RSS feedPeople often ask me why I have my own mail-server. Why spend all this time and money on having your own server when there are a lot of free email services that do everything you want and more for nothing. I don’t think I have to give you any examples you know the ones they mean. I tell them the following:
Because I can and because I like it!
I like to have my own mail-server because I like to be in control. I decide the features. I decide what happens with my email. I decide when email is spam. I decide the size of my inbox. I decide what is secure enough. I decide who gets access to my mail. Especially the last two are becoming more and more important when governments become more and more paranoid.
Another reason which, I guess, is only valid for geeks: It’s fun! You really get to understand the workings of email, spam filtering, and more. By configuring, tweaking and reading the log-files you really get to understand what happens and how you can improve your own mail-server.
Why did you choose to have your own mail-server ?
4:25 am
Intellectual exercise!!!!
9:38 pm
> Why did you choose to have your own mail-server ?
For exactly the reasons you both did!
6:03 am
I find myself agreeing with many of the reasons you’ve given, Richard. It is fun for me, and I really like being able to choose exactly what I want to be running, as well as understanding what the hell is going on. Originally, it made sense because I would have much cheaper storage space for webdav and so on (or mail, if we keep it narrow), but storage is so cheap now…
5:07 pm
#1 reason for me is: Habit. I’ve been running my own mail server since the 90’s — before usable free services were available.
#2: My little contribution to keeping the net decentralized. The accumulation of power and control into a few hands/organizations breaks the distributed nature that makes the net such an open and flexible tool.
#3: Privacy & security. It’s not just governments I worry about, but also corporations and malicious individuals and groups.