Mailblocks to be Discontinued ....

oysterquartz · 15 Oct 2005, 04:32 AM

I expected nothing less from the clowns at AOL. So sad the Phil Goldman's premature death threw the service into AOL's hands. They've done nothing but completely screw up since the beginning. Would have been nice to be able to retain our userid (since they did indicate they would retain MB as a premium service, but no .. we're invited to "join" the "free" service.

Why do I question the likelihood that the refund "check" will ever arrive

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mailblocks Team has been busy creating the next generation free email service, called AIM Mail. AIM Mail is a free web-based email service with a sleek interface and a client-like feature set, based on Mailblocks technology that you’ve grown to love.

AIM Mail has the following advanced features:
- 2 gigabytes of account space
- industry-leading spam and anti-virus protection
- integrated address book
- an email address based on the AIM Screen Name
- seamless integration with the AOL Instant Messenger program
- accessibility using an email program (IMAP)
- and more coming soon

All Mailblocks customers can transition to the new AIM Mail service immediately, because the Mailblocks email service will be discontinued on November 16, 2005. Per our Terms of Service, we are providing 30-days advance notice. The Mailblocks email service will be discontinued on November 16, 2005 and any future email after that date will be returned to the sender. Once the account is closed, there will be no way to gain access to the account and all the data will be permanently deleted.

For the smoothest transition, we recommend you take the following steps immediately:
Create a new free AIM Mail account by going here.
Give your contacts your new AIM Mail address.
Move your emails from your Mailblocks account to your local computer. See instructions below.
Move your Contacts from your Mailblocks account to your new AIM Mail account. See instructions below.
As an alternative, currently paid Mailblocks accounts may be eligible for a full refund until November 16, 2005. To request a refund check, submit your full name, mailing address, phone number, birth date, Paypal address if you paid with one, and your account’s secret question/answer, using the contact form at http://contact.mailblocks.com. All information is required for validation of account ownership. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for check processing. You can check the authenticity of this email by going to the main Mailblocks web site.

We hope you’ve enjoyed your spam-free Mailblocks account. Thank you for your continued support of both Mailblocks and the new AIM Mail account. We apologize for any inconvenience this transition may cause and we hope you continue enjoying our free spam-and-virus-free email service from AIM Mail.

The Mailblocks Team

Dan23 · 15 Oct 2005, 06:40 AM

I love mailblocks, and I'm having trouble finding a good-enough alternative.
I originally signed up for mailblocks years ago in order to avoid AOL. If AOL were a passing car, I'd throw stones at it.

Any other mailblocks users here? I'd like to know what people are moving to.

Dan

**JeffK** · 15 Oct 2005, 09:15 AM

Dan23, bluebottle.com might be an option for you, especially if you use challenge response.

I've asked mailblocks (AOL) for a refund.

FWIW I found the options page on the AIM mail account web interface locked up after the first link was chosen.

Jeff

oysterquartz · 15 Oct 2005, 11:27 AM

JeffK,

What do you mean options link locked up?

I seriously question whether they'll use any loopholes to avoid paying out refunds. Its ridiculous that they are asking for a "birthday". What for? Simply refund the card used to pay, etc., or PayPal account.

I also regret that one couldn't keep their mailblocks username. No good to me to get a_lousy_address @ aim etc. They should have simply integrated the @mailblocks.com domain into the new AIM MAIL. How hard could it have been

**JeffK** · 15 Oct 2005, 11:49 AM

I went in to have a look at the spam control options. After I looked at the first one I returned to the options page and when I went to select the next one none of the links on the page were clickable. Might have something to do with me using Opera.

I tried the following usernames but it said each of them was already taken:-

mail
email
pobox
jnk
jkml (my Mailblocks username)
jeff
jeffk
jeffnk
kogler
jkogler

Jeff

oysterquartz · 15 Oct 2005, 12:03 PM

I'm assuming you have to use an AOL "screenname" in which case the likelihood of getting a decent userid is slim and none.

memac · 15 Oct 2005, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by oysterquartz
I also regret that one couldn't keep their mailblocks username. No good to me to get a_lousy_address @ aim etc. They should have simply integrated the @mailblocks.com domain into the new AIM MAIL. How hard could it have been

Quite difficult, unfortunately.

If you are having problems with the email interface's options link, would you be kind enough to send me the details, including the browser and OS you were using? Thanks. :-)

merylsmith · 15 Oct 2005, 01:25 PM

I've used and loved mailblocks for 2 years.

Can anyone recommend an alternative with all the same features?

- Forward and alias other accounts
- Great spam protection
- Yearly cost of $30 or less
- NO Ads!!!

- I looked at AIM and it didn't seem to support the NO Ads rule or the forwarding and aliasing. Did I miss something? I thought AOL/AIM was providing us with the same mailblocks features? ( I would even be willing to pay a similar monthly fee).

I looked at webmail.us - it looks pretty good, except that I can't seem to pop up several email messages at once. Other than that, I may go with it, unless there is a better alternative.

