Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by nohmi2

What they both said.

I have GMail on two laptops and I am having trouble figuring it out on both of them.

It has become an exercise in frustration.

Cheers

Well, Nohmi, you're not the only one. I feel that some things on the internet are a bit complicated to figure out.

[poohbear_nc]

I really need to carry a cell phone with a camera. So I took my usual after dinner walk. It's over 80 F here today. I passed a house - the door flew open and 2 small girls ran out. One was holding the leash of a chihuahua that was wearing a pink sequined jacket (the dog, not the girl). The other girl was wearing a pair of white furry rabbit ears (think Playboy bunny). I kept walking.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by nohmi2

I have GMail on two laptops and I am having trouble figuring it out on both of them.

It has become an exercise in frustration.

What are you having problems with? I use GMail as my primary email these days, and can probably assist.

The most confusing point for new users is probably "Where are the email folders?" Well, there aren't any. In their place, GMail substitutes labels and filters.

The GMail mail store on Google's service is a database, and can be searched using standard Google search mechanisms. You can apply labels you create to messages. These labels are index keys into the database, and can be used as search terms to locate messages of interest.

You can also create arbitrary filters to process incoming mail based on various criteria. I have a number of them. Most email I get is processed by one or another filter that applies a label, like MobileRead. The filter can also Archive the message. Messages that are archived to not appear in the Inbox. By default, labels with unread messages show on the left side of the GMail screen. Clicking on a label switches to a display of all messages with that label. It works like folders do in most email clients, with one important difference: you can apply more than one label to a message. This lets you have the same message appear in more then one "folder", which is impossible with email systems that use folders.

My GMail account polls my other accounts, so all email appears in GMail. It's also set up here so that replies made to messages sent to those acounts appear to come from those accounts, so it's not obvious GMail is in the loop.
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Dennis

[LCF]

I am currently backing up my Gmail accounts. 0.29% of the users got their data (temporarily?) whacked. Chances of it happening again are low and I never won a lottery, but I want to be on the safe side.

And, as Dennis said, Gmail rulz. I have a few friends still using web based email accounts with.. here it comes... 12 MB storage space!! When I send them some assignment we have to do (attached files) more often than not I get a message that their inbox is full.
Why they don't migrate and forward their emails into a new account (if the old address is so precious) with at least 1GB space is beyond me...

Lastly, I had an account with a local company years ago. It was the first email account I really used, so I had a lot of emails there I would like to have had now. Most of it sentimental, but still... So one day I awake to find both my accounts there... completely empty. Not a single letter. 2 days later I am invited to join the paid service, otherwise they will close my account.
I asked if I will get my mails back. Nope, they are completely and forever gone, huge failure. But you can start paying us. My reaction was pretty much WTF?! No... that doesn't even come close. You see... because it was not very common mail service, I made one more account... for my (then) new girlfriend. It was meant to be just a funny present, but she liked it very much and we started using only these accounts to communicate online... Can you see where this is heading?... Yep, her account was empty too. Most of you have more life experience than me, so you can guess the value of these first letters between us.

So what I learned was:

Have your mail with someone BIG, it's less likely they delete it all and then ask you to subscribe to their premium service (more likely the other way around).

Never put all your eggs in one basket. Now I have a gmail and she uses yahoo. If something happens it's unlikely that they will both simultaneously fail. And if so, it's probably WW3 anyway, so mails can wait

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I really need to carry a cell phone with a camera. So I took my usual after dinner walk. It's over 80 F here today. I passed a house - the door flew open and 2 small girls ran out. One was holding the leash of a chihuahua that was wearing a pink sequined jacket (the dog, not the girl). The other girl was wearing a pair of white furry rabbit ears (think Playboy bunny). I kept walking.

I've been seeing some amazing outfits at the puppy park recently. on the puppies! I should take some pictures out there. no bunny ears though

[coinín]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I've been seeing some amazing outfits at the puppy park recently. on the puppies! I should take some pictures out there. no bunny ears though

You should see my dog when it's raining and I get out his red raincoat. He knows he's cute in it and will get all kinds of attention, so he starts grinning.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by LCF

And, as Dennis said, Gmail rulz. I have a few friends still using web based email accounts with.. here it comes... 12 MB storage space!! When I send them some assignment we have to do (attached files) more often than not I get a message that their inbox is full.
Why they don't migrate and forward their emails into a new account (if the old address is so precious) with at least 1GB space is beyond me...

I had problems back in the days when I had a DSL account because of limited space in my account on their email server. I was (and am) on some high volume lists, and it was possible for mail to bounce because my Inbox on the server was full before I had a chance to check it if I was traveling. That's one nice thing about GMail. I have 7.5GB of storage and counting, and don't worry about Inbox overflows.

