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Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

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Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#131

Yes, I saw this, but seems to be limited to the Promotions filtered tab which, well, an advert next to an advert. I'm kind of okay with that. But it does make you wonder if this is the start of a slippery slope.

Of course it is, look at YouTube it's practically unwatchable now without ad blockers.

Ads in your search results, ads to the left of your video, ads before the video, ads during the video

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked at Fastmail recently, but then I saw the Opera logo and hesitated. I want to know what would happen to them if Opera cannot maintain profitability. I'd like to know my mail provider is going to stick around a while.

Fastmail has been around since 1999, I think it's going to be okay.

Sorry, this is really not a coherent comment. I rambled.

It's a fair question though. Despite the "If you don't pay for it…" mantra that people like to spout off, situations like Sparrow and other paid services shutting down tend to worry me. And I know, it's odd, considering Gmail is free and Google as a tendency to shut things down (but I don't see them shutting down Gmail).

I guess the issue is that if I pay for it, I'm investing time and money into something I want to know will stick around. And because I'm a customer, I feel like I'm empowered to believe that. After all, if a company is charging me X amount, I think that charge should be related to keeping themselves in business. I hate the idea of a company that charges not being able to stay afloat because of their low prices. It's not even giving me a choice as a customer to pay more to ensure their service remains.

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#133
post #16

I'd love for Google to work out how much money they make from me in a year, and then to offer to go ad-free for 50% more than that. At least then I could make an informed decision.

The problem is if Google were to do that, the value of their ads would plummet since the kind of people who would pay to opt out of ads are the same people who would be most likely to pay for things in ads. Not 100% sure but I think this is is the same reason TV companies don't want to offer their content for streaming online, and Hulu can't remove ads for its premium users.

Presumably Google would consider that when calculating the OP's comment of "how much money they make from me".

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#135

So this is why they wanted to "help us" sort out our inbox? I feel defrauded into believing their motivation. Like suddenly realizing I was given a lift solely because my presence in the car allowed the driver to enter my estate or place of work. This is wrong.

Why? It's only in the promotions tab next to all of your opt in ads. What's the difference?

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#136
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have to keep all of my inboxes at zero. Every inbox must still be checked in case there is something mis-directed. I go out of my way to unsubscribe from most promotions, so no, even in the promotions box this is not welcome for me.

You can disable all the tabs and return to your normal inbox.

For now.

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#137
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> now email providers are sending us spam Mine isn't. Get used to it: if you aren't paying for the service, you're not their client and they are not your provider. You're their product. It's not pretty, but sadly this is how life tends to work :-).

What do you use? Better yet, what's an alternative to Google Apps I can use for my domain?

Office 365.

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use? Better yet, what's an alternative to Google Apps I can use for my domain?

Fastmail[1] is looking very nice, very fast and makes Google look like a bloated pig. The prices too are similar to Google apps, but I'm not sure I'm going to move all my stuff there (Google Docs at least needs a competitor). I've yet to decide if I'm going full scale when I'm through my free trial. [1] http://fastmail.fm/

> "we have standard servers and a high speed connection in the US." - https://www.fastmail.fm/help/overview_about.html

so that's a non-starter then, for someone looking to escape the snooping that makes Gmail annoying.

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#139
Having used Adblock (currently Adblock Edge) and Ghostery/Disconnect for so long, I haven't seen ads in ages. It's actually a bit jarring when I use a computer that doesn't have ad blocking enabled... everything suddenly gets so cluttered.

Re: Ads in Gmail displayed as normal emails?

#140
post #94

So this is why they wanted to "help us" sort out our inbox? I feel defrauded into believing their motivation. Like suddenly realizing I was given a lift solely because my presence in the car allowed the driver to enter my estate or place of work. This is wrong.

Twitter ads look like tweets, Facebook ads look like Facebook posts, and of course search ads look like search results, at least in Gmail they have their own designated area. They replace the webclip ads when the "promotions" tab is enabled: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2013/06/ads-in-gmails-promo...

So far, Google hasn't shown ads in search results that look like other search results though. This seems like a shift for them.
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