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We should be able to port emails like we are with phone numbers. Keep your @gmail.com address but host it with another provider.

tastroder 7y ago
> We should be able to port emails like we are with phone numbers. We already have that if the e-mail address was "yours" to begin with, you can buy domains and keep using e-mail addresses pointing to them, moving to whatever e-mail provider you prefer this decade.
- lexs 7y ago
  From a consumer perspective the phone number model is much more usable though. You buy the service from a carrier but you can still keep your number when you change carrier due to it being regulated. No need to buy phone numbers separate from the service.
- emailforus 7y ago
  And what do you do with the hundred of millions who have all of their accounts tied to a gmail/...
  - tastroder 7y ago
    Those hundreds of millions of users would not switch providers anyway. Breaking protocols that lasted for decades for the sake of achieving nothing seems like an ineffective reaction to stupid corporate policies and a total lack of customer support.
josteink 7y ago
Nonsense. You have no ownership claim to the domain gmail.com. You are merely renting it, and for free no less! Stop acting entitled. If you want ownership, the option already exists, and it’s easy: get your own domain. That’s yours to keep and manage as you see fit, with Gmail a possible service attached to it as you see fit.
- echelon 7y ago
  You're speaking from a position of knowing how the technology works and understanding how difficult this would be to implement. But your attitude seems to convey that you find this behavior acceptable. The majority of people don't have the tech know how to do what you're saying. Are we to leave them unrepresented and vulnerable? How many other people has this happened to that haven't been able to file bug reports on Github? The solution here isn't a fine. Companies just laugh at those and continue on with business as usual. The real fix is to take Gmail (and the domain) away from Google. I'll be voting for legislators with the nerve to do this.
- ben_w 7y ago
  > You have no ownership claim to the domain gmail.com. You are merely renting it, and for free no less! Irrelevant, and also true of phone numbers (not accounts, numbers). > Stop acting entitled. If you want ownership, the option already exists, and it’s easy: get your own domain. You and I can do that easily. Doesn’t mean other people can. Division of skills and focusing on what you’re good at is a foundational principal of our global economy. On the other hand, making a thing available at below cost so as to push the competition out of business sounds to me like an “unfair monopoly”.
- magashna 7y ago
  I must assume that you built your own cell phone, erected your own service towers, wired them to the rest of the grid, and have service agreements with other providers allowing you to connect @josteink's homegrown phone network to everyone else.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    How is a natural monopoly comparable to a free email service that you have a million alternatives to? No one is stopping anyone from paying Fastmail or using a slew of other services than Google, other than people’s unwillingness to pay for things.
    - ben_w 7y ago

tastroder 7y ago

> We should be able to port emails like we are with phone numbers. We already have that if the e-mail address was "yours" to begin with, you can buy domains and keep using e-mail addresses pointing to them, moving to whatever e-mail provider you prefer this decade.

lexs 7y ago
From a consumer perspective the phone number model is much more usable though. You buy the service from a carrier but you can still keep your number when you change carrier due to it being regulated. No need to buy phone numbers separate from the service.
emailforus 7y ago
And what do you do with the hundred of millions who have all of their accounts tied to a gmail/...
- tastroder 7y ago
  Those hundreds of millions of users would not switch providers anyway. Breaking protocols that lasted for decades for the sake of achieving nothing seems like an ineffective reaction to stupid corporate policies and a total lack of customer support.

josteink 7y ago

Nonsense. You have no ownership claim to the domain gmail.com. You are merely renting it, and for free no less! Stop acting entitled. If you want ownership, the option already exists, and it’s easy: get your own domain. That’s yours to keep and manage as you see fit, with Gmail a possible service attached to it as you see fit.

echelon 7y ago
You're speaking from a position of knowing how the technology works and understanding how difficult this would be to implement. But your attitude seems to convey that you find this behavior acceptable. The majority of people don't have the tech know how to do what you're saying. Are we to leave them unrepresented and vulnerable? How many other people has this happened to that haven't been able to file bug reports on Github? The solution here isn't a fine. Companies just laugh at those and continue on with business as usual. The real fix is to take Gmail (and the domain) away from Google. I'll be voting for legislators with the nerve to do this.
ben_w 7y ago
> You have no ownership claim to the domain gmail.com. You are merely renting it, and for free no less! Irrelevant, and also true of phone numbers (not accounts, numbers). > Stop acting entitled. If you want ownership, the option already exists, and it’s easy: get your own domain. You and I can do that easily. Doesn’t mean other people can. Division of skills and focusing on what you’re good at is a foundational principal of our global economy. On the other hand, making a thing available at below cost so as to push the competition out of business sounds to me like an “unfair monopoly”.
magashna 7y ago
I must assume that you built your own cell phone, erected your own service towers, wired them to the rest of the grid, and have service agreements with other providers allowing you to connect @josteink's homegrown phone network to everyone else.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  How is a natural monopoly comparable to a free email service that you have a million alternatives to? No one is stopping anyone from paying Fastmail or using a slew of other services than Google, other than people’s unwillingness to pay for things.
  - ben_w 7y ago