Another is that GMail currently has a 20MB limit on attachment size. That's a mixed blessing for stuff I might send as attachments, because the recipient may use email that can't receive attachments that big. In practice, it's not a problem, as I seldom send attachments, and most are nowhere near that size.

Lastly, I had an account with a local company years ago. It was the first email account I really used, so I had a lot of emails there I would like to have had now. Most of it sentimental, but still... So one day I awake to find both my accounts there... completely empty. Not a single letter. 2 days later I am invited to join the paid service, otherwise they will close my account.
I asked if I will get my mails back. Nope, they are completely and forever gone, huge failure. But you can start paying us. My reaction was pretty much WTF?! No... that doesn't even come close. You see... because it was not very common mail service, I made one more account... for my (then) new girlfriend. It was meant to be just a funny present, but she liked it very much and we started using only these accounts to communicate online... Can you see where this is heading?... Yep, her account was empty too. Most of you have more life experience than me, so you can guess the value of these first letters between us.

Ouch!

If that happened over here, I'd expect something like a class action lawsuit against the company. At minimum, they'd be expected to tell you they planned to delete mail in free accounts, and give you an option to preserve it before it went away if you didn't plan to upgrade.

So what I learned was:

Have your mail with someone BIG, it's less likely they delete it all and then ask you to subscribe to their premium service (more likely the other way around).

I did have mail in my Yahoo account go away, because I hadn't accessed the account in some time. They did in fact send email warning me it would happen, but they sent it to the Yahoo address I never had cause to look at because I only used it to send things, and did that seldom, so I never saw it till too late.

The only reason I used it at all was to get around the one thing I don't like about GMail: they forbid attachments containing executables. I occasionally need to send someone a program, so this is a problem. To make it more fun, GMail never documented what they considered executables. I had a zip archive containing only HTML and png files bounced, apparently because a user could theoretically click on the downloaded attachment in email to open the zip file, then click on an html file in the archive and open it in a browser, and the HTML might try to do Bad Things.

I didn't lose anything I cared about, so no big deal, but I do now have GMail polling the Yahoo account, Just In Case.

Yahoo wouldn't mind if I upgraded to a paid account, but they offer nothing compelling enough to get me to do it.

Never put all your eggs in one basket. Now I have a gmail and she uses yahoo. If something happens it's unlikely that they will both simultaneously fail. And if so, it's probably WW3 anyway, so mails can wait

Google stores everything in at least three geographically separate locations. I tell anyone that if something happens big enough to interrupt Google's services, I likely have far greater problems than being able to access my mail.
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Dennis

[wyndslash]

i am *painfully* trying to finish Plato's Republic. being required to read a book sure takes the fun out of reading. and in my local language, plato means plate, literally. but of course it has a different pronunciation.

[phenomshel]

Rejoicing!! Just finished semester finals, which means: NO SCHOOL NEXT WEEKEND FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeeeee a whole weekend with no assignments due!

[wyndslash]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Rejoicing!! Just finished semester finals, which means: NO SCHOOL NEXT WEEKEND FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeeeee a whole weekend with no assignments due!

i hate you ;-; i wanna go on vacation too ;-;

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

i hate you ;-; i wanna go on vacation too ;-;

Awwww I'm sorry honey. [[[hugs]]]

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Rejoicing!! Just finished semester finals, which means: NO SCHOOL NEXT WEEKEND FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeeeee a whole weekend with no assignments due!

Times like that, my father would say "Great! Perfect time for you to get a jump on next semester's work. How many hours will you put in tonight?"

For some reason, he was usually less than pleased with my response.




Stitchawl

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

i am *painfully* trying to finish Plato's Republic. being required to read a book sure takes the fun out of reading. and in my local language, plato means plate, literally. but of course it has a different pronunciation.

Yuck, I remember that. Luckily I enjoyed most of the books I had to read, but when I didn't, I hated it. And Plato, well... I think I bought the Republic as an e-book last year, but haven't tried reading it yet. I don't expect much joy from it but I should do it, I think. Some day.

[LCF]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Ouch!

If that happened over here, I'd expect something like a class action lawsuit against the company. At minimum, they'd be expected to tell you they planned to delete mail in free accounts, and give you an option to preserve it before it went away if you didn't plan to upgrade.



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Dennis

No they didn't plan, it was a "huge problem" they had. I guess someone spilled coffee on the only HD in the server and then put it in a microwave do dry faster...

BUT, good news, the book I waited for almost 3 years is finally going to be out tomorrow. And amazon sent it yesterday

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by LCF

No they didn't plan, it was a "huge problem" they had. I guess someone spilled coffee on the only HD in the server and then put it in a microwave do dry faster...

"Huge problem" translating to "server crash, and no backups?"

Out of curiosity, are they still in business? I'd be tempted to bet they aren't.

BUT, good news, the book I waited for almost 3 years is finally going to be out tomorrow. And amazon sent it yesterday

Cool.
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Dennis