any suggestions for free email?

[zen_bliss]

what's out there other than hotmail and gmail? i detest hotmail for the spam effect, and i'm avoiding gmail for the privacy issues. anything else i should consider? i don't want to register my own domain just to get email, and i'm about to dump my cable provider.

[RwnMayfair]

I think Yahoo still offers free e-mail. I've never used them for that though, so I can't comment on any issues or whatnot with them. I use a service called postmaster (In addition to my AOL e-mail addy), myself. It's at http://www.postmaster.co.uk/. It's obviously a UK-based service, but they do offer free accounts (as well as ones you can pay for), and I've never once had a problem with spam there.

Heck, you can get a e-mail addy via Garfield.com too. ;) I've got one there just because I really like Garfield, though I pretty much never use it. I haven't had any spam problems there either. It's http://www.e-garfield.com/

I'm sure there are tons of others out there too.

-Melissa

Taran, November 20, 2003

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif - Eighteen months!
http://lilypie.com/baby2/031120/0/5/0/-5/.png
http://lilypie.com/days/050821/4/0/0/-5/.png

[slknight]

I have used my Yahoo account for years and years. I actually have a couple of accounts with them and have been very happy with them. Almost all spam (occasionally they'll miss one or two) goes into a Bulk Mail folder automatically so you don't have to deal with it.

[babystuffbuff]

DH uses Yahoo email, and most of his spam goes into his bulk email folder. It isn't his only email account, though, he has his main one through work. He uses the Yahoo for eBay, mostly, and when he has to give his email address for something online and he doesn't want to get spammed in his main account.

I also thought I should mention that I have had Hotmail for over a year and have never gotten spam. *shrug*

Sarah

[pritchettzoo]

What privacy issues with gmail? (Since we use it!)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03) and Eli (July '05)

[aliceinwonderland]

Are you an alum of anything with an email? because I think email from schools accounts will follow me to hell (and it's free)!

[HannaAddict]

Gmail mines your "private" email (sent and received) and collects information on what you might want in the way of advertising, pop-ups, offers and for resale. They do a bunch of other stuff too, but this one jumped out at me.

Kimberly
DS 3/18/04

[saschalicks]

Another yahoo lover here.

[californiagirl]

Disclaimer: My DH works for Google. However, none of what I'm going to say is anything other than public knowledge -- just thought you might want to know in case you felt I was biased.

Google does *less* with your mail than they do with your searches. An automated program looks through mail as it is being displayed to decide what ads to show you. (Google does not use pop-ups.) This information isn't stored or kept, it just looks at what it's about to display and if you mention Chevrolet, the ad that comes up is for cars. Then a counter clicks saying "We displayed this ad to somebody, we don't know who, because we saw this keyword" -- that counter allows them to charge for the ad.

Google often gets flak for their backup policies (if you delete email, it does not vanish off the face of the earth instantly -- it sits around marked deleted for a while, and it's on backup tapes possibly forever). Ironically, this is EXACTLY what every other large email provider does (I used to build these systems). Google gets blasted not because it does it, but because it says so up front instead of letting it go without mention.

I'm confident that Google is, in this matter, living up to their corporate motto -- "Don't be evil". (Now, sending DH abroad for what is now 7 weeks, I'm a lot less confident about on the evilness front.)

[miki]

I've had my free email account through Lycos for years. At one point I kept a separate account just for giving out to retailers when I made internet purchases. But I just use the one account now and I get one spam email maybe once a week. Their latest set of anti-spam protection works great.

[ErinMC]

Another Yahoo fan here! I've had my Yahoo account for 6 years now, and have never had a problem. Like PPs said, the Bulk Mail folder does a good job catching 99% of the spam.

Erin

Mom to Chase
Feb. 2004

[kep]

We love Yahoo, too! We switched from Hotmail after I heard about some privacy issues with them as well. Can't quite remember what they were, it's been a while. We've had no trouble with Yahoo, and it's really easy to use.

Kells
Mommy to my beautiful little boy, Luke (April 2003)

Completely obsessed with strollers, carseats, slings, basically all baby gear...