Does anyone know if there is a way to save my 100 MG of mailblocks messages other than sending to an Outlooks account? I need to access then from both work and home.

Thanks!
Meryl

Trip · 15 Oct 2005, 01:28 PM

I was able to land a 4 letter user name.....back in 2000 haha.

Do yourself the favor and stay as far away as you can from AOL and any service they offer. (And get yourself a third party IM client to avoid the adware and spyware and viruses you get from AIM)....My family has had DSL through our telephone company for years now, yet my pop still shells out $15/mo. to AOL JUST TO KEEP THE AOL EMAIL. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?!

(I'm trying to pry them away, believe me, I'm trying.)

Trip

FMRocks · 15 Oct 2005, 02:41 PM

I can always get my first name as a username anywhere I want... it's such an uncommon one.

But wow... who knew Mailblocks would evolve into AIM mail? Apparently evolution does work backwards.

Dan23 · 15 Oct 2005, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Trip
Do yourself the favor and stay as far away as you can from AOL and any service they offer. (And get yourself a third party IM client to avoid the adware and spyware and viruses you get from AIM)....My family has had DSL through our telephone company for years now, yet my pop still shells out $15/mo. to AOL JUST TO KEEP THE AOL EMAIL. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?!

(I'm trying to pry them away, believe me, I'm trying.)

Trip

Agreed! I'm trying to tear my dad away from AOL too and I don't think he wants to have to relearn another browser/email server. How hard can it be?

Anyway, bluebottle looks pretty good but it's missing some key stuff, like:
1) HTML authoring
2) Cyrillic encoding (it won't display Russian typed in Windows XP)
3) Viewing no. of new messages in all folders at once
and it only takes up half my screen, which is really annoying. Why can't I widen it to 1024 pixels?

I tried Gmail and I couldn't stand it.

I checked out webmail.us demo and it looks very attractive, but it looks like it's for small businesses only. I mean, $60/year? I'm not a business, I'm a college student (who doesn't want to use his .edu address).

Most other services do not support Cyrillic text either. Fastmail doesn't. Runbox doesn't. Slashmail.org does until you send a reply, and then the quoted cyrillic text turns to gibberish. Close though!

This is becoming very frustrating.

Dan

s a · 15 Oct 2005, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan23
I checked out webmail.us demo and it looks very attractive, but it looks like it's for small businesses only. I mean, $60/year?

They offer a $20/yr account (100 mb space) and a $30/yr account with 1GB of storage - Link.

kaverett · 16 Oct 2005, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by merylsmith
I looked at webmail.us - it looks pretty good, except that I can't seem to pop up several email messages at once. Other than that, I may go with it, unless there is a better alternative.

The new version of our webmail client is in beta testing and it is able to open each message in it's own window. If you have an account with us, just sent an email to support@webmail.us to get it enabled for your account.

-Kirk (Webmail.us support)

**Sherry** · 16 Oct 2005, 04:27 AM

[Moderator:] Kirk, as a Representative of Webmail.us will you please send a PM to Edwin to request Service Representative staus. Thank you.

aleinss · 16 Oct 2005, 04:30 AM

Long time Mailblocks user. I just moved to tuffmail.com last night and registered a domain name so I can keep the same e-mail address for at least the next 10 years.

I re-setup all my aliases using the Sieve wizard. I did look at Fastmail because it got high ratings here, but you only get 5 aliases and you get unlimited aliases at Tuffmail. Kind of a no brainer for me.

15 Oct 2005, 04:32 AM	#1
oysterquartz The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Athens Posts: 2,402	Mailblocks to be Discontinued .... I expected nothing less from the clowns at AOL. So sad the Phil Goldman's premature death threw the service into AOL's hands. They've done nothing but completely screw up since the beginning. Would have been nice to be able to retain our userid (since they did indicate they would retain MB as a premium service, but no .. we're invited to "join" the "free" service. Why do I question the likelihood that the refund "check" will ever arrive ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mailblocks Team has been busy creating the next generation free email service, called AIM Mail. AIM Mail is a free web-based email service with a sleek interface and a client-like feature set, based on Mailblocks technology that you’ve grown to love. AIM Mail has the following advanced features: - 2 gigabytes of account space - industry-leading spam and anti-virus protection - integrated address book - an email address based on the AIM Screen Name - seamless integration with the AOL Instant Messenger program - accessibility using an email program (IMAP) - and more coming soon All Mailblocks customers can transition to the new AIM Mail service immediately, because the Mailblocks email service will be discontinued on November 16, 2005. Per our Terms of Service, we are providing 30-days advance notice. The Mailblocks email service will be discontinued on November 16, 2005 and any future email after that date will be returned to the sender. Once the account is closed, there will be no way to gain access to the account and all the data will be permanently deleted. For the smoothest transition, we recommend you take the following steps immediately: Create a new free AIM Mail account by going here. Give your contacts your new AIM Mail address. Move your emails from your Mailblocks account to your local computer. See instructions below. Move your Contacts from your Mailblocks account to your new AIM Mail account. See instructions below. As an alternative, currently paid Mailblocks accounts may be eligible for a full refund until November 16, 2005. To request a refund check, submit your full name, mailing address, phone number, birth date, Paypal address if you paid with one, and your account’s secret question/answer, using the contact form at http://contact.mailblocks.com. All information is required for validation of account ownership. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for check processing. You can check the authenticity of this email by going to the main Mailblocks web site. We hope you’ve enjoyed your spam-free Mailblocks account. Thank you for your continued support of both Mailblocks and the new AIM Mail account. We apologize for any inconvenience this transition may cause and we hope you continue enjoying our free spam-and-virus-free email service from AIM Mail. The Mailblocks Team

