MSN versus Fraser Gallery Update One

Our struggle for online email survival has gone from the ridiculous to the stupifying. As reported here, we have lost access to our Hotmail account and MSN's "help" process has been incredibly lacking.

Today I received two emails from them. The first one left me speechless:

From : MSN Hotmail Support
Sent : Friday, April 28, 2006 12:13 PM
To :
Subject : RE: SRX1013084219ID - MSN Hotmail:I need something fixed

Hello F. Lennox,

Thank you for writing to MSN Hotmail Technical Support.

My name is Erwin. I am responding to your Hotmail concern.

I apologize for the delayed response and I understand how inconvenient it is for you to experience these issues. Please let me assist you on this matter.

F. Lennox, in order for us to understand and investigate your issue properly, kindly reword the issue you are experiencing and answer the questions below.

1. What is the detailed step-by-step procedure you did and where did the process failed?
2. Have you tried accessing your Hotmail account in a different computer with a different Internet connection? if yes, what happened?
3. Did you encounter any error message? If yes, kindly provide us with the exact error message you received.

You are a valuable customer to MSN and we are glad to give you consistent and effective service. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Erwin P.
MSN Hotmail Technical Support

Three things:
(a) The problem was already reported in gruesome detail to them over 48 hours ago.
(b) Good thing Erwin didn't call me "Fraser"
(c) I didn't know anyone in India was named "Erwin."

And then I get the below email from the managers at Microsoft:

From : Customer Feedback for PSS Customers managers@microsoft.com
Sent : Friday, April 28, 2006 4:14 AM
To : "F. Lennox Campello"
Subject : RE:'RTCProd=011-778-339' For Biji Balan: 1013078543

Hello Lenny,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Customer Service.

I regret that your issue is not resolved.
To contact the Hotmail team, please fill the e-mail form located in the following page:
http://support.msn.com/contactus_emailsupport.aspx?productkey=hotmail&ct=eformts

After filling that form, you will receive a reply from the Hotmail team within 24 hours.

If you wish to report a Hotmail site outage, you can also call at (650) 964-7200 Monday - Friday, 10:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time.

In the meantime, if you are able to access your Hotmail account and would like to view self-help resources like FAQs, please use these steps:

1. Sign in to Hotmail, and then click Help in the upper-right corner of the web page.
2. Click on either “Find” or “All topics” option.

Lenny, I hope your issue gets resolved soon and appreciate your patience in this regard.

Thank you for using Microsoft products and services.

Senthil
Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative

If you have any feedback about your Online Customer Service experience, please e-mail my manager, Biji Balan, at managers@microsoft.com

So, they're essentially telling me to report the problem... again. Senthil clearly did not read my email detailing all the issues, nor did Senthil read the email from the "Hotmail team" that was part of the email trail sent to Senthil.

Capps on Compelled by Content II

Kriston Capps has a good look at our current Compelled by Content II exhibition in the new issue of the Washington City Paper. Read that review here.

Also a reminder: Several of the artists in the exhibition will be discussing their work at an artists' talk, sponsored by the James Renwick Alliance which will take place at the gallery on Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 2PM. The talk is free and open to the public and will also offer an opportunity to learn more about the Renwick Alliance.

---

Metcalfe on Edwards

And the CP's John Metcalfe has a good profile on roboticist Thomas Edwards. Read that profile here.

MSN versus The Fraser Gallery

Our gallery is suddenly battling Microsoft for our survival, and I am at a loss as to what to do next.

Yesterday, out of the blue, and in the middle of responding to emails, our computer screen suddenly declared that our Hotmail account had been closed and access was denied.

"So why are you still using Hotmail," some of you technogeeks must be asking?

When we first opened The Fraser Gallery in 1996, we literally funded it through our credit cards, and yet, one of the first things that we did was to create a website (a free one back then via Geocities) and used Hotmail as a free email account service.

As the gallery did better and better, the website grew larger and larger and we migrated from a free online website service to a paid one (it's one of the largest gallery online sites in the world now by the way... nearly 3,000 pages).

