we members are bottom feeders

saber3s · 5 Jun 2010, 11:16 AM

I'm fed up with how FM wants those of us with member account to just be extinguished, the most current issue being the Quota increase for all accounts
http://blog.fastmail.fm/2010/05/30/q...r-all-accounts
why is it that even the free guests accounts that have not paid anything get better treatment and upgrades than us with member account!?
FM could easily allow members to upgrade, but we are not even allowed to buy mailbox space, storage space, mailbox or file bandwidth.

I guess I should apologise to FM just for existing...

see also
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...t=member+quota

kinetic · 5 Jun 2010, 11:23 AM

Members can upgrade and they get refund, read the same post you linked to.

saber3s · 5 Jun 2010, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinetic

Members can upgrade and they get refund, read the same post you linked to.

I meant upgrade the mailbox space, I want to keep the features of the member level that I paid for.

xmailer · 5 Jun 2010, 12:27 PM

I would think it would at least be a nice "goodwill gesture" for Fastmail to increase the Member accounts storage quota to at least the same level as free accounts. But I think we saw from the start how "expert" the new owners are in the area of customer relations (not that I was that impressed with the old owners in that regard either, that being at least in part my reason for "falling back" from Full to Member level a few years ago).

As it is, I'm guessing I may continue to use my Member account about as much as I have for the past few years, mainly now only for very occasional use of the SMTP server. As a rough idea of how much use I get out of it, my account shows my total bandwidth usage for last month, probably about an average month, as 521k.

kinetic · 5 Jun 2010, 12:43 PM

It may be more economical to upgrade than buy storage. If you upgrade your member to 1 year ad-free, you can use the refund to buy another three years.

My use of fastmail is also restricted to occasional smtp only.

David · 5 Jun 2010, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xmailer

I would think it would at least be a nice "goodwill gesture" for Fastmail to increase the Member accounts storage quota to at least the same level as free accounts. But I think we saw from the start how "expert" the new owners are in the area of customer relations (not that I was that impressed with the old owners in that regard either, that being at least in part my reason for "falling back" from Full to Member level a few years ago).

After many years as an annual paid account holder, a week or so after falling back to 'Member' level, my account was locked (and I missed important mail) after receiving an attachment that pushed me over quota. Being very annoyed I cancelled my account altogether (an overreaction I agree) Fastmail have treated their 'Member' level account holders (who were the ones who supported them in the very beginning) very badly (imo)

saber3s · 5 Jun 2010, 01:10 PM

well I just created an account over at
http://www.inbox.com/products/email.aspx
gonna see how it goes before I decide a move, so far it looks very good (5 GB of free space!)

communicant · 6 Jun 2010, 05:59 AM

Regarding inbox.com (mentioned by the preceding poster), I noticed an oddly worded disclaimer at the bottom of the sign-up page: "Please note: Our security teams cooperate and share investigations with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies." Email providers in countries where the rule of law is generally respected do provide information to law enforcement when it is properly demanded by a subpoena, and that is entirely proper. What on earth, however, does inbox.com mean by that very odd wording? It seems to imply an unseemly eagerness to share private information when this may not be legally required or compelled. Does anyone have anything to add regarding inbox.com in this connection? (This post does not really belong in a fastmail forum, I know. Perhaps a mod will move the post if necessary.)

xmailer · 6 Jun 2010, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by communicant

Does anyone have anything to add regarding inbox.com in this connection? (This post does not really belong in a fastmail forum, I know. Perhaps a mod will move the post if necessary.)

Well, I suppose it's "on topic" to the extent that the wording of Fastmail's TOS and/or privacy policy have also been under fire here recently.

As for Inbox.com, I share your apprehensions about their wording, as well as having other reservations about recommending the service, including some based on my past experiences with them, some of which I discussed recently in this post. Although I do still have an account there (which I make very little use of, but only poll it regularly by POP3 from a Gmail account in order to keep it alive in case I may ever wish to use it again), it was opened before they introduced the requirement for newly registered accounts to install their toolbar, which would be enough to dissuade me from opening an account if I didn't already have one there and is one more reason not to recommend their service.

