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Gmail Addresses For Sale

challahc writes "For the low, low price of $199, you too can be one of the lucky testers of Googles new Gmail service. Just Ebay It! This CNet News story has the details." Bill Walsh adds "The account for hackers@gmail.com is asking 200 dollars! Is it a good idea to buy anything that's in beta? Couldn't Google just wipe out all of the beta accounts when the service starts up?"

422 comments

  1. Slashdot = News.com + 2 days by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    the news is always so fresh

    1. Re:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It'll be even fresher when it's served up a second time 10 days from now.

    2. Re:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days by ratsnapple+tea · · Score: 3, Funny

      Just like open source software. Hmm...

    3. Re:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days by JPriest · · Score: 4, Funny

      Good thing they have all that disk space. I wonder how much spam will be sent to geek@gmail.com. If they deliver ads based on email content, maybe they can have sponsored penis enlargement and 419 ads to match. Perhaps the poetry and quotes added to the bottom of spam to give it a unique signature will also yield some interesting sponsored ads.

      --
      Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
    4. Re:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days by notque · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have an account, you cannot use anything less than six charcters.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    5. Re:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days by huchida · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I never thought of Slashdot as a source of breaking news. On the contrary, a lag between the story becoming common knowledge and opening it up for discussion gives us more research time to one-up each other.

  2. CNN? by Rufus211 · · Score: 3, Funny

    This CNN [http://news.com.com] story?

    We all know the editors don't read the articles, but do they even read the submissions?

    1. Re:CNN? by tangent3 · · Score: 1

      Probably a freudian slip, wanting to enter NCC and entering CNN instead because they seem so... similar.

    2. Re:CNN? by Rufus211 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I guess they noticed my post and it's fixed now. I guess they do read the comments.

  3. breaking news! by cRueLio · · Score: 5, Funny

    hackers@hotmail.com is now for sale! asking only 400 USD. Goes to highest bidder!

    1. Re:breaking news! by SILIZIUMM · · Score: 4, Funny

      All I have to do is pay 400$ and then I just have to crack the password, right ?

    2. Re:breaking news! by DrEldarion · · Score: 4, Funny

      And, thanks to the address being posted on Slashdot, the lucky winner will get a special bonus: 100 spam e-mails a day!

    3. Re:breaking news! by Lord+Kano · · Score: 5, Funny

      And, thanks to the address being posted on Slashdot, the lucky winner will get a special bonus: 100 spam e-mails a day!

      That's going to be a man with one huge fucking johnson.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    4. Re:breaking news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this going to be the start of many endless Profit... jokes? Shudder !

    5. Re:breaking news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's a hotmail account, you don't need to post anywhere to get spam, it comes with the service.

    6. Re:breaking news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm... so do I mod this informative, interesting, or insightful? It's all three. I guess informative, since it's most of that.

      And yes, I have seen hotmail accounts that simply got created, left there, and got spammed. So don't be meta-modding me unfair.

    7. Re:breaking news! by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 1

      I thought Microsoft provided that as a 'feature' on all accounts?

    8. Re:breaking news! by xphread · · Score: 0
      100 spam e-mail a day Hotmail account?

      It's worth it... thats a lot less than most Hotmail accounts receive! :)

    9. Re:breaking news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the secret is to stay away from guessable or easily generatable names.

      The only unsolicited email my Hotmail account gets is from Hotmail itself, usually telling me how to avoid junk mail. Oh, the irony!

    10. Re:breaking news! by Tim+Browse · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Johnson?"

    11. Re:breaking news! by Donny+Smith · · Score: 1

      >And, thanks to the address being posted on Slashdot, the lucky winner will get a special bonus: 100 spam e-mails a day!

      Dude, I've been getting spam messages every day even though I haven't sent any messages yet. I guess that's because my @gmail.com is a dictionary word.

      So this is to share with everyone that Gmail's got a spam problem... Woo hoo woo hoo!

    12. Re:breaking news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I apologize to johndoe@hotmail.com for all the websites I've subscribed him !

  4. Ebay by some1somewhere · · Score: 3, Funny

    Its not like people buy weird stuff off Ebay anyway... aaaaaaaaaye?

    --
    **FREE** Track and view your phone's via CellID and/or WIFI and/or GPS :- http://tinyurl.com/la6fhd
    1. Re:Ebay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ok... 200 * 200 = 40,000 do you think google is behind this?

  5. Hey... by ovit · · Score: 0

    I've got hacker@earthlink.net... Anyone want to buy it?

    Tony

    1. Re:Hey... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately, no one gives a shit about earthlink....

    2. Re:Hey... by ovit · · Score: 1

      I had a problem with my earthlink account once... I called tech support, and was basically told to go F$$$ myself... So I emailed their CEO, and the next day I had a phone call from his personal assistant on my voice mail... and the problem was fixed immediatley... :)

      Tony

    3. Re:Hey... by fenix+down · · Score: 2, Funny

      I had a problem with my AOL account once. It'd been canceled for a few months when I noticed they were still billing my credit card. I called them up and they basically told me to go fsss myself. I tried to email Steve Case, but he walks like a wraith in the mist among the living, and cannot be contacted by those without the second sight. So I moved to Russia and changed my name to Vladimir. That didn't fix the problem immediately, but the money I get threatening liquor store owners in St. Petersberg for Time-Warner pays for the $20 on my Visa every month.

  6. paying for free mail? by chaos421 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    there's a sucker born every minute. gmail sounds pretty neat, however i'm willing to wait for the public opening. some people i'd see spending $200 for one of these accounts... yahoo/netscape/microsoft employees associated with their respective free mail... if they get in and see what it looks like, they can get ready to add countering features to their sites faster.

    1. Re:paying for free mail? by muadist · · Score: 1

      The thing is, these people aren't the real suckers... They will most likely turn around after this initial batch of auctions and sell their new accounts at a higher price for a profit.

    2. Re:paying for free mail? by notque · · Score: 2, Informative

      The nicest thing about my gmail account is the way messages are handled. Every email is like a forum post.

      It is very ackward to get used to, but once you do it is very nice.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    3. Re:paying for free mail? by ThePDW · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey at least these accounts come with free shipping!

    4. Re:paying for free mail? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      the guys aren't really paying for free mail, they're paying for the account names. ..and 'everybody' already knows what it looks/feels/is like so that's hardly a secret anymore.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  7. It pains me. by centralizati0n · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It pains me that I have a Google gmail account. And no invitions to sell. (I got it through blogger, who offers the accounts to those who have a certain post rate... if you have an even higher post rate than myself, you get two invitations... which my friend has, but refuses to give to me to sell.)

  8. I got one for free by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Afterall people it's a free service. Why are people so bent over for Google?

    1. Re:I got one for free by shaitand · · Score: 1

      Not when google finds out people are paying $50/each for the damn beta accounts it won't be.

  9. Smart by AstrumPreliator · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pay a crap load of money for a beta account for a service that will be free sooner or later anyway. What are you gaining from getting this beta account? Bragging rights? Thats a hefty price for bragging rights.

    1. Re:Smart by SphericalCrusher · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Some people just have to know what it's like if they did not get in themselves. Curiosity, mainly. After all, some people have money to spare...

      --
      "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
    2. Re:Smart by spectral · · Score: 4, Insightful

      you get the name you want before anyone else does.

    3. Re:Smart by jesser · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're paying for a good chance of getting your favorite username before it's taken.

      --
      The shareholder is always right.
    4. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      These are the same people who'll buy the google IPO at $50/share only to watch it drop down to $10.75 the next day. It's called Dotcomism, the Natural Distribution of Money.

    5. Re:Smart by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not to mention... Google could very easily just kill any auctioned-off account.

    6. Re:Smart by Txiasaeia · · Score: 4, Funny

      I've always found this to be counter-intuitive when it comes to free e-mail accounts. After all, the most common account names are the ones that get the most spam, so I'd rather pick something like "2inchjohnson@hotmail.com" and get no junk mail... insert penis-extension jokes here.

      --
      Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
    7. Re:Smart by Neon+Spiral+Injector · · Score: 1

      Provided that you wanted the name "hacker".

      You aren't buying into the beta, you are buying the account of someone who was in the beta.

    8. Re:Smart by Nataku564 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This is assuming google wont delete all the beta accounts when the testing is over ...

    9. Re:Smart by Reorax · · Score: 1
      What are you gaining from getting this beta account?

      security@gmail.com

      --
      This sig is only here so people stop skipping the last lines of my posts.
    10. Re:Smart by LocoSpitz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That would be a great idea. Delete everyone's emails... get rid of the account they've been giving to friends for months... I can't think of a reason they wouldn't do it!

    11. Re:Smart by KarmaPolice · · Score: 1

      Not to mention... Google could very easily just kill any auctioned-off account.
      Hmmm, maybe I'll just open an auction for webmaster@gmail.com and see what happends...

    12. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Maybe it's like most MMORPG games. People pour months of time and effort into the beta test and once it goes public, bye bye account. You shouldn't rely on a beta for anything important.

    13. Re:Smart by T'hain+Esh+Kelch · · Score: 0

      And so what? Do you expect the 1337'est hackers of the world to mail you daily on hackers@gmail.com? Then I'd better register bigboobs@gmail.com right now!

    14. Re:Smart by spectral · · Score: 1

      That's not quite the same analogy. You beta test, and are often told at the beginning that your account will be wiped, as if you are leveled up this will provide imbalance for the new players upon release. Also, it's just a game.

      Email, however involves other people, and is (if not already) quickly becoming mandatory for daily life. Google hasn't said they're going to delete it afterwards, and if they did that would be rather dumb and retarded: I've given out my gmail address to many people. Switched accounts over to using it, etc. If they suddenly delete it on everyone using the beta, they're going to get sued, bigtime. And with the court system the way it is now, they'll most likely lose.

    15. Re:Smart by ElliotLee · · Score: 1
      One purpose of this beta service is to see how Google handles spam. So far I've read that it's worse than Yahoo mail, so they've got room to improve. My username is technician and I've posted it in a couple places. I'm sure Google will come up with something to handle the problem of spam.

      One neat feature most people haven't heard of is plus addressing. This means you can mail me at technician+slashdot@gmail.com and I'll get it. It also allows me to sort by the +extension.

    16. Re:Smart by ElliotLee · · Score: 1

      They can't tell it was auctioned off.

  10. Ebay by jacobhoupt · · Score: 5, Informative

    there are currently over 190 Gmail invitations for sale on ebay. Link[ebay.com]

    --
    -- the only good thing the French ever did was two chicks at one time
  11. Of course by ryanr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Couldn't Google just wipe out all of the beta accounts when the service starts up?"

    Um... yeah.... that's why they are selling it NOW, hello.

    1. Re:Of course by simcop2387 · · Score: 5, Funny

      what i think is even funnier is that now that hackers@gmail.com has been posted on /. and probably about 10 other high traffic sites, is that whoever gets it will be stress testing the spam filters for google :)

    2. Re:Of course by ElliotLee · · Score: 1
      Couldn't Google just wipe out all of the beta accounts when the service starts up?

      Actually, no. Google has said that beta accounts are permanent and will not be deleted.

  12. Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by tangent3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's like 4 pages of this stuffs. hackers@gmail.com is already at $200

    1. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by ixplodestuff8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Chances are it's already on dozens of spam lists, since it was posted on slashdot, ebay, and countless other sites.

      $200 for a spam account!

    2. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by Drantin · · Score: 5, Funny

      yes, but that's a 1GB! spam account ;)

      --
      Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
    3. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      What have you been smoking? hackers is not already at $200. That's the minimum price and nobody has bid on it yet. Moron!

    4. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by Soko · · Score: 4, Informative
      Ahem. Imagine, if you will, this option setting for you GMail account:
      If more than
      [ ] 100
      [ ] 500
      [ ] 1000
      [ ] 2000
      other GMail users have recieved an e-mail with the same content as your Matching content threshold, treat it as SPAM.
      Hmmm... Random words at the start of a SPAM message? OK:
      Matching content threshold is the precentage of an e-mail that matches the content of e-mail that is sent to other users. Select your matching content threshold :
      [ ] 95%
      [ ] 90%
      [ ] 80%
      [ ] 70%
      Lastly, with this option:
      SPAM should be
      [ ] Deleted
      [ ] Flagged
      cheap spamming would be nigh impossible. Google's search tech is certainly capable of doing this. Off hand, I can't see much that spammers can do to circumvent it, either.

      Soko
      --
      "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
    5. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by dirtyboot · · Score: 1

      Tell me about, freakin' morons on there... I was selling an invite as "buy it now" for $199 and some dumbfucks were bidding on an auction that closed at 262.. Ended up only selling it for $99 thanks to the glut. BAH!

    6. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If more than
      [ ] 100
      [ ] 500
      [ ] 1000
      [ ] 2000
      other GMail users have recieved an e-mail with the same content...


