open relays at Earthlink

Mon Aug 24 23:58:10 UTC 1998

On Mon, 24 Aug 1998, Aaron Goldblatt wrote:

> 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.

I think we do an extremely good job of making sure our configurations are
not broken in any way that would make us a bad Netizen.  If you believe
otherwise and have already tried going through normal channels
(abuse at mindspring.net or hostmaster at mindspring.net for example) and
haven't gotten satisfactory resolution, please don't hesitate to let me
know.  We really do take our Core Values and Beliefs
(http://www.mindspring.com/aboutms/core.html) seriously, and they don't
just apply to direct customers. 

> You have to pay the support personnel to wade through the email and
> handle the calls.  You may have to pay for he calls if you're dumb
> enough to have an 800 number for support.

There's no surviving in this business without it.  The customers demand
it.  It's just a cost of doing business.

> 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.

And makes you look really bad to your peers, who, in this line of business
are also your customers and suppliers.

Brandon Ross            Network Engineering     404-815-0770 800-719-4664
Director, Network Engineering, MindSpring Ent., Inc.  info at mindspring.com
                                                            ICQ:  2269442

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