Waving the white flag

[gfish]

After 9+ years of running my own mail server, I have given up. Spam wins. I switched the MX record for cyphertext.net to point to gmail today. Goodbye, Gnus. I'll miss you. (Though it really was past time for me to join this decade.)

Comments

[mdlbear]

Doesn't gmail have a POP3 interface? You could use fetchmail and still read with gnus.

That's probably what I'll do soon -- how easy is it to set up domains and virtual users in gmail?

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I could have used POP3, it just seemed kind of silly. And I need to be able to handle attachments better anyway, so it seemed like a good time to switch to a modern client.

Setting it up was quite easy. Just had to prove I controlled the domain by posting a magic cookie file on the web, then create accounts. You can list aliases for each account, and set it up so they can each send as multiple addresses. Quite slick, so far.

[mdlbear]

I actually prefer a client that doesn't show HTML by default and sorts mail into folders automagically, though it would certainly be easier for the other users in the house.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

I do notice the lack of folders, but they do have "labels", which are like tags on Livejournal, and you can set up filters to automagically add those. Then you can click so that you see only things with that label.

So it's *like* having folders in that you can sort to see just those messages, but unlike having folders in that those messages aren't out of sight when you're looking at your main inbox. (I'm still poking about at it. It may have a 'view only unlabeled messages' view, in which case that would be like seeing only the stuff you haven't sorted out.)

[mdlbear]

My inbox gets full enough that seeing old messages would be a complete dealbreaker. Things get lost in folder space enough as it is.

There's also that little matter of a dozen years' worth of archived email that would get disconnected from its future...

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

gmail now has imap, IIRC.... which is the way g-d intended it... of course, fastmail has had it for years.

Dang, Fishy, you shoulda said you were awash in spam. I took echoschildren down from 1000 a day to maybe four; I coulda helped. (Not instantly; instantly went from 1000 to 40.) Ah, well, sounds like you've got a lot more complex config than EC does; they've just got "either", "or", "both", and the RFC-required stuff... and you're still somewhat in control there. (I don't have nearly the fancy web interface-y stuff, either; it's all command-line. Which wouldn't phase mdlbear in the slightest, but...)

Keep us updated on how this works out; it's useful to have as a comparison.

I use Mutt for messing with local spool, but I find that it's a more than adequate IMAP or POP3 tool as well, if you're interested. Addicting little program...

[mdlbear]

We'll have to talk about what you're doing; I *really* need to do something.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I had it at about 40/day. Keeping it there, much less getting it any lower, was the problem.

[spinnerin-ftw.livejournal.com]

This decade is pretty nice, from a tech standpoint. Google will hold onto your email until you really don't want it anymore, and then some, and I spend so little time dealing with spam that it's actually novel when something makes it through.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Odd, I'm still getting several false negatives a day, sometimes up around 10. At least I don't have to feel so bad about failing to deal with it myself, if even Google is stumped.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

The legal status of remote email storage is troubling, but oh well. Most folks really don't have much option. We just need better laws.

-B.