.linux.mandriva:/
>
>> On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:28:21 -0400, Alan Secker <alan@asandco.co.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I had added a new email account to my domain but it could neither
>>> successfully send nor receive. I gather that since Tiscali acquired F2S,
>>
>> I'm not clear on what the problem is. Is this a problem with the isp
>> setting up the email account, a problem accessing the email from
>> Mandriva, or a problem with a locally created email account?
>
> I think what he means is that he's set up a new e-mail account in the
> domain he has hosted with either his ISP or his hosting company, and that
> this apparently doesn't work, and that he is looking for an alternative.
>
> To Alan: If I am correct about the above and we're talking of domain
> hosting, then I /might/ be able to do something for you.
>
> As you may or may not remember, I'm running an IRC network with a couple
> of friends - well, there were five paying members, of whom one was not
> paying at all despite our pleas, so we eventually fired him, which brings
> us down to four paying team members of whom only two (myself included) are
> actively maintaining the network infrastructure and concerning ourselves
> with IRC.
>
> Running such a network off of our own servers and hosting our own domains
> and website, we've decided to offer hosting solutions as well. Strictly
> on a beta-level basis at this stage - although we've been doing that for
> over
> a year already - and without the intent of actually making a profit. Our
> goal is to bring in just a bit of extra money to help pay for our
> infrastructure, although we're nowhere at a break-even situation yet.
>
> It's all still unofficial at this stage, so there are no invoices or other
> paperwork, and this is because at this stage, we've still not made the
> transition to a legitimate not-for-profit, given that this would import
> additional costs and legal difficulties - e.g. corporate taxes, an
> official double bookkeeping, et al.
>
> Now, I don't know what your needs are, but given all of the above, should
> you still be interested in a low-cost hosting solution, then I am willing
> to see what I can do. I would suggest that you then contact me via e-mail
> - see my signature, adapted for this one-time occasion - and tell me
> exactly what you want, and then I'll get back to you with what we can
> offer
> you. No harm done if you choose not to accept our offer, though. ;-)
>
I do like the sound of that but my business now rather depends on the
reliability of internet services, which means all kinds if things like
emergency power supplies and so on. It sounds as though what you are
offering is a bit to early for me right now but maybe a little later on.

This morning it looks like at least one way is working. I sent a test that
did not bounce back. I am waiting for a return message before letting my
breathe out.

Thanks for the offer.

Incidentally F2S use an 0871 telephone number. Whenever one calls, they are
always busy and five pence per minute clocks for quite a while with no
benefit to the caller. It would be quite easy to manipulate this, simply to
make money. I think it should be outlawed. It is theft by any other name.

Regards

Alan

On Wednesday 02 July 2008 11:37, someone who identifies as *Alan Secker*
wrote in /alt.os.linux.mandriva:/

> Aragorn wrote:
>
>> [...]
>> Running such a network off of our own servers and hosting our own domains
>> and website, we've decided to offer hosting solutions as well. Strictly
>> on a beta-level basis at this stage - although we've been doing that for
>> over a year already - and without the intent of actually making a profit.
>> Our goal is to bring in just a bit of extra money to help pay for our
>> infrastructure, although we're nowhere at a break-even situation yet.
>>
>> It's all still unofficial at this stage, so there are no invoices or
>> other paperwork, and this is because at this stage, we've still not made
>> the transition to a legitimate not-for-profit, given that this would
>> import additional costs and legal difficulties - e.g. corporate taxes, an
>> official double bookkeeping, et al.
>>
>> Now, I don't know what your needs are, but given all of the above, should
>> you still be interested in a low-cost hosting solution, then I am willing
>> to see what I can do. I would suggest that you then contact me via
>> e-mail - see my signature, adapted for this one-time occasion - and tell
>> me exactly what you want, and then I'll get back to you with what we can
>> offer you. No harm done if you choose not to accept our offer,
>> though. ;-)
>>
> I do like the sound of that but my business now rather depends on the
> reliability of internet services, which means all kinds if things like
> emergency power supplies and so on. It sounds as though what you are
> offering is a bit to early for me right now but maybe a little later on.

