The byrnespub email system will undergo a major overhaul on Wednesday, March 12 2003.
Those of you who already have accounts are aware that, currently, you must have your byrnespub.com address forward to another, existing account, or you must access the mail server using your pre-established password. This has been necessary because, until now, only the webmaster (me!) can establish or change your password. To avoid putting myself in the firing line, I have not offered to change any passwords for anyone, including God himself (Pat Byrne). The reason for this is simple... I cannot possibly remember all of your passwords, do not want to run the risk of having a list of your private passwords located anywhere on this system, and besides, I really shouldn't know them anyway!
The good news is, all that is about to change! Beginning March 12, account holders will have the ability to establish and administer their own email accounts. In this way it will be much more like Hotmail or Yahoo! in that you will be able to access the webserver directly, establishing and maintaining your own passwords, etc. The program that will administer your mail account is encrypted, meaning that your password, while stored on the server, will be in unintelligable gibberish (much like my 2002 tax return.)
The benefits of this are obvious... your byrnespub email account can now be freestanding and much easier to use. The negative (there's always a negative, right?) is that there are sure to be a couple of snafus along the way. I'll be working closely with the server administrator to ensure that this goes as smoothly as possible, but I cannot guarantee that there won't be a couple of snags.
There will be a two-week grace period where all incoming and outgoing mail will be channeled through both the old and new mail servers. During that time, I will store copies of all messages on the old mail server. If you have reason to believe that messages you send or receive during this time frame are lost in the ether, please email me at webmaster@byrnespub.com and I will retrieve your messages.We look forward to the new and improved email service, and invite you to enjoy all the perks we have to offer - including, as always, NO JUNK MAIL AND NO ANNOYING POP-UP ADS!!!