Which free email service is better for Physics Forum users?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the preferences and experiences of users regarding free email services, specifically Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. Participants share their opinions on spam filtering, storage capacity, user interface, and additional features, reflecting on their suitability for Physics Forum users.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants advocate for Gmail, citing its effective spam filters, large storage capacity, and user-friendly search features.
  • Others prefer Yahoo, highlighting its improved spam filtering and user-friendly interface, with some noting a lack of spam compared to Gmail.
  • A few participants express dissatisfaction with Hotmail, describing it as having excessive spam and poor filtering unless security settings are tightened.
  • Some users mention the benefits of using multiple email services for different purposes, suggesting that having both Gmail and Yahoo can be advantageous.
  • Concerns are raised about Gmail's chat feature potentially blocking access from work environments, while Yahoo's chat is not integrated with email.
  • Participants discuss the ability to search emails in both Gmail and Yahoo, with some noting recent updates to Yahoo's features.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

There is no clear consensus on which email service is superior, as participants express varied preferences and experiences with Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail. Multiple competing views remain regarding the effectiveness and usability of each service.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention specific limitations related to spam filtering and user experience, but these points remain unresolved and are based on individual experiences.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for users considering which free email service to choose, particularly those involved in the Physics Forum community or similar online platforms.

Doc Al
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I'm looking to use one of these free email services. Any opinions of one versus the other?
 
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Well Doc, I can say from experience that Yahoo is sweet. Had a hotmail account once and received wayyyy to much junk. Not sure about gmail.
 
I'd go with Gmail. I pretty much don't get any junk mail and also it's really nice having a constantly increasing amount of space. I suppose you don't need 2 gigs for your email, but at least you never have to worry about your email being full.
 
I have both gmail & yahoo. I definitely prefer yahoo. No spam on yahoo, they've really beefed up their filters and it's very easy to put people on your block list. I do get spam on g-mail.

Get both and use the one you like, that's what I did. I can't even remember my g-mail password, I use it so rarely now that I have to look it up.
 
I have accounts on all three. :rolleyes: Hotmail is the worst...tons of spam that the filters don't catch unless you set the security to exclusive, which means only people you've added to your address book or "safe list" can send you anything. Not very good if you want to use it for new people to contact you.

Yahoo is decent. I get very little spam on it, and it all filters to the spam folder.

Gmail is also decent. A few months back, I started getting floods of spam, when I used to get none, but it too catches all of it and quarantines it in the spam folder (complete with spam recipes if you check that folder...hee). What I prefer about it is that it keeps track of conversations rather than single emails. So if you're emailing back and forth with someone and retain the same subject line, it all goes into a single "thread" type email display. It took some getting used to that at first, but now I really like it. I also prefer the nearly unlimited space and the large attachment size it allows (I often use it to email attachments to myself from work, because my work account has unreasonably low attachment size limits).
 
There's nothing that says that you must have just one.

If you have gmail, then your account also gives you access to their blogger (beta version that requires a gmail account) and google video, among other things. Plus, they still have the largest capacity of any free e-mail server, I think.

If you have yahoo e-mail account, then you'll be able to log into that "alternative hang-out" place that I mentioned in case PF goes down again! (P.S. who got the invitation but haven't logged in yet?) :)

Zz.
 
Go gmail - it's searchable!
 
I use Hotmail and my school e-mail.

I have no complaints thus far. I have plenty of space on Hotmail, like 250mb. Also I didn't hit the attachment file size maximum, so that's good too.
 
  • #10
Gmail, definitely
 
  • #11
Gmail, and where have you been yomamma?

Gmail is awesome. I love how I can search it easily, and also star some emails to send into a favorites type folder. The spam filters work great for me. Things just make sense.
 
  • #12
Gmail. Not a single piece of junk in a very long time, at least not on my account. :smile:
 
  • #13
Gmail I got 18 invites left
 
  • #14
I've been using Gmail for well over a year, and I haven't received even a single spam message.
 
  • #15
Gmail no question. Best thing about Gmail is the free POP! I will admit though, I get tons of spam! Although Gmail filters it all flawlessly. I also get tons of spam with my yahoo account, but I rarely use it.

edit... I just signed into my yahoo mail account and now there is a new beta, is this any good?
 
  • #16
moose said:
Gmail, and where have you been yomamma?
:confused:
 
  • #17
yomamma said:
:confused:

I haven't seen your posts for a while... I thought that you left for a few weeks or something...
 
  • #18
moose said:
I haven't seen your posts for a while... I thought that you left for a few weeks or something...

Yeah, Pengwuino is missing too!
 
  • #19
JasonRox said:
Yeah, Pengwuino is missing too!
Yomamma, WHAT DID YOU DO TO PENGWUINO?? :mad: :frown: :eek:
 
  • #20
moose said:
Gmail, and where have you been yomamma?

Gmail is awesome. I love how I can search it easily, and also star some emails to send into a favorites type folder. The spam filters work great for me. Things just make sense.
I can search my yahoo mail. Plus they added a bunch of new features. Yahoo is more user friendly, but you have more storage with g-mail, if that's an issue.
 
  • #21
Evo said:
I can search my yahoo mail. Plus they added a bunch of new features. Yahoo is more user friendly, but you have more storage with g-mail, if that's an issue.
lol, my friend uses gmail to make backups of his MySQL databases, among other databases. Other than for that reason, I don't see why you would need 2.7+ gigs, but it's nice to have just because :biggrin:
 
  • #22
Evo said:
I can search my yahoo mail. Plus they added a bunch of new features. Yahoo is more user friendly, but you have more storage with g-mail, if that's an issue.
You can search Yahoo? Is that relatively new? I hadn't noticed that before. I didn't think there was much difference in user-friendliness between the two. They have different ways of organizing your emails, but I don't think either is any harder than the other to use.

I pretty much take the attitude that they're free, so sign up for both and see which you like better and once you decide, just give out that address and use the other for things you suspect might attract spam.

And don't forget there's always PF Email! :biggrin:
 
  • #23
Gmail is awesome, but I have problems setting up filters to automatically delete incoming mail from specific senders.
 
  • #24
I've used all three. They have no chance against gmail.
 
  • #25
gmail- no spam no spam no spam.
and its fast, and there is a search engine on emails
 
  • #26
Thanks!

Thanks for all the input, folks. I appreciate it. :smile:
 
  • #27
Moonbear said:
And don't forget there's always PF Email! :biggrin:

Where?!
 
  • #28
I use both for different purposes but gmail is superior, for sending big attachments for instance, gmail is a lot faster.
 
  • #29
Another reason I stopped using g-mail is that when they added the chat feature, access to g-mail became blocked from work. Yahoo has chat, but they don't have it tied to the e-mail, so it's not blocked.
 
  • #30
Evo said:
Another reason I stopped using g-mail is that when they added the chat feature, access to g-mail became blocked from work. Yahoo has chat, but they don't have it tied to the e-mail, so it's not blocked.
Hmm...I didn't know it was tied to the email. I never used their chat feature, and was never even curious enough to try signing up to see if it was a separate program like with yahoo. Being blocked from work is a good reason to not use it though. :biggrin:

PF Email is here: http://physicsforums.mail.everyone.net/email/scripts/loginuser.pl

You need to be a contributor to use it, last I checked. I can't recall if you need to sign up with your username here...I know I did anyway, so that if I need to get email from or to a member here, I can give them that address for first contact.

I don't know how to find it from PF now, I just have it bookmarked.
 

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