4 ms·

I'm sure fastmail are great folks but if everyone who feels nervous because of Google's shithousery jumps ship to fastmail it doesn't really solve the problem o

by na85 4y ago

I'm sure fastmail are great folks but if everyone who feels nervous because of Google's shithousery jumps ship to fastmail it doesn't really solve the problem of overreliance on a single provider.

scrose 4y ago
Definitely. I’m sure there’s other great email providers and would recommend people do their research :) I just already use Fastmail and while I was already forwarding some emails there, this just expedited the full migration.
julianlam 4y ago
This keeps being bandied around as a reason to NOT switch to Fastmail, but the truth of the matter is: if I need to get in touch with Fastmail support, I can. Easily. That itself makes up the difference. Admittedly, the more important part is maintaining your own custom domain, so you can switch email providers with a simple DNS update.
- I_dev_outdoors 4y ago
  This is the difference. There was something fastmail was doing that I didn't like and someone followed up with me to find out what's going on and try to solve my problem for me. It was also someone with real knowledge and power to get something done as well.
- tedivm 4y ago
  Yup- I've used fastmail for about three years now (previously I self hosted). What OP is missing is that the "single provider" is about bundling dns, email, hosting, etc together. If you use Fastmail by itself and something happens to Fastmail you can change your email provider pretty easily. I do regular backups of my email anyways, so I'm not locked into Fastmail at all. Using GMail and having your domain registered with Google means that if something bad happens and Google locks you out you are simply screwed with no recourse except running a PR campaign to hopefully get someone's attention. Even pretending like Google and Fastmail are the same (they aren't, Fastmail actually offers real support) these are still very very different scenarios.
cpach 4y ago
There are also various regional email providers around the world with good pricing and good track record.
data-ottawa 4y ago
Decoupling email and domain names is an added layer of protection. If Fastmail isn’t reachable then you can port your domain elsewhere, however your domain remains a big risk.
barbazoo 4y ago
For me the point is that if you're choosing a service provider whose only offering is that particular service (e.g. Fastmail, pCloud, domain.com, ...) then the chances of being treated as a customer and getting some level of service are orders of magnitude higher.
orangepurple 4y ago
Fastmail support is actually responsive. Let's run this argument again if their reputation worsens.
ajmurmann 4y ago
There are two problems. One is reliance on a single provider and the other, much larger, problem to rely on a provider who makes opaque decisions that screw over their customers and don't have anyone you can talk to. That latter problem seems almost exclusive to Google.
kcartlidge 4y ago
> if everyone who feels nervous because of Google's shithousery jumps ship to fastmail it doesn't really solve the problem of overreliance on a single provider. In these discussions it's not really about the volume of people using a single provider, but about individual users relying on a single provider to perform multiple functions. So the issue of over-reliance on a single provider is usually in the context of that provider being in a situation to take offence at something unrelated and apply penalties that impact other things you actually rely on. For example Google don't like something you do related to YouTube or AdSense and they kill your account. Now you've got no email and your domain expires as you can't pay for it. In these kinds of cases it exactly solves the problem as the vital stuff is not affected by shenanigans with the everyday stuff because you've spread the functions across multiple providers.

by na85 4y ago

I'm sure fastmail are great folks but if everyone who feels nervous because of Google's shithousery jumps ship to fastmail it doesn't really solve the problem of overreliance on a single provider.

scrose 4y ago

Definitely. I’m sure there’s other great email providers and would recommend people do their research :) I just already use Fastmail and while I was already forwarding some emails there, this just expedited the full migration.

julianlam 4y ago

This keeps being bandied around as a reason to NOT switch to Fastmail, but the truth of the matter is: if I need to get in touch with Fastmail support, I can. Easily. That itself makes up the difference. Admittedly, the more important part is maintaining your own custom domain, so you can switch email providers with a simple DNS update.

I_dev_outdoors 4y ago
This is the difference. There was something fastmail was doing that I didn't like and someone followed up with me to find out what's going on and try to solve my problem for me. It was also someone with real knowledge and power to get something done as well.
tedivm 4y ago
Yup- I've used fastmail for about three years now (previously I self hosted). What OP is missing is that the "single provider" is about bundling dns, email, hosting, etc together. If you use Fastmail by itself and something happens to Fastmail you can change your email provider pretty easily. I do regular backups of my email anyways, so I'm not locked into Fastmail at all. Using GMail and having your domain registered with Google means that if something bad happens and Google locks you out you are simply screwed with no recourse except running a PR campaign to hopefully get someone's attention. Even pretending like Google and Fastmail are the same (they aren't, Fastmail actually offers real support) these are still very very different scenarios.

cpach 4y ago

There are also various regional email providers around the world with good pricing and good track record.

data-ottawa 4y ago

Decoupling email and domain names is an added layer of protection. If Fastmail isn’t reachable then you can port your domain elsewhere, however your domain remains a big risk.

barbazoo 4y ago

For me the point is that if you're choosing a service provider whose only offering is that particular service (e.g. Fastmail, pCloud, domain.com, ...) then the chances of being treated as a customer and getting some level of service are orders of magnitude higher.

orangepurple 4y ago

Fastmail support is actually responsive. Let's run this argument again if their reputation worsens.

ajmurmann 4y ago

There are two problems. One is reliance on a single provider and the other, much larger, problem to rely on a provider who makes opaque decisions that screw over their customers and don't have anyone you can talk to. That latter problem seems almost exclusive to Google.

kcartlidge 4y ago

> if everyone who feels nervous because of Google's shithousery jumps ship to fastmail it doesn't really solve the problem of overreliance on a single provider. In these discussions it's not really about the volume of people using a single provider, but about individual users relying on a single provider to perform multiple functions. So the issue of over-reliance on a single provider is usually in the context of that provider being in a situation to take offence at something unrelated and apply penalties that impact other things you actually rely on. For example Google don't like something you do related to YouTube or AdSense and they kill your account. Now you've got no email and your domain expires as you can't pay for it. In these kinds of cases it exactly solves the problem as the vital stuff is not affected by shenanigans with the everyday stuff because you've spread the functions across multiple providers.