# gmail sucks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 12, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376 "2004-12-12T00:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/21 "2004-12-12T19:12:54Z")
People still use hotmail? Good god, I opened an account with them a few years back, and within about five minutes of opening said account, my inbox had about ten pages worth of spam. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Roscoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Captain\_Roscoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Roscoe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/22 "2004-12-12T19:15:02Z")
Gotta love GMail. I like the label system better than folders, the page layout is noce and clean, and I can honestly say I’ve never had a problem with lost mails. I do get a little spam, but 95% of it goes to the ‘Spam’ box. Only one complaint - sometimes the ‘conversation’ feature doesn’t work to well, and it bungs together a lot of unrelated mails. The email addresses and content of these mails are very similar though, so maybe it’s a case of GMail trying to be _too_ clever? ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/23 "2004-12-12T19:49:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I think I’ll stick with my free Yahoo e-mail account, thankyouverymuch. 250 megs of storage are enough for me, the spam filter is nice(the spam doesn’t even count against your 250 meg limit), and I can send 10 meg files. What’s the size limit for sending files with Gmail? I sent an eight meg file once. For what it’s worth, I’m loving Gmail. As far as I know I haven’t missed any emails, the spam filter works fine, and the layout is a thing of beauty. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2004, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/24 "2004-12-12T21:41:13Z")
I love gmail, but I came across an annoying bug that I just finished reporting. If I send an email via gmail POP that has bcc: recipients only, it shows up in my gmail inbox as if I were a recipient. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/25 "2004-12-12T21:48:09Z")
Oh, I do use those labels for absolutely every. last. thing. However, I hate that in reality they’re not just stored in that one location. Actually, they are all really in the archive section and if you have a lot of stuff you need to sort through that is _not_ labeled but _is_ archived (to get it the hell out of your inbox), it takes freakin’ forever. Argh! Just put the damn things in only ONE place, will ya? Of course, I’m probably alone in that desire, so I’ll be off over here in this corner by myself being archived to death. ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/26 "2004-12-12T21:50:27Z")
Even Microsoft spams Hotmail accounts. “Okay, you have 250 megs now, but is that really enough? Why for the low monthly price of $19.95/year, you can have 2 gigs. What? 250 megs is enough for you? Well, how about the fact that if you pay us, we’ll take off the incredibly annoying feature of deleting your messages if you don’t log on for 30 days. Sound good now?” ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/27 "2004-12-13T04:00:08Z")
> [@Mikahw](#): > > Even Microsoft spams Hotmail accounts. > > “Okay, you have 250 megs now, but is that really enough? Why for the low monthly price of $19.95/year, you can have 2 gigs. What? 250 megs is enough for you? Well, how about the fact that if you pay us, we’ll take off the incredibly annoying feature of deleting your messages if you don’t log on for 30 days. Sound good now?” You can say that again. I have restrictions set at max, so the only spam, heck, almost the only e-mails I get are from Microsoft trying to get me to buuy some service I don’t need. And you can’t block them. Haven’t had any spam or delivery problems with G-mail, although admitedly I don’t really use it all that much. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/28 "2004-12-13T04:09:10Z")
I’ve been using gmail as my primary for a while, and I’ve been nothing but happy with it. I label everything that comes in, and have never had a problem finding anything. Plus, if a message isn’t labeled, you can use the search function to find it. I don’t think I’ve ever missed a message, and whenever I mail myself from my work account (which I do a lot), it always shows up right away. And I’ve never had any spam. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/29 "2004-12-13T04:22:55Z")
I don’t think I miss anything either - I am forwarding 2 accounts I get my usually 150 emails a week from one of them, and another 80 from the other account and the spam is going to the spam folder 80% of the time, so no worries. Nobody has metioned to me that I may have missed an email at all - and spam is going to the spam box - so I am happy albeit - I am running out of space and I need to download some emails and store them on my harddrive. Hopefully they get IMAP soon so it will be easy to archive mail with attachments. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/30 "2004-12-13T04:37:28Z")
I’ve been using Gmail almost exclusively for about four months now, and I haven’t had any of these problems. I’m completely happy with it. I only recently started getting a trickle of spam, and it has all made it into my Spam folder. I’m sure this will get worse, but it’s a damn site better than the 3000 pieces of spam I get daily at my old address (on my own domain). ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/31 "2004-12-13T05:22:06Z")
I’ve been using Gmail exclusively since June, and my only complaint is that it’s hard to do anything with search results. If I decide all my LiveJournal comment notifications should be filed under “forum notifications”, or deleted, then I can search for from:livejournal.com, but then I have to go through each page of results manually to apply the label or delete the messages. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/32 "2004-12-14T09:36:26Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I dunno, I like top-replying in email, especially if it’s just me an one person. I rarely actually refer to the quoted text, so I don’t want to have to scroll past it in order to read the new message. If you don’t refer to the quoted text, delete it. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/33 "2004-12-14T09:52:03Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > What’s the size limit for sending files with Gmail? Nominally, 10MB. But it’s a surprisingly elastic limit, IME. I’ve sent files of up to 11.2MB with no problem - other than that it claims to have timed out before finishing the transfer - but it’s always actually sent. It does choke on ~13MB, and I’ve never tried anything between the two. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/34 "2004-12-14T10:24:34Z")
Hotmail used to be great - before Microsoft bought it. I dropped it several years ago, after they started changing the damn interface every 2 months and the spam started rolling in by the truckload. Now I just use my ISP box and the Mozilla mail client. I can still access new email with a web interface if I’m out of town. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/35 "2004-12-14T11:02:50Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > If you don’t refer to the quoted text, delete it. Problem solved. I said I rarely do, not never. I like having a running history; it makes it easier 3 or 4 emails down the line to remember what was discussed. One of the things that I really like about Gmail is that it keeps all the quoted stuff hidden initially - so that if I don’t want to look at it, I don’t have to, but if I find I need it for something, it’s easy to refer to. ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/36 "2004-12-14T12:00:10Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > For the non-spamees: give it time. Every spam computer in the world is pouring its powers into random Hotmail addresses, because a small proportion of them exist. If Gmail becomes popular, it’ll happen in the same way. [It’s already happening.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=290308) In the meantime, an older free e-mail account of mine has gotten no spam at all after two years of continuous use, probably because the service is not as well-known as Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/37 "2004-12-15T02:12:14Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I know it’s a free account, I know they offer a free gigabyte, and I know it’s in Beta test stage, but even so Google’s g-mail accounts suck. I know for a fact there are several e-mails I’ve never received or else received _days_ after they’re sent. Meanwhile, Hotmail, which is also free, now offers 250 MB of space and their quality is as good as ever. It’s funny, because that’s never happened to me with GMail. **Hotmail** howevewr can sometimes take up to a week to deliver mail. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376/38 "2004-12-15T03:34:53Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > You can get HTML to work? How? I tried using it once and it came through as coding. Very annoying since it was a fairly HTML intensive email I sent. Agreed on the folders, by the way. I have three pages of saved email and would like a way to categorize it better. > > Otherwise, I’ve never had a problem with it though and am having a difficult time believing Hotmail is superior to smoke signals, let alone gmail. Regarding folders, I make sure I label everything, and then archive. When I go to search for an old email, I can click on the folder, which will show all the archived messages. They just don’t sit in the Inbox. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmail-sucks/279376.md?page=1)