Talk:Gmail

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Contents

[edit] Should Keep The Beta Status

I noticed that the Beta "header" had been removed. I don't think this should be done. Google still classifies Gmail as a Beta. I think we should be following what the developers classify it as, because they obviously know best. Because Google still has it as a Beta product, I added the Beta tag back in.

Thanks, Speedboxer

I agree.--XMBRIAN 04:55, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
Agreed, just for the record. --Mambo Jambo 20:08, 15 October 2006 (UTC)
There is beginning to be an edit war on this page. Jammerpunk1089 removed the {{beta software}} tag at the top, which was previously removed, then replaced. Something needs to be done about this. -- Tuvok^Talk|Desk|Contribs  03:10, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
Let's leave it off until it's thoroughly resolved on the discussion page. I contend that the beta notice should not be placed in this article, as the software doesn't meet the specification of the beta notice: it does not change "rapidly," the development is at the speed of ordinary out-of-testing software, and it's just as stable as the non-betas of its competitors. Sean Hayford O'Leary 00:11, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chat

In the chat section, it claims to allow up to three chats, when I have had four chats. I changed it, but if anyone feels the need to challenge this claim, I can provide proof.--James Delgado 00:53, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] .EXE

Does GMail still purge out executables from attachments? // Gargaj 16:17, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

  • Why would you want to send an EXE file uncompressed in the first place? - Sikon 17:17, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
    • This is a good point. And yes, it still does. You can get around it with moderately savvy recipients by renaming the file to filename.ex_. Then the recipient renames it back to filename.exe. This gets around the ZIP blocking, too. -- Tuvok^Talk|Desk|Contribs  01:08, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Screenshot

I've recently noticed in my account that there is now an advert for Google Talk in the talk bar (or whatever it's called). Do we need a new screenshot with this in? I would take one, but I have never uploaded an image and am not sure about the copyright status that this would have. 0L1 - User - Talk - Contribs - 19:08 22 2006 (UTC)

  • I say no, as I had one of those the other days, and when I clicked on it, it went away, and has been gone since. --XMBRIAN 01:37, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Security

I heard a rumor that, although the login screen for Gmail is a secure HTTPS connection, the data being sent back and forth by AJAX is unsecured and not sent through this connection. Is this possible/true? — Omegatron 13:54, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

I believe this is true. Gmail sends your login credentials on an SSL connection, then transmits your labels, contacts, emails, and all other data over an unsecured connection. I don't believe it's the only service to do so; Yahoo! Mail doesn't, I believe, have HTTPS:// at the URL's start. However, Gmail incorporates a connection that is encrypted, accessible by changing the URL from http://mail.google.com/mail/ to https://mail.google.com/mail/. It can be encrypted, it just isn't by default. Let's all suggest that as a feature request to Google. Maybe they'll change it. -- Tuvok^Talk|Desk|Contribs  03:19, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Redundant duplication

The "Google keeps all your emails forevar!" criticism appears at least three separate times in this article alone. They should be combined into one section. There is probably other duplicated content too. — Omegatron 14:02, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to forward a batch of messages from gmail to yahoo email

dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.edu
What ways can be devised for forwarding a week of received messages from the gmail inbox to yahoo email all at once?...

  • Does Yahoo Mail still support checking POP mail from outside providers? I haven't used them in years, but they used to have a Bold textCheck other mail function and I presume they still would. If so, configure Gmail to allow POP access, then have Yahoo Mail download your mail through Gmail's POP server.

[edit] Why are "Tips" sites valid External Links on some articles and not others?

This Gmail article listed several sites in an "External sites" section that linked to "Tips" sites that provided tips and additional information about the Gmail. These sites were included for well over a year, and now have been summarily removed. Reasons given include:

"Wikipedia isn't here to provide tips to Gmail users"

and

"Wikipedia is not a list of links. External resource should have and *encyclopedic* value. Links to help page, hints are usually considered not relevant enough."

While I do understand the intent of the removal, I fail to see how listing these sites goes against the guidelines specified in the External links Help page. The links point to Web sites that provide more in-depth information that is not appropriate for inclusion in a Wikipedia article, but expands extensively upon the Wikipedia content.

In fact, the inclusion of Tips sites and similar sites is completely consistent with the content of other "validated" Wikipedia articles, notably Featured Articles that have gone through extensive and rigorous Wikipedia validation. For example:

  • In the Featured article about the Canon T90 camera, there is an external link to a Yahoo Group that is listed as "a useful source of T90 and other FD information"
  • In the Featured article about OpenBSD there is an external link to "OpenBSD 101", an overview and information site.
  • In the Featured article on Windows XP, the first External link listed is for a "Windows XP Tips and Tricks" site.

So what makes the Gmail article so different from other "featured articles" that include similar links, and can these linkes be reverted back in?

Further, as a point of consistency, if some Tips sites are removed, then in fairness, all other Tip site links must be removed. I tend to lean toward the side of "inclusion" instead of "exclusion" where appropriate, so I would encourage that legitimate Tips sites to be listed.

[edit] mobile

There is a new j2me client for gmail. http://mobilepit.com/09/j2me-google-talk-for-mobile-phones.html http://code.google.com/p/gtmobile/ Mathiastck 00:31, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Beta"

I edit this a long time ago (and it was removed by a guy with no life) because I was talking to one of the guys in Los Angeles who still is working on GMail as of right now and he quoted that GMail will probably not be taken out of beta "for a long time." His explanation was that as GMail adds new things, you can't really expect it to be "final" until it is "finally done." Phpcoder 22:24, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reverted deletion of "Dots in usernames" section

Hi, all. I just reverted an edit made early this afternoon by 205.167.120.201 that deleted the information about dots in Gmail usernames. I ran a search of the Gmail Help Center, and this is all correct information, so it should be in the article. Since the dots are a similar feature to "Plus-addressing", which is in the article and was not touched, I put the dots section back. Let me know if I shouldn't have done that. -- Tuvok^Talk|Desk|Contribs  03:23, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Competition s/b impact on the community

As a person who was constantly deleting messages from my Yahoo Mail account for fear that my 3 MB would fill and new messages would stop being delivered, the following text seems like it would be more appropriate under a section about Gmail's impact on the webmail community, than it's competition:

"After Gmail's initial announcement and development, many existing web mail services quickly increased their storage capacity. For example, Hotmail went from giving some users 2MB to 25MB (250MB after 30 days, and 2 GB for Hotmail Plus accounts), while Yahoo! Mail went from 4MB to 100MB (and 2 GB for Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts). Yahoo! Mail storage then proceeded to 250MB, and finally, in late April of 2005, to 1GB. These were all seen as moves to stop existing users from switching to Gmail, and to capitalize on the newly rekindled public interest in web mail services. The desire to catch up was especially visible for MSN Hotmail, which upgraded its e-mail storage erratically from 250 MB to the new Windows Live Mail (beta) which includes 2 GB of storage over a number of months. In August of 2005, AOL started providing all AIM screen names with their own e-mail accounts with 2 GB of storage. Another example of competition came from 30Gigs who were offering 30 gigabytes of storage, and was also invite only, but now offers free accounts for anyone." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by DigitalEnthusiast (talk • contribs) 01:07, 5 December 2006 (UTC).

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