# Ever find out you still have an active email accout from a gazillion years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-out-you-still-have-an-active-email-accout-from-a-gazillion-years-ago/448063 "2008-05-05T00:15:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-out-you-still-have-an-active-email-accout-from-a-gazillion-years-ago/448063/1 "2008-05-05T00:15:47Z")
For teh preevyou - I know this is an obscure question. meh. I just found out I still have my old freeuk email account ([lobley@freeuk.com](mailto:lobley@freeuk.com)) many millions of years ago (ok, I exxagerate a little) I got bombarded with emails about freeuk closing their service and my email account will dissapear in x days. A million years later (exxagerating again) it’s still active, and completely functional. So I guess I might make use of it. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-out-you-still-have-an-active-email-accout-from-a-gazillion-years-ago/448063/2 "2008-05-05T13:06:06Z")
It took me a moment to figure out what a “freeuk” is. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-out-you-still-have-an-active-email-accout-from-a-gazillion-years-ago/448063/3 "2008-05-05T13:40:08Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] It took me a moment to figure out what a “freeuk” is. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I thought it was a reference to Rick James’ e-mail account. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-out-you-still-have-an-active-email-accout-from-a-gazillion-years-ago/448063/4 "2008-05-05T13:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] Yeah, I thought it was a reference to Rick James’ e-mail account. [/QUOTE] The kind of e-mail account you don’t take home to mother, it would seem. I’ll get my coat… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-out-you-still-have-an-active-email-accout-from-a-gazillion-years-ago/448063/5 "2008-05-05T13:45:25Z")
Nearly 2 years ago, I canceled my service with my ISP in Hamilton, Ontario, as I was leaving the province and that company doesn’t even exist in Montreal. We had TV and internet with them. I assumed that once I canceled the service, my email account would stop working shortly after (IME, they tend to give you a transition period; a month, 3 months, whatever). That email address still works. I still get emails from 102.1 radio, since I signed up once to get the password for a concert pre-sale, and from a travel agency we looked at (but didn’t use) for our honeymoon (I signed up for emails to try and win a trip!) I don’t really use the address unless my current ISP address isn’t working and I’m too lazy to log onto webmail. It has been useful to troubleshoot email problems once or twice. I use hotmail as a junk address, so I don’t even use the old one for that! I wonder how long I’ll keep getting service? I assume they’ll do a “clean up” of old accounts sooner or later.