Well, just to be honest, we do use UPS and surge protection and we do
automatically make backups to a separate machine, but our connection is
rather slow and our set-up rather simplistic, so I don't think that we'd be
the right choice for a serious business.

So far, our "clients" are all people who need to host a domain with regard
to hobbies and small local organizations, e.g. people who offer webdesign
services non-professionally, who want a personal website and e-mail domain,
et al.

My offer should therefore be seen as non-advertising, non-commercial and
non-heavyweight. I was just under the impression that it was a personal
domain of yours, with low traffic requirements, etc. :-)

> This morning it looks like at least one way is working. I sent a test that
> did not bounce back. I am waiting for a return message before letting my
> breathe out.

If it didn't bounce, then that's generally a good sign. ;-)

> Thanks for the offer.

You're welcome. ;-)

> Incidentally F2S use an 0871 telephone number. Whenever one calls, they
> are always busy and five pence per minute clocks for quite a while with no
> benefit to the caller. It would be quite easy to manipulate this, simply
> to make money.

Oh, this *is* already happening, and there's no doubt on my mind that this
is the case as well for the company you're talking of. Similarly, my ISP
has two telephone numbers. One is a free number - 0800 here in Belgium -
and the other one is a paid number.

The free number only has an automated cable modem test - you hear a voice
asking you for your client ID and then they quickly and superficially test
your connection, and you hear whether it was successful or not - and
"advises you" to dial the other number if you want to talk to someone from
the helpdesk.

The whole idea behind those special "for pay" numbers - like the 0900
variant here - is to make money from them. They keep you on hold for as
long as they can, and meanwhile the cash register is ticking, at a rate far
higher than that of a regular phoneline.

> I think it should be outlawed. It is theft by any other name.

With all due respect for anyone in a for-profit business, isn't that also
what applies to any for-profit?

In the end, everything is about making money off of someone else's back, and
the whole advertising business is in fact nothing other than propaganda to
steer the unwitting into voluntarily submitting themselves to become
economically exploited.

The above is exactly what my problem is with our Western society model, and
by the same token I would then also propose that any stock market should be
considered illegal, because at any stock exchange, the idea is to
manipulate people by buying goods with money you don't have (yet) and
selling goods again that you don't have (yet) either for a higher price,
hereby determining the prices of essential commodities such as food,
medical supplies and - yes - even fuel for those of us who are not so
fortunate to be a stock broker.

Basically, that's what a capitalist economy model is: it's organized theft,
and in my humble point of view it's unethical. Yet it's all so widely
accepted into our society that Fair Trade is actually considered an
alternative and minority economy model, requiring organizations like Oxfam
to back it up and lobby for it.

Hmm... Do I hear someone calling me a communist again? <grin>

--
*Aragorn*
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

On Wed, 02 Jul 2008, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in article
<y8mdnYcScZVV0_bVnZ2dnUVZ8qDinZ2d@pipex.net>, Alan Secker wrote:

>I do like the sound of that but my business now rather depends on the
>reliability of internet services, which means all kinds if things like
>emergency power supplies and so on. It sounds as though what you are
>offering is a bit to early for me right now but maybe a little later on.

If your business depends on the reliability of internet services, you
should have that written into your contract with the ISP, and you should
be chewing very hard when things aren't working as contracted.

>Incidentally F2S use an 0871 telephone number. Whenever one calls, they
>arealways busy and five pence per minute clocks for quite a while with
>no benefit to the caller. It would be quite easy to manipulate this,
>simply to make money. I think it should be outlawed. It is theft by any
>other name.