15 Oct 2005, 11:27 AM	#4
oysterquartz The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Athens Posts: 2,402	JeffK, What do you mean options link locked up? I seriously question whether they'll use any loopholes to avoid paying out refunds. Its ridiculous that they are asking for a "birthday". What for? Simply refund the card used to pay, etc., or PayPal account. I also regret that one couldn't keep their mailblocks username. No good to me to get a_lousy_address @ aim etc. They should have simply integrated the @mailblocks.com domain into the new AIM MAIL. How hard could it have been Last edited by oysterquartz : 15 Oct 2005 at 11:33 AM.

15 Oct 2005, 01:25 PM	#8
merylsmith Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 2	Mailblocks Replacement? I've used and loved mailblocks for 2 years. Can anyone recommend an alternative with all the same features? - Forward and alias other accounts - Great spam protection - Yearly cost of $30 or less - NO Ads!!! - I looked at AIM and it didn't seem to support the NO Ads rule or the forwarding and aliasing. Did I miss something? I thought AOL/AIM was providing us with the same mailblocks features? ( I would even be willing to pay a similar monthly fee). I looked at webmail.us - it looks pretty good, except that I can't seem to pop up several email messages at once. Other than that, I may go with it, unless there is a better alternative. Does anyone know if there is a way to save my 100 MG of mailblocks messages other than sending to an Outlooks account? I need to access then from both work and home. Thanks! Meryl

15 Oct 2005, 06:40 AM	#2
Dan23 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 27	I love mailblocks, and I'm having trouble finding a good-enough alternative. I originally signed up for mailblocks years ago in order to avoid AOL. If AOL were a passing car, I'd throw stones at it. Any other mailblocks users here? I'd like to know what people are moving to. Dan

15 Oct 2005, 09:15 AM	#3
JeffK Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kingaroy, AU Posts: 3,177	Dan23, bluebottle.com might be an option for you, especially if you use challenge response. I've asked mailblocks (AOL) for a refund. FWIW I found the options page on the AIM mail account web interface locked up after the first link was chosen. Jeff

15 Oct 2005, 11:49 AM	#5
JeffK Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kingaroy, AU Posts: 3,177	I went in to have a look at the spam control options. After I looked at the first one I returned to the options page and when I went to select the next one none of the links on the page were clickable. Might have something to do with me using Opera. I tried the following usernames but it said each of them was already taken:- mail email pobox jnk jkml (my Mailblocks username) jeff jeffk jeffnk kogler jkogler Jeff

15 Oct 2005, 12:03 PM	#6
oysterquartz The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Athens Posts: 2,402	I'm assuming you have to use an AOL "screenname" in which case the likelihood of getting a decent userid is slim and none.

15 Oct 2005, 01:28 PM	#9
Trip Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: USA Posts: 1,347 Representative of: Runbox.com	I was able to land a 4 letter user name.....back in 2000 haha. Do yourself the favor and stay as far away as you can from AOL and any service they offer. (And get yourself a third party IM client to avoid the adware and spyware and viruses you get from AIM)....My family has had DSL through our telephone company for years now, yet my pop still shells out $15/mo. to AOL JUST TO KEEP THE AOL EMAIL. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?! (I'm trying to pry them away, believe me, I'm trying.) Trip

15 Oct 2005, 02:41 PM	#10
FMRocks The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: FM does NOT refer to Fastmail (anymore). Posts: 4,034	I can always get my first name as a username anywhere I want... it's such an uncommon one. But wow... who knew Mailblocks would evolve into AIM mail? Apparently evolution does work backwards.

16 Oct 2005, 04:27 AM	#14
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	[Moderator:] Kirk, as a Representative of Webmail.us will you please send a PM to Edwin to request Service Representative staus. Thank you.

16 Oct 2005, 04:30 AM	#15
aleinss Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 71	Long time Mailblocks user. I just moved to tuffmail.com last night and registered a domain name so I can keep the same e-mail address for at least the next 10 years. I re-setup all my aliases using the Sieve wizard. I did look at Fastmail because it got high ratings here, but you only get 5 aliases and you get unlimited aliases at Tuffmail. Kind of a no brainer for me.