Users pay for free webmail with their eyeballs, if you aren’t logging in to view the ads, why should the host keep your content?

As for when your data became a bartering tool, that’s easy: The moment you gave up control to someone else.

I’m rather particular about not losing my own data, and so I control the storage mechanism (in my case, I run my own IMAP server), and I run my own backups to ensure that not single failure will wipe out my data.

If your data important enough to you to maintain a backup then it doesn’t sound like much of a bartering tool either, does it?

We currently offer an email collection feature at TrackVia (http://www.trackvia.com) that allows users to forward all emails to a database. The subject, sender, email body and attachments are all populated in the database.

Maybe just accept there is no one right answer, not for as long as hackers can find ways to circumvent them.

The more important issue is that you cannot backup your data from Yahoo Mail via IMAP unless you pay for their premium account. That is the real lock-in. How about an article on that?

Since you started providing it to, storing it on, and managing it with another company’s software, hardware, and infrastructure?

Jesus, people amaze me.

IMHO making *any* changes to someone’s account w/o some very pointed and explicit warnings to their primary email account should be considered a violation of the trust that the user gave to the service, regardless of how much (or little) was paid.

How hard is it to send a reminder email? Or even two?

A few years ago, I migrated from one country to another. This involved not having internet access for longer than whatever the Hotmail period was at the time.

By the time I got www access up at home in my new country, my entire life had been deleted along with my Hotmail account. I was absolutely bitter and furious. I switched to Yahoo, and will never use Hotmail again.

People are looking at this more as a technology than a marketing issue. Like Michael said, the future of the world is cloud computing. For good or ill, we will all soon have all our data on the web: photos, documents, financial records, you name it. And much of this will be under the aegis of FREE services (so saying it’s not paid for doesn’t wash).

If I have to back up my own data, the whole point of using a web provider is lost. I rely on them to store it for me. That’s the point of the service. And if they make me ‘pay’by looking at ads, so be it. I just moved all my personal files and folders to OfficeLive, and started a smallbusiness using 100% cloud software. It’s great not to have to worry about physical backups or pen drives.

So this being the new business model, the only relevant question is, what do customers want? I agree keeping an account for 100 years may be too much. But deleting it after 60 days is simply stupid.

What if I’m off trecking in the Himalayas and can’t log in? What if I died and it takes my family a year to sort out probate issues and get access to my online bank, document storage or e-mail accounts? What if I’m in a coma? Or in prison for a couple of years?

I would say deletion after No LESS than 5 years is more reasonable than a mere few months.

And the major issue is what they do with your data…not just deleting it…

The real problem here is 1) there is no warning system 2) 4 months is very short 3) I doubt this policy was in place when I registered for the account 10 years ago, so I had no expectation it would happen in a matter of 4 months.

I agree these free mail service provider should be able to delete your accounts eventually after non-use. But 4 months? No warning? maybe they could turn off mail after 4 months but retain the data in some wherehouse for another year or two.

This article is valuable to the readership becuase its in your best interest to know how the business practices of your competitor’s, partners, vendors and customers affect the every day person. If you disagree, perhaps its time you come out of the server closet for a breather.

Second you’ve said that the storage is so cheap, you’re right. The storage is so cheap that you can buy a 350 Go harddrive for backuping all your precious pictures that you don’t want yahoo or gmail or hotmail delete them.

The policies are for better managements cause they don’t have the time to check if everyone is using their mail. And they are clear when they say it. Your account will be deleted after XX days.

For the Pub I don’t see them anymore, i just concentrate myself on what i’m looking for and enjoy the web2.0

Thanks Kevin

It’s an enormous question about the utter failure on the part of some providers to stress the fact to end-users that their data will be DELETED, zip, zilch, gone. The overwhelming majority of regular users take it for granted that their data will “just be there” because of the way these services are viewed. Therefore, many users with multiple accounts don’t check up on some accounts regularly. Miss the cut off by one day? Ooopsies! Data gone.

It’s a huge failure of *user experience* by Hotmail/Yahoo (and Google, but at least they’ve got 9 months). Worse yet, it actually has menacing consequences because it’s data. Perception/understanding is everything, regardless if the service is “free.” One would think they’d do a better job of warning and/or scaring users because it’s in their interest to not piss off users by deleting data & they’d sell more paid accounts because the value proposition would be more blatant.