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An update to storage policies across your Google Account

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Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#121

Post by cryptoz »

fhrow4484 wrote: post #9

The same happened to my old "...@hotmail.com" email, Microsoft deleted old childhood emails, still bitter about that. Per https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail... , the limit is 365 days of inactivity.

I lost my personal domain from this. I didn't log in to my hotmail email for 30 days (2006) and they closed my account. Then they let someone else register my email, which they used to steal my domain. No recourse.

Haven't used MS services since then if I can avoid it.

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#122

Post by lambda_obrien »

laumars wrote: post #110

I’m often the first to criticise Google but what they’re doing here isn’t exactly unprecedented. Free online mail providers have been removing inactive users since the 90s. Cloud storage providers remove inactive free users. A lot of companies even have a far more aggressive time line (pretty sure 90s Yahoo Mail was in the region of months rather than years) so 2 years seems pretty generous to me. At the end of the d…

Sometimes you want that email address to forward somewhere because you used it for years. Maybe Google should consider allowing a permanent email forward and then more people could delete that gmail account they don't use.

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#123

Post by spicybright »

px43 wrote: post #97
fhrow4484 wrote: post #9

The same happened to my old "...@hotmail.com" email, Microsoft deleted old childhood emails, still bitter about that. Per https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail... , the limit is 365 days of inactivity.

Also a massive security hole. I needed to do a password reset on my old ebay account, but the hotmail account it was attached to was deleted, so I just created a new hotmail account with the same name, and reset my password. I've done this maybe three or four time, because I haven't used hotmail since high school, so they keep deleting it. A lot of people also have password resets on gmail linked to their old hotmail…

Omg, yikes. Email is the universal "password reset" mechanism for the whole web too. Re-using emails sounds like a bad plan just from the start, surprised services allow that.

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#124

Post by johncena33 »

lkbm wrote: post #69
gtirloni wrote: post #48

These posts bashing Google are getting tiring. No sensible free email service will hold your emails forever, especially if you're not using your account. I'd invite people without knowledge of running a business to take the time and think this through before jumping in the outrage bandwagon.

There's nothing in this article that's bashing them. It's useful information about a policy change.

You probably have missed reading the comments in this very same thread.

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#125

Post by spicybright »

Nas808 wrote: post #102
fhrow4484 wrote: post #9

The same happened to my old "...@hotmail.com" email, Microsoft deleted old childhood emails, still bitter about that. Per https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail... , the limit is 365 days of inactivity.

I still have an old @msn.com email address, I remember at the time you could choose from @hotmail.com, @msn.com or @passport.com. Haven't used it for email for at least a decade, but I do use it for OneDrive so my account stays "active".

Ha, passport.com. Thx for the memories.

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#126

Post by Aeolun »

vecinu wrote: post #15
fhrow4484 wrote: post #9

The same happened to my old "...@hotmail.com" email, Microsoft deleted old childhood emails, still bitter about that. Per https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail... , the limit is 365 days of inactivity.

Likewise, so many amazing memories lost. I wish I could look back to how naive and childish I was at the beginning of my time online.

Yeah, at the time I archived a bunch of MSN messenger chats, and looking back at those now is fantastic. Unfortunately it’s the only thing I have left. There must be a DVD somewhere with my my documents folder from 2004, but it’s lost to time.

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#127

Post by hkt »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #62
hkt wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just.. pay for an email account? There are lots of community oriented providers which don't just kill off accounts in this way and are generally pretty cheap. See sdf.org and webarchitects.coop, both of which are membership based and reasonably priced. (Disclaimer: I'm a member of both)

I thought SDF was even free? I never used it myself but I know of it. Also to be honest: If you're not even going to log into your email for 2 years, why bother even paying for it? :)

SDF does have a free account yeah. Also a lifetime membership, but the quarterly one is amazing value for money.

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#128

Post by spicybright »

koolba wrote: post #71
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Outlook.com was first made available as a mail domain back in 2012, I immediately went and registered a few accounts, figuring that it would become a high-profile service pretty quickly. One of them I have almost never used, and in its eight-year lifespan it's received...(checks)...7 emails. All of which were from Microsoft. That account is still up, though, and I don't believe I've checked it from the website i…

If IMAP only usage was considered inactive I’d have lost my gmail and hotmail accounts over a decade ago. Startup idea: SaaS that you register you email addresses and periodically does an IMAP request to keep them active. Premium tier would provide actual archiving of your emails.

Yuk. What use is a SaaS for archiving when it's just going to "sun set" in 6 months after the owners sell it to Google?

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#129

Post by spicybright »

javagram wrote: post #52

Set a reminder every 3 or 6 months to use Google Takeout. Download a full copy of your data to a hard drive in your local possession. If you’re really paranoid, download a 2nd copy and put it on a hard drive that you then leave unplugged from all computers and the internet until the next time. Simple solution for anyone with broadband, and then if you ever lost your cloud data due to subscription lapsing or inactivit…

Wait, what's the danger of keeping your backup on an internet connected machine?

Re: An update to storage policies across your Google Account

#130

Post by geek_at »

dataflow wrote: post #4

> "If you're over your storage limit for two years, Google may delete your content across Gmail, Drive and Photos," the company said. That's different from just deleting all your data because you're inactive. Which is it? Edit: it seems both. Here's the blog post (maybe this is a better link): https://blog.google/products/photos/storage-policy-update/

oh damn. I've created an account for my newborn son on my (free) google workspace domain and send him emails every few weeks with updates and photos. He'll receive the account when he's like 12. Will these be deleted too?
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