NewMars On phpBB3

This is report on a follow up ...

I decided to investigate to see if Calliban's service provider is still in business.

Indeed, the service is definitely in business! It is in the business of providing secure email service.

We can see how effective the service is by noting that it blocks access to Calliban.

I used the contact form at the provider to notify them that we are unable to notify Calliban of the forum URL change, and hope they will pass the message along.

That's about all we (or at least ** I ** ) can do.

We no longer advertise on the open Internet, so Calliban cannot find us.

It is a harbinger of the future we may be facing, that open facing to the Internet may be something that only large companies or governments can afford.

Update: Well! Calliban's email provider is ** indeed ** alive and well. Here is a reply, complete with ticket number.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting our support team.

Your request (4587396) has been received and is being reviewed by our support staff.

You will find some resources about the commonly asked questions below. You might find them useful while you wait for our response.

I note that the company has been in business long enough to accumulate over 4 million support requests.

(th)

The email on record for Calliban did not work:

Address not found
Your message wasn't delivered to <snip> because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail.

It is possible this email worked when Calliban first joined, but it does not work now.

This situation is a reminder that the forum software does not actually check to see if an email address is ** real **.

All the software does is to look at the format of the string submitted. It is up to the forum Administrators to check to be sure an address is valid, or if once valid, is still valid. A possible way to simply attempt to send a message to a new member. Perhaps a script could be created to automate an annual check up.

It might even be possible to improve the registration process to include an email phase.

(th)

This topic is offered for communication with Calliban