      Too many false positives. There are such things as mailing lists, not to mention various automated alerts for bill payment, etc that you do want to receive, and which might vary only in a few details from thousands of others sent simultaneously -- with the obfuscation standard in spam you can't just look for identical messages.

    7. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by gabba_gabba_hey · · Score: 1

      Well, it's at $201.01, but nobody has actually bid on it as of this posting. Sooo, I don't think that really counts for much.

    8. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by bonhomme_de_neige · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Too many false positives. There are such things as mailing lists, not to mention various automated alerts for bill payment, etc that you do want to receive, and which might vary only in a few details from thousands of others sent simultaneously -- with the obfuscation standard in spam you can't just look for identical messages.

      The combination of that and a whitelist for all your mailing lists (how many are you subscribed to for which spammers use the source address as well?), and everyone who sends you bill payments (come on, there can't be too many of those), might well be the best solution to spam I've heard yet. At least, I'd be willing to give it a try.

      Methinks the grandparent is underrated at +3 ... now if only I hadn't wasted all my mod points ;p

      --
      "Why are you watching the washing machine?"
      "I love entertainment, as long as it's clean"
    9. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by dbaigrie · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Rather than just saying X number of similar mails...

      How about X number of similar mails that other users have marked as spam. This should allow for rules to be developed over time using human decission factors yet still allow sharing of these rules to allow a more "automated" spam filetering service.

    10. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Furthermore, Google could sell this information to admins/users of other mail systems.

    11. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Spammers have already coped with this...

      I've recently started getting mails which have random verses from things like Hamlet in them. They seriously outway the content of the message, which is usually 2 lines of text compared to a couple of paragraphs from different plays started mid sentence.

      If you therefore set your filters to 5% most of your legitimate mail would probably actually match a lot of other ppls mail..

    12. Re:Whoa... that's a lot of accounts for sale by Gleapsite · · Score: 2

      Most Mailing lists begin with a standard Flag. So, you just whitelist all incoming mail with that tag. Accept all incoming mail containing in the subject [mymailinglist].

      I'm not sure if gmail has this, but hotmail does so i think its highly likely.

      any beta tester type people know?

      --
      face the world with eyes of fire.
  13. Registering several addresses in the beta? by hkmwbz · · Score: 5, Interesting
    How does this beta work? Do beta testers get to register as many addresses as they want, or are they limited to just one or a few?

    I can imagine that there will be a rush of registration when it goes out of beta. Unless the beta testers have already taken all the "cool" addresses, and only the "hotstudabc666" ones are left...

    --
    Clever signature text goes here.
    1. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by spectral · · Score: 4, Informative

      You get invited to beta test gmail. Each invitation gives you one account. If you use it enough, etc., you might get more invitations to give to other people (or yourself, I guess. Though technically that's against the TOS and illegal). So only one account/address, legitimately.

    2. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google employees get 50 invites -- those are the first tier of users. Those invited by Google employees (the second tier) get 2 invites each (at least that's how it was for me). The third tier cannot invite anyone at this time.

    3. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting
      Those invited by Google employees (the second tier) get 2 invites each (at least that's how it was for me). The third tier cannot invite anyone at this time.

      That's basically how the pedophile ring in our neighborhood runs. It ensures that those farthest from the core group of pedophiles that started the group have the least opportunity to introduce people who could be working with the cops.

    4. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by Cyno01 · · Score: 1

      What if thats how it works after beta, you cant sign up, but can only be invited. Could keep abuse down.

      --
      "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
    5. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by LostCluster · · Score: 1

      But that's interesting that they're giving existing testers account-opening passwords (kinda like now Google-owned Blogger in its early days...) and those users are free to determine whatever scheme they want to hand out their codes. No wonder some are desiding to auction to the highest bidder...

    6. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by DAldredge · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While it may be against the gmail TOS, how is it illegal? IOW, what laws are they breaking?

    7. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by cheesy9999 · · Score: 3, Informative

      FYI, in response to your sig, GMail will be supporting Safari, although I'm not sure about Opera. Check out the MacCentral interview with Sergey Brin

      --
      -tom
    8. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by Blinkslowly · · Score: 1

      I am using gmail with safari and it works pretty well, not perfect. It works well with Firefox.

      I got an invite from Blogger, then last week I was allowed to send invites to two friends.

    9. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by AzureLunatic · · Score: 1

      That's how they spread Orkut as well, IIRC. Hand out a few to a few people, and then have existing users invite new ones. They'll likely do the same thing for whatever the next big thing of theirs is.

    10. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by coolsoldier · · Score: 2, Informative

      Contract Violation.

      Contractual law actually is law, just very difficult to enforce in most cases.

    11. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by notque · · Score: 1

      I have yet to be able to invite anyone, and I'm using it extensively.

      The person who invited me had two invitations, so I think when you get to the part of the tree I'm in, you fail to recieve them.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    12. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by Rysith · · Score: 2, Informative

      You can also ask for more invites (Someone I know asked for and got 100 invites to let everyone in a project that they were working on get an @gmail.com address), so somebody somewhere can grant invites.

    13. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by mindriot · · Score: 1
      Click the link under my user id for my current ebay auctions. D&D, Hardware & Misc.

      I really like your sig... it's quite on-topic for this story. Any chance you have a gmail account available there? ;-))

    14. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by scottj · · Score: 1

      Like you, I got an invite from a Google employee and received two invites. But I've heard other stories...

      --
      .-.--
    15. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by DAldredge · · Score: 1

      No :->

      Hell, I can't even get one for myself, much less one to sell.

      Damn you google!!!!! :->

    16. Re:Registering several addresses in the beta? by DAldredge · · Score: 1

      I am not sure that the gmail TOS 'agreement' meats the terms of a contract. There is no physical signature involved and as for a 'digital' signature I do not remember enought about that law to know if it applies to this.

  14. This is pathetic by MysticalMatt517 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is pathetic... I like google just as much as the next guy, but at the end of the day it's just e-mail. Before I'd fork over $200 for an e-mail address I'd register my own domain and create a tricked out one of my own.

    1. Re:This is pathetic by jvagner · · Score: 1

      Doesn't really sound like there's much danger of that, now does it?

    2. Re:This is pathetic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what does liking google have to do with this?
      besides them providing the service that somone else is selling due to a trendy name.

      all i can reply is: duh? what was the point of your post?

    3. Re:This is pathetic by linzeal · · Score: 3, Informative

      Um, I like gmail's web interface enough to say that I have not used another email interface since a week ago except to periodically check for important messages on other accounts that do not allow forwarding, yet..

    4. Re:This is pathetic by dalutong · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I actually like their interface. I hope they GPL it so I can use it on my own site.

      I was very impressed. Simple, clean. happy.

      --

      What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
    5. Re:This is pathetic by anything901 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The $200 is likely a premium, not just a price. They don't want millions of random people rushing to "test out"(read: use) their Beta product, so they charge a substantial fee. Should the user come across a problem or bug, he is much more likely to tell Google about it, since he paid $200 dollars for the account.

    6. Re:This is pathetic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You seem to be a bit confused as to how eBay works.

    7. Re:This is pathetic by notque · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is the best webmail account I've ever owned. It has spell check, it's mail function saves each message in full. You recieve and send mail as part of a thread of messages. You can search through those messages easily.

      You can put a special tag on messages that are important.

      It auto completes addresses you've used before. It's spam function I half want to see in use, and half don't. :)

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    8. Re:This is pathetic by notque · · Score: 1


      This is pathetic... I like google just as much as the next guy, but at the end of the day it's just e-mail. Before I'd fork over $200 for an e-mail address I'd register my own domain and create a tricked out one of my own.

      rtype@yourdomain.com?

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    9. Re:This is pathetic by ptudor · · Score: 2, Informative
      You could just pay my company $240 annually for email with your own domain and one hundred accounts. That's a better purchase in the two-hundred-dollar range, imho.

      And to be on topic, I guess the article only demonstrates that some impatient people also have money they don't need to spend wisely.

    10. Re:This is pathetic by UnknownQ · · Score: 1
      It auto completes addresses you've used before. It's spam function I half want to see in use, and half don't. :)

      I've been forwarding my regular mail to it, and it's awfully suspicious how it get's exactly the same false matches as my spamassassin installation on my own computer.
      --
      Wherever you go, there you are!
    11. Re:This is pathetic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, the spell check is NOT so smart. It doesn't recognize contractions like "I'll" or "don't".

    12. Re:This is pathetic by notque · · Score: 1

      Well, it is in Beta. Let them know.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
  15. well... by ambienceman · · Score: 0

    One bid currently going for $50.99.. Get it while it's hot.

  16. Not CNN by mikeb39 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    That should be: CNet.

  17. To whom are invitations? by Talence · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I do wonder though: does google allow the transferring (with or without accompanied transfer of money) of accounts at all or are they awarded on a per-person basis? In fact, the same account could be shared by a variety of people.

    --
    I plan to plan / Dutch course in The Hague
  18. Ridiculous by MistaE · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I don't mean to sound troll or anything, but I just think this is getting really ridiculous. I mean, it's an email account to a beta service that hasn't even entered into official use yet. Also, another thing that peeves me are these damn squatters that (apparently) seem to just take accounts with (cool?) names that other folks might want and then sell them off. It's the same damn thing as domain squatting. Its nice that folks are trying to earn a living on the internet, but at least do it with something legit, not just shit like this.

    But then again, if people really do pay that much money for a damn name, then there's not much one can do about it. It just sounds kind of stupid to me.

    1. Re:Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not at all same as domain squatting. Problem with domain squatting is that you have a very limited number of TLDs, and the only one that anyone really remembers is .com. Conversly, you can get an email account on a hundred different free webmail systems, or even register your own domain and create your desired email address there. You can't register your own TLD.

    2. Re:Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      seems fairly certain that a person dumb enough to buy the account off e-bay is likely to be dumber enough to not change the password and offer the seller (in addition to Google of course) complete unconditional access to his/her mailbox for life !!

    3. Re:Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Also, another thing that peeves me are these damn squatters that (apparently) seem to just take accounts with (cool?) names that other folks might want and then sell them off" - MistaE

      I'll race ya to see who can get "MistaE" registered first. :-)

    4. Re:Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wait till you want xxx@gmail.com and it's already taken

    5. Re:Ridiculous by trashme · · Score: 1

      The biggest problem I have with these people is they provide no service. No value has been added to the product, they merely showed up early to get an account name.

      This kind of thing happens outside of the Internet as well. Ticket scalpers basically run on the same principal. Buy tickets so people can't get them, then come back later and charge more than they are worth.

  19. Account wiping by lorcha · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Couldn't Google just wipe out all of the beta accounts when the service starts up?
    Not likely. Google doesn't tend to do sucky things, and wiping out someone's legitimate email account, even if the thing is in beta, would really suck. How can you test the service without giving out your address, and if their users are actually using the accounts, I don't see how they could feel justified in deleting them.
    --
    "Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
    1. Re:Account wiping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's a beta, you idiot...

    2. Re:Account wiping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google doesn't do sucky things?
      Have you read the terms of service for Gmail? This kind of policy seems to be the norm when it comes to the darling of the search engine business.
      Check your computer for a cookie from Google. Yes, I know most will condemn me as a tin-foil hat wearing chicken little but Google does keep a database of all your searches using the unique identifying key in that cookie.
      Catering to the usual crowd of Slashdot who hate Microsoft, Google has implemented one of the policies that Microsoft amended after a public outcry to them.
      Heck Sergey Brin refused to deny that Google is willing and able to hand over the search histories of individuals to law enforcement agencies when they request it. Given the broad sweep of the Office of Homeland Security in terms of the ease of gaining subpoenas for investigating supposed acts of terror, I've found myself being very careful what I search for on Google.

    3. Re:Account wiping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe the final service won't be rooted to gmail.com?

    4. Re:Account wiping by bwy · · Score: 1

      How about them deleting the accounts because they were sold on ebay? If I go to beta with my software and someone decides to sell one of their beta spots, I'll disable their key in a heartbeat if possible. Of course, it would also be written up in the agreement someone accepted when they became a beta tester. Not sure what agreement Google put in place.

      Just a hunch but I'd say that very few of beta test users of any software are what we'd consider "good" beta testers. People who can spot bugs, even ones that aren't obvious- but most of all, people who actually take the time to DELIVER FEEDBACK.

    5. Re:Account wiping by coolsoldier · · Score: 2, Informative

      Plus auctioning beta software is against eBay's TOS. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html

    6. Re:Account wiping by notque · · Score: 1

      I agree. I really doubt that after I have given this out to multiple people as my sole address, they would go and delete it, and start over.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    7. Re:Account wiping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Beta Software is NOT a beta service. There is a difference.

    8. Re:Account wiping by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      Google doesn't tend to do sucky things, and wiping out someone's legitimate email account, even if the thing is in beta, would really suck.

