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.
Dan,
I also have a couple of invites left, if you don’t have enough to fulfill requests. Just let me know. I just reconnected with a couple of friends from Japan though, so I don’t know how long I’ll still have them. Anyways…
I’ve also got a few gmail invitations left — if people send requests to you, you can let me know, and I can send them one. Also, I’m curious what the gmail enhancements are that you’d like to see …
They’ve been continually improving so the list is getting shorter. The ones I can think of are Opera support, being able to delete in a single click instead of two and the ability to manage lists.
I started to use gmail (invited from a friend at work). I had no problems at work computers but when I tried to access it from home, I had trouble because of my cookies settings. When I went back to check my old Yahoo mail account, I was no longer able to see images in mail messages (whereas I could just yesterday).
Ugh
What happened? Are they (not to sound too conspiracy-theory-minded) trying to prevent me from using both gmail and yahoo??
some how i clicked yahoo mail when it show yahoo mail big letters like YAHOO MAIL on screen. can not delete it .thanks
I’ve been with yahoo mail forever but now I’m leaving forever and taking as many with me as I can.
My last statement to yahoo is , If you can’t take the heat get out of the pot. NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hate you.
Yahoo has now taken the liberty of sticking a chat room into our e-mail service. It cannot be turned off, not even in Yahoo’s “Mail Options”. I have had it with Yahell! Somebody PLEASE send me an invitation to sign up with Gmail. My current e-mail address is: [email protected]
@Dawn Invite has been sent.
This screengrab below is the reason why I stopped using Yahoo Mail. Their servers are full of cutesypie error messages which make no sense at all.
http://i40.tinypic.com/2affsys.jpg
Is what yahoo gives me if I try and verify my alternate email address.
Spot the deliberate mistake huh?
I’ve now given up and closed the account.
Despite years of marketing great enhancements, Yahoo mail, including their “premium account” is a poor choice for e mail users. Most frustrating is a complete lack of customer service… thats right, no phone, no IM, no real e mail interchange to address problems, real time or retrospectively. If I can figure out how to switch without losing business contacts, I would do it in a moment.