[vox-tech] How many people run their own mail server?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Brian E. Lavender (brian at marquis-sys.com):

> I am curious how many people run their own mail server these days? 

Been doing it since the late '80s, if memory serves.  I was just a staff
accountant at CPA firms at the time (no history in IT), and did it
because it seemed interesting.  Luckily, I didn't encounter any of the
people who will tell you it's too difficult, so the job got done and
pretty much runs itself. 

I've kept doing it because (1) it runs itself, (2) it's really pleasnt
to control and house my own mail service, (3) there's nothing quite like
being able to adjust antispam policy to suit and to know exactly what's
going on by having access to logs, and (4) I'm already paying for aDSL
bandwidth to serve my household, so I might as well add a static IP and 
use it for my personal Internet presence.

I _like_ having personal Internet presence, i.e., having my very own
'unreal estate' on the Internet, instead of merely being a technopeasant
corporate client.  Among other things, I'm my own DMCA agent.  ;->

Doing that on a VPS instead of a box at home would work, too.
 
> It seems like most have taken to Gmail. 

Ugh.  Poor sods.  The users can't even tell you about why they are
unable to receive or send from/to a particular remote MTA, because they
aren't even permitted access to MTA log data.