back to article ANYONE on Google+ can now email you, with or without your Gmail addy

Your wishes have been granted: Google has quietly added a new "feature" to Gmail that allows anyone with a Google+ account to send you email even if they don't know your actual webmail address. Over the next few days, Gmail users with Google+ accounts will start seeing names from their Google+ circles suggested as potential …

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  1. D 17
    Thumb Up

    "If you are nodding your head 'yes' and already have a Google+ profile, then you're in luck."

    glad I read the last paragraph as I was going to ask what if you are shaking your head "no'?

  2. Gio Ciampa

    "Incoming emails will also be partially filtered using Gmail's new inbox buckets."

    And if you don't use them...???

    1. Wize

      Re: "Incoming emails will also be partially filtered using Gmail's new inbox buckets."

      I turned that annoying thing off as soon as it was implemented.

      I already have several email accounts (for different things like work, personal, a few sites I run, etc) and it can be a pain having to look at each one without having to fight through several sub folders on each account.

  3. ratfox

    Many people will want to jump on their settings

    Though I have to say it matters little to me: Anyway, my email address is easy to find on the web for anybody who knows my name. So for me, this makes about no difference at all.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In answer to that question

    « "Have you ever started typing an email to someone only to realize halfway through the draft that you haven't actually exchanged email addresses?" »

    Hmm... no.

    [ And if I tried to pull that one off as a business case for a product, I'm pretty confident I'd be taken out and shot. ]

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: In answer to that question

      That guy was not talking to anyone but himself. You know, herbs, dense smoke, shiny crystalline powder and other inspirational stuff.

      What really pisses me off is that they claim they are doing all this nonsense for our own good.

      1. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        Re: In answer to that question

        "What really pisses me off is that they claim they are doing all this nonsense for our own good."

        I sent them a reply I doubt they will ever open to sort out their Usenet problems before they continue to ruin the rest of their services. Maybe if I had been polite about it wouldn't make the slightest difference?

    2. Killraven

      Re: In answer to that question

      Ditto that "no". Can't say that I've ever started typing out an e-mail without first filling out the "To:" and "Subject:" areas.

    3. JDX Gold badge

      Re: In answer to that question

      I often want to contact people I'm friends with on FB (and know in real life), and don't have their email. Which means I just send an FB message to them instead. So it doesn't seem a bad idea, except all my online friends are on FB not G+.

    4. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: In answer to that question

      Mind you, the Labs feature that give you a reminder if your email contains the word 'attachment' but you haven't actually attached a file, that one is genius. Forgetting to attach a file is a bit more widespread than forgetting that you don't have someone's email address.

      Not to mention, if I don't have someone's email address there's no chance I'll know them on G+.

  5. Rafael L

    Hahaha, put + on+ every+ word+ new reg meme just! like! Yahoo!.

    1. PhilipJ

      you mean like:

      +Google +email +no +longer +delivers! email! to! Yahoo! addresses!

      ?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        That's no surprise...

        ...if they're still using bang path addressing.

    2. Killraven

      They've been doing it for ages and it drives me flippin' bonkers. It literally (and I don't mean figuratively) cuts my reading speed 90%. It's rather like trying to do those little puzzles where names or phrases are done in pictures. It's also why I loathe texting shorthand.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Killraven

        Awww, diddums!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Its almost as if Google wants Google+ to fail

    A couple years ago I signed up for Google+, hoping it might be an alternative to Facebook's ever increasing anti-privacy and pro-creepy changes. Probably 10 or 15% of my Facebook friends also did so, or at least that's how many found me or I found when I'd login a couple times a week those first few months. Yeah, throwing my lot in with Google was naive, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

    Rather than trying to provide a refuge for people who feel Facebook was going too far, they seem to be trying outdo Facebook in that respect. As a result I still use Facebook (because that's where everyone else is) and my Google+ account is acquiring tumbleweeds that rival those of my Myspace account.

    1. VinceH

      Re: Its almost as if Google wants Google+ to fail

      "A couple years ago I signed up for Google+, hoping it might be an alternative to Facebook's ever increasing anti-privacy and pro-creepy changes. Probably 10 or 15% of my Facebook friends also did so, or at least that's how many found me or I found when I'd login a couple times a week those first few months. Yeah, throwing my lot in with Google was naive, but I figured it couldn't hurt."

      Likewise. I also held the view that Google were providing some useful stuff - the price of which was letting them into a few nooks and crannies, but I could tolerate it.

      Then they killed stuff I found genuinely useful, while at the same time increasing the number of nooks and crannies they wanted into, and increasingly far to boot.

      Now, Google sees a lot less of me.

