Hating G-Mail !!!!!

My email address goes way back. Wayyyy back. It goes so far back that when I try to use it in response to something on somebody's blog, for example, I get back a form announcement that it isn't real. (Somebody please tell all those spammers that, please.) I've even had problems sending something to my congress critters. When I want to reach out to them, I really want to reach out to them.

At one point in the not-too-distant past, I decided to set up an additional address via G-Mail. It was complicated, so I brought in Rich, who has his email through them. Oddly, once it registered as a new g-mail account, my laptop also brought up his as already existing on this device.

Hmmmmmm....

But, OK, it was set up. I copied down every little bit, letter, character, number, what have you, involved in setting the account up. It's saved where I save all such things, especially after those other places demand a more secure or just a different password. No biggie with all of them. Can't remember the change? Got a list. Done, and done.

A few days later, without having given the new address out to anybody yet, I tried to go into it to see what may have accumulated in its inbox. I have complete trust that there are folks out there who run systems just to dig up random email addresses in hope of reaching somebody, anybody in order to, what, sell something? Perhaps G-mail themselves (or is that "itself"?) might have sent a formulaic welcome-to-us note. It was never going to be my primary email, just a backup for those places who refused to recognize me as a real person for whatever reason.

Good thing I hadn't shared it. I couldn't get back in to it. Ever! It always cuts me off when I try to give it my address name. "That's already taken." Yeah, I know. By ME! I try using the password I saved, and nope, no go. Rich's shows up as a possible place I really wanted to go, somehow without realizing it or something.

Seriously? 

I don't even have his password, even if I wished to see what he was sending/receiving. Which I don't. And his account wouldn't show me any possible activity on my account. I think maybe I hit a wrong key somewhere and go through this same routine a couple more times, always winding up at the place where I'm told my account isn't mine and my passsword won't work.

So I try "forgot my password". It works with other companies. It even kinda works here. They text me, using the phone number I gave when I signed up, the one attached to this particular address, so they must know me. I put in the code they send, and... "This account is already taken."

Google, I don't know what  your game is. I've stopped playing. I'll just muddle through with the old email address. It was picked up to be supported by Yahoo a few years back, exactly as it was, incidentally losing all my archived stuff in the process. If suddenly this becomes impossible to continue, I'll see if I can get the same front part with @yahoo on the end. They seem much more hospitable.

And if nothing else works, all those congress critters also have actual phone numbers. I actually called one up last week.