for those that don’t know yet, gmail is open to all! no longer do you need an invite, you can simply go to gmail.com and sign up for an account. so, for those ybp’s who already have email accounts, why is gmail better? how do i use it?

well, first, gmail gives you at least 2.5 gigs of storage. even cooler…they keep increasing it as time goes on! when i first started with gmail in 2004, i had about 2 gigs. now i’m almost at three! what does that mean? it means you no longer have to delete another email again!

obviously, gmail also allows you to search your email. even better, gmail also automatically saves your chats with your contacts allowing those to be searched too! to chat with other gmail users, simply add their gmail address in your contact list.

in addition to the chat, you can also add a picture so your friends can see what your pretty mug looks like. simply go to the ’setting’ menu in the upper-right hand corner. once there, find the place to add an image and pick a picture!

one of the best features of gmail is tabbed emails. no longer do you have to deal with a cluttered inbox because everyone who received the email responded. gmail has the ability to see all of the responses, but in one succinct email with tabs that you can expand and collapse on demand.

last, but not least, is the ‘labels’ feature. you can label or tag each email with a label you create. this allows you group certain emails for better organization. by clicking a label, all emails with that label will return. you’ll notice that when you do, the search box for your mail has the ‘label: ‘ moniker. by playing with the search box, you can create complex searches for your email if you’ve ‘lost’ something. every email you receive automatically receives the ‘Inbox’ label.

that’s it. happy gmail-ing!

don’t forget, you can contact us at ybpguide@gmail.com.

i’m going to try my best to write this post from the perspective that everyone knows exactly what i’m talking about and knows exactly how to remedy it. the only reason i would is because spam is so frequent, everyone who has ever connected to the internet has had an encounter with it.

well, fear not ybp’ers. i have a few tips and tricks.

1st : when you see spam in your email box, actually mark it as ’spam’. dont just delete it. most of the better email services have logic to parse the messages and who they’re from so that they don’t show up in your inbox. by deleting it, you’re not helping yourself.

2nd : get a ‘registration’ email address. if you sign up for offers, news sites, and anything that is not connected to your banks or credit report, use an alternative email address when registering. there are plenty of free email programs out there that let you create names on the fly. i personally use gmail and have 4 accounts. one is my main, one is for the blog, and two are my ‘registration’ ones.

think of it like telemarketers in a phone book

3rd : if you’re information is going to be published on a website, don’t put your full email address on it. there are tools called ’spiders’ that sift through thousands of web pages a day looking for email addresses to send spam to. think of it like telemarketers in a phone book. if they spot a phrase like ‘james.black@email.com’, they’ll put it on their list to spam. instead, have the website put your email (or even the link for that matter) in a format like ‘james {dot} black {at} email {dot} com’.

4th : don’t delete right away. if you’re just getting started with your spam filters, sometimes the system needs to know what emails you actually want to see. if you’re favorite magazine, user group, or friend sent you an email and you don’t see it, check your spam folder. once you mark it as ‘not spam’, the logic will not this and keep out of the box.

if any of the ybp’ers want a gmail address to use for free, just let me know! i have plenty of invites to dish out!