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submitted 9 months ago by 257m@sh.itjust.works to c/degoogle@lemmy.ml

Why would anyone use this over Proton Mail or the gazillion alternatives if it treats people like shit.

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[-] lemmy_in@lemm.ee 149 points 9 months ago

These ads only appear in the "promotions" section of Gmail, the section that is by definition for advertising emails. It's not great, but this is the least intrusive place to put ads.

[-] admiralteal@kbin.social 65 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Whoa, there's remotely tech-savvy people who don't turn off 100% of that "new" inbox sorting stuff? Color me surprised.

That Social/Updates/Promotion shit is absolutely trash shit garbage useless. It does nothing to improve email experience. It exists to serve you ads.

[-] ayaya@lemdro.id 41 points 9 months ago

As someone who enjoyed Google Inbox before they killed it, it hurts to read this comment.

[-] averagedrunk@lemmy.ml 9 points 9 months ago

I loved Inbox. I hate everything that was supposed to replace it. Spark isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's not nearly as smart. Shortwave may be ok but my only IOS device isn't set up to receive email and I haven't bothered to try it since the Android app is new. Gmail is terrible. Outlook is Outlook.

Inbox worked in a way that my brain immediately understood and adapted to.

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[-] LameName3000@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

That's weird, I feel like it does improve my experience. I like how it categorizes my emails.

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[-] maxprime@lemmy.ml 58 points 9 months ago

Maybe I’m missing something, but hasn’t this been the case since forever?

I mean, Google is an advertising company. I would be surprised if they didn’t serve ads in their free email service.

[-] charles@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago

I've never in my life seen an ad in Gmail mobile app in-line as though it were something in your inbox. I get really frustrated at the indignance over "ad company does ads and you're mad" as if there's not a difference when things get escalated.

[-] Pwnmode@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It's under the promotions tab. Been that way for a while. I just don't use that tab myself so I don't see it often.

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[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 58 points 9 months ago

It's been like that for a long time.

[-] tristan@aussie.zone 15 points 9 months ago

It's definitely getting far worse lately. It used to only be in promotions but now I'm seeing it in updates too. In promotions it's about 1 ad to every 2-3 emails now when it used to be 1-2 at the top and that's it

[-] ashley@discuss.tchncs.de 54 points 9 months ago

were these not always in gmail?

[-] JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works 21 points 9 months ago

Yes. They have always been a part of Gmail. Even back when Gmail was invite only they implemented ads (one of my accounts is from 2004).

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[-] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 17 points 9 months ago

I've never seen them and have been using it for close to 20 years now

[-] uid0gid0@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago

They only show up if you use the tabs. And then I think they are only in Promotions.

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[-] Clipboards@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Yes they've always been a thing in the promotions/else tabs, anyone who says they aren't around simply hasn't clicked those tabs or registered they existed (in fairness, everything in that tab is generally an ad)

[-] hperrin@lemmy.world 42 points 9 months ago

Yes it is. It is malware at this point. (It’s trying to trick you into clicking ads.) If I can invite you to try Port87, it’s an email service that I wrote that does the opposite. (Keeps spam out of your inbox, rather than inserting spam into it.)

Full disclosure: I developed and run Port87, and as such, have a financial interest in it.

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[-] Stoney_Logica1@lemmy.world 41 points 9 months ago

They have been for years now.

[-] DingoBilly@lemmy.world 36 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Lol who the fuck uses the promotions tab?

You are just using Gmail poorly.

Like going to a shopping centre and complaining the stores have ads in front of their stores. There's legitimate concerns about Google and then there's just dumb users.

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[-] Swarfega@lemm.ee 34 points 9 months ago

alwayshasbeen.jpg

[-] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 33 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It's only in the promotions inbox, which if Gmail is sorting correctly is just full of commercial spam anyways. Doesn't really impact the experience for me since I rarely ever check it

[-] CentreForAnts@aussie.zone 10 points 9 months ago

Turn off your promotions inbox and only have a main inbox and you don't get ads

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[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 33 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Wait until you see Yahoo mail.

