Hmmm...

I had problems myself with Hotmail a few months ago - they wiped my entire account without any warning and would give no explanation, no matter how many angry emails I sent to their help-desk.

Having lost just about every email address of everyone I've ever known under the sun (who on earth keeps a record of their mail addresses elsewhere...?), as well as really supportive mail from close friends I'd received whilst I was going through a rough patch, I decided to emigrate to Yahoo! and have had no problems with them so far.

I've since recovered most addresses of people I wrote to, but I did lose several friends because of it, having no idea of their postal address or 'phone number...

So... you've been warned...

TCW