I used Thunderbird before I switched to Gmail, and for several years after I kept it running on my Gmail account without ever opening the window, just so I'd have a local backup of all my mail.
I should maybe start doing that again.
I got locked out of my Google account for a month
21–30 of 210 posts
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#22[deleted]
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#23> On December 5th, I sent a note to a PR contact who I work with on Google-related news and I told him about my problem. He said he had gotten my case escalated and I should hear within 24 hours. Sadly in all these stories that end successfully there is an inside help from someone that has contacts in Google. I don't even want to think about what would happen to people that don't know anyone inside Google.
> I don't even want to think about what would happen to people that don't know anyone inside Google.
Like me...
Luckily I'm still logged into gmail on the iPhone so there's a (slim) chance I might be able to get back in on the laptop.
--edit--
Maybe last time was a fluke but I managed to get signed in, weird.
Sorry to doubt you google.
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#24> That same day I opened a second GMail account so I could have access to services like an email account if need be, even if it didn’t have any of my previous data in there. When service is this terrible, why stick with the bad provider? I generally find the whole article sort of depressing... “Google ignored my problems for a month. But now I have access again oh well yay!!”
Because what's the alternative? You can spend weeks moving all your data to Microsoft or Apple... and suffer lost messages when people don't update their e-mail for you... and then discover they're just as bad or worse? What's an alternative to Gmail+Drive+Apps that has as much functionality, ease of use and convenience, and at a comparable price, but guarantees you won't get locked out?
If you're opening a new 2nd account, there isn't anything to "move", is there?
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
When is the last time you heard the same kind of story about Apple or MS?
Didn't Apple shut down their .me or whatever it was called services some time ago (and AFAIK that was even a paid service)? What happened to the websites, blogs, emails, etc that were hosted by them?
They discontinued the hosting, but the rest of the services (including email) are largely still around, just rebranded to iCloud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MobileMe
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#26> On December 5th, I sent a note to a PR contact who I work with on Google-related news and I told him about my problem. He said he had gotten my case escalated and I should hear within 24 hours. Sadly in all these stories that end successfully there is an inside help from someone that has contacts in Google. I don't even want to think about what would happen to people that don't know anyone inside Google.
I used my work email as my backup for my gmail account, and thus could not retrieve my password after I left that job (on good terms even, but they would not let me use my old email). Having access to my android phone tied to the gmail account helped not at all.
I tried the gmail password retrieval system repeatedly, but could not get it to recognize me even though I had an archive of much of my email, so I thought I could be confident in answering questions about who I emailed and such.
So, I switched to a new email account. Luckily, I had a tablet that (to this day) is still logged into my lost gmail account, so I can tell that nobody I care about is still sending to the old address.
All in all, the consequences weren't that bad, although among them were the loss of my ability to have my straightforward firstname.lastname@gmail.com address...unfortunately using just my first initial and last name is not unique.
The concept of being able to reach a human being at Google is tantalizing but the fact is, I have such resentment and bile built up for the way things were designed that I'm not sure I want to reach out. And it doesn't matter a great deal anyway. I suspect in the long run it's lucky I learned not to trust them too much.
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#27[deleted]
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#28Trusting "your life" to a third party service is very dangerous. Because if your life depends on that service, your life can't continue with out it, so I ask, why do this to yourself? The convenience is a serious trade off.
The thing is, people round small risks to zero. As a heuristic, it's not correct, but there are so many possible small risks that it's impossible to round them all up to a significant amount either. Same principle leads to people accepting abusive licensing terms.
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#29I don't know. It might be a unpopular opinion, but I am okay to be locked out if I forgot my password to my email. I prefer that to weaken security, and complex processes to sign in.
Re: I got locked out of my Google account for a month
#30That convinces me never to use Google for a primary, trusted account. It's just too easy to get locked out forever.
It's worth taking some time to think about how you will recover from various disasters: forgot password, drive crashed, lost phone, etc. IMHO the best approach is to have one account with a hard but memorable password, that you can access from any device, and use to bootstrap the rest of your accounts and passwords. Maybe also keep the password on a piece of paper stored where you will know if it has been accessed.