For those who may be wondering why I no longer use Gmail...

R3nCi · 1 Oct 2012, 04:07 AM

This is directed toward anyone who has important content - emails, photos, etc. - on Google's servers, especially users of Gmail/Google Mail.

My story begins in January of 2009, when I first signed up for Gmail. Migrating from SoftHome.net, I found Gmail to be a definite improvement. A better (or so I then thought!) interface and larger attachment file-size limit were the main attractions; back then I tended to send large numbers of attachment-heavy emails, so it was wonderful to have all that space. Oh, and of course being able to chat with my contacts was an interesting idea as well, although looking back I realize that wasn't really a feature that positively contributed to my life much!

I lived happily with Gmail until late 2010 when I dived into the wide world of Linux. Using an alternative operating system was such an eye-opening experience for me; it was such an interesting prospect to be able to modify my system that much. The first night I had Ubuntu 10.10 up and running, I spent a sleepless 6 hours tweaking my setup, posting on the Ubuntu Forums (which I later discovered is run by a bunch of ban-happy totalitarians - but that's a story for another thread!) and generally reveling in my new-found freedom.

As I became more interested in extensively customizing my operating system, so came rising dissatisfaction with Gmail and with Google in general. Gmail is not thought of as a particularly lightweight system, and for good reason! I wanted something fast-loading, with a much more bare-bones interface that would let me customize it more than a solution such as Gmail, tailored to everyone who wants to get in. Also, privacy concerns were starting to nag me. "What will Google do with my personal data? They can scan my emails for relevant keywords; what stops them from putting together a dossier on me based on my interactions with Gmail, YouTube, Google Search, etc? Nothing, really. In fact, they probably do know all kinds of things I don't want them to, even now." I began to research alternative options for web search, email, etc.

And then, the catastrophe.

During the evening of March 1st, 2012, I attempted to change the password to my Google account, something I try to do fairly often to protect my privacy and lower the likelihood of my getting hacked (again - my Gmail account was hacked twice from somewhere in Poland). My new password seemed to be accepted, yet for some reason I was unable to log back in to my account using either my old password or the new one just set. No matter - I was back in a short while later, having answered my security question and passed with flying colors. I then attempted to change my password once more, and this time it accepted it and let me log back in (ta da!). But there was one problem - not a single one of the almost 2000 emails that were previously in my Gmail account were present. An empty inbox stared me in the face.

I started feverishly searching for my lost emails. All Mail was empty, as was Trash; my creative searching was to no avail. The emails were lost.

A brief web search led to the discovery that I was not the only one to have had this problem. A number of people had, in the past, experienced this very same issue of a wiped inbox. Google's basic policy seem(ed|s) to be, "You lost your email. That's not very nice, is it? Too bad." Impressive </sarcasm> help from one of the most populated email providers in the world.

Luckily, before this debacle occured, I did an extensive amount of research on alternatives to Google. Email, I found, is best either self-hosted (whether that means setting up that old computer in your garage as a mail server or purchasing a shared hosting account and running pop3 accounts from there), or run through FastMail. Yahoo! and other common 'free' webmail providers have similar issues to Google/Gmail, only in slightly different forms. They are not to be trusted.

I sincerely hope that this helps out those who may be considering a move away from Google. If anyone has any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

petergh · 1 Oct 2012, 04:25 AM

Firstly, welcome to the forums, R3nCi. I'm sure you'll like it here, as these forums are brimful with email experts who will happily help you out with any email question you may have.

I'm sorry to hear about your experiences with Gmail. Unfortunately, as you've discovered the hard way, you're far from being the only who's found out the hard way that once the s*** hits the f**, Google is not exactly your friend. It is for that very reason I've decided to abandon Google myself a while ago, despite the fact that I *still* think they have the very best webmail interface around.

I hope you'll stay and spend enough time here to find out what a great place EMD really is. I've been here almost every day since 2002, and I enjoy it as much today as I did back then.

radtux · 21 Oct 2012, 09:07 PM

I had lost access to Google and then shifted to Fastmail.

odedp · 22 Oct 2012, 03:34 PM

I've created a gmail account long time ago "because everyone did"...
Didn't like it from the start so actually never really used it.
Glad I didn't

Oded.

William9 · 22 Oct 2012, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petergh

... once the s*** hits the f**, Google is not exactly your friend. It is for that very reason I've decided to abandon Google myself a while ago, despite the fact that I *still* think they have the very best webmail interface around.
...

