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I don’t think old Gmail usernames will be available again. In fact Google doesn’t free up usernames once you delete it. They remain unused even when you delete your account. Maybe with this move Google releases ‘@googlemail.com’ for general use, in order to create new accounts.
 
I have an old iPhone 5, the mail app gets all my throw away gmail account. I rarely access it, it’s mostly the email I give to third parties. Hope they don’t delete it, I never access it through browser.
 
So does this mean they will they delete my YouTube account which I haven't used in years even though I log into gmail everyday? Something smells fishy o_O
 
I don’t think old Gmail usernames will be available again. In fact Google doesn’t free up usernames once you delete it. They remain unused even when you delete your account. Maybe with this move Google releases ‘@googlemail.com’ for general use, in order to create new accounts.

is that no longer possible? My German AppleID is @googlemail.com and my US one is Gmail.com. Everything in front of the @ is the same. Was always very convenient
 
ROFL!!! You are the precise example why this has to exist. LOL, this literally made my day.


Penny pinching strategy? It's Google, I doubt some of these accounts with only a few megabytes worth of data are really hurting their margins. This is irritating because I have multiple gmail accounts that I've used to buy different services and now I have to go through and log into each one to make sure Google don't nuke them.
 
And will the usernames be put back in circulation? I have an account I created many years ago as a test to see if the username was taken and completely forgot the password, so would be nice to nab that one again.
 
ROFL!!! You are the precise example why this has to exist. LOL, this literally made my day.

There is no practical reason why this has to exist and Google will more than likely prevent old emails from being recirculated for security purposes. This accomplishes nothing other than having a bullet point for the investor call to assure the necessary stakeholders that they're cutting costs because that's suddenly something people are pretending to care about.

Fail.
 
Yeah it is because I have to waste my time so that a company with a 1.52T market cap can save a few thousand in database costs per month. A company I've already given hundreds of dollars to along with priceless PII.

Having the slightest sympathy to Google in this story is pathetic.
I have zero sympathy to google. What cracks me up is you complaining about a service that is free. You feel entitled to all your accounts and yet you don’t want to work to keep them.
 
And will the usernames be put back in circulation? I have an account I created many years ago as a test to see if the username was taken and completely forgot the password, so would be nice to nab that one again.

Probably not. Google don't delete data so this doesn't even save them money if you think about it. All that happens is the account is flagged as 'deleted' but the data more than likely remains intact. Pretty sure Google prevent deleted gmail addresses from being reused by another account because of the obvious security/privacy implications.
 
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And will the usernames be put back in circulation? I have an account I created many years ago as a test to see if the username was taken and completely forgot the password, so would be nice to nab that one again.

I don't think they will make the usernames available again. Doing it could allow people to gain access to other accounts previously linked to that address via password resets. Would be a PR disaster for Google.
 


Google today announced that it is updating its inactive account policy, with Google Accounts that have not been used in at least two years to be deleted. Google says that accounts that have not been used for long periods of time are more likely to be compromised because of the use of older, less secure passwords and a lack of two-factor authentication.

Google-Logo-Feature-Slack.jpg

Going forward, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least two years, Google may delete the account and its contents. This includes content from Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Calendar, YouTube, and Google Photos.

The policy is applicable to personal Google Accounts rather than those created for businesses and schools. Users with an inactive account will see those accounts being deleted starting in December 2023, but Google plans to provide plenty of notice before it starts to cull accounts.

Accounts that were created and never used again will be the first to be nixed, with Google sending multiple notifications to both the account email address and the recovery email, if one has been provided.

To keep a Google Account active, Google recommends signing in at least once every two years, and anyone who has signed into an account or a Google service recently has an account that is considered active and will not be deleted.

Activity includes reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, watching a YouTube video, downloading a Google Play app, using Google Search, having an active subscription through a Google Account, or using Sign in with Google.

Back in 2020, Google said that it would wipe content from unused accounts but would keep the accounts intact. That is now changing with the plan to delete inactive accounts.

Article Link: Google Plans to Delete Accounts That Haven't Been Used in Over Two Years


Google today announced that it is updating its inactive account policy, with Google Accounts that have not been used in at least two years to be deleted. Google says that accounts that have not been used for long periods of time are more likely to be compromised because of the use of older, less secure passwords and a lack of two-factor authentication.

Google-Logo-Feature-Slack.jpg

Going forward, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least two years, Google may delete the account and its contents. This includes content from Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Meet, Calendar, YouTube, and Google Photos.

The policy is applicable to personal Google Accounts rather than those created for businesses and schools. Users with an inactive account will see those accounts being deleted starting in December 2023, but Google plans to provide plenty of notice before it starts to cull accounts.

Accounts that were created and never used again will be the first to be nixed, with Google sending multiple notifications to both the account email address and the recovery email, if one has been provided.

To keep a Google Account active, Google recommends signing in at least once every two years, and anyone who has signed into an account or a Google service recently has an account that is considered active and will not be deleted.

Activity includes reading or sending an email, using Google Drive, watching a YouTube video, downloading a Google Play app, using Google Search, having an active subscription through a Google Account, or using Sign in with Google.

Back in 2020, Google said that it would wipe content from unused accounts but would keep the accounts intact. That is now changing with the plan to delete inactive accounts.

Article Link: Google Plans to Delete Accounts That Haven't Been Used in Over Two Years
Great! So many account names you try to create for yourself, your children, your clubs, etc. taken up by abandoned or ghost accounts
 
Its a basic housekeeping. If something sits unused then its logical to clear it. Seeing that its been unused for over 2 years its fair to trash it.
Think what you want but all of us would benefit from little housekeeping. Especially you seeing that you created something just for a simple purpose and then pretty much stopped using it. Can't expect any company to keep it for you forever "just in case".

Be sensible here, please.

There is no practical reason why this has to exist and Google will more than likely prevent old emails from being recirculated for security purposes. This accomplishes nothing other than having a bullet point for the investor call to assure the necessary stakeholders that they're cutting costs because that's suddenly something people are pretending to care about.

Fail.
 
I have zero sympathy to google. What cracks me up is you complaining about a service that is free. You feel entitled to all your accounts and yet you don’t want to work to keep them.

"free"

I thought we already moved on from that discussion point in 2016. Google accounts are not free, they are paid for via invasive tracking technology. Doing the work of logging into the accounts is not hard, it's the principle that such an unavoidable behemoth corporation is taking even a minute away from my day for something that is probably investor motivated rather than product motivated. They can go to hell, I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

If the no 2FA reason is legitimately the motivation they would tell people accounts with recovery emails and 2FA are not under threat of deletion. That's not what they said though.
 
If it has uploaded videos they will not delete the account.
Can you provide any info confirming this? All of the articles being posted on this story claim that YouTube content is included in the wipe. They could be talking out of their behinds though.
 
Invasive tracking technology and yet you created multiple accounts to be multiple invasive tracked! ROFL!!!

Talking about delusional, are we?



"free"

I thought we already moved on from that discussion point in 2016. Google accounts are not free, they are paid for via invasive tracking technology. Doing the work of logging into the accounts is not hard, it's the principle that such an unavoidable behemoth corporation is taking even a minute away from my day for something that is probably investor motivated rather than product motivated. They can go to hell, I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt.

If the no 2FA reason is legitimately the motivation they would tell people accounts with recovery emails and 2FA are not under threat of deletion. That's not what they said though.
 
Starting later this year, if a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, we may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar), YouTube and Google Photos.
What about deceased people’s YouTube channels? So much content is going to be purged from the site. This is a terrible idea.
 
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