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When your life is screwed up due to your primary google account of over a decade (that has god knows what all data, memories, contacts, brand association etc.)

When your life is screwed up due to your primary google account of over a decade (that has god knows what all data, memories, contacts, brand association etc.) being shut down with little to no recourse, it does not matter that it was not nefarious or convoluted. It especially does not matter that it wasn't nefarious when Google isn't going to listen to you anyway unless you happen to write a blog post that happens to get viral in the right circles. It's not like there's a simple form that you can fill and which is reviewed and resolved in a few days reliably if your account gets deactivated by mistake. At that point you might as well be banging your head on a wall for all the good that will do.

chimeracoder 9y ago
> It's not like there's a simple form that you can fill and which is reviewed and resolved in a few days reliably if your account gets deactivated by mistake. Even a few days is unacceptable. There are times in my life where, if my Google Calendar, Google Docs, and email had all been shut off simultaneously, even for only a few days, I would have been completely fucked. Think travel, etc. I switched to a different email provider for this reason. (Remember that this also includes your phone, if you're on an Android device).
- Silhouette 9y ago
  (Remember that this also includes your phone, if you're on an Android device). Is that inherent in using Android, or only if you use Google's own apps and online storage for your calendar etc?
  - chimeracoder 9y ago
    It's not inherent in AOSP, but it's true for most Android users.
- ucaetano 9y ago
  > Even a few days is unacceptable. There are times in my life where, if my Google Calendar, Google Docs, and email had all been shut off simultaneously, even for only a few days, I would have been completely fucked. Think travel, etc. If you want that level of service, maybe you shouldn't use a free product. You can have a free product, or you can have good, responsive, human customer service. You can't have both. If you chose a free product, be ready to handle the consequences of your decision like everybody else.
  - chimeracoder 9y ago
    > If you want that level of service, maybe you shouldn't use a free product. ...did you not read the part where I said I switched to a different provider? And I was a paying customer - I had a Google Apps account, which comes with an annual fee for providing those services. Of course, the problem isn't about me personally - it's that so many other, less technically savvy people aren't aware of how vulnerable they are to this problem. They don't think about it until it happens to them. > You can have a free product, or you can have good, responsive, human customer service. You can't have both This dichotomy is both reductive and inapplicable. The problem, as explained in this thread, is that Google has a reputation for bad service, even for their paid offerings. It exists, which is more than can be said of the support for the free products, but it's still not good enough. And again, most customers aren't aware of the extent of this and its implications until it's too late.
    - ucaetano 9y ago
      > They don't think about it until it happens to them. Agreed, and doesn't need to be less tech-savvy people, just look at HN. People seem to expect good and free service. > This dichotomy is both reductive and inapplicable. And is still unavoidable. You can't have both. > And again, most customers aren't aware of the extent of this and its implications until it's too late. It is the same behavior with airline tickets. Consumers almost always buy the cheapest ticket, and later complain about the quality of the service.
      - chimeracoder 9y ago
        > You can't have both. It is entirely irrelevant to this thread and discussion. We are talking about the service for one paid product (Google Apps), on a thread announcing the service for another paid product (Google Chrome Enterprise).
        ucaetano 9y ago
        > We are talking about the service for one paid product (Google Apps), on a thread announcing the service for another paid product (Google Chrome Enterprise). No, OP is talking about this case, which is a free product: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15065742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15065742
- whyagaindavid 9y ago
  To helpful please name your provider
ehsankia 9y ago
You're free to export and make backup of your data at any time with google takeout.
- somenewacc 9y ago
  Then I'd need some other software where I could start a server and import my data. Otherwise it's useless. If this software exists and it is an adequate substitute to Google products.. well, let's just use it then.
- hueving 9y ago
  See the sibling comment for why this "solution" is a joke. Also keep in mind that takeout is completely buried so fewer than 1% of the users know about it, let alone use it enough to not get screwed by a lockout of their most recent data.
  - ehsankia 9y ago
    Well also less than 0.001% of the users accidentally lose their account and don't get it back so.
  - whyagaindavid 9y ago
    Compared to "takeout" permanently forwarding mails is better. That way you always have 3 copies. One in gmail, outlook, and apple. Well hope you don't screwup so much that all of them block you at the same time.
- techer 9y ago
  It's relatively time consuming to do this. And how often should I do it? It's not as simple as the name suggests.
- hrktb 9y ago
  That’s still a manual, non automatable backup. To have any reasonable backup strategy you’ll need to find something service by service, giving up some that just have no API nor compatible query language (I think keep is part of that, you’ll have no way to auto backup)
whyagaindavid 9y ago
To alleviate the email issue: forward every incoming email to your outlook/apple account. Make copy of old email using IMAP to outlook/apple. Not ultimate solution but can be helpful. Oh BTW enable 2FA.

