The Aerie
So I can't write to my birthmother. I found this out on Saturday. She sent me an e-mail, I wrote her a reply, and immediately upon sending it I got:
550 Comcast does not support the direct connection to its mail servers from residential IPs. Your mail should be sent to comcast.net users through your ISP. Please contact your ISP or mail administrator for more information.
Ah. Huh? Wha? So, what, alluvasudden I can't write to my birthmother? Last week I could, this week I can't? What up?
I've talked to Comcast until I'm blue in the face, but of course they have no idea. Some IT manager somewhere decided that this step would reduce spam, and pretty much unilaterally decided to alter the face of e-mail architecture.
I brought this up on a mailing list, where it was met with shrugs of indifference. "Comcast customers who don't like it can find another company," was the concensus. But that's nonsense. Comcast is like a big apartment building, and there are already people living there when suddenly the building management decides that your son can't call you on the phone anymore. No, if your son wants to call you he can call the front desk and have his call passed along, or if you don't like it you can move into some other apartment.
That's America these days: if you don't like what the corporation has decided, you can move.
Anyway, hi birthmom! I'll write soon... from my Yahoo account! I hope your visit to the dentist wasn't too terrible!