AOL block of Comcast residential IPs

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

I wrote:
> Testing 1-2-3, anyone get my earlier message?

Oops, I discovered that someone had removed my email address from the
discuss at blu.org mailing list a couple weeks ago...wasn't getting any
mail from the list.  Looking at responses to my message on the archives,
I see that the obvious thing to do would be to relay my outbound mail
via attbi.com.

No one here questioned the desirability of doing that, so I'm reiterating
my point.  The reasons I have my own SMTP server, aside from the mere fact
that I've been running my own SMTP servers continuously since 1990, are:

1) My mail goes through directly point-to-point with minimal time lag.
2) There is a single point of failure at each end; the mail can't get
   tied up on a mail spool somewhere during a system crash, and doesn't
   get duplicated when something is buggy.
3) There is minimal opportunity for eavesdropping; the "last mile" to my
   house is the only place where a wiretap can be installed.
4) Sendmail is the one piece of widely-used software which defies the normal
   bell curve of bugs-found-per-month.  For over 20 years, it has been
   necessary for network providers to update it at least twice a year.  In
   fact two urgent CERT advisories were posted in March 2003.  That means
   relay servers are prone to flakiness.

I still use sendmail myself (but at least the upgrades are done at the time
of *my* choosing).  My backup mail server went offline on the 4th of March,
owing to a clutzy sendmail upgrade by a friend-of-a-friend.  More than ever,
I am motivated not to rely on third-party email providers.

-rich
P.S.  I need a place to set up a backup mail server.  This time I actually
want to set up a Pentium box offsite somewhere.  It's not something I want to
pay normal colo charges for.  Any suggestions?