Talk:Gmail/Archives/2007/December

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Contents

storage counter

Does anyone happen to know why the storage counter, when the gmail login page is first loading, shows a counter with a much smaller number of megabytes and then adds the rest? Just now, it first showed there as being 2757.272164, and then added about 2250 more. Has anyone else noticed this or know why this happens? Helvetica (talk) 08:08, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

It's because of the way the counter works. I might be getting too technical, but the 2757.272164 (or whatever it is) number is the number actually in the HTML of the page. It takes the on-page JavaScript a second or two to get going, at which point it corrects to the proper value, which is something over 5000 now. Does that help? Good question! Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 17:08, 18 November 2007 (UTC)
PS: This isn't really the place for such discussion, as article talk pages are technically only for talking about article-related issues, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to answer a question. :P
I see it too but I have no idea what it is. I cannot add this to the article because a Wikipedian (maybe even myself!) will surely fact tag it or cite no original research it and then delete it. --Kushalt 19:52, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure information like this really even has a place in the article. It's a minute bit of trivia that's answered easily if you understand how the onload JavaScript event works. Answering it in the article would, IMHO, be overkill; it's not really about Gmail itself. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 15:09, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Google's gmail usage

(Originaly frommy talk page) Note to you:

6B Friday November 23, 2007 USA TODAY

Despite filters, tidal wave of spam bears dowm on e-mailers

"[...] For a start, tens of millions use Google's Gmail because it was designed with built-in spam defenses. [...]"

Do you think it might be useful for the Gmail article? Regards, --12.226.117.72 (talk) 15:38, 23 November 2007 (UTC) --Kushalt 00:43, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

It could be a useful statement, if Gmail were somehow unique with regards to spam filtering. Was Gmail the first major free webmail service to incorporate heavy-duty spam filters? If so, is there any way we can verify that statement (ignoring the one above for the moment; that one's sourced)? I know for a fact that Yahoo! Mail has decent filters (not as good as Google's -- I've gotten false negatives here and there), and I believe Hotmail does as well, or at least the MS and Y! offerings do now. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 04:09, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
Actually, this article citation was for the fact tag that we have over the 58 million users Gmail currently has. Could the text be changed to a compromise of "tens of millions" and cite this article? I did not do it myself because someone might challenge the source saying the article is not a good source.
has anyone read the article? if yes, do you believe it is a cite able source? if yes, do you think my proposal in this context makes any sense? if yes, could you make the change or answer here? Thank you --Kushalt 19:56, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
As a news article, it should be quite adequate for a source. I've made the change to the article. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 15:06, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
A great job! Congratulations ... (I never got the idea that the article might also be on the online version of USA Today.) --Kushalt 02:55, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
Thanks! I must give due credit to Google News for helping me find it. The barnstar is also much appreciated! Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 05:21, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Difference with @gmail.com or @googlemail.com

Why is that with my google mail certain e-mails from friends e-mails contain @gmail.com and not @googlemail.com is there some sort of different version of google mail service. SKYNET X3000 (talk) 19:02, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

gmail.com is the main domain. googlemail.com is used in countries where Google could not secure rights to use the Gmail domain name, such as Germany (where another email service named Gmail already existed). The two domains are, however, the exact same service. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 19:43, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
But why two different types of address couldn't google just use googlemail.com. Instead of making it confusing. SKYNET X3000 (talk) 19:45, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
It doesn't have to be confusing. Google wanted to use Gmail because that's the official product name. If they can't use it, they fall back to the longer name. Which brings up another point: They probably like Gmail.com better because it's shorter. And I just sent myself a message from Gmail.com to GoogleMail.com and it worked, so though it's OR, it appears to be possible to send to either domain. Try it on one of your GoogleMail.com friends and see if an address ending in Gmail.com works. (Ex: Try sending a message to myfriend [at] gmail.com instead of myfriend [at] googlemail.com) Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 22:35, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
Not technically OR - see http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en-GB/googlemail.html. It doesn't matter what comes after the @ (either gmail.com or googlemail.com) it will still be sent to the same user. ~~ [Jam][talk] 00:39, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
Hmm, I read that, too. I guess you could interpret it that way. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 02:05, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Was interesting is as well is that i was able to log onto to my google mail account using @gmail.com and not @googlemail.com could that be because of what you said where it's the same e-mail domain. SKYNET X3000 (talk) 19:03, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

If you register with a @gmail.com account, then you cannot log in using @googlemail.com; if you register with a @googlemail.com, then you cannot log in using @gmail.com. While you can email to either account - and it should arrive - you cannot log in using the other email address. ~~ [Jam][talk] 19:37, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
oh well, but thanks anyway. SKYNET X5000 (talk) 19:38, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Citation needed

Could [1] be a citation for

Google Apps provides companies to provide Gmail-like interfaces for other systems.[citation needed] For example, users of Sky Broadband access their @sky.com emails from a customized Gmail interface with 10GB of storage space.

