Dormant accounts are email accounts that have not been logged into for an extended period. If the account owner doesn't log in for nine months, Google will delete all messages in the account, close the account, and recycle the username. Other free web-based email providers delete dormant accounts after as few as 30 days. Please note that if you have a dormant account that is deleted, Google cannot guarantee that you will be able to use your previous username again once it has been recycled.
Source: GMail Help Center
I like the nine months limit. That is a lot more generous then Hotmail or Yahoo! I no longer have a Yahoo! email account because I was dormant for too long. I found the time limit out after the fact. Bastards. I guess you live and learn. Now I look for the dormant user time limit up front.
Dormant GMail Accounts
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Comments (2)
Not sure if I like the idea of them recycling usernames. Think how much extra spam you'd get as a result.
I reckon it'll be only a matter of time before someone starts a dictionary attack against Gmail to get more usernames.
Posted by Neil T. | June 19, 2004 4:33 AM
Posted on June 19, 2004 04:33
I don't really like the idea of kicking dormant accounts, but Google's time frame is a heck of a lot better then that of Yahoo! so I like that a lot better. So the Google approach is an improvement, I will take that.
On the other side of the road, I can see why they would want to recycle names that have been abandoned. And lets face it, people abandon web based email accounts all the time. I know of someone who has 4 or 5 abandoned Hotmail accounts. Its better if those names were put to good use.
Posted by Ken Edwards | June 23, 2004 7:39 PM
Posted on June 23, 2004 19:39