      "Legitimate" and "in beta" are mutually exclusive concepts here. Anyone who's using Gmail as their primary and exclusive email account during a beta testing period is just asking for trouble.

    9. Re:Account wiping by master0ne · · Score: 1

      are they technicaly acutioning beta software? i didnt think the "gmail" program came with a beta gmail account. seems to me they are just suctioning the use/access of beta software. and by that point, i have seen plenty of copies of windows for auction on ebay, and they done seem to mind the whole beta debate. :D

      --
      Noone writes jokes in base 13!
  20. ATTN: Timothy by aardvarko · · Score: 5, Funny

    NEWSFLASH: CNN does not stand for "C|Net News"!

  21. I have an account by beckerie · · Score: 4, Funny
    But the service has also generated criticism before even rolling out to the masses. Gmail is under fire for inserting advertisements into messages based, in part, on contents. That controversy has led to one legislator calling for its ban.

    I have a G-mail account. I know many people who are interested in getting one, so I'll just make sure I'll g-mail them content which contains the words 'e-bay' 'beta' and '$199' and the advertisement on e-bay should come up pronto at the end.

    1. Re:I have an account by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Gmail is under fire for inserting advertisements into messages...

      I want to make sure everyone knows that gmail doesn't insert anything into messages. (Doesn't yahoo insert into outbound messages? gmail doesn't insert in either direction.) Gmail does sometimes display the regular Google text ads in a section to the right of the regular message-read area. But nothing is inserted.

    2. Re:I have an account by dnb415 · · Score: 1

      Your right, I'm not sure G-mail is gonna fly. Anytime the Legislature gets involved heads up, cause shits gonna fly.

  22. damn... by ambienceman · · Score: 0

    What would be great is if someone was fooled into paying the money and didn't get the right? Just make up a new name. Be original. It's like buying videogame characters off ebay. Pointless...

  23. huh?? by gregfortune · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a third party sale through Ebay... Google is not involved with the sale of these addresses. At least take time to understand the post...

    1. Re:huh?? by arhar · · Score: 1

      Maybe that was Google's way of saying "Don't do it, because we don't like it... Yeah, we know technically, you can do whatever the fuck you want with it... but guess what: we can also do whatever the fuck we want with Beta accounts and can just WIPE THEM OUT. Yeah, that's right. Don't forget who's in charge here, bitches."

  24. Gmail isn't bad by kojiko · · Score: 5, Interesting

    gmail is brilliant. i have an account (free, thank you) and the advertisement are off to the side and are as easy to ignore as the google ads on millions of other web pages.

    1. Re:Gmail isn't bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      @google.com would be waaaaaay more l33t than just gmail...

    2. Re:Gmail isn't bad by GoClick · · Score: 3, Insightful

      @google.com would be a brand liability The problem of @gmail.com is people can easily mistake people for saying @email.com on bad phone lines, over a crowd or even if the person has bad cursive writing.

    3. Re:Gmail isn't bad by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 3, Funny

      But as soon as @gmail.com becomes a household-term (sorta like how @hotmail.com is with most teenagers), that problem will be fairly rare.

      I would've liked to see @goomail.com though :P

    4. Re:Gmail isn't bad by strictnein · · Score: 1

      @google.com would be a brand liability

      just like @yahoo.com is?

    5. Re:Gmail isn't bad by glorf · · Score: 1
      The problem of @gmail.com is people can easily mistake people for saying @email.com on bad phone lines, over a crowd or even if the person has bad cursive writing.


      That's only if you pronounce the g as jee. You could always say "foo at guh-mail". After all, how many people go looking for Free software at new.org instead of gnu.org? And for those who pronounce it guh-new, it isn't a very big leap to saying guh-mail.
    6. Re:Gmail isn't bad by mr_sas · · Score: 1

      yahoo employees now use @yahooinc.com or something similar....

    7. Re:Gmail isn't bad by eathan13 · · Score: 1


      Are these contextual ads?

      The thought of Google crawling my email to serve up relevant ads is about as appealing as a sack of three day old bait, sorry.

      And, to be honest, would shoebutt.com really want to pay six bucks a click based on the following email:

      -----
      Ack!
      I just spent like 3 hours organizing my f***ing closet.
      I really don't own that many clothes. I was just being really anal about organizing my shoes...
      etc and so on
      -----

      PS It may be hard to believe, but shoebutt.com is still available (for you domain speculators). It's pure gold...

    8. Re:Gmail isn't bad by lord_nightrose · · Score: 0

      Your fears are unfounded. Why? Well, anyone with a thorough knowledge of Javascript could write up a client-side program to search through your e-mail and load the appropriate ads. Google wouldn't even know what your e-mail contains if they did that.

      Besides, Google loves you. Google protects you. You love Google. Google wouldn't mistreat you.
      TRUST IN GOOGLE.
      TRUST IN GOOGLE.
      TRUST IN GOOGLE.
      Amen.

      --
      This is not part of my post. It's my signature. I bet you're disappointed.
    9. Re:Gmail isn't bad by eathan13 · · Score: 1


      Yeah, but Google loves crawling! If they're similar to Google's AdSense, they'll be a bot poking about.

      I can't imagine they'd try contextual ads on email though. The logic would be a bit backward to show ads based on the content of what you read in email. That's more the sender's interests really.

      Now there's potential genius. They could base ads on the content of messages you send...

  25. Spam by madenosine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's too bad this e-mail address is most likely going to get spammed like crazy...

    1. Re:Spam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's already been arranged.

  26. Omg... by xintegerx · · Score: 4, Funny

    challahc writes "For the low, low price of $199, you too can be one of the lucky testers of Googles new Gmail service. Just Ebay It! This CNN story has the details." Bill Walsh adds "The account for hackers@gmail.com is asking 200 dollars! Is it a good idea to buy anything that's in beta? Couldn't Google just wipe out all of the beta accounts when the service starts up?"

    Hackers? Bill? eBay? CNN? Cnet? Google? GMail? Beta?? $199 (cost of Linux Walmart PC?) After seeing every one of those keywords appear in their own slashdot story each day, seeing them in ONE story at once just boggles the mind.

    1. Re:Omg... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bad monkey, no more NoDoze/Jolt cocktails for you...

  27. Simple answers by carambola5 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    To answer your questions:

    No.
    Yes.

    Please, just because it's on eBay doesn't mean it's worth buying. Some people out there really need to realize this fact.

    --
    IWARS.
    People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
    1. Re:Simple answers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please, just because it's on eBay doesn't mean it's worth buying

      SHHHHH! All weekend I've been piling up a bunch of old computer parts I had laying around, and I'm going to list them. Don't ruin it for me, dude!

  28. Eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I hope hackers@gmail.com has good spam filters.

    1. Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, this could be a Good Thing(r). Think of how much beta testing their spam filters are getting now. What better way to invite spam than publicize it like this, then try to defend against it. It'd be nice if the soon-to-be owner of hackers@gmail.com tells us how much spam he/she receives..

  29. $200 by scifience · · Score: 5, Funny

    hackers@gmail.com: It was $200, then a story about it was posted on Slashdot, and it is now $800.

    1. Re:$200 by arhar · · Score: 1

      Apparently the last buyer didn't pay, so the auction is still going now.

  30. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  31. A bunch of unsold invites by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, hacker@gmail.com may be "pretty", but as for other Gmail addresses, there are numerous Gmail invites which were never bid on at all, sold for a pitiful $5, etc.

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
    1. Re:A bunch of unsold invites by challahc · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and it's pretty sad that out of 1000 invites 18% of them ended up on ebay.

      --
      01100010 01101001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101
  32. Isn't it time... by Malfourmed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... google had its own slashdot section?

    1. Re:Isn't it time... by ambienceman · · Score: 0

      don't you mean that the other way around? Google does have its own Slashdot Section...

    2. Re:Isn't it time... by phoxix · · Score: 1

      No way,

      thats unpossible

      There are lots of things that need topics. But for some odd reason the Slashdot editors are more interested in making all these neat Apple topics, and even updating their damn icons (the main apple icon as an example).

      Sunny Dubey

    3. Re:Isn't it time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny thing is, if google were to put up a slash-like service, I bet they'd soon put slashdot "out of business".

  33. i used to have by future+assassin · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    gethacked@hotmail.com but forgot the password as it was saved in trillium and had to reformat and thats when I relized I should have wrote it down.

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  34. Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by bergeron76 · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...or cmdrtaco@gmail.com? ...or how about: google@gmail.com? ...or how about: gmail@gmail.com? ...or how about: test@gmail.com? ...or how about: gmale@gmail.com? ...or how about: microsoft@gmail.com?

    [YAWN]

    Nothing to see here folks. please move on.

    --
    Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
    1. Re:Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by FrenZon · · Score: 1
      ...or cmdrtaco@gmail.com? ...or how about: google@gmail.com? ...or how about: gmail@gmail.com? ...or how about: test@gmail.com? ...or how about: gmale@gmail.com? ...or how about: microsoft@gmail.com?
      cmdrtaco@gmail.com is still available, the rest aren't.
    2. Re:Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by FrenZon · · Score: 1

      PS most of those were invalid as usernames require a minimum of six characters.

    3. Re:Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by NoYes19 · · Score: 1

      google@gmail is available.

    4. Re:Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by pHDNgell · · Score: 1

      A friend of mine is complaints@gmail.com. He thought that'd be funny.

      --
      -- The world is watching America, and America is watching TV.
    5. Re:Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by Lord+Kano · · Score: 2, Funny

      how about: gmale@gmail.com?

      I do not envy the volume of man on man porno spam THAT email address will draw.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    6. Re:Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet it won't be available for long...

    7. Re:Is slashdot@gmail.com available? by BokLM · · Score: 1

      There are also which can be interesting :
      root@gmail.com, webmaster@gmail.com, marketing@gmail.com, admin@gmail.com, contact@gmail.com, support@gmail.com, email@gmail.com, mail@gmail.com, linux@gmail.com, 0@gmail.com, 1@gmail.com, 2@gmail.com ... a@gmail.com ... z@gmail.com ...

  35. gmail beta testing by Sean+Clifford · · Score: 5, Informative
    I've been beta testing for a while. No, my account isn't for sale. Seems kinda cheesy and just about guaranteed to get shut down. Anyway, about gmail. I've found a lot of stuff to like about gmail and a lot of features missing.

    Like: No spam. Not a single freaking message. Either they have an excellent filter or I haven't spread it around enough. Let's try an experiment: sclifford@gmail.com. Guess that'll be a good test of their spam filter. Cringe.

    Anyway, the interface is uncluttered - just the gmail logo and a "star" flag for important messages. Everything else is hyperlinks or dropdowns. It's simple and fast.

    But as a web application developer, I'm underwhelmed so far.

    I think a simple icons-w/text-based GUI is easier to work with and not terribly bandwidth intensive. Anyway, there's no way to import my contacts yet, or my address book, or a PST file (or other mail format), or import mail from another service (that's stretching).

    Anyway, while I think it's crass to sell your gmail account (and probably isn't kosher), doubly so for those who buy one. It's free, people - get a blogger account and make your own. Caveat emptor - it ain't worth $199.

    1. Re:gmail beta testing by jacoplane · · Score: 2, Informative

      Opening a blogger account won't get you a gmail account. I've had a blogger account for about 2 years but I hardly used it. After I heard they were giving away gmail accounts to blogger users I immediately checked the site but to no avail, I guess they didnt consider me active enough. I've even been blogging there a bit over the past two weeks to see if maybe I'd get the chance to sign up, but so far I've had no luck :(

    2. Re:gmail beta testing by NETHED · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I can't agree that Gmail is fast. I don't particularly like how it "loads" for seemingly ever. I havn't tried it in IE, but its slow on Firebird (or as it is called now Mozilla Spacesquid)

      I do have to say that the little one button keyboard shortcuts are amazing. If only Gmail had the ability to download from another postbox.

      --
      --sig fault--
    3. Re:gmail beta testing by brian728s · · Score: 0

      Anyone else send him an email for the hell of it? Hell, I fell guilty already. Here is mine: bgates@microsoft.com *cries* I KNEW YE SO BRIEFLY!

    4. Re:gmail beta testing by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 1

      I have had a blogger account since they re-jigged the front page of google not so long ago (couple of months at most).

      I have created 3 comments in total in mine.

      I have my gmail address :)

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    5. Re:gmail beta testing by jrockway · · Score: 2, Funny

      I myself an using Mozilla Waterphoenix. Let's open a new window. Hey, they changed names again. Now it's Spaceant!

      --
      My other car is first.
    6. Re:gmail beta testing by grepistan · · Score: 1

      I love the Firesomething extension :) Now I often use "Mozilla vermiciousknid" and various other things. Much more interesting.

      --
      Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.
      -- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather
    7. Re:gmail beta testing by NoYes19 · · Score: 1

      It runs fine for me and I am also using Firebird. Really fast really slick.

