When I switched to Gmail I stopped using my Yahoo Mail account on a regular basis, but still check it every week or two. I used to be generally pleased with it and would have recommended it to others as the best e-mail solution. I still had a few complaints about it but they didn’t keep my from using it. Those included the advertisements they appended to each outgoing message, the graphic advertisements (flash ads especially) I had to endure while viewing my e-mail, and the restrictive quota of 6MB for all my e-mail.

Now, instead of improving their service, they’ve gotten worse. I regularly get invalid password errors when I know I typed it in correctly because I use Opera’s wand to send it automatically. My session occasionally ends seconds after I logged in, and there are still lots of ads (even more than before it seems like) instead of fewer. Switching to Gmail resolved all three of my big complaints with Yahoo Mail, and I don’t have any additional complaints about Gmail. It suits my needs extremely well and aside from a few enhancements I’d like to see, I wouldn’t mind if they left it the same as it is now. The only thing that Yahoo Mail did to improve the service in my opinion was to increase the quota to 100MB, but that’s a mere 10% of what Gmail offers. It’s far too little, far too late. They should have stuck with the old interface that worked far better across different platforms than the new one and increased the quota to at least 1GB, if not more, to keep from losing users to Gmail. If I’m going to endure having advertisements added to my personal e-mail, I shouldn’t also have to be barraged by even more ads while viewing my inbox.

My post about Yahoo Mail boosting their quota to 100MB now has nearly 150 comments, almost all of them complaining about problems while trying to use Yahoo Mail. Instead of giving people reasons to start using Yahoo Mail, they’re alienating their existing users.

I don’t have access to that many Gmail invitations, but if you’re tired of Yahoo Mail, let me know and I’ll see what I can do. I also expect Gmail to be open to the public within the not-too-distant future, so you’ll be able to sign up without having to get an invitation. When that happens and more people learn about Gmail, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Yahoo Mail fade away entirely unless they make some significant changes to their service.