I agree with both of those opinions. I think that when things go wrong, that none of the free providers are really very supportive. That's why it difficult to trust them with important business or professional messaging. I also agree that the Gmail Web user interface is by far the best that there is.

sflorack · 22 Oct 2012, 04:16 PM

Is it fair to have the same expectations of a free provider as a paid provider? The reality is, your email service may not be more secure or reliable with a paid provider, but at least you have a legitimate complaint.

drew · 22 Oct 2012, 04:41 PM

Yes but some of us have no choice do we?
If one have an android smart phone then
for to be able to buy apps one need to be
or rather have a gmail account. okay one can
maybe restrict the usage to only be for to
sign the buying contract and not use it for
personal things.

William9 · 23 Oct 2012, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sflorack

Is it fair to have the same expectations of a free provider as a paid provider? The reality is, your email service may not be more secure or reliable with a paid provider, but at least you have a legitimate complaint.

And typically a more accessible and responsible support system.

sflorack · 23 Oct 2012, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew

Yes but some of us have no choice do we?
If one have an android smart phone then
for to be able to buy apps one need to be
or rather have a gmail account.

Who doesn't have a choice? I have an iPhone that requires an Apple ID, but that can either be my own address or an @me.com address. I also have a Google account that uses my own email address, and not a @gmail.com one.

drew · 23 Oct 2012, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sflorack

Who doesn't have a choice? ...I also have a Google account
that uses my own email address, and not a @gmail.com one.

I trust you talk about something like buying a domain and setting up
your own email on that one. Like drew at swedenEU dot se or something.

I don't trust that Google/Gmail would accept I gave them my lavabit
or fastmail or myopera or EUMX or GMX or Zoho or ...

It has to be a privately owned domain that one relate the gmail account to.

AFAIK all smart phones with android if you want to pay on google market
you need to register and get a google account unless you have your own
domain.

My operator is comviq.se and AFAIK I need to give them my gmail address for to be member and send SMS online for free.

All such is related to gmail account. Can you explain I obviously don't get it

just1acc · 24 Oct 2012, 01:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew

I don't trust that Google/Gmail would accept I gave them my lavabit
or fastmail or myopera or EUMX or GMX or Zoho or ...

Trust it. Google account isn't mailbox/gmail. You can create one google account (not gmail account) providing your current email ids, any of it.

drew · 24 Oct 2012, 05:09 AM

Oh Sorry, then I have to trust you and look into it
and test to see what happens. I have to look for
some example on their Help pages so I get how it
is set up.

Would I not get much spam if I have my
email address as the user name for Google?

Okay I have to look into it to get how they have done it.

just1acc · 24 Oct 2012, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew

Would I not get much spam if I have my
email address as the user name for Google?

I have/had several google account which are not gmail one. I haven't faced any spam problem yet. And FYI no phone no is required to create a google account ( Gmail needs).

Basically you get access to google services, and a dashboard to show up how much data google have collected from you (account activity).

drew · 24 Oct 2012, 05:19 PM

I trust your experience it is more that I don't trust
that I am clever enough to click on the correct button
and enter the proper info for to set such things up.

I do have a gmail account with a user name that I
want to change. I wonder if I can somehow change
that one to a Google account with a another email
address? Hm I should go to their Help and look up
examples. I got Google+ automatically when I filled
in that one. So I am bad at logic.

SusanUKF · 24 Oct 2012, 08:23 PM

I have several gmail accounts; many were created back when it was new by invitation only and many of us here at EMD were amongst the first peoople to try it! Remember those days, folks?

It works well for me for certain things; but in my opinion, Fastmail still remains as my most reliable email provider that I trust and in the years since joining EMD and very shortly afterwards, purchasing various accounts from Fastmail, I still feel this way.

Yes, there has been a few issues, over the years, with Fastmail, but it is still my favourite and my main email provider.

