Login to MSN hotmail.

"New Message from Hotmail Staff"

Click checkbox.

Select Junk/Report Junk Email.

Click OK.

(Irony lies herein: If you attempt to add the hotmail staff messages to your list of blocked addresses, it says you can't do it. But they haven't yet done the same for the Report Junk Email feature.)

Login to MSN Hotmail.

Delete 100 spam messages.

Note the message from the Hotmail staff suggesting that you pay to upgrade to a larger account.

(Irony lies herein: They sold my email address to spammers to make a buck, and now they want me to make another buck by having me pay to upgrade an account that shouldn't be full in the first place.)

Solution: Tell Microsoft where to stick it. Adios, Hotmail.

Note the message from the Hotmail staff suggesting that you pay to upgrade to a larger account.

I must be one of the few people who actually value the messages from Hotmail staff. I get so little email to my hotmail account that most months it's only the Hotmail staff messages that stave off the 30-day account expiry. I used to be pyotr@hotmail.com, but it expired and somebody else had it. (And I still get the "pay to enlarge your account" messages even though I've never had more than two Hotmail staff messages in there at once.)

Peter

I use my Hotmail account as a spam trainer for my bayesian email filtering program. Nobody else emails me at that account, and chances are new flavors and styles of spam will land at Hotmail first, loading up my spam database to protect my other accounts. In fact, through the magic of a POP3 to HTTP proxy for Hotmail, I don't think I've actually logged in to check my Hotmail in months. It's like my own personal spam factory.

Is hotmail actually known to sell addresses? I haven't been paying attention.

And I still get the "pay to enlarge your account" messages

Hmm... if I'm going to pay to enlarge anything, I'll probably select one of those other "enlarge your" emails, first.

Me too. I'd really like to enlarge the amount of my scalp covered with hair again.

I haven't used my account for about a year (so it's probably expired), but there was a stink a while back about Microsoft creating a Hotmail update which included a check box giving them permission to "share customer information to third-party partners" [paraphrase]. On top of that, they were nice enough to have the box checked by default. So unless one reviewed the user settings every time an update was run, you were unaware of the fact that your information was heading out the back door to who-knows-where. Users weren't too happy about the situation once word leaked out. They rushed to correct the change, but by that time it was too late, and Hotmail inboxes were filling up with spam. Of course, the Hotmail staff had the answer: upgrade to a premium account, which gives the user access to a larger inbox and greater spam-fighting measures.

Microsoft may have changed their tactics since then, but it was enough to sour me for life.