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It seems like Google uses some heuristics when deciding whether to ban an account. My theory is that if you stick with your personal gmail account, you have suc

It seems like Google uses some heuristics when deciding whether to ban an account. My theory is that if you stick with your personal gmail account, you have such a long history of activity that it's unlikely to be flagged by whatever "smart" algorithm they're using. I was quite surprised that my gmail account was banned without doing anything remotely malicious. (Certainly not anything listed in https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/%2B/policy/content.html https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/%2B/policy/content.html) I suppose it's my word against Google's, which isn't a happy position to be in, but to the best of my knowledge that's what happened. Regarding other services, I was hoping to get some recommendations about which one everyone likes using. Gmail and FastMail seem to be the two HN favorites, but FastMail gets expensive quickly for side projects. You can host your own email, but people have shared some unpleasant experiences with that route. It's true that you can still use gmail without losing your address, but you'll still lose your emails if they decide to suspend you.

aquadrop 9y ago
> It seems like Google uses some heuristics when deciding whether to ban an account. My theory is that if you stick with your personal gmail account, you have such a long history of activity that it's unlikely to be flagged by whatever "smart" algorithm they're using. I never saw/heard of evidence of such behavior. > but you'll still lose your emails if they decide to suspend you Emails are easily backupable, you can download them locally and/or forward everything to the "backup" email. One more service to host email on your own domain is Yandex.Mail, it's free and pretty good.
- FRex 9y ago
  Do keep in mind that Yandex falls under Russian federal law. There was an incident already with FSB getting data about backers of Navalny's anti-corruption website from Yandex Money and if you are vocal on LGBT laws you can easily run afoul of federal children protection law (to protect children from abuse, shocking materials, LGBT, anti-family values, etc.) like the founder of Deti-404 (LGBT support group that even the author of children protection law defended, ironically enough) did. I'm personally considering hushmail (Canadian) or some other paid email in the future, for maximum piece of mind, any double digit number seems reasonable enough annually. Some out of the way liberal first world country , no superpower (and superspy) aspirations, a small paid provider (that actually needs customers and word of mouth and not throwing their weight around, Google is notorious for deleting YT channels willy nilly for 'guidelines violation' and then restoring them after a shit storm) to ensure no 'smart' 'ML' algorithm bans you. Sounds just about right.

aquadrop 9y ago

> It seems like Google uses some heuristics when deciding whether to ban an account. My theory is that if you stick with your personal gmail account, you have such a long history of activity that it's unlikely to be flagged by whatever "smart" algorithm they're using. I never saw/heard of evidence of such behavior. > but you'll still lose your emails if they decide to suspend you Emails are easily backupable, you can download them locally and/or forward everything to the "backup" email. One more service to host email on your own domain is Yandex.Mail, it's free and pretty good.

FRex 9y ago
Do keep in mind that Yandex falls under Russian federal law. There was an incident already with FSB getting data about backers of Navalny's anti-corruption website from Yandex Money and if you are vocal on LGBT laws you can easily run afoul of federal children protection law (to protect children from abuse, shocking materials, LGBT, anti-family values, etc.) like the founder of Deti-404 (LGBT support group that even the author of children protection law defended, ironically enough) did. I'm personally considering hushmail (Canadian) or some other paid email in the future, for maximum piece of mind, any double digit number seems reasonable enough annually. Some out of the way liberal first world country , no superpower (and superspy) aspirations, a small paid provider (that actually needs customers and word of mouth and not throwing their weight around, Google is notorious for deleting YT channels willy nilly for 'guidelines violation' and then restoring them after a shit storm) to ensure no 'smart' 'ML' algorithm bans you. Sounds just about right.