“She’s got to be a [insert pejorative label here], look at her email address!”
Or,
“Well at least formerposter’s email address makes it blatantly obvious [that the poster is a certifiable nutcase].”
This last one came from the DavidB should resign or be replaced thread in The Pit®, and in this particular case I would have to agree- but looking at the targeted email address, I fail to see anything sticking out like a sore thumb. So what is it about one’s email address that tags somebody as a loon?
Let me know- I wanna play too!
There are several places online where you can get a “web-based” e-mail account separate from the one provided by your ISP. A lot of people who get banned from the board get addresses at these and then re-register under different names. There is some discussion in the thread you mentioned to disallow those type of addresses for registration, which seems unfair to me. I myself have a Hotmail account because at one time my spouse and I were changing ISPs around every 4 months and I got tired of having to give people my new e-mail address. Our current ISP has a convoluted mail system and I’d hate to have to rely on that for my mail. I use the Hotmail address because that’s what’s easiest for me personally, not because I’m a troublemaker or crackpot (not much, anyway!)
I can certainly see how an AOL e-mail address would make you a loser. Just look at some of the people on this board that use them. TubaDiva, Tomndebb, Majormd, Melin, Dr. Fidelius. Yep a bunch of losers in that group.
A hat with bells on is not funny, it is the jester underneath.
I have accounts with 3 ISPs, one of them AOL. The other two are bit cheaper than AOL, but not much. AOL works just fine; I think the main reason it is commonly derided stems from its widespread use - a little net snobbery at work. Hotmail has a legitimate function for manny, but it is “easy” and thus is a refuge for those with hijinks in mind.