Quote:
Originally Posted by Pfolson
In a mere fraction of the time that it's taken certain people to compose and post their numerous long-winded, self-pitying complaints, they could have opened new accounts at the service of their choice, migrated all of their mail from FastMail to the new provider, and sent out notifications to all their contacts informing them of their new address -- and still had time to spare. But for some reason they would rather spend their precious minutes (hours in some cases) shouting and pouting and making nonsensical arguments. If there were Academy Awards for "Most Over The Top Performance," we would have some real frontrunners here.
|
If only it were that simple. I've changed my primary e-mail address before, and it's a lot more work than simply informing some people of your new address. I've done it in the past, and I can understand why some people might want to avoid the process like the plague. (It's certainly doable, though.)
I long ago upgraded from my member account, but I think FastMail is in the wrong here. The company did sell its service touting a lifetime address, and it needs to stick by its promise. It didn't sell a "lifetime on the internet" address; it sold accounts with the promise that the address would belong to the user for as long as he or she wanted. FastMail may now see its past decision as a mistake, but it just needs to suck it up and own up to it.
The company is, of course, free to encourage legacy member account holders to move to its new offerings. Its current offer is more than generous. Still, the company needs to accommodate those who don't want to switch and keep their e-mail address. Arguments that doing so would be impractical don't really fly. FastMail could certainly implement forwarding, for example. It might be somewhat of a pain for the company to do this, but that's not really the users' problem.
Finally, like many others, I do find much of the b****ing and moaning to be excessive and tiresome. FastMail isn't out to screw some of its users over. I think most of us understand the company's motivations, and the complainers might consider letting FastMail off the hook for a naive promise made 15 years ago. You got your $15 worth of service, and your over-the-top complaints do little to persuade anyone of anything other than an overblown sense of entitlement.