Gmail for my fellow PaDers!

[clickaway]

Natalia,

I'm sorry you've had such a negative response to this, but we have so many things we feel we have to join on the internet, I do get a little fed up at all those passwords and logins.

It seems I can communicate in so many different ways - do I really yet another one?? I joined Yahoo Instant Messaging as an internet friend suggested it, and I really find it no use whatsover.

Just to clarify an earlier message of mine, I don't think this is bogus, but the amount of junk emails I get doesn't help my opinion.

Cheers

Ray

[natalia]

the offer is for those who know what Gmail is and want it...simple.

[Guest70]

I think Guest69 is an arse! I don't think I have ever seen a positive post from that jerk.

[matiasasun]

errr... Guys.. Honestly? I think you have misunderstood the idea of this.
Let me give you some more information about Gmail, because I think that due to the focus of the conversation this might be in order...

Good reasons to join Gmail:

1. The Space (1000 megas, vs 250 in Yahoo and Hotmail, if you´re lucky)
2. The Speed (and simplicity compared to Hotmail & Yahoo)
3. The display of messages like forums
4. The Search engine
5. A better system to control spam

Bad reasons to Join Gmail:
1. Privacy
2. Paranoia (very common these days...)
3. The "I already have a -mail" reason
4. The "I don´t use/know internet"

Bad or Good reasons?
- Detailed publicity
- The power of the U.S. goverment to access all information data stored there.
- .. And Nigel is right. G-mail is the ultimate fashion accesory. But it is also a very good email system so far.
- Googlés reputation...

[another guest]

they WILL sell your name and email address as part of a mailing list..



reminds me of Amway!

[stormseye]

I think Guest69 is an arse!

I kept thinking that we might see his/her friends:
missionaryguest
doggyguest
and
w-o-tguest

[clickaway]

So you can only use GMail by being invited to do so?

A very dubious strategy, I would say.

I am extremely wary of such schemes, especially if the US Government has access.

Count me out. Good luck to those who take it up ~ enjoy your lack of privacy and floods of junk mail.

[defytime]

G-mail come with a Gig of memory. I've been using it for about 3 months and it is awesome. I also have 50 invites, but it doesn't sound like anyone wants them here. O-well

[jenga]

Yep, I'm not keen on using it as my primary email address, as I've had a lot of spam on it already; but it's nice to have for some instances (I.e. job applications!), as I got the address I prefer (not snapped up at that point!) and one of these days I'll get round to using it as a back-up for all my pics! - 1GB free storage, so I might as well make the most of it!

[floradoragirl]

I've had a Gmail account for about 6 months - I've had absolutely no junk mail at all in that period. Sadly that's not the case of my btinternet account (which is absolutely flooded with junk mail to the point where I don't use it anymore) or my yahoo account (which gets the occasional viagra giveaway mail and which annoyingly always put my pBase emails in the spam folder).

The ads Gmail place (in a similar fashion to the way they place them on google searches) are occasionally quite amusing, as is the number of free invites I also have to give away. (currently 50!)

[arjunrc]

Hello Everyone,

I do not work for google/gmail but have been a long time user. This mail is just to clarify some misconceptions I read in this thread:

Gmail is, to put it very simply, an excellent web based email system. If you already have an email account which you are happy with, read no further.
For those who are interested in knowing what GMail is and why its different from Hotmail, Yahoo and others read on:

1) Gmail accounts are based on Invitations. This means that only registered gmail users can invite others. Being a part of gmail _DOES_ NOT_ mean your email will get added to any bulk mailing list. Why is it based on invitations ? Well, initially gmail was for a restricted community of beta-testers. This community has since expanded. Also, its a marketing trick - being 'invited' seems to add to the charm (your mileage may vary here)

2) The only reason why Natalia asked for your email/first/last name is that this invite needs to be sent to some person - and for that, atleast an email is needed.

3) Why is gmail different from other emails:
a) Well, it gives you 1GB of storage space free (some others do too)
b) It has, in my opinion, one of the cleanest email interfaces I have
ever seen
c) It has automatic email categorization (example, you can set rules
like "If I get a mail from xxxx automatically file it in folder friends). This
is typically not offered for free by other web mail systems

d) It has a lot of convenience keyboard shortcuts - I can't explain this
unless you start using it.

e) It is FAST - and I mean really really fast compared to Yahoo! and hotmail

f) Its SPAM filter engine is one of the best. I have accounts in Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail. The amount of SPAM I get in the gmail inbox is the least (close to 0)

g) It has a very sweet interface. Lots of things you _may_ really like. As an example, in your inbox, in addition to showing where your email is from, it also shows one line of text - so you can get a context without opening it ( I know some others also do this, but I just like their interface better)

h) Note on privacy: All the concerns about privacy, honestly, is mostly nonsense. Google employees are NOT reading your email or forwarding your details. For the slightly more technically inclined people read on if you doubt this:

Have you ever thought how ANY email system detects SPAM ? They use automatic algorithms to detect key word INSIDE your mail including where they are from and have complex mechanisms to try and figure out if the mail is indeed SPAM or valid mail . Why do they also need to process the CONTENTS ? Simply because its too ineffective to just detect who it is from.

Gmail employs a similar concept. What it does it, besides trying to detect if its SPAM or not, it also uses the keywords to display relevant Adverstisements.

All of this is automated. If you believe that email systems doing this for SPAM detection are not "peeking" into your privacy, there is NO TECHNICAL reason for you to believe Gmail is doing this. IF you believe no email system should be EVER 'trying to detect anything' in the contents of your email, you really need to stop using _any_ web based email system.

Hope this helps
regds
arjun