But I wouldn't know what to suggest as a better alternative offhand (although possibly almost anything), since, as always, this might depend greatly on one's individual needs and preferences.

syood · 6 Jun 2010, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

After many years as an annual paid account holder, a week or so after falling back to 'Member' level, my account was locked (and I missed important mail) after receiving an attachment that pushed me over quota. Being very annoyed I cancelled my account altogether (an overreaction I agree) Fastmail have treated their 'Member' level account holders (who were the ones who supported them in the very beginning) very badly (imo)

Agreed. I have a member account, and I'll probably just keep logging in to keep it alive for whatever reason, but the quota limitations combined with lack of POP access make it pretty much unusable long-term.

saber3s · 6 Jun 2010, 07:47 AM

it is beginning to veer off topic, but I looked and that is a standard warning posted under the site security. other providers like crawler, or services like paypal have that as well.
I also took a close look at their privacy policy
http://email.inbox.com/privacy_policy.aspx
and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I doubt anything at the member level will ever change at FM, and so far I'm liking inbox.com a lot, I'll give it one more day and if I don't find anything to my disliking I'm fully switching over. One thing I will say is that having to install the toolbar for free accounts is annoying, but for me it's worth it considering that the toolbar was first and foremost free of spyware; and that it can be easily uninstalled afterwards.

ps.
I always forward my emails to gmail for backup.

xmailer · 6 Jun 2010, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saber3s

it is beginning to veer off topic, but I looked and that is a standard warning posted under the site security. other providers like crawler, or services like paypal have that as well.
I also took a close look at their privacy policy
http://email.inbox.com/privacy_policy.aspx
and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

In wouldn't be surprised if other providers "like crawler" have similar terms, since as best I've ever been able to tell it's the same company.

At least I'd always assumed so from the time I opened my email account there, when someone posted about that service and its similarity to Inbox.com, not long after I'd first opened my account at the latter. But as best I recall, the sites always seemed virtually identical except for their names, or at least the email interfaces did, so I assume it's likely the same service.

Being a different kind of service, I'm not sure how much relevance paypal's terms have to questions about email service's, but I'm sure some email services have privacy policies which are worded more "reassuringly" than suggested by the Inbox.com phrasing communicant cited above.

Quote:

I doubt anything at the member level will ever change at FM, and so far I'm liking inbox.com a lot, I'll give it one more day and if I don't find anything to my disliking I'm fully switching over.

Based on my own personal past experience and various reports of others which I've read in these forums, I'm not inclined to trust it very much, but obviously it's your decision. In fact, I don't think Inbox's interface is bad at all, compared to many other "newfangled" AJAX-y interfaces I've encountered in the past few years or so. But it's just the service itself I don't feel able to trust very much. Once bitten, twice shy and all, and I've had serious problems with it more than once.

Quote:

One thing I will say is that having to install the toolbar for free accounts is annoying, but for me it's worth it considering that the toolbar was first and foremost free of spyware; and that it can be easily uninstalled afterwards.

I wondered if it would be possible to uninstall the toolbar immediately after registration without it somehow interfering with use of the email, so I'm glad to hear that isn't the case. But I personally just refuse to install anything on my own system as a "condition" to signing up for or using any email service just on general principle, when there are so many free services to choose from having no such requirement. And although it once sounded like a lot, Inbox's 5GB doesn't seem nearly as impressive-now as it did a few years ago, now that I have accounts at several free services having quotas as high as 10GB -- and a few "unlimited" -- and without having to "jump through hoops" as Inbox.com requires.

But of course, I wish you the best of luck with it.

xmailer · 6 Jun 2010, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syood

Agreed. I have a member account, and I'll probably just keep logging in to keep it alive for whatever reason, but the quota limitations combined with lack of POP access make it pretty much unusable long-term.

Since my logins to my Member account are so irregular that I'm not even sure how often I login on average (in fact, I can't even now any longer remember what the "inactivity period" is - or was - for Member accounts), I've set up a couple other webmail accounts to poll its Inbox regularly via IMAP as a little added insurance against losing it.

syood · 6 Jun 2010, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xmailer

Since my logins to my Member account are so irregular that I'm not even sure how often I login on average (in fact, I can't even now any longer remember what the "inactivity period" is - or was - for Member accounts), I've set up a couple other webmail accounts to poll its Inbox regularly via IMAP as a little added insurance against losing it.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do. I even do the same with an old, equally useless myrealbox account. I guess it's nostalgia more than anything else.

Anyway, from the FM blog: "The one time charge that Member accounts paid means we can no longer add to or upgrade those accounts." OK, stick some ads on Member accounts and increase their quota to 25MB, as in the Guest account. I'd be OK with that.

saber3s · 7 Jun 2010, 03:13 AM

I guess I was sticking with FM simply because I had been with them for so long, but I realized that after so many years my account had gone relatively unchanged while other providers got up to date with technology and started offering more to their users; all the while FM actually started putting restrictions on member account (such as disabling the ability to purchase space and bandwidth), maybe things will change in the future, otherwise I'm sure there will be more others like myself who will jump ship. My move to inbox.com is now complete.

good luck to everyone.

5 Jun 2010, 11:16 AM	#1
saber3s Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 108	we members are bottom feeders I'm fed up with how FM wants those of us with member account to just be extinguished, the most current issue being the Quota increase for all accounts http://blog.fastmail.fm/2010/05/30/q...r-all-accounts why is it that even the free guests accounts that have not paid anything get better treatment and upgrades than us with member account!? FM could easily allow members to upgrade, but we are not even allowed to buy mailbox space, storage space, mailbox or file bandwidth. I guess I should apologise to FM just for existing... see also http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...t=member+quota

5 Jun 2010, 11:23 AM	#2
kinetic Essential Contributor Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: India Posts: 422	Members can upgrade and they get refund, read the same post you linked to.

5 Jun 2010, 12:27 PM	#4
xmailer Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: USA Posts: 5,485	I would think it would at least be a nice "goodwill gesture" for Fastmail to increase the Member accounts storage quota to at least the same level as free accounts. But I think we saw from the start how "expert" the new owners are in the area of customer relations (not that I was that impressed with the old owners in that regard either, that being at least in part my reason for "falling back" from Full to Member level a few years ago). As it is, I'm guessing I may continue to use my Member account about as much as I have for the past few years, mainly now only for very occasional use of the SMTP server. As a rough idea of how much use I get out of it, my account shows my total bandwidth usage for last month, probably about an average month, as 521k.

5 Jun 2010, 12:43 PM	#5
kinetic Essential Contributor Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: India Posts: 422	It may be more economical to upgrade than buy storage. If you upgrade your member to 1 year ad-free, you can use the refund to buy another three years. My use of fastmail is also restricted to occasional smtp only.

5 Jun 2010, 01:10 PM	#7
saber3s Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 108	well I just created an account over at http://www.inbox.com/products/email.aspx gonna see how it goes before I decide a move, so far it looks very good (5 GB of free space!)

6 Jun 2010, 05:59 AM	#8
communicant Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 879	Regarding inbox.com (mentioned by the preceding poster), I noticed an oddly worded disclaimer at the bottom of the sign-up page: "Please note: Our security teams cooperate and share investigations with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies." Email providers in countries where the rule of law is generally respected do provide information to law enforcement when it is properly demanded by a subpoena, and that is entirely proper. What on earth, however, does inbox.com mean by that very odd wording? It seems to imply an unseemly eagerness to share private information when this may not be legally required or compelled. Does anyone have anything to add regarding inbox.com in this connection? (This post does not really belong in a fastmail forum, I know. Perhaps a mod will move the post if necessary.)

6 Jun 2010, 07:47 AM	#11
saber3s Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 108	it is beginning to veer off topic, but I looked and that is a standard warning posted under the site security. other providers like crawler, or services like paypal have that as well. I also took a close look at their privacy policy http://email.inbox.com/privacy_policy.aspx and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. I doubt anything at the member level will ever change at FM, and so far I'm liking inbox.com a lot, I'll give it one more day and if I don't find anything to my disliking I'm fully switching over. One thing I will say is that having to install the toolbar for free accounts is annoying, but for me it's worth it considering that the toolbar was first and foremost free of spyware; and that it can be easily uninstalled afterwards. ps. I always forward my emails to gmail for backup.

7 Jun 2010, 03:13 AM	#15
saber3s Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 108	I guess I was sticking with FM simply because I had been with them for so long, but I realized that after so many years my account had gone relatively unchanged while other providers got up to date with technology and started offering more to their users; all the while FM actually started putting restrictions on member account (such as disabling the ability to purchase space and bandwidth), maybe things will change in the future, otherwise I'm sure there will be more others like myself who will jump ship. My move to inbox.com is now complete. good luck to everyone.