Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org • Hacker News Board

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#341

Post by TranquilMarmot » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 5:56 PM UTC

immibis wrote: post #106

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good idea, I might see if I can do it. It was registered with Google Domains but got transferred over to Squarespace, idk if they offer long-term renewals.

I don't think long term renewals exist for premium domains. You probably shouldn't use a premium domain unless you really need one. It's just a money grab by registrars and registries.

Great point. I use the premium domain because it's fun, but it does feel like a money grab. I wonder if premium domains will ever become "un-premium".

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#342

Post by TranquilMarmot » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

mxuribe wrote: post #147

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own a domain that I use as my primary email address, but it's a "premium" domain that costs quite a bit to lease every year. To me the main concern here is that my payment fails, I don't notice, the domain goes up for sale and somebody grabs it. Then they have access to everything. So, I use my personal domain for all mail except anything that's "vital" like government websites, banking, paying rent, etc. for which…

Hi @TranquilMarmot, first off, i think the recommendation from @AnonC on their long term approach to registering a domain name is absolutely brilliant! Do that! Another recommendation you should consider is to find a domain that ends in one of the common top-level domains - like .COM, .NET, or .ORG - because for using with *vital government services* you would not believe how many good natured civil servants (or for…

Yes, I have definitely run into gov't agencies not accepting non-traditional TLDs before. I still have a .com domain that I use for those vital services.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#343

Post by TranquilMarmot » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 6:01 PM UTC

crossroadsguy wrote: post #103

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #49

I spent the past month "de-Googling" my life after I saw a notice in my Gmail inbox that it was 20 years old. I took a step back and realized just how invested into the Google ecosystem I was. Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Maps, Keep, Photos, YouTube, FitBit, Android. Basically my entire digital life. My goal was more diversifying than security/privacy, but security/privacy is a really nice bonus. I ended up going wi…

Switch to an iPhone. Apple's software and services (sync, drive, photo backup etc) are so inferior, especially compared with Google's (technically speaking), you'd be anyway forced to use third party (often cross platform) solutions. No risk of going deep into Apple's ecosystem ;-)

Yes, one of the reasons for "de-Googling" was to make it easier to switch to different devices if I want/need to. After moving everything out of Gmail/Google Drive/Calendar/Photos I can much easier switch to iOS. My current phone has many years of life in it, though, so I'm okay with sticking with it.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#344

Post by TranquilMarmot » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 6:03 PM UTC

k__ wrote: post #279

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #49

I spent the past month "de-Googling" my life after I saw a notice in my Gmail inbox that it was 20 years old. I took a step back and realized just how invested into the Google ecosystem I was. Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Maps, Keep, Photos, YouTube, FitBit, Android. Basically my entire digital life. My goal was more diversifying than security/privacy, but security/privacy is a really nice bonus. I ended up going wi…

I started degoogling 4 years ago. I'm still using docs, sheets, drive and maps. Most of it because my clients use it. But drive and maps out of convenience. Don't know if there even exist something with a similar feature set as maps. I probably could move my stuff to proto drive but the docs and sheets integration is vital for me.

It can definitely be hard or impossible to cut it out of work situations.

At work we use GSuite, so even though I was able to get out of all of it personally I still interact with Google products every day. I'm okay with that since it's not my data that's being stored - it's the data of the company I work for.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#345

Post by BeetleB » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 6:13 PM UTC

incone123 wrote: post #269

BeetleB wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone showed me OSMAnd recently while we were hiking. I installed it as soon as I got home. Great for hiking. Then last week I used it for navigation (on a phone with no SIM card). Absolutely. Terrible. Worst navigation app I've seen. Told me to make a turn at an intersection that did not allow turns. Then at another intersection, it told me to "Turn left", but the display clearly showed it going straight. I'm gues…

I get similar navigation issues with Google maps. I still use Google maps for driving because the live traffic is important to me, but other posts on here mention other apps with live traffic so I'll give them a try.

This happened close to my home on a road I've gone on almost every day. Waze never did that to me. I don't use Google Maps so I can't speak to that.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#346

Post by habi » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 6:37 PM UTC

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #335

habi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> OpenStreetMap is still really hard to use and gives bad directions. https://www.magicearth.com/ works well for car navigation with OSM data, and https://cycle.travel/ is the best way to navigate on a bike, also with OSM data. In which country do you live, if I might ask?

Owned by Haliburton https://ir.halliburton.com/news-releases/news-release-detail...

It seems to me that these are two MagicEarth “owners”

- Magic Lane for the navigation app which traces back to 1992: https://www.magiclane.com/web/about

- Halliburton for something related to 3D visualization “that was formed slightly more than a year ago”: https://www.chron.com/business/article/halliburton-to-pay-10...

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#347

Post by lostlogin » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 6:47 PM UTC

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #49

I spent the past month "de-Googling" my life after I saw a notice in my Gmail inbox that it was 20 years old. I took a step back and realized just how invested into the Google ecosystem I was. Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Maps, Keep, Photos, YouTube, FitBit, Android. Basically my entire digital life. My goal was more diversifying than security/privacy, but security/privacy is a really nice bonus. I ended up going wi…

What are you doing for search?

I was a paying Kagi customer, after fleeing Google, but I can’t stomach even a trivial sum of money going to Yandex/Russia.

I miss Kagi.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#348

Post by nabakolu » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 7:08 PM UTC

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #331

palata wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> supports Graphene but there are too many trade-offs there What are the tradeoffs? I have been following GrapheneOS for a while, and it doesn't seem like there are many tradeoffs. > OpenStreetMap is still really hard to use and gives bad directions. OpenStreetMap is a database, and most commercial services that are not Google use it. E.g. Uber or Lyft. You just need to find an app that you like. CoMaps is nice, OSMA…

> What are the tradeoffs? As others point out, my main worry is about banking and NFC. I use NFC payments on my phone a lot, especially for the bus. Getting an Android Smartwatch just for that kind of defeats de-Googling haha. I will probably try out Graphene at some point but that seems like a multi-day project to get it set up, find the tradeoffs, determine if they're worth it, and then potentially switch back to A…

There is also Calyx, which is also a privacy friendly Android distribution. It uses open source versions of Google Services. With my Pixel 8a on Calyx I can use NFC to pay with my Credit Card.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#349

Post by mantra2 » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 7:28 PM UTC

qingcharles wrote: post #248

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on fastmail with an xyz.dev domain and keep a gmail for legacy purposes. Unfortunately some email validators will reject my short FM address.

Right. Everyone has to keep a Gmail address as backup because of all these edge cases. For one, some domains (like yours) are just rejected. I tried to register an account with a huge corporate SMTP provider recently but they've not updated their allowed gTLD in 10 years and their devs fought me for weeks telling me it was my domain that was wrong, not their system until they finally gave in. And secondly, many sites…

Reddit seems to shadow ban anyone, anywhere, anytime these days. No reason needed.

Re: Leaving Gmail for Mailbox.org

#350

Post by palata » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 8:19 PM UTC

litmus-pit-git wrote: post #221

palata wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered Migadu? I don't have shares there, just a very happy customer :-).

I did. Their 20 out/day (soft limit) had me concerned. While many weeks I might send less than 7 emails I still feel uncomfortable with those limits.

As you said, those are soft limits, i.e. there is a human on the other side. If they feel like you use more than you should, they will talk to you instead of kicking you out.