How far can I trust Gmail?

[manou rabary]

Hello,

This is a serious question, worry. I had the mania of having tons of emails address before. But managing them gave me nervousity at the end. So I made up my mind to use only one gmail address. I have this Gmail address since 2004 when it was still owned by invitation. But sometimes, I hear person's gmail account closed by Google for nothing. So I want to hear your opinion, how trusty is a Gmail email address? Can we entrust our business in a Gmail account? I do not talk about the security (like secret questions, password) but about the reliability, the life of a Gmail address?

You, how far you trust your Gmail address?

Cheers,

Manou Rabary
http://www.google.com/profiles/manou.rabary

[imran khalid]

hi,

    this is imran khalid, i think so gmail is a trusty email address and i will b use this account

    in my business turmes.     thanks
                                                             imran khalid
                                                           

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[Zack (Doc)]

Hello,

Out of the millions of GMail accounts out there, I've heard less than a dozen stories of people's accounts being closed for "nothing", and when pressed for information, the people typically disappear, so I suspect at least a few of them are not "nothing".  While it is possible for an account to get closed in error, it definitely seems to be the exception.  A smart course would be to "back up" that account to another location, potentially through another carrier/system (like pop download).  To answer your questions more directly...

I consider my GMail email address very trusty.

I would NOT entrust a revenue stream to a free service, but that's entirely your choice.  Google does offer "for pay" e-mail services (which is basically GMail with a guarantee), which I could entrust a business to.

Given Google's answers on the subject so far, I would expect the life of my GMail address to be the same as the life of the Google company; if they're around, so will be their service.

[Ryan Morehart]

I don't really have any additional thoughts on top of Zack's but I
agree with him. The other thing to remember about the reports of
addresses being closed is that those are the things you see from
unhappy people. Very few people go out of their way to say report
never having problems, so when you're looking around at a place like a
help group and see a "lot" of problems, keep in mind that for every
person with a problem there are millions without one.

Ryan

[Allan Lobeck]

I have the same concerns...and would like to hear how to better secure (by any method) my email messages so I do not lose them - I started using gmail about 8-9 years ago - and I do not have the email with all the special things I need to prove the email is mine.  Is forwarding a solution?  Is there any other solution?

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[Ralph Yozzo]

Hi,

I used gmail from near the beginning and it is by far the best email system I have used.

I'm amazed that people sometimes don't trust things simply because they do not pay for them.  This is possibly a result of the capitalist mindset, where a price is affixed to everything.

I'll write more later.  But there is an open data initiative.  If you listen to Eric Schmidt Google CEO, he actually says "your data is your data" you have a right to import and export.  I've found Google to do that much more than other companies, services.

[Ralph Yozzo]

Hi,

Gmail has IMAP support and with Thunderbird set in "download everything mode", you have all the emails on your local disk.  Plus synchronization both ways.

You can also forward all emails to another Gmail account or any account.

[Zack (Doc)]

Don't misinterpret what I say... I still trust GMail big-time; but if I had money on the line, the chance to LOSE money if I lost my e-mail, I would want a system that is accountable, that I can expect human response from.  This type of service you typically will pay for.

[Zack (Doc)]

Wow... you've been using GMail for 3 years longer than it's existed?!? (GMail started on April 1 2004; just over 6 years ago).  But on a more serious note, Ralph has the right idea.  His solution is easy and versatile.

[manou rabary]

Hello,

Thanks to all who has replyed this email. Reading your replies, I'm convinced that, yes, for one person who has problem, there is million that do not have. And surely these persons did not respect Gmail policies or did something bad, that's why their account is closed. So, I'll trust Gmail. However, I will think about the gmail paid solution. Not for a capitalism question but for more space and for more guarantee. And over all, in reality, there is also a sentimental value somewhere: I like my email address :-) :-) So I do not want to loose it! :-)

[Ralph Yozzo]

Also, there is a "pay for Gmail disk space" option, which I use.  I was pleasantly surprised by it.  I believe it's $5 a year and it gives you more than the advertised 20 Gigs and it's also for more than Gmail.  It affects Picasa, etc.

Also if you really want to own your email address, buy a domain name and you can then attach it to Google Apps.  There is also Google Apps for Business and Google App Engine for Business.  These include or will include SLA's

Hope this helps,
Ralph

[Andy]

Adding a couple more comments to the responses so far....

> You, how far you trust your Gmail address?

Be certain to use secure passwords!! If your password is easy to
guess or "crack", it opens up your account to being stolen or
compromised by a hacker. Once compromised, you might not get it back.
This could be true of any email service, but especially Gmail because
it's free, and there are millions of users, and probably no employee
at Google personally knows you.

A lot depends on how you use your account and your email address. If
your address is posted all over the Internet, or if you frequently
voice hotly political views (etc.), it increases the chances that some
idiot out there might target your account for some sort of attack.

Limit your access from unprotected locations (i.e., internet cafe's,
free wi-fi, etc.).

If some hacker barrages your account with repeated login attempts, it
can trigger a flag that temporarily makes it harder to login, maybe
even temporarily disable logins.

The thing about Gmail is that it's free, and very popular. You won't
get free customer service if there is a problem, and that's where a
lot of people's complaints comes from. If your account is ever
compromised, it can be very difficult getting it back to normal. Most
of the customer service is automated. If you NEED a live human being
on the other end of a phone call when you need help, then don't put
your trust in a free service that has hundreds of millions of users.

I'm happy with Gmail. Yes, I've had times when I couldn't login.
They were temporary, and I was patient.

Andy

[Kenneth]

Gmail started on April Fool's Day, 2004? I thought I had created my
accounts very soon after it was started but I can't find any emails
older than June 10, 2004.

How worried should I be that I don't have that welcome email sent by
Google for my primary Gmail account? I have it for some other
accounts I created on 6/10/04 and it doesn't seem particularly
important. It contains no account information at all and is mostly
just welcome text with a now obsolete link to a Getting Started guide.
It certainly doesn't give any warning to the user that they should
keep and protect that email.

Kenneth

[Sarah Hill]

The verification e-mail will have been sent to the account that you listed when you created that Gmail account. In the case of invitations back in the days when it was by invitation only) , it would be the acount that the invitation was sent to.
The subject line will be:
"Subject: Your Gmail account, Your Na...@gmail.com, has been created"

[Fossil fuel is green]

On Jun 5, 12:46 am, manou rabary <manou.rab...@gmail.com> wrote:
> up my mind to use only one gmail address. I have this Gmail address since

Even though you have not raised the issue be aware that "plus
addressing" does squat to protect your email address as do actual
disposable addresses. (consider: yahoo address guard). Multiple
gmail addresses approach the convenience of a disposable address.

> gmail account closed by Google for nothing. So I want to hear your opinion,

google is the sole arbiter of truth in this context much as is paypal.

> how trusty is a Gmail email address? Can we entrust our business in a Gmail

Heck NO! That would be folly.

Purchase an account where the almighty dollar dictates terms; being at
the whim of a google tos it the opposite of wise.

> You, how far you trust your Gmail address?

I use mine to manage a set of disposable email addresses. I never use
it to collect purchase confirmations nor to conduct business or
anything serious.

If "it works for me" persuades you I hope your fantastic luck
continues to keep your business afloat.