For Linux information, try the Usenet group uk.comp.os.linux which is at
least active and appears to have people aware of various UK providers.
My news spool also offers a few groups in 'alt.internet.providers.uk.*'
'alt.uk.internet.providers.free', 'alt.uk.isp.users.group', and
'uk.net.providers*' which would probably have more people with the local
knowledge who can assist.

Old guy

Alan Secker wrote:
> Aragorn wrote:
>
>> On Tuesday 01 July 2008 20:31, someone who identifies as *David W.
>> Hodgins* wrote in /alt.os.linux.mandriva:/
>>
>>> On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:28:21 -0400, Alan Secker <alan@asandco.co.uk>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I had added a new email account to my domain but it could neither
>>>> successfully send nor receive. I gather that since Tiscali acquired F2S,
>>> I'm not clear on what the problem is. Is this a problem with the isp
>>> setting up the email account, a problem accessing the email from
>>> Mandriva, or a problem with a locally created email account?
>> I think what he means is that he's set up a new e-mail account in the
>> domain he has hosted with either his ISP or his hosting company, and that
>> this apparently doesn't work, and that he is looking for an alternative.
>>
>> To Alan: If I am correct about the above and we're talking of domain
>> hosting, then I /might/ be able to do something for you.
>>
>> As you may or may not remember, I'm running an IRC network with a couple
>> of friends - well, there were five paying members, of whom one was not
>> paying at all despite our pleas, so we eventually fired him, which brings
>> us down to four paying team members of whom only two (myself included) are
>> actively maintaining the network infrastructure and concerning ourselves
>> with IRC.
>>
>> Running such a network off of our own servers and hosting our own domains
>> and website, we've decided to offer hosting solutions as well. Strictly
>> on a beta-level basis at this stage - although we've been doing that for
>> over
>> a year already - and without the intent of actually making a profit. Our
>> goal is to bring in just a bit of extra money to help pay for our
>> infrastructure, although we're nowhere at a break-even situation yet.
>>
>> It's all still unofficial at this stage, so there are no invoices or other
>> paperwork, and this is because at this stage, we've still not made the
>> transition to a legitimate not-for-profit, given that this would import
>> additional costs and legal difficulties - e.g. corporate taxes, an
>> official double bookkeeping, et al.
>>
>> Now, I don't know what your needs are, but given all of the above, should
>> you still be interested in a low-cost hosting solution, then I am willing
>> to see what I can do. I would suggest that you then contact me via e-mail
>> - see my signature, adapted for this one-time occasion - and tell me
>> exactly what you want, and then I'll get back to you with what we can
>> offer
>> you. No harm done if you choose not to accept our offer, though. ;-)
>>
> I do like the sound of that but my business now rather depends on the
> reliability of internet services, which means all kinds if things like
> emergency power supplies and so on. It sounds as though what you are
> offering is a bit to early for me right now but maybe a little later on.
>
> This morning it looks like at least one way is working. I sent a test that
> did not bounce back. I am waiting for a return message before letting my
> breathe out.
>
> Thanks for the offer.
>
> Incidentally F2S use an 0871 telephone number. Whenever one calls, they are
> always busy and five pence per minute clocks for quite a while with no
> benefit to the caller. It would be quite easy to manipulate this, simply to
> make money. I think it should be outlawed. It is theft by any other name.
>
> Regards
>
> Alan
>
>
>
>
>
>
if you r looking for reliable hosting then checkout www.interspots.com
these guies host my domain, diehard67.ca and I have not had a problem

they have both windows a unix servers (freebsd)

and lots of plans and prices too

>> Incidentally F2S use an 0871 telephone number. Whenever one calls, they
>> are always busy and five pence per minute clocks for quite a while with no
>> benefit to the caller. It would be quite easy to manipulate this, simply
>> to make money.
======================================
Apologies for continuing this OT subject , but a good web site for
finding low cost alternatives for 0870 0845 etc numbers in the UK is:
www.saynoto0870.com
For some of these numbers there is even an 0800 equivalent.
I use the web site frequently.

Frank