Editing Freeserve (section)

==Deactivation==
In August 2007, Orange started a process to purge unused Freeserve accounts from its system.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/30/orange_freesever_purge/ |title=Orange mounts sneaky Freeserve accounts purge |website=[[The Register]] |access-date=10 August 2017 |archive-date=9 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809003515/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/30/orange_freesever_purge/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Originally Freeserve accounts would be deactivated after ninety days if the dial-up number was not accessed (hence not generating any revenue for Orange). Customers would then receive an error message when trying to access their Freeserve email via another connection, but could reactivate the account before it was deleted by visiting the Orange website.

Orange extended the deactivation period to 260 days in 2007 but under the new regime users' accounts and all email were deleted permanently from Orange's servers after a 30-day warning was issued.

The account deactivation process ceased on 28 February 2012.

In 2016 the service hosting the original Freeserve personal webspace was deactivated, ending the anomaly of orphaned pages that could not be edited, the dial-up service allowing editing having ceased some years before.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ee.co.uk/help/help-orphan-pages-/orange-personal-web-space-service |title=Orange personal web space service - Closure Notice |access-date=29 November 2016 |archive-date=30 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130035913/http://ee.co.uk/help/help-orphan-pages-/orange-personal-web-space-service |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In early 2017 all email users were advised that the email service was also withdrawn.
<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ee.co.uk/help/mobile-and-home-connections/broadband-gallery-mobile-broadband/email/email-closure?intcam=ON_EE_E_Orange_email_closure_infomremail_bottomlink-2017-01-11 |title=EE/Orange Email switch-off notice |access-date=26 February 2017 |archive-date=26 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226212724/http://ee.co.uk/help/mobile-and-home-connections/broadband-gallery-mobile-broadband/email/email-closure?intcam=ON_EE_E_Orange_email_closure_infomremail_bottomlink-2017-01-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>