Tuesday 13 August 2013

Avaaz over-reacts to GMail categories - a waste of its email when it could have given helpful advice

Dear Networkers,

Up early to get cracking with stuff then off to a Social Media Masterclass at the University of Ballarat at 7.30am.  First thing - checked GMail.  Found an email from Avaaz.  Many of us will more than likely have signed an Avaaz petition at sometime in our internet lives. The email - this panic driven, it would seem, email - was there.  It says:
Hey Avaazers,

Avaaz faces one of our biggest threats ever, and surprisingly, it’s coming from Gmail! 

Gmail has made a change to its system which experts say could de-prioritize Avaaz emails, hiding them from members like you and millions of others who want to take action to build a brighter world. But email experts say that if enough Avaaz members take 5 seconds to respond to this email -- we can keep campaigning together.

Here's all you have to do: REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE by clicking “Reply” right now and pressing "Send". If you’re lost for words -- you can say: “Hi Avaaz.” Once you've sent the message you're all done.

Replying now is the simplest way to send a signal to Gmail that you want to receive Avaaz emails. And if we all do, it could show Gmail that Avaaz is valuable, and help ensure that thousands of members who might miss this email to still receive Avaaz alerts, and have a chance to continue to take action with us. 

It's simple -- if we can't connect, our power to join across borders, races, and religions is broken. Let's stay connected! 

With excitement for the new campaigns we can win together,

G-o-l-l-y! If this this one of the biggest threats that Avaaz ever faces in its internet life then God help us all. Where do they put hacking and spam on their threat list if GMail categories threaten them!!!

I haven't replied to the email because it seems to me so dumb that it just might be spam!!!

So what about GMail categories?  Great!.  I love my GMail.  I have more than one gmail account.  I have labels on most things of any consequence.  They run vertically down the left of my GMail site.  Now, I rejoice in having category labels running horizontally across the top and wonder if I could have a few more.  

Perhaps all this is because I am/have been a librarian.  One look at the sidebar of this blog will let you know that I am a categorisation nut. Not only do I categorise my GMail.  I have another email client which allows folders so a lot of stuff gets put in categorised folders.  I am an avid bookmarker and use my Chrome bookmarks to the hilt.  Not only do I use the bookmarks list provided by Google, I love my Evernote.  I have been mad at Google for quite a long time now because it did away with Notebooks in which I used to bookmark, store photos relating to relevant topics etc.  I could make a Notebook look like a website.  Evernote is a cross between a bookmarking system and Notebook with the exception that photos cannot be uploaded although they can be pasted.  I am slowly coming to find out how Pinterest can assist me. And I have stuck a Bundlr gizmo on my Chrome toolbar and may get to try it soon.  

Enough of that little side tour into bookmarking and categorizing and let's sort out Avaaz's panic.

Got a GMail problem?  Why not go to the GMail people for help?  As any long time user of Google products knows, the guys (and I'm not being gender specific here) at Google are pretty swish and clever.  They also like to keep things smooth for us.  If you are having a problem with a Google product, more than likely the problem is you, because simplicity and user-friendliness is the name of their game.  So please go off to GMail  Help.

If you don't like the category to which GMail consigns a particular email, then here is the solution:

Move messages between tabs

Move messages between tabs
If you see a message in your inbox that you want in a different tab, all you have to do is drag and drop it into the other tab. Another way to do this is to right-click a message while viewing your inbox.
After you move a message to a different tab, a message above your inbox will ask if you want to undo that action or choose to always put messages from that sender in the tab you chose.
Now isn't that easy-peasy. No panic. No tantrums.
For more:

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