    8. Re:gmail beta testing by bobmatnyc · · Score: 1

      Hmm...I've found it very fast (on IE, Mozilla, Firefox). I also love the interface. I've posted a review here. On the negative side, spam filtering still has a way to go. I get about 50% of spams (that get past spam assassin on my primary mail server, which redirects them to gmail).

      --
      -- this sig beneath your current threshold
    9. Re:gmail beta testing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You desperate moron.

    10. Re:gmail beta testing by jacoplane · · Score: 2, Funny

      well adding a few blog entries is hardly as desperate as bidding for it on ebay, but i guess you've got a point :)

    11. Re:gmail beta testing by notque · · Score: 1

      Like: No spam. Not a single freaking message. Either they have an excellent filter or I haven't spread it around enough. Let's try an experiment: sclifford@gmail.com. Guess that'll be a good test of their spam filter. Cringe.

      I was going to do the same thing. You beat me to it. Good luck.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    12. Re:gmail beta testing by Anonymous+Commando · · Score: 1
      ...import mail from another service...

      There's no technological reason that GMail can't import mail from Hotmail or Mail.com. It's being done (see Shadango for example - I use it for checking my Hotmail account and my two Mail.com accounts). Pretty sure I've seen a number of projects on SourceForge for roll-your-own webmail-to-POP3 gateways as well. My guess is that Google wants to make sure that the most important stuff (sending / receiving /etc) works flawlessly before they move on to the more interesting stuff.

      --
      Corporate Jenga: You take a blockhead from the bottom and you put him on top...
    13. Re:gmail beta testing by cygnusx · · Score: 1

      Anyway, there's no way to import my contacts yet, or my address book, or a PST file (or other mail format), or import mail from another service (that's stretching).

      I got this from Gmail Support a couple days back in response to a question.

      > You might be interested to hear that we
      > are announcing these upcoming features:
      >
      > Automatic forwarding of your email to another account
      > Plain HTML version of Gmail
      > Import/export Contacts

      I guess as we move through the beta we should see quite a few other improvements.

      Like: No spam. Not a single freaking message.

      Like someone here already said, I'm scared to test that feature :-). Actually, I wonder if a lot of spammers are adopting a wait-and-see policy to Gmail. After all, the Spam folder of thousands of Gmail users makes for a pretty effective blacklist database for Google's Web Search.

    14. Re:gmail beta testing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      article on experience of beta customer.
      http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art icleshow/65 4588.cms

    15. Re:gmail beta testing by jred · · Score: 1

      Still not as desperate as creating a blogger account hoping to get one :)

      --

      jred
      I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
    16. Re:gmail beta testing by scottj · · Score: 1

      I've gotten plenty of spam on my Gmail account.

      --
      .-.--
    17. Re:gmail beta testing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gotta love Firesomething. I'm using "Mischievous Dinospider".

  36. Who wants an invite? by salange · · Score: 0, Troll

    I've got one extra invite. First reply to this post gets it.

    1. Re:Who wants an invite? by automagically · · Score: 1

      sure...a gig for all my spam to go to...hotmail doesn't give me that

    2. Re:Who wants an invite? by sethadam1 · · Score: 0

      1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...
      10...11...12 ...13...14...15...16...17...18....19.. .20

      me, please!

    3. Re:Who wants an invite? by bluenirve · · Score: 1

      I'll take it. Email me (andrew .at. bulletmagnet.com) Thanks

    4. Re:Who wants an invite? by Doug+Neal · · Score: 1

      yes please

    5. Re:Who wants an invite? by salange · · Score: 1

      Looks like this was the first one with an email address to send the invite to. Apologies if I missed someone else, guess you'll have to go to ebay :-)

    6. Re:Who wants an invite? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...
      >10...11... 12...13...14...15...16...17...18....19. . .20
      >me, please!

      add me too

    7. Re:Who wants an invite? by niteguy · · Score: 1

      * sigh * Here goes a "me too" post. If anyone has invites for Google G-mail, I'd like to have one. Thanks!! I don't use my Yahoo! mail account very much, but I would like to compare/contrast.

  37. Post rate? by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I made about 3 posts in 2 months and I got one.

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
    1. Re:Post rate? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I made one post, logged in to make a second and was offered an account. It can't have anything to do with post rate.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    2. Re:Post rate? by RoadkillBunny · · Score: 1

      I agree with you. I read about the offer on slasdhot and I made one post (copy of what I sent to the amsn-devel list). And hey, the next day I got a gmail account.

      --
      Cheers,
      RoadkillBunny
    3. Re:Post rate? by kd5ujz · · Score: 1

      looks like you prefer the MSN account though, what are you hiding?:)?

      --
      -William
      God is everything science has yet to explain.
    4. Re:Post rate? by ashot · · Score: 1

      do you know if that offer is still available? (I just set up a blogger account...

      --
      -ashot
    5. Re:Post rate? by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 1

      Yes it can. After finishing the first post you had an insanely high post rate. :-) If it works like I assume, this severely penalizes the older Blogger users as compared to the recently-joined, since the former has time between their posts.

    6. Re:Post rate? by dynamicdesign · · Score: 1

      One would think that the post rate program would also consider the amount of time since being a new member. If it does not, then they need a new post rate program.

      --
      I don't use Macintosh but I don't bash it. Try that for everything from now on.
  38. But why would anyone want to do this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unless you have mush for brains, it doesn't make much sense. Google just isn't worth it. Tell you what, they pay -me- and perhaps I'll consider QAing their (beta) software for them.

  39. I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by hwsquaredcubed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see all of the posts about "why would anyone pay for a free email account?", etc. I got mine about 5 minutes after that CNET story first hit on Friday. I immediately went to Ebay and searched for "gmail." After several screen refreshes, a "Buy It Now" listing for $19.99 popped up. I snapped it up immediately. Why? Even though my name is not that common, someone already has it registered on Hotmail and Yahoo. So I have to add numbers, etc., to my name and I have never liked that. It was worth $20 for me to get my own name at Gmail.com. The question about couldn't Google wipe out the Gmail accounts when it's out of beta is ridiculous. The first people they gave Gmail accounts to were Google employees and "friends of the company." Why would they piss those people off by canceling the beta accounts and making them then compete for usernames with the rest of the unwashed masses? They could, but they won't. Finally, if you have used Gmail, it is a damn good email service. There are few tweaks they need to make - the contacts management functions lags far behind Yahoo and Hotmail, for example, and, to my knowledge, there is no way to have desktop email alerts such as you get with Yahoo Messenger or Microsoft IM - but there is no question that they will fix these. Flame on, but I think that Gmail will ultimately surpass Yahoo and Hotmail for web-based email.

    1. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by ydrol · · Score: 1
      www.webwho.co.uk

      Get you own domain if you want prestige and NO lock in to email provider OR isp. And its cheaper than you think if you do the research. The just use email forwarding or POP as required.

      I'm in the process of extricating myself from bigfoot after about 8 years because

      1. They started charging

      2. Their prices are just not competative compared to the features I get bundled with my own domain.

      3. I personally feel there is something unethical about email providers charging more for the ability to recieve more messages and then charging more for anti-spam facilities! I say f**k-em and good-bye bigfoot.

      Good companies in the UK are www.123-reg.co.uk, www.nameroute.co.uk (US presense www.nameroute.com). Plenty of good US hosting companies too!

    2. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by Have+Blue · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Google could easily put a no-resale or no-transfer clause into the license agreement, and yank the account on those grounds. It would also be an easy argument to make that anyone who receives this gift from an appreciative Google and then turns around and hocks it on Ebay doesn't deserve to be in an exclusive beta anyway (and they're free to sign up later with everyone else when it goes public).

    3. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by sholden · · Score: 2, Funny

      I never would have believed it but "hwsquaredcubed" isn't available at Yahoo. I didn't think it was that popular of a name...

    4. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by user+no.+590291 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How would they know which were sold?

    5. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by Trepidity · · Score: 1

      Well, they could search ebay.

    6. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by bwy · · Score: 0, Troll

      The question about couldn't Google wipe out the Gmail accounts when it's out of beta is ridiculous. The first people they gave Gmail accounts to were Google employees and "friends of the company." Why would they piss those people off by canceling the beta accounts and making them then compete for usernames with the rest of the unwashed masses?

      Uhhh, I hate to break this to you, but.... Is the address you bought still in use by a "friend of the company"? Right, no, it isn't because you bought it. So, if Google turns the account off, they won't be pissing off any "friends" will they?

      Oh, but wait. Google doesn't know that you bought a beta account and that it no longer belongs to one of their friends.

      I got mine about 5 minutes after that CNET story first hit on Friday. I immediately went to Ebay and searched for "gmail."

      Except- SHIT! Do you think there is even the slightest chance that Google's corporate offices might have Internet access? SHIT! This means they have access to E-bay too! Holy crap, lets hope Google doesn't also hire software engineers. Someone might be ordered to write a perl script to disable all beta accounts that were UP FOR SALE!

      Not to mention, if the email address was up for grabs on E-Bay, it won't be long until it is on every spam list out there. By my count dude, that $20 would have just about bought two 12 packs of Corona (if you can get them on sale.) Probably woulda been money better spent.

    7. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by BillyBlaze · · Score: 1

      Sure they could, but why would they? I just don't see how it would be in Google's interest to keep people from selling their names. It's free publicity.

    8. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      so if my name is taken all i have to do it put "It" up on ebay for a second chance to register? that would work well

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    9. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by bwy · · Score: 1

      Of course, if you bought an anonymous "invite" like people are selling, Google can't track you as directly. However, Ebay still can. Someone else posted this link:

      http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/beta.html

    10. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by base3 · · Score: 1

      But an eBay search wouldn't tell them which invitations were being sold unless they were to actually purchase one.

      --
      One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
    11. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by Tim+C · · Score: 1

      Why would they piss those people off by canceling the beta accounts and making them then compete for usernames with the rest of the unwashed masses?

      I agree, they probably wouldn't. They're almost certainly completely at liberty to wipe any accounts that were sold off on sites like eBay, though.

      There's also no real guarantee at this point that the service will ever make it out of beta. They can cancel it at any time, for any reason (too expensive, too many legal questions, too many people moaning about privacy, sole sponsor leaves/dies, etc).

      That said, what the hell? You've spent $20 on something that in all probability isn't just going to vaporise, and you're clearly happy with your purchase. I wouldn't have bought a gmail account, but then there's plenty of stuff I do buy that you wouldn't want, I'm sure. To each their own - I hope you manage to hang on to it.

    12. Re:I got one on Ebay using "Buy It Now" for $19.99 by trashme · · Score: 1

      Personally, I think you wasted $20.

      I also wanted account and ended up getting one for free. All it took was patience and some nudging of my friends. If you work or know people in the tech industry, there is a decent chance that a little polite prodding would have led you to someone with gmail invites.

  40. This is pretty lame. by shaitand · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can see why people would want a gmail account. Porn, warez, etc. It's a gig of webspace on google's infinitely fast gigabit backbone linkS.

    Toss in an autoresponder (or a script which has a web interface, logs into gmail, and sends attachment to other email addresses, or even just other gmail addresses) and you have a great warez, porn, or whatever you want distribution system, WITHOUT the kind of clauses that come with buying webspace against certain content. (If they tried making you agree to that, their admitting to reading private email and that would piss alot of people off.)

    I know people who pay alot more than the $50 most of these are paying and who pay it monthly for a gig of storage on a fast server.

    Another possible use, offsite backups, get enough gmail accounts to hold your critical data backups. Have an automated script that encrypts the data then emails it to your gmail account.

    Here is the bad flipside to all this though, whether google wipes these accounts or not it doesn't matter. What do you think google is going to do when it finds out people are paying $50 just for a beta account? What do you think the odds are going to be of us getting free gmail after this?

  41. OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by LostCluster · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I submitted a story called "802.11b goes out to the ballgame in San Fran" more than a month ago, and it still is in the "pending" column. I wonder if they're saving it for a rainy day or something...

    1. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Monkelectric · · Score: 3, Offtopic

      My all time record is 9 weeks pending, then rejected... I've never had a story posted on slashdot even when I beat another submitter to a story by a week. I have no idea what makes a story good or bad but I know whatever it is I don't have it... be prepared for a long wait my friend :)

      --

      Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

    2. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by strictnein · · Score: 1

      i think they already posted a story like that in the last week or two... sounds familiar. Of course, I also read news.com, so who knows, I could have seen it there first.

    3. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by LostCluster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've been accepted once on only 11 attempts so far. Slashdot must get more "acceptable" stories than they can actually accept, so I take it some degree of semi-randomness (who gets the editors' attention in the sea of noise first) will always be a final factor...

    4. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by LostCluster · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      True, but dupes belong in the "rejected" bin... but I guess putting one into "pending" isn't that bad, considering they've been known to be found in the "accepted" bin far too often. :)

    5. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by linzeal · · Score: 1

      They posted about it on Wednesday March 31, @08:01AM, when did you submit it?

    6. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by ikkonoishi · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I got one on my first try, but then again it was comedy gold.

    7. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if you read the article you pointed out you would see:
      LostCluster writes "The San Jose Business Journal adds the details....

      seems he already got credit for it.

    8. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by falsified · · Score: 1
      --
      HI, MY NAME IS ISAAC.
    9. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      It has more to do with, er, who you "know", if ya catch my drift in the "biblical" direction....

      --
      "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
    10. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by LostCluster · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Well, yeah... but somebody else pointed out to me that another post on that topic got posted same day. We now have future knowledge of a dupe! :)

    11. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      I had one rejected just to show up about 12 hours later (without karma bonus), and I've had another get rejected, only to have it show up a few days later after being submitted by someone else (the Discover mag article about "anything to oil"). Stuff makes little sense here.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    12. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had 3 out of 4 accepted as AC submitter before I got an account. After account: 0/5 hmm... And excellent karma even!

    13. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Slashdot must get more "acceptable" stories than they can actually accept

      D'ya think?

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    14. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe users should be accepting posts.

      Perhaps there should be an area for pending stories, that accepts votes ...

      IsMyStoryHotOrNot

    15. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by digid · · Score: 1

      me too! hehe . I submitted the same story a while ago and the status is still pending. weird

    16. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by nuba · · Score: 2, Informative

      I believe they set this up but put it on another domain. Kuro5hin or something...

    17. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Psiren · · Score: 1

      I've had one pending since 19th November. I think theres a bug in the submission process, and occasionally things get lost.

    18. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just who do I have to fsck to get a story posted around here?

    19. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by JAgostoni · · Score: 1

      I have actually seen them use part of my "submission" in conjunction with others. Of course, as you point out, only the actual submitter gets the points.

    20. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by RKBA · · Score: 1

      Wow, and I was feeling bad about only having 2 out of 5 submissions accepted.

    21. Re:OT:Slashdot = News.com + 2 days... or more by Frizzle+Fry · · Score: 1

      Also, plastic lets users with enough karma vote on stories in the submission queue. Although the editors decide what to run anyway, so the votes are just a factor they can take into account rather than the final word on what gets run.

      --
      I'd rather be lucky than good.
  42. I'd pay for it... by man_ls · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'd pay for a fully featured gmail account...that'd be the perfect way for me to abstract my email from my ISP and dynamic-hosted-domains by letting me store on a reputable provider.

    I'm going to be leaving for college soon...my email address probably won't be coming with me, because I won't be on that ISP any more.

    1. Re:I'd pay for it... by /dev/trash · · Score: 2

      Google is going public. Reputable is inconsistent with profit.

    2. Re:I'd pay for it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sdf.lonestar.org is another option

  43. $200 for an email address? by hiworld · · Score: 5, Funny

    well, atleast they give you free shipping...

    1. Re:$200 for an email address? by antic · · Score: 4, Funny

      I've seen an air guitar for sale on ebay with free shipping. It's the in thing!

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    2. Re:$200 for an email address? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1

      Here's a nice, classic 80's air guitar for sale. It looks pretty rad.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    3. Re:$200 for an email address? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1

      Hey, how about a link!
      I'm an idiot.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
  44. Idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lets all flame the idiot who left an IM window open with someones name: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =3675366495&indexURL=0&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphot ohosting

    -JE

    1. Re:Idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    2. Re:Idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AIM: crazy hedgehog

  45. gmail will be free.. by ph43thon · · Score: 1

    The reason people will pay $50 to get an invite is because there is no other way to get at gmail, at the moment. (Unless they get lucky and happen to be on Orkut or Blogger when Google gives out another beta block.) Their money will be made by the adwords on the sides of the emails.. why don't you have to pay to watch that shitty television show Friends? Because the advertisers will pay millions of dollars on the off chance you'll go buy some shaving cream or a new car. With Gmail, the advertisers will know exactly what their return on investment is.. and from the looks of it, that return will be good. Hence, Google wants to get as many users as possible.. which means give it out for free and give lots of storage space. Adwords will take care of the rest.

    p

  46. You do realize by DaLiNKz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They wont wipe.. I mean how could they? If eric@gmail.com has used his address for anything confidential and is erased, eric-else comes and register eric@gmail.com and gets this guys personal information.. Yeah, you shouldn't use something thats for testing for anything important, but no less..

    --
    I've left to find myself. If you happen to see me, please, keep me there until I return.
    1. Re:You do realize by Murdock037 · · Score: 2, Informative

      If eric@gmail.com has used his address for anything confidential and is erased, eric-else comes and register eric@gmail.com and gets this guys personal information. ...

      Preface: My name is Eric.

      I was given the opportunity to get a beta test account, so I naturally tried "eric@gmail.com."

      No go-- the system told me it wouldn't allow any user names less than six letters.

      So I can guarantee your story will never happen exactly as you describe it.

    2. Re:You do realize by CGP314 · · Score: 1

      If eric@gmail.com has used his address for anything confidential and is erased, eric-else comes and register eric@gmail.com and gets this guys personal information. ...

      Preface: My name is Eric.

      I was given the opportunity to get a beta test account, so I naturally tried "eric@gmail.com."

      No go-- the system told me it wouldn't allow any user names less than six letters.

      So I can guarantee your story will never happen exactly as you describe it.


      That's right Eric, no one in the whole wide world has a name that's more than 4 letters long.


      -Colin

    3. Re:You do realize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They wont wipe.. I mean how could they? If eric@gmail.com has used his address for anything confidential and is erased, eric-else comes and register eric@gmail.com and gets this guys personal information.. Yeah, you shouldn't use something thats for testing for anything important, but no less..

      Hotmail do. I recently re-registered one of my accounts that expired a couple of years ago, and it never asked my for my old password, secret answer etc.

      Granted, I never used the account for anything important - but Hotmail themselves had no way of knowing that.

    4. Re:You do realize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What are you, retarded?

      He was saying nobody would ever have a conflict with the address eric@gmail.com, as described in his parent post. He wasn't saying that nobody could ever get their first name for a gmail account, you fucking imbecile.

      Read, douchebag!

  47. pfft by Triumph+The+Insult+C · · Score: 2, Funny

    thanks to some lax programming in redmond, it's mine now, and i didn't have to pay a cent!

    --
    vodka, straight up, thank you!
  48. Aliases by markprus · · Score: 1

    Pretty much the only time I deal with an email address is when I create an alias for it in my mail client. Why are people so hung up about getting the name you want ... silly people.

  49. Gmail beggers by MilenCent · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've gotten not one but two messages to my Blogger-acquired Gmail account claiming to be astoundingly well-spoken, prodigy, under-15 "kids" who also claim to be starting web businesses. One of them says he's starting a web hosting business, and says he would be "honored" to have a Gmail account.

    I'm not kidding!

    Why the hell is everyone so hyped up to get one? Are these people who honestly want a cool web mail service earlt? Is it a status symbol? Are these people mostly spammers trying to get accounts in order to run experiments on their filters, so as to better be able to defeat them later? Are they spammers trying to get as many accounts as possible so they can automate the process of marking spam as not-junk to try to break Google's distributed Bayesian filter system?

    1. Re:Gmail beggers by eggboard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have the idea that WaReZ folks are going to get several Gmail accounts, fill them with WaReZ, and widely distribute the passwords for these various accounts so that people can connect and download them.

      Gigabytes for free = untraceable free WaReZ.

      --
      Freelance tech journalist for the Economist, MIT Technology Review, Macworld, and others
    2. Re:Gmail beggers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have them send nudie pics to verify their age...

    3. Re:Gmail beggers by jeoin · · Score: 1

      One person could decide to change the password, and lock everyone out.

      --
      Jeoin
    4. Re:Gmail beggers by boredMDer · · Score: 1

      Then one jackass changes the password, and locks everyone else out of the goods.

      On a different note, I've gotten a few requests as well, I actually gave one person an invite (he chose technician@gmail, which i'm sure will be valued), but i'm saving the other for...I don't know what.

    5. Re:Gmail beggers by eggboard · · Score: 1

      WaReZ folks have ways to deal with that, tho'. They are tight cabals, so someone acting that way would probably be locked out of future sharing arrangements.

      --
      Freelance tech journalist for the Economist, MIT Technology Review, Macworld, and others
    6. Re:Gmail beggers by Ieshan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh, for the love of shit.

      Google can just lock the number of IPs that can access an account in X amount of time.

      Say, 1 every minute, or 5 every 20 minutes.

      This would have NO effect on 100% of the customer base and shut down the "transmit stuff using google as the warez site" option, since Warez works around "swarming".

    7. Re:Gmail beggers by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      because of course Google wouldn never help investigate people abusing their system, it would be as untracable as a forum post (untracable if done from the library >:)

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    8. Re:Gmail beggers by eggboard · · Score: 1

      Google hasn't discussed any limits yet, and that's one of the issues. They say they won't monitor content or usage.

      --
      Freelance tech journalist for the Economist, MIT Technology Review, Macworld, and others
    9. Re:Gmail beggers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about "abuse"?

    10. Re:Gmail beggers by davisshaver · · Score: 1

      Hey, if all you need to get a G-Mail account from you, MillenCent, is to be under 15(check), a prodigy(uh, check?), and own a web hosting company(check); then hey, sign me up. : )

      --
      "What we have here is a failure to communicate"
      The Warden, Cool Hand Luke
    11. Re:Gmail beggers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Are they spammers trying to get as many accounts as possible so they can automate the process of marking spam as not-junk to try to break Google's distributed Bayesian filter system?

      I wonder... are filters global to all users, or reporting as spam/no-span takes only effect on each account. I would rather take second aproach...

      Anyone knows???

    12. Re:Gmail beggers by 88NoSoup4U88 · · Score: 1

      The problem with this would be people who have a fieldday changing those passwords, and making the account unusable.

    13. Re:Gmail beggers by MilenCent · · Score: 1

      Heh, cool. Looking at the time, I'm wondering, How do you find the time and energy to do all this, with school/friends/parents/pimples/etc.?

      Anyway, I think I've proven that the prodigy/15/webhost combo is not enough for me -- or more accurately it's too much, as I dismissed their requests out of hand.

      Furthermore, Google's invitation program is specifically for friends, people I know pretty well. There exist companies that I would have no compunction in trying to game their systems in order to get, say, a second e-mail account, but Google isn't one of them. If they play fair by me then by Jove I'll play fair by them.

      And let's not forget!: I've already used both of my invitations.

    14. Re:Gmail beggers by MilenCent · · Score: 1

      I think Gmail has the potential to become a really strong tool against spam, because Gmail can pool the opinions of millions of users as to whether messages are spam or not. If the same message gets sent to thousands of users that's a good first strike against it (though it could just be a popular mailing list), but if most of them consider it spam I'd take advantage of that information.

      So I wouldn't be surprised if everyone's filters influenced others' to some degree.

  50. I BID ONE MILLION DOLLARS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    for suckers@gmail.com

  51. here's why people will pay for a gmail account by necrosaro · · Score: 1

    1. they get first cracks at user names without stupid numbers after it. while i was creating my account i checked for alot of cool account names to see if they were availible and there was a lot of great names still availible

    2. people are frustrated with free email accounts and you can expect a gmail account to have alot of cool features, it has alot already, and be around for a long time. i myself was waiting for a great webmail service to come along for a long time

    3. the account is free, its for 1gb and google is running it...those reasons alone might justify someone spending $30 bucks or so as a "one time fee" to have first cracks at their username

    basically it's worth it to alot of people. and about wiping accounts i'd have to agree that would suck to alot of users and i don't think google would piss off people that have been using gmail and doing them a favor by beta testing it by wiping the accounts. even if some are buying them on ebay there's really no way to seperate legit and ebay accounts, so i don't think they'd do that. at least i hope not

  52. 1.?, 2.?, 3.Profit by FlameboyC11 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seems to be a regular at Slashdot, posting something about e-bay and some *interesting* item being sold. Could this be the way /. is funding itself? I can see it now...

    Editor 1: "We seem to be running low on funds, quick, point at something!"
    Editor 2: *points at old mac in corner*
    Editor 1: "Quick, put it up on e-bay, we'll run a story on vintage macs on e-bay!"
    Editor 2: *Violently laughs, coughing up blood*
    Editor 1: "Oooo, does e-bay have a policy on bodily fluids, I can feel another story coming on..."

  53. Thanks... by nadolph · · Score: 0

    ...at this article i was reminded to check my blogger account. Last time i checked, first time they anounced beta gmail, There was no invite. Now there is. I feel so warm inside.

    P.S.
    If you would like to buy my account please contact me.

    --
    With the moo and the cow and the fish. Minesweeper Record: 7 sec
  54. I bet those employees are in the beta already by DrewMIT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Weren't all "active" blogger users invited into the beta? Something tells me the odds that maybe one or two employees from Yah, AOL (nescape, who?), or MSFT just might have slipped through the cracks that way.

    1. Re:I bet those employees are in the beta already by xandroid · · Score: 1

      Yep. They can also invite two friends to sign up, too.

      --
      $ echo "ceci n'est pas une pipe" | sed -Ee 's/(eci n|pas )//g'
    2. Re:I bet those employees are in the beta already by nlvp · · Score: 1
      I think a lot of people were in the Beta - I got in, and I'm not generally invited to such things :)

      What's more is that when I tried for some typical email addresses, they were already gone - I would assume that GMail employees got to invite their friends before the Beta was opened to the likes of me.

      Last week, GMail gave every current subscriber (at least I think it was everyone) the ability to invite 2 more people to use the system, I think that's how they're growing their crowd at the moment, and it's kind of nice, because it makes sure that most of the people who get accounts aren't the kind of jerks that would deliberately register a cool name so that they could sell it ... oh... hang on. Damn. Human nature acts up again. If I were google, and I saw that EBay advertisement, I'd cancel the account, then cancel the account from which the invitation to become a Beta tester was sent. Then classify the address as permanently unusable, just to be bitchy.

      It is, however, a kick-ass system, and I highly recommend it to anyone out there once it goes live or if they know someone who can invite them in during the beta.

  55. Looking for... by fizban · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...gspot@gmail.com. Anyone found it?

    --

    +1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.

    1. Re:Looking for... by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 4, Informative

      usernames have to be at least 6 chars, sorry :)

    2. Re:Looking for... by quantaman · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...gspot@gmail.com. Anyone found it?
      --

      usernames have to be at least 6 chars, sorry :)


      gspots?
      hey the more the merrier!

      --
      I stole this Sig
  56. New antispam technique?! by mroch · · Score: 1

    I get more than 100 spams a day. Is this a new anti-spam technique!? Sign me up! Oh wait, maybe I should sumbmit more stories....

  57. Google's response to ebay sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have been testing Gmail for a while now. There are still quite a few bugs and issues that need to be resolved. But the single most important reason to get gmail account is their spam filters. I use spamassassin+thunderbird junk control for my spam filter. But gmail leaves the combo in dust.

    Btw, this is the response from Google to EBay sales:
    -----
    Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 16:25:07 -0700
    From: "Gmail Team" Add to Address Book
    To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: Re: [#9562759] GMAIL on Ebay !

    Hello xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,

    Thank you for your interest in Gmail.

    Unfortunately, the popularity of Gmail has led some people to try and profit from selling invites to sign up for a Gmail account. Google is in no way associated with and does not approve of people auctioning or selling Gmail invitations. Consequently, Google cannot validate the authenticity of any Gmail invitations except those distributed via official channels.

    If you purchased a Gmail account invitation through an online auction site, such as eBay, we suggest filing a complaint against the seller with the site's user protection services. We look forward to announcing a wider release of Gmail in the future, and do not encourage those interested
    in Gmail to purchase an account through an online auction.

    Sincerely,

    The Gmail Team

    1. Re:Google's response to ebay sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      If you purchased a Gmail account invitation through an online auction site, such as eBay, we suggest filing a complaint against the seller

      yeah right! so I spend 200 bucks on an ebay gmail account and then file a complaint so that the sale gets anulled. Genius!

    2. Re:Google's response to ebay sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bought mine and they honored it just fine thank you very much!

    3. Re:Google's response to ebay sales by CaptainTux · · Score: 1
      But the single most important reason to get gmail account is their spam filters. I use spamassassin+thunderbird junk control for my spam filter. But gmail leaves the combo in dust

      Good to see *someone* is getting use from the spam filters. I've configured all of my email accounts to forward to GMail and it is filtering virtually no spam out at all. On average I get about 150-250 piece of spam a day (addressed to the addresses I am forwarding to GMail) and GMail, on a good day, will catch maybe 10-15.

      Are you using their "default" spam filtering or have you configured a few filters?

      --
      Anthony Papillion
      Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
      "Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
    4. Re:Google's response to ebay sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you using their "default" spam filtering or have you configured a few filters? No special filters for spam. But I have been religiously reporting spam to them (which is not difficult as it only takes one keystroke) I have set procmail to send a copy of all my mails to gmail. So I can readily compare the spam filtering of spamassassin+tbird vs gmail. I get around 400 spam mails.. the combo lets through around 100. Gmail lets in around 10!

    5. Re:Google's response to ebay sales by eBayDoug · · Score: 1

      If I thought they were really worth much, I would buy one, pay via paypal.com get my new hot address then tell paypal that the auction was fake, bad, did not work. and get my money back.. Who is going to be the first person sued for googlesquatting?

      --
      Learn About Outsourcing. http://www.pioutsource.com
  58. Re:Act now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Before I'd fork over $200 for an e-mail address I'd register my own domain and create a tricked out one of my own.

    SPECIAL DEAL!!!

    You can get:

    MYSTICALMATT517.COM

    domain for only $200! Act now before someone else gets it!

  59. Real hackers... by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Real hacker snoop the password and take hacker@gmail.com for free.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    1. Re:Real hackers... by arekq · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No. Real hackers write code for the kernel. :-)

    2. Re:Real hackers... by amorsen · · Score: 1

      The password is joshua. Duh.

      --
      Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
  60. Re:Bandwidth limits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I imagine they will have certain bandwidth limits (e.g., 5GB per month) that will make a gmail account more-or-less useless as a public pr0n host.

  61. You don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't "sound troll", but you definitely sound like someone who doesn't know what the word "troll" means.

  62. Deja Vu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't wait to see a bunch of you guys getting screwed in the Google IPO.

  63. beta accounts to get wiped out? by Spatula+Sam · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Sounds like FUD to me.

    Yes, Google could in theory wipe out all the beta accounts to staert with a clean slate. But I can't immagine why they would want to do so in this case. Perhaps you are thinking of the way game companies like Blizzard handle beta programs for their multiplayer games. In that case, there is a competitive advantage to those who have had longer to build up their diablo characters, so beta accounts disappear in the interest of fairness. However, since email is not a game, the only point to wiping the beta users is if they want to seriously piss a bunch of people off, especially those who have been promised that they could save all their email on it until the end of time.

    So, if you want that email address that badly, go ahead and buy it and give us poor folk something to roll our eyes at. On the other hand, this might violate google's gmail EULA, though I doubt anyone's taken the time to read through it all yet...

  64. bad idea by DrEasy · · Score: 1

    Don't make yourself vulnerable to a dictionary attack! I bet spammers have already added bill@gmail.com, jack@gmail.com... to their list! Use a non obvious name, nobody wants to learn your email address by heart anyway...

    --
    "In our tactical decisions, we are operating contrary to our strategic interest."
  65. Google, invite auctions & IPO by Sean+Clifford · · Score: 1
    Man there are a bunch of GMail invites up on ebay for sale with tons of bids. Prices range (for now) between $75 for (buy it now) to $200+. Sheesh.

    Maybe instead of selling stock Google should auction off invites on ebay to raise a couple of billion $ :)

    Me, I'll keep my gmail account thank you very much.

  66. erf by 0day · · Score: 1

    it's worse into worse... since the years '90, the net become a more and more expensive... nothing is free... do you think so ?

  67. In keeping with their IPO by michaeldot · · Score: 1

    So it's a Dutch auction for the IPO, and an eBay auction for the emails.

    Maybe they should just start "Gbay."

  68. more importantly.. by pukerz · · Score: 1

    ..when will h4x0r5@gmail.com be available?

    --
    the dead shall rise, from their graves, to destroy, geometry.
  69. dang.. and I could use the cash... by cyberworm · · Score: 1

    and I just gave away invitations to my girlfirend (who I told that gmail would be loads better than yahoo mail) and a friend who asked me how to get one. If I'd had one more invite I was going to send it to a buddy who is a "G" since I know he'd love to have a "gmail" addy. I guess trying to make a free service better by giving it to people who need it the most just dosen't resonate with people like it used to. I for one think it's better to give the beta accounts to people who don't know how it works, tha6t way we all get a fresh perspective and better service. To all those who pay for a gmail addy..... I hope it gets shut off right after their first email of "Hey, we know you bought this, too bad you didn't get to use it...."

  70. HA I laught at thee! by Lord+Kano · · Score: 1

    I'll sell hacker, h4cker, hack3r, I-I4(k3r and anything else I can think of on my subdomain for that much.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  71. the MOST spam free.... by way2trivial · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd love to have abuse@gmail.com

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    1. Re:the MOST spam free.... by KinkyClown · · Score: 2, Funny

      No... I would go for helpdesk@gmail.com :)

    2. Re:the MOST spam free.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I'd love to have abuse@gmail.com


      You cannot. User name must be, at least, six characters long.
    3. Re:the MOST spam free.... by noidentity · · Score: 1

      "I'd love to have abuse@gmail.com"

      I take it you like being flooded with spam reports...

    4. Re:the MOST spam free.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're so cool. Can I have your child?

  72. Stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Is it a good idea to buy anything that's in beta?"

    I imagine the guy from Binghamton that paid $100,000 for his Segway will certainly place his bid.

  73. I can see it now... by azuroff · · Score: 5, Funny
    1. Re:I can see it now... by Pieroxy · · Score: 1

      Is it a good idea to buy anything that's in beta?
      You can buy anything. It is a good idea if you want it hard enough.

      Couldn't Google just wipe out all of the beta accounts when the service starts up?

      This guy is kidding, right?

  74. The whole thing is ridiculous for techs.... by otis+wildflower · · Score: 1

    ... I mean, seriously, what tech worth half a damn doesn't already have at least h(is|er) own domain, let alone mail server?

    WTF cares about yet another non-imappable free mail service, unless you're a cheapie or a terrorist?

  75. How about these gmail names: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ivgottoomuchmoney@gmail.com
    victimofthehype@gmail .com

  76. I can't remember... by stienman · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't remember - is Google good or bad today?

    Slashdot needs one of those weather maps with all the love/hate relationships with companies...

    "Slightly heated discussion will take place today about the Google IPO, SCO still firmly in the outhouse, and there's a 30% chance that IBM will be favored with positive comments..."

    -Adam

    1. Re:I can't remember... by burns210 · · Score: 1

      when has google ever not been praised by slashdot? and for those who cite privacy concerns in gmail, they don't understand what they are talking about

    2. Re:I can't remember... by dustmite · · Score: 1

      I know it's a joke, but since there are often posts by people "confused" about whether "we" are supposed to be "loving" or "hating" some or other company today: this isn't television where everything is either in a "good" box or an "evil" box; in real life, things are never black and white, and a company is a complex, multi-faceted entity, and the various actions of companies can have both good and bad aspects at the same time.

    3. Re:I can't remember... by dustmite · · Score: 1

      The exception to that, of course, is Microsoft, who are always Evil :)

  77. I have a gmail account by mackermacker · · Score: 5, Informative

    Someone whos brother works for google sent me an invite. I've had a chance to play around with it, and to be honest, I think it will be a big hit. For an online pop account, it's set up in a very nice way. Instead of the default normal inbox (new messages coming in are placed above the older ones, good has only the names of the people you have received messages from, and then all additional messages to and from that same person are put under their own thread, wityh an easy to use feature for archiving threads. It also says if the mail was sent from someone else to you, or sent from you to someone else. Theres a lot of other features, such as staring someone, but havent quite gotten that far yet. And yes, you get 1GB of storage. All in all, affter using the interface, I dont think I will go back to using other free email accounts.

    1. Re:I have a gmail account by trashme · · Score: 1
      It also says if the mail was sent from someone else to you, or sent from you to someone else.
      You mean kind of like the "to" and "from" fields you see in every other email service/application? This is in no way an impressive feature.

      The real features of gmail is the google search capability and the storage space (which you mentioned). The interface is also fast and driven by javascript. Expanding or collapsing a message in a conversation is instant, there is no page reload.

      There are also other nice touches like keyboard shortcuts for keyboard navigation. And clicking on a mispelled word after using their spellcheck will bring down a menu of suggested corrections.
    2. Re:I have a gmail account by mackermacker · · Score: 1

      I could really use a spellcheck :)
      As for the to/from field, yes, its the same, but it says "from me to you". It takes some getting used to, but thats a minor detail. The organisation of the Inbox is really nice. Granted, I use mutt on linux, but for a defauly POP account, There is no doubt its going to be a hit.

      I havent even dwelved in depth about the search feature yet. I would say tehre is a learning curve, but probbaly well worth it.

  78. What's so cool in a @gmail.com e-mail? by DeKO · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'll stick with my @abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw xyzabcdefghijk.com mail account, thank you.

