this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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DeGoogle Yourself

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Why would anyone use this over Proton Mail or the gazillion alternatives if it treats people like shit.

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[–] lemmy_in@lemm.ee 146 points 11 months ago (4 children)

These ads only appear in the "promotions" section of Gmail, the section that is by definition for advertising emails. It's not great, but this is the least intrusive place to put ads.

[–] admiralteal@kbin.social 41 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Whoa, there's remotely tech-savvy people who don't turn off 100% of that "new" inbox sorting stuff? Color me surprised.

That Social/Updates/Promotion shit is absolutely trash shit garbage useless. It does nothing to improve email experience. It exists to serve you ads.

[–] ayaya@lemdro.id 39 points 11 months ago (4 children)

As someone who enjoyed Google Inbox before they killed it, it hurts to read this comment.

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[–] LameName3000@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago (3 children)

That's weird, I feel like it does improve my experience. I like how it categorizes my emails.

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[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 78 points 11 months ago (14 children)

Gmail has had ads for at least a decade.

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 59 points 11 months ago

It's been like that for a long time.

[–] tristan@aussie.zone 13 points 11 months ago

It's definitely getting far worse lately. It used to only be in promotions but now I'm seeing it in updates too. In promotions it's about 1 ad to every 2-3 emails now when it used to be 1-2 at the top and that's it

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[–] maxprime@lemmy.ml 56 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Maybe I’m missing something, but hasn’t this been the case since forever?

I mean, Google is an advertising company. I would be surprised if they didn’t serve ads in their free email service.

[–] charles@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I've never in my life seen an ad in Gmail mobile app in-line as though it were something in your inbox. I get really frustrated at the indignance over "ad company does ads and you're mad" as if there's not a difference when things get escalated.

[–] Pwnmode@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It's under the promotions tab. Been that way for a while. I just don't use that tab myself so I don't see it often.

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[–] ashley@discuss.tchncs.de 55 points 11 months ago (4 children)

were these not always in gmail?

[–] JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes. They have always been a part of Gmail. Even back when Gmail was invite only they implemented ads (one of my accounts is from 2004).

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[–] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've never seen them and have been using it for close to 20 years now

[–] uid0gid0@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They only show up if you use the tabs. And then I think they are only in Promotions.

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[–] Clipboards@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

Yes they've always been a thing in the promotions/else tabs, anyone who says they aren't around simply hasn't clicked those tabs or registered they existed (in fairness, everything in that tab is generally an ad)

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[–] Stoney_Logica1@lemmy.world 42 points 11 months ago

They have been for years now.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.world 32 points 11 months ago (12 children)

Yes it is. It is malware at this point. (It’s trying to trick you into clicking ads.) If I can invite you to try Port87, it’s an email service that I wrote that does the opposite. (Keeps spam out of your inbox, rather than inserting spam into it.)

Full disclosure: I developed and run Port87, and as such, have a financial interest in it.

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[–] Swarfega@lemm.ee 31 points 11 months ago

alwayshasbeen.jpg

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 31 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

Wait until you see Yahoo mail.

Edit: Before you say nobody uses Yahoo mail, it's probably the 2nd most used after gmail at my school, afaik, I haven't met another person using protonmail.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 13 points 11 months ago

Do you go to school in 1998?

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[–] mojo@lemm.ee 30 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Don't worry, they're also selling your data on top of that

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[–] dyc3@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago

Y'all they have been doing this for literally years. Don't act surprised it's not fucking new.

[–] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

It's only in the promotions inbox, which if Gmail is sorting correctly is just full of commercial spam anyways. Doesn't really impact the experience for me since I rarely ever check it

[–] CentreForAnts@aussie.zone 8 points 11 months ago

Turn off your promotions inbox and only have a main inbox and you don't get ads

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[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If the service is free, you are the product. It's not complicated.

Pay for email, get no ads.

[–] miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml 45 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (19 children)

That statement just makes all of FOSS sound bad, and then people have even less of an idea what alternatives they could be using

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 25 points 11 months ago

Advertising company puts adverts in one of few products they didn't shutter two years in.

Years ago.

More at 11.

[–] trk@aussie.zone 23 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Looks like your email account is nothing but adverts anyway, so probably not a huge deal?

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[–] buzz@lemmy.world 23 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Wasn't that done for a while by google? But yes - i think ive seen it as well and it's pathetic. I believe u might be able to disable those in gmail settings.

But also - fuck em, use protonmail or mxroute

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[–] eruchitanda@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I'd switch to FairEmail or K-9 Mail instead.

Both are great.

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[–] Cosmocrat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 11 months ago

I remember seeing this at least more than 5 years ago, before discovering the benefits of FOSS.

[–] DingoBilly@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Lol who the fuck uses the promotions tab?

You are just using Gmail poorly.

Like going to a shopping centre and complaining the stores have ads in front of their stores. There's legitimate concerns about Google and then there's just dumb users.

[–] bloubz@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 11 months ago

The promotion tabs is your actual emails, just labeled by Gmail as "promotion". And then there is ads adding to your emails. If you do not open emails in this tab, it's time to do some cleaning friend, and unsubscribe from a bunch of things

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[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Protons self-promotions are even more intrusive.

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[–] BattleGrown@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Bruh your real name is on the image

[–] 257m@sh.itjust.works 9 points 11 months ago
[–] joshhsoj1902@lemmy.ca 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It is insiane to me that Google shows these ads to google one subscribers.

I already pay google hundreds of dollars a year, and have done so for years. then over the last 2 yesr they slowly started rolling out intrusive ads into my mobile Gmail app.

It was the final straw for me. I've started slowing migrating my email off Gmail, but my goodness is that ever a slow and painful process.

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[–] oh_gosh_its_osh@lemmy.ml 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The real culprit here is BIMI and the Marketing folks.

This is just the beginning, with more mail providers probably joining in sooner or later.

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[–] shalva97@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

That's what Google is

[–] rockhandle@lemm.ee 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Use k-9 mail (its a good email client and it supports gmail)

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (6 children)

They got bought by Mozilla, soon it will be renamed to Thunderbird.

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[–] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yep, getting about time to move the rest of my email over to proton...

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[–] hottari@lemmy.ml 11 points 11 months ago

Google has always done this. I wouldn't know though because I've turned off a lot of the personalization settings and always use adblocking DNS.

[–] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 10 points 11 months ago (6 children)

You haven't checked your email in how many years?

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[–] Noedel@lemmy.ml 10 points 11 months ago

Adguard must block this because I've never seen these in my life

[–] RoyaltyInTraining@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

They are legally obliged to ~~screw over their users as much as possible~~ maximize shareholder value

[–] Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I suggest Tutanota or Protonmail.

[–] toastal@lemmy.ml 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

A email provider shouldn’t require a closed, premium-only, lock-in-required sidecar program just to use IMAP/SMTP. I don’t think the release these bridge apps on BSDs or smaller OSs & you’re forced to use their apps on Android & iOS (no support for KaiOS or other smaller mobile OSs). This should be a giant red flag—kinda like waiving around a Swiss flag as more secure when they will sell you out just as fast as others.

These free-tier-loss-leading strategies are expensive too. If you bump up to premium it’s like $5/mo, but less marketing-heavy options where everyone pays get you all the features–like what I’m using @ 1€/mo.

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