Why GMAIL is the Devil

It has been said that the devil will come in a form so attractive that you would not be able to resist it... and so came Gmail.

I am a Gmail user but I think that Gmail is the devil :). Here are a few thoughts (that you probably have thought of too) and crack-pot theories about Gmail and paths to its world-domination plans, in random order:

1) Gmail might be secretly forming a Friendster-like chain via its "Invite a friend to try Gmail" scheme. Since a person would only have limited invites that person would definitely invite those who are particularly close to him/her (be it business-wise or relationship-wise). Before we know it Gmail/Google has already formed a veritable (and more reliable) internet users chain, starting from the geekest of the geeks (us), down to the most ungeek (probably the last that will receive a sign up invite for Gmail, that will be my 3rd grandmother -- yes I have one).

2) Will our emails be publicly searchable in the future? Haha! A very remote possibility but since they already have the infrastructure it is just a matter of some big guy at Google going nuts and adding another option "Search emails" to the current roster of "Search Photos, Answers, News..." available to everyone.

3) What's in an email search? Your identity :)
Gmail is trying out a usability experiment that, for me, encourages email users to not be organized and instead to just search, search and search. While their concept of "labels" act as folders too, the ultimate goal is to let the user search (no sort order facility is present within the labels, you cannot sort by subject or name, default sort is date, I think). We have to search because searching triggers their relevant ads program (the ads that appear on the right side) and they earn more more more money.

While I agree that yes, they have to earn their part of the deal for providing us with our 1GB share of space and service, I do not agree with being "identified" with the search. Searching pays them more money (rather than just clicking the emails) now because they have the "Searcher" identified now (as opposed to searching without log-in on the Google.com website, at least with this we are only identified to their service as IP addresses, but hell now we are identified with: IP address, email address, connections, emails, keywords indexed from our emails, email searches!)


UNSOLICITED TIPS FROM THE PARANOID CYBER-SLAVE

1) Never use it for business or legal/corporate transactions, I trust Yahoo or Hotmail more than Gmail ("the devil"), so use those instead if you really have no other email accounts.

2) If you will be storing VERY personal emails, make sure it is not in a Gmail account that reflects your name or a part of your real name ("mypoohbear@gmail.com" would be awesome!).

3) Or use Gmail wisely, have your dozen list subscriptions to fall into your Gmail account. These mails can take the bulk of your .PST files in Outlook, so just use Gmail for lists (like this one!).

4) Last and most importantly: Don't take Gmail seriously (... writing this "article", I think I already do! g*dd*2#$#@!)

Cheer(io)s,

Cheryl