    1. Re:What's so cool in a @gmail.com e-mail? by ashot · · Score: 1

      thanks!


      abcdefg....k.com Account Created Successfully

      Your new email address is:

      ashot@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnop qr stuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com

      --
      -ashot
  79. I emailed him yesterday and here was his response. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jussi to hackers More options May 2 (10 hours ago)

    Hope Google doesn't have some clause against selling accounts and shuts yours down

    Drake tha hacker to me
    More options 12:17am (8 hours ago)

    blow me fucker

    - Show quoted text -

    On Sun, 2 May 2004 22:13:25 +1000, Jussi wrote:
    >
    > Hope Google doesn't have some clause against selling accounts and
    > shuts yours down
    >

    Drake tha hacker to me More options 12:21am (8 hours ago)

    HA JUST SOLD IT OFF AUCTION for 275. yum!

    - Show quoted text -

    On Sun, 2 May 2004 10:17:54 -0400, Drake tha hacker wrote:
    > blow me fucker
    >
    >
    >
    > On Sun, 2 May 2004 22:13:25 +1000, Jussi wrote:
    > >
    > > Hope Google doesn't have some clause against selling accounts and
    > > shuts yours down
    > >
    >

    Jussi to Drake More options 1:47am (6 hours ago)

    275 haha. Wasnt as good as 850 was it?
    Also hacker@gmail.com is better.

    Drake tha hacker to me
    More options 2:52am (5 hours ago)

    you want one??

    computer@
    download@
    password@
    domain@
    admini strators@
    linkinpark@
    nirvana@
    userid@
    hacking @

    On Mon, 3 May 2004 01:47:38 +1000, Jussi wrote:

    Jussi to Drake More options 7:19am (1 hour ago)

    I like my one better, but thanks.

  80. mod parent up by gad_zuki! · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Google does do "sucky things," just like any other company and now with the enormous data-mining potential it has and the current political climate it may get more "sucky" in the future.

    Yes, Google isn't Diebold or SCO, but that's not saying much.

    Reminds me, time to delete my google cookies on various browsers. Thanks anonymous coward!

  81. look for the urls in the pictures of the sign up.. by mcknation · · Score: 1


    Screens...looks like most people were smart enough to blur them. I guess there is a chance someone would make a mistake and let you see it tho.

    mck

  82. $-1 by milsim · · Score: 1

    Wrong. It was $200, then it was posted to spam databases, and now it's $-1.

  83. Internal unauthorised? by koa · · Score: 1

    Think it could be possible that someone inside Google made a few addresses- and gave them to people to sell for a small kick-back?

    I'm no conspiracy theorist but it is plausable? I mean, if the first ones sell for a pretty penny you might see more sold afterward.

    --
    ....move along....nothing to see here....
    1. Re:Internal unauthorised? by huchida · · Score: 1
      It's possible. But I really, really doubt anyone inside Google would be so stupid as to risk their job to make a few bucks auctioning off addresses. Especially when the company's on the verge of going public.

      It's a lot more probable that the bloggers and early-sign-up-lottery winners who got beta accounts found out they could make some quick and easy cash for something they'll be able to get for free in a few months and said, why not?

      This is really such low-stakes stuff, I'm surprised anyone's fretting about it.

  84. Which is what Google wants by brucmack · · Score: 1

    Google wants people to test their features, so if this trend increases the volume of spam, it can only play into their hand.

  85. I would pay by RabidChicken · · Score: 1

    Seems there is a lot of discussion as to why people would pay for a (free) gmail service. 1) It's forbidden. It's closed. We are human, do the math. 2) Easy personal contact information is tough on the web and saturated services like free email (such as hotmail or yahoo). Address like foobar374728284748493@foobar.net are hard to remember and are taken less seriously than roberts@company.net. Early, high value names (such as god@ or hacker@) show some level of professionalism (or at least something about the f00bar3432 people). That is the kind of value people are paying for, not necessarily the gig or webmail. I own a domain name forward mail to my other accounts for professional contact or such. It works out very well if you put some thought into the domains and name. Of course, I don't use it as contact info on boards or websites :-D

    1. Re:I would pay by Tokerat · · Score: 4, Funny


      How can /.ers not understand? Haven't people bought /. accounts with low user numbers before?

      --
      CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
  86. Google Has Discovered Step Two! by Wes+Janson · · Score: 3, Funny

    Step One: Create free, really expensive-to-run public email server. Step Two: Make lots of media hype, and then sell all the "good" account names on eBay to /. nerds for large sums of money. Step Three: Profit!!!

  87. Easily targetted address.. by koa · · Score: 1

    You'll probably get more spam targeted at you becuase "2inchjohnson@hotmail.com" will be more apealing to the targetted spamming systems designed to sell you penis enlargement spams!

    --
    ....move along....nothing to see here....
  88. Google: Obscurity + Stanford Policy != Security by edgedmurasame · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is what you get when the staff's doing it the Stanford way, thanks to Orkut. Orkut started the whole "invite and hype" model with the service of same name, and continues this policy today under Gmail. If anything, it'd do good to come clean before people who have enough clout to force it to happen, no matter what your euphemism or excuse is, given your common denominator. Obviously, they need to read up on true security, versus putting the backbone of things on close circles that are easily broken when people start bragging about them. Refer to Operation Fastlink, something that would definitely clean house out of Orkut, and Google if applied to them. If you are going to run a private service, dont advertise.

    --
    "Forget the engineers." -Carly Fiorina, briber of MIT Technology Review.
    1. Re:Google: Obscurity + Stanford Policy != Security by Euronymous1 · · Score: 1

      Are you even speaking english? Almost nothing you said makes any sense.

  89. Sure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Couldn't Google just wipe out all of the beta accounts when the service starts up?

    Sure. But by then you got your money. Who cares if you rip some poor sucker off? It's the American way, man! It's what makes this country great!

  90. ghey by carrett · · Score: 0, Troll

    anyone who buys this is a big blubbering idiotic vagina. seiously.

    who wants to pay for a gig of email storage you can get for free (spymac.com) RIGHT NOW. If you're bitching about how great google's search technology is...why not use an intelligent mail client (mutt). then you wouldn't have to worry about going over your quota and you would have "amazing" searching capabilities. don't think it's remote? use ssh. think it's a pain in the ass? so is realizing you're paying 199 for a service that recapitulates long-established email technology.

    also,

    don't forget to pay your $699 licensing fee you cock-smoking teabaggers

    --
    I'm against picketing but I don't know how to show it.
    1. Re:ghey by CaptainTux · · Score: 1
      who wants to pay for a gig of email storage you can get for free (spymac.com) RIGHT NOW

      There is also a service in Israel that is either offering or soon to offer 1GB accounts. The reason people are chomping at the bit for GMail addresses has nothing really to do with the storage space (heck, you can set up your own email server with 120 GB if you wanted). It's brand recognition.

      Google has worked very hard to cultivate their brand and site to be synomymous with all things cutting edge and cool. Google is probably the absolute hottest site on the net now. Think about it, what would be your response if you told someone to go to Google and search for something and they said "What is Google?" You'd be shocked. Google has become a household name and *that* is why getting a GMail account is so important to people.

      But, even aside from that, I think GMail is a really cool service. Stable, fast, and cool. Much like Google itself.

      --
      Anthony Papillion
      Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
      "Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
  91. Names? by hot_Karls_bad_cavern · · Score: 2, Funny

    What about stevejobs@gmail.com? or billgates, tacobell, applesucks, gnu, etc @gmail.com?

  92. Even more wacky than that by devphil · · Score: 2, Funny


    Is when the story is accepted and then immediately shows up in the "two days ago" column, with the timestamp exactly 48 hours wrong.

    --
    You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
    1. Re:Even more wacky than that by akadruid · · Score: 1

      Even better: Submita story, watch it appear on the front page, and still see it labelled 'rejected' on the submission page (and eventually disappear), dispite emailing slashdot with news of the error. It happens, get over it.

      --
      "Those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything." (attrib. Joseph Stalin)
  93. Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by MilenCent · · Score: 5, Informative

    That may not work -- few people have noticed it yet, but Gmail doesn't let you send or receive Windows executable attachments, according to them not even whe zipped!

    - John Harris

    1. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by gasgesgos · · Score: 1

      couldn't you just name your l337 w4r3z stuff like "SupercoolNewProgram.stuff" or something like that...

      Of course, I don't know if google can see around that, but most other things can't...

    2. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      attachment = file XOR 0xdeadbeef

    3. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "file SupercoolNewProgram.stuff" says it is a zip.

    4. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by MilenCent · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yeah, but if someone really wanted to they could recognize EXEs from the beginning of their data, they all contain a fairly similar header. I don't know if Gmail looks inside attachments as part of its search and ad service functionality, but if they do it seems likely they could tie into that to catch executables.

      The AC respondent is right however, in that a simple XOR could make it quite a bit harder for Google to detect EXEs. Certainly not insurmountable, mind you, but harder. More expensive computationally.

    5. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by scottj · · Score: 1

      Ever heard of PGP? GnuPG?

      There are a ton of tools out there that can be used to defeat such simple limitations.

      --
      .-.--
    6. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by rozz · · Score: 0

      1. change that .exe extension to a non-executable one

      2. zip/rar/arj/jar/tar with a good password

      3. send it

      i bet it works with ANY email server/client out there

      --
      "There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
    7. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by dave1212 · · Score: 1

      Gmail doesn't let you send or receive Windows executable attachments, according to them not even when zipped!

      Thank God.

    8. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by Darthmalt · · Score: 1

      well that sucks. I was looking forward to leaving behind file size limits. Obviously I didn't expect to be able to send movies on google but I'm always emailing myself stuff from the school computers (I don't trust floppy disks) and sending webpage updates to the school in zip files (darn admins wont give me ftp access) or sending pictures to friends.

    9. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by MilenCent · · Score: 1

      But sending zip archives that don't contain executables is okay. That'll probably include your web page updates.

      Indeed, people have to be careful with limiting archives, since the StarOffice/OpenOffice file format is little more than a bunch of XML files (and maybe some others, depending on what's embedded in the document) collected in a zip archive.

      - John Harris

    10. Re:Gmail doesn't allow EXE attachments by Saberwind · · Score: 1

      registry patches (*.reg) are banned as attachments too.

  94. somebody ought too...... by Plasmagrid · · Score: 4, Funny

    set up one that is
    microsoft@gmail.com

    should be worth a few million

    LOL

    1. Re:somebody ought too...... by master0ne · · Score: 1

      yeah, in lawsuits, remember this practice just isnt nice!

      --
      Noone writes jokes in base 13!
  95. heh.. by rebelcool · · Score: 1

    i started forwarding much of my other email addresses to gmail and a couple of them are spam sinks. I get quite a bit of spam through it, still.

    Don't go posting your email just yet. About 30-40% still makes it through.

    --

    -

  96. this is untrue. by rebelcool · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have a friend who invited me who is not a google employee. By your logic, he would, at the most, be 2nd tier and I would be 3rd. However, I can invite people.

    I had to use the service for a week before I could invite anyone.

    --

    -

  97. Do the virus and/or warez thing by Kjella · · Score: 1

    ...and password protect zips, usually name of release group or site. For "security reasons". Least that's what the virus variety tells me...

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:Do the virus and/or warez thing by MilenCent · · Score: 1

      Yeah, or use some other archival format than zip, or even create something new. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was able to mail myself a zipped executable despite what the Google staff person said, though I didn't think much of it when I did it, so maybe it didn't actually work and I just failed to notice.

      In any case, I'm sure it's impossible to completely stamp out people using GMail as a file repository, and I'm sure they realize that. But they can put it out of the reach of "typical" users, thwart people seeking to automate it, make people split files up into multiple parts to get around the attachment limit, force them to use special tools to decode data, etc.

      Me, I'm a bit annoyed I can't send executables, but it's no biggie. I can always use my web spaces' mail server for that kind of thing.

  98. Google and Privacy/Security by karmatic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While I wouldn't want anything that's really private on this account, I wouldn't want it on hotmail either. I'd either use encryption over existing free services (less tracability) or just use my own mailserver.

    Things like credit card numbers, bank data, passwords etc. will be perfectly safe, even if the data is scanned. Google are smart enough not to have the publicity problems they would get if they revealed any private info, and it's not really as if anyone cares what my email says. They are scanned for advertising purposes, they are not proof read to see if anything interesting is happening in my life. I feel safe because I know Google won't do anything with my financail details because they have PR people who know that would cripple their service uptake and I know they couldn't care less about my personal life.

    Having said that, for me and I'm sure plenty of other slashdotters it's a moot point - I have my own mailserver which I can check on my home machine via thunderbird, my phone via the built in GPRS mail client and from anywhere else with a browser via squirrelmail. 10GB storage, no attachment limits and unlimited addresses I can check from anywhere - it's easily worth what I pay for it.