? Tell us what you think! --Kushalt 21:59, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Ick! I'm about to reword that passage. It doesn't read well at the moment. That reference does look compelling; it doesn't take much interpretation to recognize a connection between "designed for ISP's [sic]" and Sky Broadband. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 04:09, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
Eh, I just added the reference anyway. It can always be removed later if desired. I wish we had a reference for the Sky part of the statement, though (which I didn't touch, save for a space). Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 04:20, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Is this true?

In the criticism section I read "Further, URLs in emails are converted to a clickable hyperlink with the Google redirect prepended.", but Gmail don't seem to do this with my account. Can someone else double check? Thanks. --130.192.27.79 (talk) 12:40, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it is true. When you click on a link, it opens in a new window, but goes through some special Gmail redirection process. I presume it is to gather some status about click-through links, maybe provide protection against phishing attacks. ~~ [Jam][talk] 12:56, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
Second confirmation. It does happen with my account, as well. Perhaps on your computer it's just too quick to see. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 00:47, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
Ok, thank you. --130.192.27.79 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.222.103.93 (talk) 19:24, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Secure access

The article claims that one can get SSL connection if one writes the address as https://mail.google.com/mail. I tried this with IE and Opera, both fairly new, and it didn't work.Kokkokanta (talk) 08:54, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

I've just tried it and it went through OK. ~~ [Jam][talk] 09:16, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
I've been using SSL for over a year now. Browser extensions for (not from) Google often offer the option to force secure Gmail (such as CustomizeGoogle). This sounds like a configuration issue with your computer. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 14:57, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

I tried it and it works (Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.10 on MS Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2). Am I hearing voices or is someone going to say "But this page is not a help page." --Kushalt 19:59, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

I won't; but now that you mention it... :P Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 14:55, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

On a completely different note, I think the article needs to be edited, because by default Gmail now logs in with https. CarpeGuitarrem (talk) 07:49, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Indeed it does. Hmm. Nice! I'll go edit right now. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 08:53, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
False alarm. I neglected to recall that I had two Firefox extensions doing the same thing: forcing secure connections. If you have either CustomizeGoogle or Better Gmail (either version), it may be causing the automatic redirect. Google isn't doing it. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 09:00, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
Yep...I realized this when I accessed Gmail from another computer's browser, without those extensions installed. It is those extensions. On the other hand, do you think that those extensions are worth a mention in the article? CarpeGuitarrem (talk) 20:06, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
Better Gmail might possibly be. CustomizeGoogle works with Gmail as only a small fraction of its function. BG does a lot more than CG. That's my gut feeling, at least. I'll think more about it later tonight, after theater rehearsal. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 23:33, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
No, it is true. I've just gone to "gmail.com" and it redirects to "https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?..." by default. ~~ [Jam][talk] 10:35, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
As it stands right now, the article is correct. If left to its own devices, Gmail will give a secure connection for the login page then redirect to an unsecured connection to view mail and other data. Yes, it redirects to HTTPS for you to log in, but it still sends your mail and contact data in cleartext by default. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 11:14, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
Oh OK. Yes, the login is secure, but the main email stuff is insecure (by default anyway). ~~ [Jam][talk] 11:29, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

beta

Gmail is still in beta as noted by the logo. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.164.161.165 (talk) 10:29, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

This is indicated in the article, isn't it? ~~ [Jam][talk] 10:34, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
Indeed it is. I reverted an editor a few days ago who removed the beta tag, too. Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 15:58, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Release date update

I think the article's release date needs to be updated. Gmail's gone through a lot of changes since 2004. I'm about to change it to December 4, 2007, as that's the most recent release I can think of (AIM support was added about then), but if I'm missing something or if anyone thinks it should stay the same (perhaps the new version is a "preview"?) feel free to revert. Just please leave a comment reply here. :) Tuvok[T@lk/Improve me] 16:01, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Censorship of Gmail

Please read what I wrote on Talk:Censorship by Google‎ regarding political censorship of Gmail.

Citizen of the state (talk) 00:11, 27 December 2007 (UTC)