      1. Jim 59

        Re: Its almost as if Google wants Google+ to fail

        Agree with VinceH. The only good thing about Hotmail, and it gets better every day, is that they don't datamine your ass.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

          1. Sporkinum

            Re: Its almost as if Google wants Google+ to fail

            Plenty of weasel words, so they can do anything with it. Provide/improve services can mean target advertising at you to make mo money.

            3.3. What does Microsoft do with my content? When you upload your content to the services, you agree that it may be used, modified, adapted, saved, reproduced, distributed, and displayed to the extent necessary to protect you and to provide, protect and improve Microsoft products and services. For example, we may occasionally use automated means to isolate information from email, chats, or photos in order to help detect and protect against spam and malware, or to improve the services with new features that makes them easier to use. When processing your content, Microsoft takes steps to help preserve your privacy.

  7. Shades

    Switched off...

    ... before I even finished reading the article... Along with their new setting to automatically show all images for all messages. Didn't get the email either, even though the setting was there, so Google bullshitting with that one too.

    1. Craigness

      Re: Switched off...

      The setting is there so you can disable the feature before it's turned on; the email will announce that it's been turned on. They did the same thing to let us opt out of having our profile images on adverts before the feature went live (but in my case they pre-disabled that feature for me based on what I'd selected for other privacy options).

  8. Diogenes

    Sorely dissapointed "friends"

    My "friends" will then be sorely disappointed.

    Yes I have a gmail/g+ account with google that does not contain accurate piece of data except the number of the gift card for the Play store as I needed to register something when I set my android tablet (ditto Apple and Microsoft devices).

    Needless to say I never ever check that email account, I am not interested in all the c**p that I can't uninstall on my Nexus 7 or ipad (at least I can uninstall or stop the processes on windows & mac - yes I'm looking at you maps(both platforms - my use case sees no need for them), facepalm , farcetime and twatter).

    And my students wonder why I just a little paranoid about google et al and don't Twatter or Facepalm. I look forward to showing them South Park S17E01 when we go back in a few weeks :-)

  9. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    My cunning plan to thwart the evil social media...

    I don't have any friends!

    Bwahahahaaaaa!

    1. tony2heads
      Mushroom

      no friends

      But (looking at the icon) do you have any fiends

      my icon: what should be done with this idea

    2. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Devil

      Re: My cunning plan to thwart the evil social media...

      I don't have any friends!

      Bwahahahaaaaa!

      My plan is even cunning-er. I kill all friends, and keep their embalmed corpses in the basement. That way they never spam me with crappy emails, or invites to be fruitful farmers on their virtual farms! But, they do listen to all my anecdotes, without any pesky interruptions!

      Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Google Lock in is almost complete

    I only got a gmail addy because I had an android phone and wanted to try a few apps. Since I ditched the phone almost a year ago and went back to my old 6310i I haven't logged in to it at all. I heard about this 'feature' yesterday evening so I logged in to my gmail account and was amazed at the numbers of emails that had arrived in the previous few hours.

    I must make it clear that:-

    1) my Gmail user ID bears no resemblance to my real name

    2) I have never sent any emails from the gmail account.

    Some of the emails were addressed to me using my real name. That is something that google alone can't do so that freaked me out.

    That was it. I am in the process of deleting everything and getting rid of that account.

    Guess who won't be using Google for search unless I'm logged into to my VPN which has a Point of presence in Frankfurt or Geneva.

    posting this as AC simply because I don't want anyone else to try to find me on Gmail.

    as for those websites that want to 'save your location data' they can go an [redacted].

    1. Elmer Phud

      Re: The Google Lock in is almost complete

      "Nachum says the goal is not actually to give spammers a new way to mount an all-out assault on your inbox, as you might assume, but to make it easier for casual Google+ acquaintances to contact each other."

      Traffic numbers are king.

      Trafffi numbers are the big cold wet fish with which to beat others with.

      'not actually' ffs!

    2. Alan_Peery

      Re: The Google Lock in is almost complete

      If I remember correctly, a few months ago it was disclosed that the app makers were getting the real name of users buying their apps -- without the users ever being made aware of this fact.

      A quick search turned this article (http://www.csoonline.com/article/728892/google-play-shares-too-much-personal-info-app-developer-says) up. I didn't track what happened after this.

      1. Gav

        Ral Name

        But they don't have your real name. They have the name you gave Google when you signed up. If that's your real name then you can appreciate your first mistake.

        1. RegW

          Re: Ral Name

          I take it you don't have your real name on your credit card then :-)

    3. Trooper_ID
      Coat

      Re: The Google Lock in is almost complete

      i don’t use google search, google mail, picassa, or anything else I know is associated with Google who I consider to be even more intrusive than NSA/GCHQ. The email account i use is not a free one, I have had it many years and it is fine and relatively spam free. This just sounds like the next step on the road to sending Terminators back through time to kill John Connor.

  11. T. F. M. Reader
    WTF?

    Another opt-in by default...

