Fed Up with Google's gmail?

[ppdude]

I am fed up. They filter, delete, and limit my email. It's had, I think, a negative impact on this site causing postings to markedly decrease.

Do you use a good "free" alternative? It's hard to find a good one. I get frustrated and give up, come back to it and give up again. Break me out of this cycle!

 

[AbabeBill]

I have maintained an Outlook email account for many years. It’s not my main email, but it has served me ok. 

[DailyDi]

Second for Outlook, free but full-featured and I can see my messages on the desktop, tablet and phone easily.

[littleTomás]

7 hours ago, ppdude said:

I am fed up. They filter, delete, and limit my email. It's had, I think, a negative impact on this site causing postings to markedly decrease.

Do you use a good "free" alternative? It's hard to find a good one. I get frustrated and give up, come back to it and give up again. Break me out of this cycle!

 

I've used a gmail with this account without any problems. I would try editing your account settings and ensuring your gmail isn't associated with an external network. I know that my university email is linked to gmail and even thought it's Google's UI, the actual email network functionality is very different. Via settings you should be able to make sure that all your updates from this site get through. I've never personally experienced any issues with gmail limiting my mail. There's always Yahoo or AOL as "free" alternatives, but I've never been a fan of those two personally.

[Penry]

I used to have an active gmail account until this year. After an in-depth discussion with a couple of computer and internet experts and reading the latest version of Google's TOS (Terms of Service) I decided to deactivate my gmail account. Google provides a free email account (gmail) to the general public, however.... the general public usually does not read Google's TOS concerning the email account they just created with them. Google uses a combination of software, their employee's and third parties to read each and every email that you receive and send to other individuals when using their service. You do not have any privacy when you choose to use their "free" email service. 

Penry

[kasarberang]

When it comes to Google YOU are the product.

A very good example of "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."

[foreverdl]

I really don't think any email free or otherwise is completely private. The gov can at the least scan it for anything they consider to be illegal. if you have a company email, the company has the right to scan it. Heck I used to work for a very large company,, I found a key stroke lower on my new work computer, like we were not suppose to know what that is? It was installed on all of our company laptops after we were sold to that large company so they could keep track of every word that we ever typed. Not just email.

[le Hollandais]

I keep saying this, and I'll say it again. If you really want to be subversive, cut the cyber umbilical cord completely. And that means no credit cards and no online shopping at Amazon. Write letters with pen and ink. But I think Americans would rather complain than actively seek alternatives.

[ppdude]

9 hours ago, foreverdl said:

I really don't think any email free or otherwise is completely private. The gov can at the least scan it for anything they consider to be illegal. if you have a company email, the company has the right to scan it. Heck I used to work for a very large company,, I found a key stroke lower on my new work computer, like we were not suppose to know what that is? It was installed on all of our company laptops after we were sold to that large company so they could keep track of every word that we ever typed. Not just email.

Boy oh boy. I've always wanted to work for a company that spies on me. Hope you cleaned up the computer and got rid of any and all of that junk.

 

[rusty pins]

6 hours ago, le Hollandais said:

I keep saying this, and I'll say it again. If you really want to be subversive, cut the cyber umbilical cord completely. And that means no credit cards and no online shopping at Amazon. Write letters with pen and ink. But I think Americans would rather complain than actively seek alternatives.

Great, although in these days that may be going pretty far.  You can really get me started on the abuse of technology!  Technology is great, however when you stand in your front yard looking up at the sky waiting for the drone to deliver your Amazon order, that's nuts!  Having cars that parallel park themselves, apply the breaks for you, warn you when you take your eyes off the road.  All that is doing is allowing people to be stupid and do what they aren't supposed to be doing in the first place by not paying attention or learning how to operate a car safely!  Rely on yourself, not the car to drive and pay attention for yourself!  Keep your eyes on the road and not your I-Phone!  That's what you are supposed to do.  We allow technology to do things for us that we should be doing for ourselves, such as paying attention to the road when driving, and that makes us relax, lure us into a false sense of security and not pay attention to what we are supposed to be doing. 

It may be oK for busy parents working long hours to order their groceries on-line from their office and have them delivered to their house or out to the parking lot for pick up, but how many people do it because they can instead of shopping for themselves at the store?  Maybe quickly ordering on line instead of going to the store gives them more time to Facebook or look at stupid video's on YouTube.  Alexa!  I can change the TV channel by myself without having to call out to to Alexa to do it for me.  According to the new commercial, you can now tell Alexa to fill your dog's water bowl.  If you can't even turn on the faucet to fill your dog's water bowl, you shouldn't own a dog!  What next?  "Alexa, pet my dog on the back".  How about I-phone apps that turn your house lights on and off for you, lock your doors if you forget and adjust your thermostat.  Before all the technology, we learned to remember to turn off the lights when we went to bed or left the house.  We also learned to lock the doors as well.  All these simple everyday things that are so easy to do already we now have technology to do for us!  It's just creating a lazy society as far as plain and everyday tasks so if we forget we can have our phone app do it for us remotely.  The idea is not to forget in the first place!  Excersize your mind to remember the little things.  Makes me think of the stupid new Geico commercial where the guy is sitting on the floor with a Shetland pony!  Both he and his room mate think it's a dog for pete's sake!  I know it's just a commercial but that is the dumb direction we are heading in!  Allow technology to do everything for us so we don't even have to think anymore except about what app to use or what to tell Alexa to do for us!  Think about this - who is paying to have all these apps and technological things and who is getting rich by coming up with every new idea that people just have to have!  Are we getting brainwashed to have to have the newest stupid thing that someone dreams up?

