You're both right. It IS an insignificant number, but it would suck, out loud, if you happened to be in that number. (I was not.) I have 2 opposing feelings

You're both right. It IS an insignificant number, but it would suck, out loud, if you happened to be in that number. (I was not.) I have 2 opposing feelings on the matter; 1 is that email is not backup. If you're using it as such, well, you run this risk. Email is a communication medium; if ideas or information presented therein are important to you, save them in appropriate places. Email is only a way to get the idea/info TO you, not where to keep it. And yes, I realize reasonable people disagree here. The other is that at least with Google, the account is intimately tied to any Android devices you have. I've heard reports of people not being able to use large swaths of functionality on their phones or tablets due to them being in that insignificant number. That would make the suck possibly an order of magnitude or more worse.