And a chat room where us Ghostheads can chat away.

I decided that GBN email won't be an initial feature of GBN 2.0. I'm in the process of researching ways of doing this that won't compromise the security of the server, the bandwidth (spam, etc), and the cost. I have a working prototype right now, but I don't think it will scale correctly.

I want to make sure that when I launch this service it will be backed up with security, financing, and time that I can administer the accounts.

The good news is that this allows me to finish the rest of 2.0 quicker. It also allows me to invest more time working on new feature rather than trying to beat my head up against the wall figuring out ways to work this out.

I apologize to everyone out there, but I do intend on doing the best I can. What about email aliases instead? This is something I can do for 2.0 and it won't set me back at all.

Aliases (for those who don't know) are addresses that forward to your existing account. So if you had gbnetuser@hotmail.com and wanted to signup for a ghostbusters.net alias, the ghostbusters.net email address would point to your hotmail address.

If you guys would rather have aliasing than real email addresses (since you already have email addresses and you are still required to have a non-ghostbusters.net email to signup and in case you loose your password) please let me know. This would allow me to focus on other things and get 2.0 done quicker. If not, I will shelve the email idea altogether and revisit it in a few months.

Ailases would be nice, but in the same vein, so would a 5MB e-mail account. Not that I need it (and I don't see many other people needing it, either), which is why an ailas would be just fine. If you find the time to develop actual accounts, I'd be all for it, but since it would speed up the development of GBN 2.0 and be much easier to develop, I'm happy with ailases too. Either way, really.

Of course we'd all like username@ghostbusters.net emails but I think aliasing would be the best idea.

C'mon! Aliasing is great! Who'll know if you have the real deal or not? Besides, having GBN emails will probably slow down GBN and be too much to ask from Chad in little time.

I think aliasing is great and it will be the beginning of GBN mail. Maybe GBN v3.0? Who knows… I think by the time GBN 3.0 comes out, GBN mail will be easier to make.

Anyway, I have a message to Chad:

Please give us more access to our profiles such as password changing, original e-mail and such. Also, try to inlcude the login at the main page. Thanks!

Love the alias idea more than a account on gbn. If you do something to that ring it would be very very cool.

I decided to plow ahead with 2.0 and worry about mail later. I think I'll end up offering aliasing. People already have email addresses and I couldn't realistically compete with yahoo or hotmail when it comes to service or security. Therefore I will concentrate on the community and the new features that everyone has been waiting for. I will work on the things that have made this community great and I promise you will all have email aliases soon afterward.

Major cool. Though Chad is right that it is probably really expensive to get our own mail server. Maybe we should advertise like hotmial does. I use all the free stuff lol.

Sarah