Two big reasons not to use Gmail

I was absolutely shocked to learn this is how Gmail works.
 


PS.: This was the image linked above, before I locked my account:
 

 

As you’ll read in the thread, this has been confirmed by other Gmail users.

That should rule out ever using Gmail for secure communications. Not that you should be using a service like that for anything important, but the fact is Gmail has become ubiquitous, and I believe a lot of people don’t know any better.

Just imagine being able to receive some emails meant for your rival by signing up to an address that varies from it by a full stop or period.

Secondly, we’ve noticed a large amount of spam where we can trace (via Spamcop) the origins back to Gmail. Oftentimes they have Gmail reply addresses, as in the case of 419 scams (where they may use another ISP or email service with a “sacrificial” address to send them). Why would you risk being among that lot?

Add this to the massive list of shortcomings already detailed here and elsewhere and you have a totally unreliable platform that doesn’t really give a toss. They didn’t care when they removed my friend’s blog in 2009 and then obstructed any attempt to get it back, until a product manager became involved. They didn’t care when their website blacklisting service libelled clean sites in 2013, telling people not to visit them or link to them. And they don’t care now.

There really is no reason to use Gmail. You’ll risk your emails going to someone else with a similar address, and you’ll be among the company of unethical actors. I can truly say that if Gmail weren’t this ubiquitous, and used by so many friends, I’d just set up a rule on our server and block the lot.


You may also like




5 thoughts on “Two big reasons not to use Gmail

  1. I’m still using Zoho, Jack. Thank you again for the wonderful recommendation.

    I regret to tell you I’ve been negligent, however, more especially as my persistent pain has gotten worse, and I use a tablet so I can compute while lying in bed. Cimmy has been encouraging me to move more e-mail to Zoho, actually. I still use Gmail for electronic receipts, retail mailing lists, and such. Not ideal, I know. I have moved some other things- mostly gaming stuff- to Protonmail.

    The GOOGS borg is tough to escape, despite my lackadaisical attitude. My parents would be slow to move to Zoho services, if at all. Our local school district went all in to use Google Classroom for quarantined remote learning. Such is a different discussion, but I remember your perspective on Borgle generally, so I mentioned it.

  2. I’m so sorry to hear about your pain. My rule about technology stands: it’s here to help us, not the other way around. If shifting everything to Zoho and Protonmail isn’t convenient because of our current circumstances, then we should wait, otherwise it feels as though we are serving the technology.
       I work with one school that uses Google as well, and I was given a Gmail as a result. I set up a forwarder from there as soon as I could so I wouldn’t have to go back into it. I also made sure I used a fresh browser just to use Google so it wouldn’t track me as easily on my main one, which has a load of privacy plug-ins.
       My experience with Gmail has been mostly negative. Every board member at this school receives Google Hangouts information in their messages, except me. Mine don’t even show me the same times for meetings sometimes! If you look at some of my older posts, there are basic things that Google says I should be able to do which are impossible for me. Everything they have, it seems, is buggy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *