# Gmail is really goddamn cool **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308 "2005-10-15T01:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308/21 "2005-10-16T14:26:30Z")
Brilliant! Thank you Noone Special; I knew there had to be a way. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308/22 "2005-10-16T14:37:23Z")
> [@Noone Special](#): > > **SkipMagic** – once you’ve labeled a conversation, you can archive it. You have all your labels available on the sidebar (at the left), and clicking the relevant label will show all converstions with that label, whether they are in the Inbox or not. > Not to saying that what works for me has to work for you… but I find this (Archiving labeled conversations) just as useful (if not more so) then folders. > Combined with filters (which can pre-label conversations based on various rules, and even put the conversation directly in the Archive if you prefer), I find the paradigm quite powerful. > YM obviously V Thanks to you and **Revtim** for pointing out the archiving. I hadn’t seen that before and it’s incredibly useful. I would still rather have folders and sub-folders, but for clearing up the inbox, archiving will work out just fine. > [@](#): > > Even if a message has been deleted or an account is no longer active, messages may remain on our backup systems for some period of time. This is standard practice in the email industry, which Gmail and other major webmail services follow in order to provide a reliable service for users. We will make reasonable efforts to remove deleted information from our systems as quickly as is practical. While their new privacy policy is a tad better than the one I last read a year ago, this portion is too vague for me; if I were to use a Gmail address for anything serious, I would want something more definite spelled out than the undefined terms of ‘reasonable’ and ‘practical’. Backups, of course, I understand, but the language they use gives them too much leeway in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308/23 "2005-10-16T15:45:59Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > While their new privacy policy is a tad better than the one I last read a year ago, this portion is too vague for me; if I were to use a Gmail address for anything serious, I would want something more definite spelled out than the undefined terms of ‘reasonable’ and ‘practical’. Backups, of course, I understand, but the language they use gives them too much leeway in my opinion. Do other web-based email providers have privacy policies that you feel are better? Or do you simply not use web-based email for what you consider serious use? ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308/24 "2005-10-16T16:09:38Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Do other web-based email providers have privacy policies that you feel are better? Or do you simply not use web-based email for what you consider serious use? Definitely the latter. Web e-mail is handy for throwaway accounts and spam-traps, but for the level of control I want (for organization and security), I stick to my personal servers and domains. And I certainly didn’t mean to hijack this thread, **Anaamika**. From an advertising point-of-view alone, I think Gmail is years ahead of its competitors. ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308/25 "2005-10-16T16:14:12Z")
[http://www.gmail-is-too-creepy.com/](http://www.gmail-is-too-creepy.com/) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308/26 "2005-10-16T16:36:32Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > Web e-mail is handy for throwaway accounts and spam-traps, but for the level of control I want (for organization and security), I stick to my personal servers and domains. Are typical POP servers any more secure than Gmail? I can’t remember how I survived before web-based mail. Well actually I can - I carried a laptop with me all the time, because that was the only practical way to access the same mail account from work and home. I switched to Yahoo mail after that, but now Gmail is better in every way as far as I’m concerned. Last week I finally configured my Yahoo mail account to forward everything to my Gmail account. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-is-really-goddamn-cool/326308.md?page=1)