Edit: Before you say nobody uses Yahoo mail, it's probably the 2nd most used after gmail at my school, afaik, I haven't met another person using protonmail.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 16 points 9 months ago

Do you go to school in 1998?

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[-] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 30 points 9 months ago

If the service is free, you are the product. It's not complicated.

Pay for email, get no ads.

[-] miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml 46 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

That statement just makes all of FOSS sound bad, and then people have even less of an idea what alternatives they could be using

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[-] mojo@lemm.ee 29 points 9 months ago

Don't worry, they're also selling your data on top of that

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[-] dyc3@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago

Y'all they have been doing this for literally years. Don't act surprised it's not fucking new.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 26 points 9 months ago

Advertising company puts adverts in one of few products they didn't shutter two years in.

Years ago.

More at 11.

[-] trk@aussie.zone 23 points 9 months ago

Looks like your email account is nothing but adverts anyway, so probably not a huge deal?

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[-] eruchitanda@lemmy.world 21 points 9 months ago

I'd switch to FairEmail or K-9 Mail instead.

Both are great.

[-] TalesFromTheKitchen@lemmy.ml 9 points 9 months ago

K-9 is great, nice clutter-free design.

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[-] Cosmocrat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 9 months ago

I remember seeing this at least more than 5 years ago, before discovering the benefits of FOSS.

[-] lemming741@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago

Protons self-promotions are even more intrusive.

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[-] BattleGrown@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

Bruh your real name is on the image

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[-] joshhsoj1902@lemmy.ca 16 points 9 months ago

It is insiane to me that Google shows these ads to google one subscribers.

I already pay google hundreds of dollars a year, and have done so for years. then over the last 2 yesr they slowly started rolling out intrusive ads into my mobile Gmail app.

It was the final straw for me. I've started slowing migrating my email off Gmail, but my goodness is that ever a slow and painful process.

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[-] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 14 points 9 months ago

Yep, getting about time to move the rest of my email over to proton...

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[-] DanglingFury@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

The only way to disable them is to disable the inbox sorting setting (where it sorts primary, promotional, and social). As it is, it only puts adds in the promotional inbox. The worst thing is, i swear it knows where your mouse is and re sorts your emails so an ad lands right below your mouse, increasing the number of ad clicks and the ad revenue. I've had this happen to be multiple times.

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[-] rockhandle@lemm.ee 13 points 9 months ago

Use k-9 mail (its a good email client and it supports gmail)

[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago

They got bought by Mozilla, soon it will be renamed to Thunderbird.

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[-] shalva97@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

That's what Google is

[-] oh_gosh_its_osh@lemmy.ml 12 points 9 months ago

The real culprit here is BIMI and the Marketing folks.

This is just the beginning, with more mail providers probably joining in sooner or later.

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[-] hottari@lemmy.ml 12 points 9 months ago

Google has always done this. I wouldn't know though because I've turned off a lot of the personalization settings and always use adblocking DNS.

[-] Noedel@lemmy.ml 11 points 9 months ago

Adguard must block this because I've never seen these in my life

[-] Aopen@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Why do people upvote this post, without reading comments that say its nothing new?

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[-] RoyaltyInTraining@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

They are legally obliged to ~~screw over their users as much as possible~~ maximize shareholder value

[-] Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev 9 points 9 months ago

I suggest Tutanota or Protonmail.

[-] toastal@lemmy.ml 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

A email provider shouldn’t require a closed, premium-only, lock-in-required sidecar program just to use IMAP/SMTP. I don’t think the release these bridge apps on BSDs or smaller OSs & you’re forced to use their apps on Android & iOS (no support for KaiOS or other smaller mobile OSs). This should be a giant red flag—kinda like waiving around a Swiss flag as more secure when they will sell you out just as fast as others.

These free-tier-loss-leading strategies are expensive too. If you bump up to premium it’s like $5/mo, but less marketing-heavy options where everyone pays get you all the features–like what I’m using @ 1€/mo.

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this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
617 points (100.0% liked)

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