GMail Beta with the emphasis on BETA
Posted on August 28, 2004
Filed Under Internet & Technology
Well this is annoying. I got a GMail account on Wednesday (3 days ago), played with it for a little while and liked it. So I transferred all my mailing list traffic to the account. Took me quite some time that afternoon to find the “subscribe” address or web page and deal with the auto confirmations and the like for the 10 or so lists that I’m on. Was nice to take the traffic out of the momathome.com domain and leave Outlook just for the email that is addressed directly to me from friends, family & clients.
This afternoon around 1:30 pm I login and see:
bq.. We’re currently performing some unexpected maintenance on your account. While we can’t predict exactly how long it will take, we’re working as quickly as we can to restore access to your email–apologies for the inconvenience.
If you have questions, please contact us at gmail-maintenance@google.com.
p. Forget for a moment the irony of telling someone to send an email to find out why they can’t use their email. I guess you have to assume that everyone has access to another email client. A few hours later, still the same message so I send an email to the address supplied and I instantly get this auto reply:
bq.. Your Gmail account has been disabled due to a technical issue. Our engineers are working diligently to find a solution so that you can regain access to your account. Unfortunately, we cannot offer an exact timeframe of when your account will be re-enabled. Please try logging in to your Gmail account again in a few days. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and we thank you for your patience during our limited test of Gmail. Sincerely, The Gmail Team
p. I certainly hope the “GMail Team” is more effective than the “Momathome Team” that keeps telling me that my email is over quota. Don’t you just love that “limited test of GMail” as in “you accepted an invite to a closed beta test so don’t complain too loudly that it’s messed up.”
I know it’s a beta. I get that. But “…try logging in to your GMail account again in a few days” irks me. IN A FEW DAYS?!?! That’s it? That’s the explanation? How about offering me a new account in the meantime, for starters? I know from posting to the GMail-Users list (by logging in directly through the “Google Groups”:http://www.googlegroups.com page) that not everyone is affected and I don’t know if it’s just me, me and 10 other or me and a thousand others. Isn’t it a little late in the beta for this?
I’m a little paranoid about access to my email. I want to know where it is at all times. I originally got momathome.com as a domain just so I could take email out of my ISP’s hands. If my email is down for more than 30 minutes, I can write to my host and get a personal reply back in less than 10 minutes explaining the issue and even that only happened once in the 18 months I’ve been with this web host. Worst comes to worst and the host was consistently unreliable, I could find another host and be in business in less than 24 hours. Therefore, I know right now that while GMail is cool for “casual” email the odds are slim that I will ever trust it for more than that.
At least an email I just sent to my GMail account didn’t bounce, so I don’t have to worry (for now) that I’ll be removed from the lists for bouncing while the traffic piles up. I’m just not in the mood to go through the subscribe routine again. At least the majority of the groups I subscribe to have online archives or posting so I can skim traffic of the groups I actively participate.
Update: This morning, the account is back up. 
Comments
11 Responses to “GMail Beta with the emphasis on BETA”
Leave a Reply
Well, I have exact same problem with GMAIL right now…did you ever figure out what caused it? Has it happened again to you?
Dean Hughson
No, I’m sorry to say that I never found out what happened. One day it didn’t work, the next day it did. No explanation given, and it hasn’t “broke” since then.
How long did it take from the first time your gmail account went down until it was back up? My gmail is doing the same thing right now - down for account maintenance. I’ve e-mailed five times at various e-mail addresses, and gotten that same automated reply all five times (especially annoying, since my last e-mail said ‘please don’t give me that automated reply again’.) It’s been down since Wednesday morning - pretty frustrating. So how long did it take before yours came back?
Barry, Sorry you’re having trouble. My account was only down for about 24 hours. Maybe a little less. I never got a reply to my emails or any explanation, and it hasn’t happened again.
Just thought you might like to know, my account finally came back. So it was down for about four solid days. But hey, the rest of the service is great, so as long as this doesn’t happen often, I’m not complaining.
Well, as I’ve said, if GMail was my primary email account I’d be complaining. Email goes down all the time, but Google has to come up with a better way of supporting folks when it happens. A support email read/answered by a human being would be a good start. Glad to hear your account is back up.
i would like to get a Gmail account
Hi! I have an account with G-mail and I can’t even get to the log on screen anymore? Do you have a URL for it please, or is my account also as good as dead?
Hi, please send me an invitation to gmail!! thanks
My Gmail account has been down for two weeks so far, and I’m not sure when it will come back from maintenance, pretty weird. I’ve sent a few (2) emails to complain, but all I get back are standard replies… no timescale, nothing.
I wonder if this is the new low value that Google really places on its customers. Once Majestic-12 is up and running, I might boycott Goog. search for a more democratic search engine in disgust at having my information taken from me (I consider the content of my email account to be mine, and this was my first webmail account since being a 100% local POP3 user).
Sorry… account maintenance underway
i got dis messege. when i will be able to use my account again..plz help me
We’re currently performing some unexpected maintenance on your account. While we can’t predict exactly how long it will take, we’re working as quickly as we can to restore access to your email–apologies for the inconvenience.
If you have questions, please contact us at gmail-maintenance@google.com.