# Earthlink is down
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 6, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095 "2018-11-06T20:33:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/1 "2018-11-06T20:33:43Z")
So I go to check my email… The page is unreachable. I tried going to earthlink dot net. Can’t go there. I searched ‘is earthlink down?’ and checked two random pages (outage.report/earthlink and [downdetector.com/status/earthlink](http://downdetector.com/status/earthlink)) and it looks like they’ve been down since about 10:45 PST this morning.
I wouldn’t mind if Facebook were down, but I kind of depend on my primary email account. ☹
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/2 "2018-11-06T20:52:37Z")
I don’t Twitter, but in searching ‘earthlink’ ‘outage’ I found this:
> [@Earthlink](#):
>
> Service alert: We are aware of access issues with webmail and the website. Our network solutions team is working to resolve ASAP. Thank you for your patience.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/3 "2018-11-06T21:57:03Z")
They’re back up.
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### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/4 "2018-11-06T22:04:15Z")
Things sound quite ‘cutting-edge’ in California.
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### Author:  [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/5 "2018-11-06T22:19:29Z")
Phew. That was a very tense hour and a half.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/6 "2018-11-06T22:59:25Z")
I’m honestly amazed to find out Earthlink is still a thing. I wonder if any other Dopers still use it?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/7 "2018-11-06T23:24:47Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#):
>
> Things sound quite ‘cutting-edge’ in California.
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> I’m honestly amazed to find out Earthlink is still a thing. I wonder if any other Dopers still use it?
It’s the same email I’ve had since… 1997?
I tried gmail. Hated it. And one day I had a sticky keyboard so I ended up with a gmail address with entirely too many 'a’s in the name. Can’t delete it. If I make a new account, it likes to link with that one. I wish gmail would just forget I was ever there.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/8 "2018-11-06T23:29:13Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> I’m honestly amazed to find out Earthlink is still a thing. I wonder if any other Dopers still use it?
Have my original earthlink email address still, use it for business stuff, my normal email is in a different name that is what I normally go by.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/9 "2018-11-07T00:03:22Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I tried gmail. Hated it. And one day I had a sticky keyboard so I ended up with a gmail address with entirely too many 'a’s in the name. Can’t delete it. If I make a new account, it likes to link with that one. I wish gmail would just forget I was ever there.
What do you mean by that? You want to create a separate Gmail account, you just do so. It doesn’t force you to link accounts or anything like that from what I could tell. And if you want to delete it, you go to the delete account link [right here](https://myaccount.google.com/deleteaccount).
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### Author:  [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/10 "2018-11-07T00:12:21Z")
Yeah, I’m not understanding the gmail issue either. The old account might still pop up because your browser knows you signed in with that account before, but you don’t have to link them. But gmail aside, there’s no other modern email accounts you could switch to? Seems unwise to have all your email on a server belonging to an old and obsolete company that 99% of people didn’t even know was still around.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/11 "2018-11-07T01:07:01Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> I’m honestly amazed to find out Earthlink is still a thing. I wonder if any other Dopers still use it?
\*\* raises hand \*\*
And to read it, I use Eudora.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/12 "2018-11-07T02:16:29Z")
> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> \*\* raises hand \*\*
>
> And to read it, I use Eudora.
And a US Robotics 14.4K modem to access the net, too?
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### Author:  [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/13 "2018-11-07T20:13:40Z")
Earthlink is still my primary e-mail (real name) + 1 (fear.the.turtle e-mail). I don’t use their webmail, though, I use Thunderbird (and whateve front end my Android phone uses). Didn’t even know it was down.
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/14 "2018-11-07T21:17:23Z")
I worked for EarthLink just after the turn of the century and it was going downhill quick back then. I seriously thought they went under not long after I left (massive lay offs).
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### Author:  [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/15 "2018-11-07T21:33:27Z")
Wow I haven’t heard the word “earthlink” in 15 years. My parents still have AOL emails. I love giving them shit for that.
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### Author:  [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/16 "2018-11-07T21:35:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> It’s the same email I’ve had since… 1997?
>
> I tried gmail. Hated it. And one day I had a sticky keyboard so I ended up with a gmail address with entirely too many 'a’s in the name. Can’t delete it. If I make a new account, it likes to link with that one. I wish gmail would just forget I was ever there.
That’s not how it works. You can absolutely delete an account and start a new one. Using a decrepit email service that most people think went out of business years ago probably isn’t the wisest choice.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/17 "2018-11-07T21:44:52Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#):
>
> That’s not how it works. You can absolutely delete an account…
It couldn’t be done before. I see it can be done now (and I’ve deleted the account with the extraneous letters, which were 'b’s and not 'a’s).
OK, I know what I object to about gmail. It’s impossible to get an email address unless you have a mobile phone.
.
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### Author:  [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/18 "2018-11-07T21:57:38Z")
that’s almost of them except yahoo … although I have a gmail account setup for android stuff and sdmb thread notices and they didn’t say I needed one (although the program thought I was a trogf or not having one for security reasons)I wonder when they started that ……
didn’t earthlink start out as one of those "free unlimited internet for all " deals that came about when aol and msn still had their metered plans
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/19 "2018-11-07T22:19:10Z")
I was around people who started a company that later became Mindspring which later merged with Earthlink. The merger making the company a serious ISP player.
So, all this talk takes me back to the days of wondering “What are _those_ guys doing in _our_ network closet??? Hmmm.” Things were kind of “free form” then.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthlink-is-down/824095/20 "2018-11-07T23:49:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> OK, I know what I object to about gmail. It’s impossible to get an email address unless you have a mobile phone.
???
To check, I just created an account and didn’t have to add a phone number or anything.
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