And as the website grew larger and larger, the Hotmail email address became so closely attached to our business, that it became impractical to replace it with a more formal one. So we continued to use frasergallery@hotmail.com as our main email address, while trying to "switch" slowly to "info@thefrasergallery.com"

When Microsoft bought Hotmail a few years ago, we immediately upgraded to their paid service (Hotmail Plus), which costs $19.95 a year.

Since 1996 the business has grown tremendously, and now we probably do about a third of our business strictly online. We receive anywhere from 100 to 200 emails a day, as well as a few hundred spams, which the Hotmail filter is pretty adept at catching.

So that's why, in 2006 we are still using Hotmail. Too many people, too many collectors, too many webpages, etc. already have it listed as our email address. A couple of years ago we began developing the use of info@thefrasegallery.com, but the vast bulk of email stuff still comes to frasergallery@hotmail.com

Also, since 1996 we've been using email to send out our press releases and also invitations to our openings to people who have signed up and given us their email address for that specific purpose.

We've also kept a pretty good record of electronic correspondence with museums, collectors, etc. online through the use of Hotmail folders, etc.

Again...So that's why, in 2006 we are still using Hotmail.

And then yesterday, our account was unilaterally and without warning closed! And then people started calling us telling us that emails to us were being bounced back as "undeliverable."

Now, even though this is a paid service to MSN, there's no phone support to Hotmail, and so I sent them an email asking them "what's the problem?"

About 30 hours later I received a message back from their Technical Support people (clearly in India) with the following:

From : MSN Hotmail Technical Support
Sent : Thursday, April 27, 2006 8:03 PM
To : frasergallery@hotmail.com
CC : lennycampello@hotmail.com
Subject : RE: SRX1013082496ID - MSN Hotmail Plus:I need something fixed:My Mail:Others

Hello Fraser,

Thank you for writing to MSN Hotmail Technical Support.

I apologize for the delay in answering your e-mail. We appreciate your patience as we handle every customer request as quickly as possible.

This is Shamy and I gather that you have been having issues accessing your frasergallery@hotmail.com account and getting the message that it has been closed.

I realize how important this account is to you since you are using it in business purposes. I appreciate that you have written to us regarding this.

Fraser, I have verified that your frasergallery@hotmail.com account was closed in accordance with the Hotmail Terms of Use (TOU). It is a strict violation of the TOU for our members to send objectionable material of any kind or nature using our service.

To read our Terms of Use, visit http://privacy2.msn.com/tou/en-us/default.aspx

Additional information about MSN Hotmail's anti-spam policy can be found here: http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/anti-spam.aspx

We appreciate your understanding and continued support of MSN Hotmail.

Sincerely,

Shamy B.
MSN Hotmail Technical Support

"Objectionable material of any kind or nature" Come again? (And by the way, the next person who calls me "Fraser" is getting his ass kicked!)

And so I began to frantically try to call and contact every possible telephone number and email associated with Microsoft, only to be told that Hotmail only deals with any issues via email.

Several emails to managers@microsoft.com nonetheless have resulted in this one response:

From : Customer Feedback for PSS Customers managers@microsoft.com
Sent : Thursday, April 27, 2006 5:18 AM
To : "F. Lennox Campello"
Subject : RE:'RTCProd=011-770-387' Why is my account closed? I can't get any answers! 1013078543

Hello Lenny,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Customer Service.

I understand from your message that you are unable to log on to your Hotmail account. I realize the importance of your issue.

As your issue persists to Hotmail, I request you to contact Hotmail support team. They will be able to assist you better in this regard. You may contact them at;
http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/dasp/ua_info.asp

Lenny, I hope the above information can help you. If you have further questions or concerns regarding Microsoft Products and Services, please write back to us. We will be glad to assist you.

Thank you for using Microsoft products and services.

Arun
Microsoft Online Customer Service Representative

If you have any feedback about your Online Customer Service experience, please send an e-mail to my manager, Biji Balan, at: managers@microsoft.com

So I am taking deep breaths, and realizing that this is not Shamy B's or Arun's or even Biji Balan's fault... and yet.

We are losing business everyday, as online inquiries about our art and artists get returned as "undeliverable." This can really hurt the gallery, as we have just laid out a ton of money to pay for the various art fairs that we're doing this year.