chimeracoder 9y ago

> It's not like there's a simple form that you can fill and which is reviewed and resolved in a few days reliably if your account gets deactivated by mistake. Even a few days is unacceptable. There are times in my life where, if my Google Calendar, Google Docs, and email had all been shut off simultaneously, even for only a few days, I would have been completely fucked. Think travel, etc. I switched to a different email provider for this reason. (Remember that this also includes your phone, if you're on an Android device).

Silhouette 9y ago
(Remember that this also includes your phone, if you're on an Android device). Is that inherent in using Android, or only if you use Google's own apps and online storage for your calendar etc?
- chimeracoder 9y ago
  It's not inherent in AOSP, but it's true for most Android users.
ucaetano 9y ago
> Even a few days is unacceptable. There are times in my life where, if my Google Calendar, Google Docs, and email had all been shut off simultaneously, even for only a few days, I would have been completely fucked. Think travel, etc. If you want that level of service, maybe you shouldn't use a free product. You can have a free product, or you can have good, responsive, human customer service. You can't have both. If you chose a free product, be ready to handle the consequences of your decision like everybody else.
- chimeracoder 9y ago
  > If you want that level of service, maybe you shouldn't use a free product. ...did you not read the part where I said I switched to a different provider? And I was a paying customer - I had a Google Apps account, which comes with an annual fee for providing those services. Of course, the problem isn't about me personally - it's that so many other, less technically savvy people aren't aware of how vulnerable they are to this problem. They don't think about it until it happens to them. > You can have a free product, or you can have good, responsive, human customer service. You can't have both This dichotomy is both reductive and inapplicable. The problem, as explained in this thread, is that Google has a reputation for bad service, even for their paid offerings. It exists, which is more than can be said of the support for the free products, but it's still not good enough. And again, most customers aren't aware of the extent of this and its implications until it's too late.
  - ucaetano 9y ago
    > They don't think about it until it happens to them. Agreed, and doesn't need to be less tech-savvy people, just look at HN. People seem to expect good and free service. > This dichotomy is both reductive and inapplicable. And is still unavoidable. You can't have both. > And again, most customers aren't aware of the extent of this and its implications until it's too late. It is the same behavior with airline tickets. Consumers almost always buy the cheapest ticket, and later complain about the quality of the service.
    - chimeracoder 9y ago
      > You can't have both. It is entirely irrelevant to this thread and discussion. We are talking about the service for one paid product (Google Apps), on a thread announcing the service for another paid product (Google Chrome Enterprise).
      - ucaetano 9y ago
        > We are talking about the service for one paid product (Google Apps), on a thread announcing the service for another paid product (Google Chrome Enterprise). No, OP is talking about this case, which is a free product: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15065742 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15065742
whyagaindavid 9y ago
To helpful please name your provider

ehsankia 9y ago

You're free to export and make backup of your data at any time with google takeout.

somenewacc 9y ago
Then I'd need some other software where I could start a server and import my data. Otherwise it's useless. If this software exists and it is an adequate substitute to Google products.. well, let's just use it then.
hueving 9y ago
See the sibling comment for why this "solution" is a joke. Also keep in mind that takeout is completely buried so fewer than 1% of the users know about it, let alone use it enough to not get screwed by a lockout of their most recent data.
- ehsankia 9y ago
  Well also less than 0.001% of the users accidentally lose their account and don't get it back so.
- whyagaindavid 9y ago
  Compared to "takeout" permanently forwarding mails is better. That way you always have 3 copies. One in gmail, outlook, and apple. Well hope you don't screwup so much that all of them block you at the same time.
techer 9y ago
It's relatively time consuming to do this. And how often should I do it? It's not as simple as the name suggests.
hrktb 9y ago
That’s still a manual, non automatable backup. To have any reasonable backup strategy you’ll need to find something service by service, giving up some that just have no API nor compatible query language (I think keep is part of that, you’ll have no way to auto backup)

whyagaindavid 9y ago

To alleviate the email issue: forward every incoming email to your outlook/apple account. Make copy of old email using IMAP to outlook/apple. Not ultimate solution but can be helpful. Oh BTW enable 2FA.