How likely is losing a Google account? • Hacker News Board

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#141

Post by JamesLeonis » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 5:48 PM UTC

r3trohack3r wrote: post #76

blfr wrote: post #40

Google is too good not to roll the dice. I use Gmail in my own domain with a different registrar. Push comes to shove, I'll move, restore backups, and carry on. But damn are non-Google ecosystems bad. At work we use m365 and everything is atrocious compared to Google. Loggin in is a mess, email search is dreadful, OneNote search unhelpfully defaults to searching the current pagwe, integration with Android is weak, Ou…

I had the opposite experience. My google inboxes are full of spam. To catch the companies that were causing all of this spam, I setup a catchall email account on a non-google email service and switched every vendor over to a dedicated email address (i.e. hn@foobar.com, homedepot@foobar.com). I expected to catch a tonne of vendors "red handed" sharing my email address, since spam was so prolific on gmail. Nope, I simp…

I don't doubt your experience, but I've had the same pattern (gmail.com email spammed to hell, custom domain -> no spam) except that I'm in a grandfathered Google Workspaces account. I also do the custom email trick, and I'm very liberal about handing out those (makes remembering accounts easier as well), but no dice.

I'm convinced that companies filter out custom domain email addresses when they share and spam user data.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#142

Post by mort96 » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 5:50 PM UTC

malepoon2 wrote: post #139

crazygringo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd never heard of that, but it doesn't appear anyone was banned for viewing a stream. Rather, accounts were banned because he asked people to vote via comments using just single emojis, and the repetitive emoji comments were classified as spamming, so accounts were blocked for spamming. Once Google recognized the error of over-aggressive spam classification, it reinstated all the accounts. [1] [1] https://www.engadg…

It still shows it's a good idea to separate your e-mail from your YouTube or whatever account though. When I still used Gmail I was always worried something like this would get me locked out of everything. I use YouTube much more now that my e-mail is safely stored elsewhere.

My YouTube account used to be independent from my Google account, just using my gmail address as the e-mail address. Then Google bought YouTube. Then Google merged my YouTube account with my Google account against my will.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#143

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 5:51 PM UTC

8ytecoder wrote: post #83

dylan604 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2) Why in the world would Gmail get shut down? The veins of treasure to be mined from within the user's emails are vast and endless. It is quite simply a mother lode. The only bigger source within their direct control is the search input screen.

OP specifically mentioned Google Workspace for individuals - that's what I used to use so I can use my own domain and so "own" my email address. There's a good chance that gets shutdown. Google Workspace for large orgs or Gmail does not have the same risk.

[deleted]

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#144

Post by zarzavat » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 5:55 PM UTC

karteum wrote: post #12

sshine wrote: post #2

Okay, so it's not very likely. What made me transition away from Google/Gmail as my identity provider was pondering the question: How screwed am I if I get locked out of my Google account? The answer: Well, if you're on Hacker News, you may have a chance of reaching a human. But if you broke a policy, good luck. I'm paying $5/mo. for that to not be that screwed. (I have family who got locked out. It does happen.)

> I'm paying $5/mo. for that to not be that screwed (I have family who got locked out. It does happen.) But the article precisely addresses that: For example, in HN discussions people will often recommend Fastmail or Protonmail, but they've had their problems too (FM: 2017, 2020, 2022, PM: 2018, 2019, 2021). Especially given that these are much smaller services I'm not convinced that the risk is lower there. Any syst…

The point of Fastmail and similar is that you get to use your own domain. Then if your account is disabled, you can just change your DNS and use your email with another provider.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#145

Post by buggeryorkshire » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 6:02 PM UTC

mattnewton wrote: post #95

jxf wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the "dasher personal accounts"? I haven't heard of that before and search results seem to think I'm asking about DoorDash.

That was the internal name for personal paid gmail - I honestly cannot remember the nondescript word combination they called it publicly, but it was rolled into Gsuite which is now google workspace and google decided they wanted to focus on business users instead. I think this is a relevant article: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/01/google-relents-legac... Anyways, basically agree that gmail isn’t going anywher…

GAFYD (Google Apps For Your Domain)

I used this for 10 years or so before realising they'd moved the backends as they were planning the workspace thing and they were separate - you couldn't share between the two, loads of features missing etc .

Typical Google - all the ideas, no execution.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#146

Post by userOuterSpace » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 6:05 PM UTC

ckemere wrote: post #50

Has anyone else had trouble with Google takeout? I tried to download my GMail history and it just failed with no extra info. (I made a post about this that didn't get any traction... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34456459 )

In my experience, you need to have been logged in on a particular device for 7 straight days before Google will let you use Takeout.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#147

Post by xdennis » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 6:05 PM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #29

guptaneil wrote: post #13

It's true that every service has to deal with the same policy and lockout problems, but that doesn't lead to the conclusion that the risk is the same. I pay for FastMail because 1. if something goes wrong, I can reach a human without needing to write a viral blog post first. Other services pay for a customer service department. 2. I trust FastMail more to not shut down their product because they got bored. Sure Gmail…

"I can reach a human" is a huge security vuln. I don't want people social engineering my identity provider.

"For Security!" has become a universal cudgel:

* For your own security (from theft) we'll hardware lock your phone. Best to throw it in the dumpster if you forget the password.

* Can't allow people to repair their own hardware. What if kids try to do it and end up burning the whole apartment block. Best to forbid it for security.

* You can't film public institution: it's a security issue.

* And now: can't allow humans to operate business decisions. What if they're socially engineered? Best leave everything to automation and fuck you if you slip through the cracks.

It's funny because in the airplane industry, even though planes basically fly themselves, companies still want pilots, because that's what people are best at: solving unique problems as opposed to repetitive issues.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#148

Post by Zamicol » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 6:06 PM UTC

Bankless was talking about that this past week with sign-in with Ethereum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHwzE6mVm_s

Separate from any blockchain project, we're using public key auth for account authentication, so our site doesn't have the ability to cancel someone's account for third parties.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#149

Post by parasubvert » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 6:07 PM UTC

A popular reviewer in the headphone/IEM audiophile community, Crinacle, had lost his Google account in early 2022, and thus his 100k+ subscriber Youtube channel. It was locked, with no explanation, and no recourse other than an appeal (that went unanswered afaik).

Curiously, his old Youtube channel stayed up for most of the year, he just couldn't access it, but it was removed too late last year. He created a new account and rebuilt his following, here's the original video when he lost his account: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn1b3DztWnc

The biggest issue to me is that Google has a history of not caring about customer service, or any sort of human touch to handle fuzzy situations the algorithms get wrong.

Re: How likely is losing a Google account?

#150

Post by amf12 » Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 6:08 PM UTC

guptaneil wrote: post #13

It's true that every service has to deal with the same policy and lockout problems, but that doesn't lead to the conclusion that the risk is the same. I pay for FastMail because 1. if something goes wrong, I can reach a human without needing to write a viral blog post first. Other services pay for a customer service department. 2. I trust FastMail more to not shut down their product because they got bored. Sure Gmail…

> I pay for FastMail because - if something goes wrong, I can reach a human

You can do that with GMail too, upgrade to the workspace account. I had some issues with it last week, and I was able to reach a human and get it resolved soon.

This is regardless of Google. Reaching humans is impossible with "Outlook" free email accounts, but amazing with Microsoft 365.