    1. Re:Google and Privacy/Security by CrimsonBelle · · Score: 1

      I recently signed up for a hotmail account using fake info, including a birthdate saying I was much older. I noticed today that the ads for the personal services that I normally see on there were off somehow. Usually they're at least halfway attractive and in their 20's, right? Well, then I realized that it was that they were for senior dating services and the people were all in their 50's. Yeah, hotmail is more secure than gmail...uh-huh..

      --
      Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will never want for work. - Unknown
  99. Mailing lists? by jhujoe · · Score: 1

    And how does one receive messages from mailing lists that are wanted?

  100. Lawyers... by rice_burners_suck · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think it would be really awesome if some idiots pay thousands upon thousands of dollars for some cool email addresses, and when Gmail goes live for real, everything is reset and someone else gets that address for free. That would just be so awesome. I'd really like if it did happen just to see all the lawsuits that would arise from it. Well, did I mention I'm a lawyer?

  101. I wish it was the MOST spam free.... by r_cerq · · Score: 1

    I get around 50/60 pieces of SPAM each day in my abuse address. I eventually gave up and placed an address-confirmation script in front of it...

  102. Just 1GB of space? by hasdikarlsam · · Score: 1

    And they say you can save all your email "to the end of time". Here, let me show you something:

    svein@cloud svein $ cd
    svein@cloud svein $ du -s .maildir
    839187 .maildir

    That's all my email for.. oh, around four years. Mind you, everything older than two months is tarballed.

    No, Gmail just won't do it for me...

    1. Re:Just 1GB of space? by Xeger · · Score: 1

      Do you compress your maildir? I'm guessing those four years' worth of messages would shrink down by quite a bit, if you did. Google are no fools; they're going to use that 1GB to the maximum potential!

    2. Re:Just 1GB of space? by hasdikarlsam · · Score: 1

      Yes; when I said "tarballed", I meant "tarballed with -cjf".

      Oh, and I'm sure Google's going to take the opportunity to mix-and-match similar messages - just take a look at the rsync algorithm to see how* - but that doesn't mean they won't count the full length against *my* 1GB.

      *: Yes, yes, I'm quite aware that they're unlikely to use it directly. It was meant as inspiration.

    3. Re:Just 1GB of space? by Xeger · · Score: 1

      I would *hope* they'd amortize the cost of a shared mail or attachment between those whose mailboxes contain the thing ... but if they wanted to be cheap bastards, I suppose they could count the full size of the thing against anyone's quota...but it's in their best interest to provide every user with as large a corpus as possible of stored email, so they may better analyze it and do what they will with the information.

  103. I don't know... by warrax_666 · · Score: 1

    with the kind of growth the spammers are promising it might even be a GIRL with a huge fucking johnson.

    --
    HAND.
  104. Doesn't always work by CaptainTux · · Score: 1
    I tried this earlier today after reading this story on Slashdot and it doesn't seem to work. I posted the address "tuxthepenguin@gmail.com" for sale for $100. I received 3 complaints that people couldn't bid on the address and then tonight, the auction was taken down. I think GMail might be pressuring eBay to not allow these auctions in order to whip the market into a frenzy pre-IPO.

    BTW, if someone want the email address my offer still stands. LOL

    --
    Anthony Papillion
    Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
    "Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
  105. hah by emkman · · Score: 1

    can we say steganography? File names are superficial, an attachment is an attachment.

    --
    Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
  106. miss the point... by nsebban · · Score: 2, Funny

    it a good idea to buy anything that's in beta?

    Anyway, is it a good idea to buy something that's free ?

    --
    ____
    nico
    Nico-Live
  107. Footfall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Few? What have you learned?"
    "I learned what you must have known, Chowpeentulk. Your mate was interested in the human prisoners. He questioned one Dawson, while Dawson was isolated."
    "So." She said, "In the communal mudbath, days before he disappeared ... he wouldn't tell me what he intended, but he thought to learn something. It had to do with whether Winterhom was worth the taking."
    "It would. And where does that leave me? Did he question the Soviet prisoners? Did he learn anything? Humans may lie even to the Herdmaster, for I cannot read their body language. The Breakers were no help. It doesn't matter. Even if we consider that surrendered human might murder a ranking fi', another fi' murder be involved. No frail human could have pushed him into a vertical wall of mud under minuscule thrust. A fi' must have chilled the mudroom again after Fathisteh-tulk was dead.
    "Meanwhile a fithpless killer walks Message Bearer. He killed among the highest rank, yet nothing shows in his stance. He know that he has played the Herdmaster for a fool."
    "We feared you had forgotten," K'turfookeph said, with a trace of apology in her tone.
    "Losing my fithp to thermonuclear bombs and wooden stick and madness, why should I ignore yet another death? But I hay no more footholds here! What should I seek? Some fi' appeared and killed and went, unnoticed, speaking to none."
    Chowpeentulk sprayed him. The Herdmaster didn't react at all "A rogue who came and went. So simple. Chowpeentulk, I will produce your mate's killer within eight days. Leave us."
    Chowpeentulk knew enough to keep silent. She surged from the mud and left, dripping. Pastempeh-keph said, "Was there no another place where you and that other female could confront me?"
    "Keph, she persuaded me. There are others who wondered too-"
    "Don't do that again. Now forget it, mother of my immortality The mating season flows always too fast."

    The column made slow progress across the veldt. Movement was impossible at night. The snouts had excellent IR detection equipment. On a good day the commando could travel thirty kilometers on foot.

  108. I want... by insomaniac · · Score: 1

    gspot@gmail.com ;)

    --
    The way to corrupt a youth is to teach him to hold in higher value them who think alike than those who think differently
  109. good article by chrisranjana.com · · Score: 1

    read with interest

    --
    Chris ,
    Php Programmers.
  110. Whitelists and mailing-lists by hummassa · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If Google is smart (and I think they can be) they will have a special mailing-list processing in place. Suppose they get 1000 people subscribed to, for instance, debian-devel; what would you like to store if you were Google? one or one thousand copies?

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  111. $200, or for free..... by sunami · · Score: 1

    now why would anyone in their right mind spend ANY money on an e-mail acount. If you want 1GB e-mail right now, see spymac.com

  112. What has happened to all the moderators... by metalmaniac1759 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    My default threshold is +3.
    And all I'm getting today is crap!

    Nandz.

  113. Abuse of priveliges by David+Horn · · Score: 1

    I think that it's pretty awful that someone is trying to sell off a beta email address. Almost by definition, any closed beta requires a degree of trust between the tester and the company, and these people have abused the trust that Google put in them. I hope Google just delete the offending accounts.

    --
    PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
  114. GMail Invitation Link. by Zusstin · · Score: 1

    can you provide it here? I will start my testing by playing with it..

  115. spymac is for pussies... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    teh sux run by kids. Absolutely unreliable, no spam protection, more down than online, half of the mail gets stuck somewhere for half day, etc.... I'd rather use hotmail than spymac.

  116. Not to mention being able to follow links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It seems that Google, knowing what's on the other end of those links, would be quite effective at blocking spam even without those options. If it just makes a database of 'spam websites' or something that offer penis enlargement pills, it could quite easily find emails with links pointing to them, and mark those as spam.

  117. ebay link by spacemky · · Score: 1

    In case anyone is wondering, the ebay auction is here.

    --
    640YB ought to be enough for anybody.
  118. indirect spamming by Patlag · · Score: 0

    I stop counting how many emails I receive on my smtp for sales@mydomain. The point is, I never used/publishes this email. So in many spam campaign, there is some "static target" like sales@domain, info@domain, paul@domain, mike@domain etc... Address so popular that they figure on a majority of domains. And it's exactly those popular address we are talking right now.

    Of course gmail is offering a spam filtering option, but you cannot filter personnal junk mail like; "I would like to have your email, are you willing to give it to me?","How much do you want for you address?"

    And, if your email is paul@gmail.com, think on how much junk mail you will receive from persons trying to reach another Paul somewhere.

  119. yeah... by MarcoAtWork · · Score: 1

    this is why you get your tricked out domain name that forwards things to gmail if you're so inclined...

    --
    -- the cake is a lie
  120. Myway.com email is better by RKBA · · Score: 1
    Myway.com email doesn't have ANY advertisements. In fact I don't know how they stay in business.

    1. Re:Myway.com email is better by dmehus · · Score: 2, Informative

      The compose message function in My Way sucks ass, actually. If you bold something, it makes the rest of the text after it bold on the receiver's end. The whole system they use for composing messages is flawed. It's hard to describe, though.

      And My Way survives by the Google advertisements. Its owner, Interactive Search Holdings, was recently acquired by Ask Jeeves. ISH also owns Excite and iWon, and in fact, I predict that Ask Jeeves will model Excite and iWon after My Way by removing all pop-up ads network wide.

      Cheers,
      Doug

    2. Re:Myway.com email is better by ElliotLee · · Score: 1
      Myway.com email doesn't have ANY advertisements.

      False, unless Sponsored Links don't count. They have sponsored links all over the place, and they appear the top of their search results. These are essentially text advertisements.

    3. Re:Myway.com email is better by RKBA · · Score: 1

      Ah yes, upon further inspection you're right. MyWay makes the sponsored links look just like regular inline links instead of putting them off to the right side like Google does, and then in *tiny* print that I overlooked mentions that the first few links on a search page are sponsored links.

  121. hey now by Saturninus · · Score: 1

    What a jerk! I doubt anyone would be that eager as to pay $200. Eventually everyone will have one anyways!

  122. Before you buy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just bought one from ebay, hoping my first name would be available (4 chars long). Minimum length is 6 chars. So it's pretty worthless to me now.

  123. I bought one off ebay but ebayers are stupid. by LouSir · · Score: 1

    First off, I really wanted a gmail account so I could email and receive large files. I also wanted a cool username (turns out it still was not available but one real close was). I jumped on ebay after I read about this in Wired Friday afternoon. The most current auction was quickly rising. It went from $60 to $75 in just a few minutes. I was not willing to pay this price. So, I scrolled down a few listings and there was an account that had a buy now for $40. These people were bidding each other up when they could have gotten one instanly for 1/2 the price they were bidding. I'm sure glad there were lazy ebay bidders. LouSir

  124. How to handle attachments..... by MilenCent · · Score: 1

    Yes, I think I've already said this somewhere in these comments (I can't find it right now), but I admit it's impossible for Google to completely eradicate the sending of file attachments. But they can make it sufficently hard that "normal" users won't be able to take advantage of it for purposes like hosting a warez repository.

    Scrambling with a PGP-like program, passwordifying an archive, even simple XORing can force Google's megacomputer to spend so much time looking on each attachment as to make performance suffer for everyone else.

    But what if Google decides to go a different route? Instead of letting all attachments go through except these, what if they decided to only allow recognizable attachments? They would look at the information at the beginning of the file to determine what type it is instead of relying on the extension, of course.

    I think that'd be a shame, and it wouldn't stamp-out EXE hosting (since you can get around it by uuencoding and pasting into a Word document, or even split it up across multiple Word documents), but it could work "good enough."

    1. Re:How to handle attachments..... by rozz · · Score: 0
      "normal" users won't be able to take advantage of it for purposes like hosting a warez repository.

      since when do "normal" users host warez repositories ?

      and about handling attachments, i doubt they will get into such pains about them ... it's not doing any good for them and i bet there are more interesting things to do around there

      --
      "There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  125. Welcome to hackers@gmail.com... by zanderredux · · Score: 1

    ... the largest spam archive on Earth!!! just couldnt resist

  126. Irrelevancy brewing? by GoRK · · Score: 1

    I kind of get a feeling that buying up the account names might be a pretty moot point when the service is actually launched... Google could always add new domain names for people to use and open the entire set of usernames on each domain. Since the only advertisement for gmail that goes out with the emails is (presumably) the @gmail.com address they could even just do subdomains or other tld's ie @gmail.net or @red.gmail.com

    I doubt they'd wipe out all the existing accounts. This would seriously peeve anyone who had (in theory) actually helped them beta test the service and established the @gmail.com address as their own. Worse, if you had registered for some online banking service or similar using your gmail address, someone snatching your account out from under you on 'launch day' might be able to get into your accounts via 'request password' or similar features...

  127. 2 invitations by mytho · · Score: 1

    I got the 2 invitations and gave them to 2 lucky people, who really could use a nice email account. Now I blog at about an average of 2 posts a week.. and i got the invitations in my inbox a couple days ago. It seems to me, that Google is creating like a sort of GMail community, they play it very clever I must say.

  128. If Gmail accounts weren't free... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I bet no one would want one enough to buy it on ebay.

  129. only $699 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yourname@sco.com

  130. Bin.Laden@gmail.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Well, someone has a sense of humor. The address Bin.Laden@gmail.com is up for sale at eBay... A beautifful opportunity to kiss privacy good-bye :D link

  131. Gmail Forums by ElliotLee · · Score: 1

    Great little community to learn about Gmail and meet other users. Gmail Forums