    ...so you need to take action to keep things as they were...

    I don't use G+, but I assume Google consider me a user since I have a GMail account and they are unified "for my benefit". I understood from the article that not just my connections but ANYONE can now spam me unless I turn it off? [See icon]

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Another opt-in by default...

      If only GMail had really good anti-spam measures. You'd have to expect that since you're messaged from within G+, this will make it even easier for them to detect spam.

  12. solo
    Devil

    Got Mail? From North Poll?

    Google supports some countries governance bodies in letting the voters know their electoral details.

    So, may be in 2014 Christmas, residents there will be receiving gifts from the unknown Santa, direct to your doorstep.

    Of course, who'll opt out of that :0

  13. Hans 1

    Google crap ...

    So, I have a gmail account I used for youtube, I created a google+ account, and now, every time I want to access youtube, it asks me if I want to use my real name on youtube ... wtf? No, otherwise I would have set it that way ... over the past months, I have been getting this question again and again in different forms ...

    I guess I will have to create a new account for youtube ...

    1. Craigness

      It's incredibly easy not to use your real name. If you originally chose the handle Hans1 when you joined youtube then when you connect your YT account to G+ it will create a G+ Page called Hans1, with all your playlists and subscriptions preserved in YT. You can post to G+ and YT as that page (but you don't have to). Nothing you post in Youtube has to go on your G+ page, so if you don't even want an anonymous presence on G+ then you don't have to have one. But if you do want to rant anonymously on G+ you can use your page to do so (but they don't force you to do that, which is a point often missed by El Reg commentards).

      You can choose to use your real name if that's what you really want, but look at the YT comments since the G+ integration and it's obvious that Google is not forcing users to do that, and hardly anyone wants to.

  14. Forget It
    FAIL

    how come there is no simple unsubscribe by email option?

    FAIL

    1. Elmer Phud

      "how come there is no simple unsubscribe by email option?"

      'Cos with Google once you're signed up to one thing as far as they are concerned your danglies are in thier hands. There is no escape, there is no need to try and live outside the Goggle bubble.

      AOL had the right idea but were never ruthless enough to carry it through.

  15. willi0000000

    and i thought i was just getting a little paranoid when i thought i mis(?)read the log-in page for my gmail account when they changed it a few weeks ago. i thought it said "one account to rule them all."

    [silly brain... you're not paranoid enough]

  16. This post has been deleted by its author

  17. Cliff

    ' integrate Gmail and Google+ contacts. '

    I have Gmail contacts, has anyone got G+ contacts?

  18. This post has been deleted by its author

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's getting increasingly difficult to avoid all this social network/cloudy stuff. Some news sites have done away with logins altogether and simply say "sign in with Facebook". Whatsapp rifles through your phone's address book and creates loads more "whatsapp" contacts. If you use Google, gmail, Picasa, YouTube etc, you'll most likely have a Google profile (and they're pushing Google+ all the time). If you have Android phones you'll see them in your Google profile, and I noticed over Christmas that contacts and calendar items are now synced to your Google account by default. We ended up with 2 new Windows8 laptops at Christmas, and in addition to the installed bloatware, the installed Skype app needs "A Microsoft Account" in order to get anywhere. They came bundled with cloud storage, as did MS Office, with it's own cloud offering.

    I guess none of these things are intrinsically bad, and I can see that they can make things easier for people in an increasingly connected world. But if you'd rather manage your own life than have the likes of Google, Facebook and Microsoft helping itself to your stuff, you're going to have to work at it, 'cos everything is on by default.

    1. Craigness

      Skype used to need a Skype account, which was bad enough, but now Microsoft owns them and you need a Microsoft account! I think I'll just go live in a desert where this tyranny can't get me.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You do not need a Microsoft account to have Skype. sorry to disappoint you.

    2. RegW

      "I guess none of these things are intrinsically bad, ..."

      Until you discover that friend$ are matched up with their credit scores and the gaps filled in by association. You really shouldn't have friended that bloke who did a runner with the church collection.

      Yes, I know you ticked the privacy option, but that doesn't apply to finance company who pays good money for the data set.

      And yes, I know you don't believe this happens. I wouldn't have either until I talked to the developer whose was writing the code.

  20. James Boag

    re Winkypop

    I've gone one better I've started my own anti social networking site, I'd send you a link but........

    1. Elmer Phud

      Re: re Winkypop

      No 'friends' just 'scum', 'more scum and 'absolute aresholes'.

      and an option to add to 'wouldn't cross the road to piss on' list?

  21. Tom_

    Better Approach

    Maybe peopel would react better to this kind of thing if Google didn't turn it on by default, but instead made it available and then tried to explain to people why they might want to turn it on.

    That or they'd realise they couldn't persuade anyone to turn it on because it's so obviously going to be far more trouble than it's worth.

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