What can we do? How does a small, independently owned business get heard from a giant like Microsoft?

Here's what I think happened:

1. I doubt that it is any "objectionable materials," unless email invites to the Bethesda Literary Festival talks are deemed objectionable by MSN.

2. I think that Hotmail has recently implemented some sort of fuzzy logic threshold to catch spammers; they probably did this a few days ago.

3. This "catch" is probably simply based on the number of emails sent over a certain time period. It doesn't take into account (a) that we've been doing business with them for over 10 years (most spammers I suspect get a free account, send out a ton of spams and then go away) and (b) Our "usual" email pattern has these monthly hikes, when we pump out a few hundred emails all in one day for invites to openings, etc. But on a daily basis, we just respond and/or send 30-50 emails a day.

4. When we sent the Literary Festival invites to our subscription list, it tripped that arbitrary number, and without even checking with their customer (us), their software killed our account.

5. And now I cannot get Shamy B or Arun or even Biji Balan to understand that they may be killing an independently owned small business' online presence and a lot of its business.

I am at a loss as to what to do, immensely pissed off and in dire need of some advice.

Microsoft started in a garage somewhere near Seattle; even in its current incarnation, I am hoping that a human being will still be able to do something to fix this issue.

Help!!!!

He who owns the walls

Decides what goes up and when it comes down.

The CP's Rachel Beckman has an interesting story about Jefferson Pinder and an early take-down. Read it here

Pandas Cows on Parade

Cows on Parade is the international traveling version of the concept that gave birth to our own Pandamania, Donkeys and Elephants and those giant Testudos all over the University of Maryland's campus.

And now Vach'Art has landed in Paris, where local artists have obviously not heard that it may hurt their career if they decorate a silly plastic cow with artsy motiffs. Among the French artists participating are Thierry des Ouches, Marika de Moro Giafferi, Yanne Kintgen, and Hubert Le Gall.

Congratulations

To our own Samantha Wolov (who will be soon moving to the Left Coast), as one of her photographs will be on the cover of "Best Women's Erotica 2007" from Cleis Press.

Connie Imboden at Heineman Myers

As most of you know, over in hard-to-find Bethesda, a new independent fine arts commercial gallery opened last month, Heineman Myers Contemporary Art, directed by the energetic Zoe Myers, who chose well-known Baltimore photographer Connie Imboden’s photographs for her grand opening exhibition.


And Zoe Myers definitely stacked the deck for the grand opening, for Imboden’s photographs are absolutely spectacular.

In addition to the breath-taking photographs, there’s also a video that shows Imboden at work, and before any critic or writer pens a word, this video is a "must watch." In the video we discover Imboden, working the pool, the cameras, the models and the mood; we also listen as she describes and discusses what she is trying to achieve.

"These images are seen through the camera, they are not manipulated in the darkroom or computer. I am often amazed at the shapes and forms that have appeared in my work.

My intention has always been to explore the body, not to alter it. I want to find the camera angle from which the forms can be the most that they can be-whatever that is. If it is a grace to the limbs, then I want the angle from which that grace becomes the absolute most it can be at that moment.

And so it leads me on, to explore angles, space, reflections, and light. I strive to make forms make sense visually, and trust that the metaphor, the poetry will follow."

Why is the video a must-watch? Because unless one watches Imboden at work (the photographs are all taken around, in or under water), and listens to Imboden discussing her work, it would be easy for less-than-patient jaded critics to fall under the trap that these are photographs that use water to deliver a gimmicky visual image.

They are not.

These are photographs that celebrate the human body, in all its imperfect and yet sensual bits and pieces. And this celebration of sensuality and Eros and moisture is highlighted by the immense ability of water to distort, redirect and sexualize any and everything that it caresses, especially a nude body.

And in that moment in time, when Imboden presses the shutter and captures an image of light and flesh, she also captures the moment when a seed of sensuality will be place inside the mind of a future viewer, who will admire the photographs behind the safe glass of a solid frame and in the white cube of a shiny new gallery.

If you enjoy the many beautiful thoughts that viewing the human body can create, do not miss this show. The exhibition runs through May 13, 2006.