Susan

1 Oct 2012, 04:07 AM	#1
R3nCi Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 7	For those who may be wondering why I no longer use Gmail... This is directed toward anyone who has important content - emails, photos, etc. - on Google's servers, especially users of Gmail/Google Mail. My story begins in January of 2009, when I first signed up for Gmail. Migrating from SoftHome.net, I found Gmail to be a definite improvement. A better (or so I then thought!) interface and larger attachment file-size limit were the main attractions; back then I tended to send large numbers of attachment-heavy emails, so it was wonderful to have all that space. Oh, and of course being able to chat with my contacts was an interesting idea as well, although looking back I realize that wasn't really a feature that positively contributed to my life much! I lived happily with Gmail until late 2010 when I dived into the wide world of Linux. Using an alternative operating system was such an eye-opening experience for me; it was such an interesting prospect to be able to modify my system that much. The first night I had Ubuntu 10.10 up and running, I spent a sleepless 6 hours tweaking my setup, posting on the Ubuntu Forums (which I later discovered is run by a bunch of ban-happy totalitarians - but that's a story for another thread!) and generally reveling in my new-found freedom. As I became more interested in extensively customizing my operating system, so came rising dissatisfaction with Gmail and with Google in general. Gmail is not thought of as a particularly lightweight system, and for good reason! I wanted something fast-loading, with a much more bare-bones interface that would let me customize it more than a solution such as Gmail, tailored to everyone who wants to get in. Also, privacy concerns were starting to nag me. "What will Google do with my personal data? They can scan my emails for relevant keywords; what stops them from putting together a dossier on me based on my interactions with Gmail, YouTube, Google Search, etc? Nothing, really. In fact, they probably do know all kinds of things I don't want them to, even now." I began to research alternative options for web search, email, etc. And then, the catastrophe. During the evening of March 1st, 2012, I attempted to change the password to my Google account, something I try to do fairly often to protect my privacy and lower the likelihood of my getting hacked (again - my Gmail account was hacked twice from somewhere in Poland). My new password seemed to be accepted, yet for some reason I was unable to log back in to my account using either my old password or the new one just set. No matter - I was back in a short while later, having answered my security question and passed with flying colors. I then attempted to change my password once more, and this time it accepted it and let me log back in (ta da!). But there was one problem - not a single one of the almost 2000 emails that were previously in my Gmail account were present. An empty inbox stared me in the face. I started feverishly searching for my lost emails. All Mail was empty, as was Trash; my creative searching was to no avail. The emails were lost. A brief web search led to the discovery that I was not the only one to have had this problem. A number of people had, in the past, experienced this very same issue of a wiped inbox. Google's basic policy seem(ed\|s) to be, "You lost your email. That's not very nice, is it? Too bad." Impressive </sarcasm> help from one of the most populated email providers in the world. Luckily, before this debacle occured, I did an extensive amount of research on alternatives to Google. Email, I found, is best either self-hosted (whether that means setting up that old computer in your garage as a mail server or purchasing a shared hosting account and running pop3 accounts from there), or run through FastMail. Yahoo! and other common 'free' webmail providers have similar issues to Google/Gmail, only in slightly different forms. They are not to be trusted. I sincerely hope that this helps out those who may be considering a move away from Google. If anyone has any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

1 Oct 2012, 04:25 AM	#2
petergh Master of the @ Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Denmark Posts: 1,302	Firstly, welcome to the forums, R3nCi. I'm sure you'll like it here, as these forums are brimful with email experts who will happily help you out with any email question you may have. I'm sorry to hear about your experiences with Gmail. Unfortunately, as you've discovered the hard way, you're far from being the only who's found out the hard way that once the s* hits the f, Google is not exactly your friend. It is for that very reason I've decided to abandon Google myself a while ago, despite the fact that I still think they have the very best webmail interface around. I hope you'll stay and spend enough time here to find out what a great place EMD really is. I've been here almost every day since 2002, and I enjoy it as much today as I did back then.

21 Oct 2012, 09:07 PM	#3
radtux Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 145	I had lost access to Google and then shifted to Fastmail.

22 Oct 2012, 03:34 PM	#4
odedp Master of the @ Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Tel-Aviv, ISRAEL Posts: 1,665	I've created a gmail account long time ago "because everyone did"... Didn't like it from the start so actually never really used it. Glad I didn't Oded.

22 Oct 2012, 04:16 PM	#6
sflorack The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 2,937	Is it fair to have the same expectations of a free provider as a paid provider? The reality is, your email service may not be more secure or reliable with a paid provider, but at least you have a legitimate complaint.

22 Oct 2012, 04:41 PM	#7
drew The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,626	Yes but some of us have no choice do we? If one have an android smart phone then for to be able to buy apps one need to be or rather have a gmail account. okay one can maybe restrict the usage to only be for to sign the buying contract and not use it for personal things.

24 Oct 2012, 05:09 AM	#12
drew The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,626	Oh Sorry, then I have to trust you and look into it and test to see what happens. I have to look for some example on their Help pages so I get how it is set up. Would I not get much spam if I have my email address as the user name for Google? Okay I have to look into it to get how they have done it.

24 Oct 2012, 05:19 PM	#14
drew The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,626	I trust your experience it is more that I don't trust that I am clever enough to click on the correct button and enter the proper info for to set such things up. I do have a gmail account with a user name that I want to change. I wonder if I can somehow change that one to a Google account with a another email address? Hm I should go to their Help and look up examples. I got Google+ automatically when I filled in that one. So I am bad at logic.

24 Oct 2012, 08:23 PM	#15
SusanUKF Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 5,428	I have several gmail accounts; many were created back when it was new by invitation only and many of us here at EMD were amongst the first peoople to try it! Remember those days, folks? It works well for me for certain things; but in my opinion, Fastmail still remains as my most reliable email provider that I trust and in the years since joining EMD and very shortly afterwards, purchasing various accounts from Fastmail, I still feel this way. Yes, there has been a few issues, over the years, with Fastmail, but it is still my favourite and my main email provider. Susan