[kasarberang]

19 hours ago, foreverdl said:

I really don't think any email free or otherwise is completely private. The gov can at the least scan it for anything they consider to be illegal. if you have a company email, the company has the right to scan it. Heck I used to work for a very large company,, I found a key stroke lower on my new work computer, like we were not suppose to know what that is? It was installed on all of our company laptops after we were sold to that large company so they could keep track of every word that we ever typed. Not just email.

There are alternatives out there like Tutanota or Protonmail which wont sell your data and if you're emailing someone who also uses the service will use End-To-End encryption, making it virtually impossible for someone to snoop on the traffic, since not even the service providers hold the keys.

As for the government. There's a huge difference between letting the government snoop if they suspect something fishy and letting google snoop for no reason what so ever except to sell, share and otherwise redistribute that data.

11 hours ago, le Hollandais said:

I keep saying this, and I'll say it again. If you really want to be subversive, cut the cyber umbilical cord completely. And that means no credit cards and no online shopping at Amazon. Write letters with pen and ink. But I think Americans would rather complain than actively seek alternatives.

It depends on the threat model of each given individual, Most people don't want to cut out technology completely. But I agree with you in that people will actively complain about certain sites/companies doing things they don't like. Yet they keep using these services, never so much as even considering the thought of using an alternative.

[foreverdl]

11 hours ago, le Hollandais said:

I keep saying this, and I'll say it again. If you really want to be subversive, cut the cyber umbilical cord completely. And that means no credit cards and no online shopping at Amazon. Write letters with pen and ink. But I think Americans would rather complain than actively seek alternatives.

I agree but unfortunately in this day and age even if you cut all of your cords, you still have all your data on fed gov, and all medical sites etc.

[foreverdl]

17 hours ago, ppdude said:

Boy oh boy. I've always wanted to work for a company that spies on me. Hope you cleaned up the computer and got rid of any and all of that junk.

 

Well I don't work anymore, I went off on disability about 4 yrs ago, so fortunately I don't have to deal with those snoops anymore.  

[willnotwill]

I use a site called "tuffmail."   They have a very nicely configurable spam filter and sieve support.    I switched to them over a decade ago.

 

[ppdude]

Here we go again... I set up yet another Microscum live ID, this time for outlook.com. Hate to mix it with business stuff, but oh well. I also intend to look at Tuffmail. Screw gmail. I'm done with it.

 

[Dubious]

Hope they have fun reading my diaper related e-mails

I changed to g-mail from a paid service and it was a hassle, so not changing again

[~Brian~]

I use outlook for my Thrift Store Email - I also use godaddy for my websites and emails.  My DOT COM uses outlook365

 

I dont like gmail either - The reason its there is because of youtube

Good Luck!

Brian

[ppdude]

It's official. I switched to Outlook and changed the email address in DD this morning. All gmail now moved to Outlook. Bye bye Google! Good riddance. Now, hang on while I cut the cord. I'll be right back...........

[Firefly 35]

On 9/25/2019 at 12:36 PM, ppdude said:

It's official. I switched to Outlook and changed the email address in DD this morning. All gmail now moved to Outlook. Bye bye Google! Good riddance. Now, hang on while I cut the cord. I'll be right back...........

I'd actually recommend Protonmail.  It's Swiss based and encrypted.  The free version has 500 MB of storage but the paid plans offer more and other bells/whistles.  Best thing is their revenue comes from paid plans, not advertising.

[Firefly 35]

Also do watch out for arbitration clauses.  Many, MANY companies have them nowadays but they hope people don't notice.  What it often entails is the companies can actually kick you out of court if you try to sue them and demand that you follow an arbitration proceeding.  It is a real thing: 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitration

[willnotwill]

I think you may have posted that in the wrong thread Firefly.    By the way, I am an arbitrator.   While if you have a contract that mandates it, you have to try the arbitration first.    If the arbitration has issues, you nearly always can take that decision to court afterward.

 

[ppdude]

On 9/28/2019 at 10:50 PM, Firefly 35 said:

I'd actually recommend Protonmail.  It's Swiss based and encrypted.  The free version has 500 MB of storage but the paid plans offer more and other bells/whistles.  Best thing is their revenue comes from paid plans, not advertising.

Thanks for the tip. It probably makes no difference in the end where they're based, but prefer small/medium companies based in the USA. It's a patriotic and pride thing.

willnotwill: Above you state you're in arbitration. How'd that happen?

 

[Dirty Diaper/Maxipad Lover]

I stopped using anything Google at home years ago, including their search engine. (I tolerate it at work because I have to, not because I want to.)

Email alternatives will vary depending on your needs, but here are a few good alternatives:

1. GMX/Mail.com — Both are owned by the same company with nearly identical services. They’re business oriented, so you get some features that are similar to Gmail.

2. iCloud — Apple’s iCloud email doesn’t include certain features like high/normal/low priority settings that are more common among business users, but it’s great for personal use and very secure compared to most providers. All you need to do is create an Apple ID if you don’t have one already and then set up the mail service.

3. Protonmail — The free version is okay, but if you’re willing to spend a little bit of money this actually becomes a really nice, extremely secure email client. The servers are in Switzerland from what I remember specifically because they have stronger data privacy laws than most countries. If you need something a little more secure, this is a good option.

[Crinklz Kat]

Or instead of using any cloud email service, you can run your own from your basement!   If it was good enough for Hillary.... ?   

I actually do this.  Because of that, I also have a business internet service rather than residential so I don't run into any service limitations. (I host my web as well)  Is my stuff all nice and pretty like the big guys?  No.  Is it free?  Not really.  But nobody but me has access to the server and the data on it.

I once used Altavista (anyone remember them?).  Service shut down.  There was another I one I can't remember... service shut down.   There is no guarantee that any of those free email services will be around tomorrow.   One day, Google may decide they have to monetize gmail and make it a subscription service... or simply get rid of it altogether.   I'm not dependent on them.