Gmail Outage: Internet Resorts To 140-Character Complaints As Email Site Goes Down

Gmail appears to be functioning on private domains and personal accounts again.

For those still feeling the hurt from the Gmail outage, the HTML version of Gmail appears to work better for some. You may have to type in the full URL manually, which is: http://mail.google.com/mail/h/

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EARLIER:

Gmail experienced wide outages across the internet, prompting tons of complaints on Twitter. Private domains and mobile devices also suffered from the email site's downtime.

Anthony Ha of The Industry Standard blog rues the day he made fun of a co-worker for sticking with Outlook mail, and says the failure makes a case against corporate adoption of Google apps:

These problems, especially coming back-to-back, really hurt Google's credibility as it pushes for more corporate adoption. If nothing, Google needs to make make its rumored integration of Gmail with Google's web/desktop synchronizing product Google Gears happen ASAP. Like. now.

Until things get fixed, if you need to get contact me right away, please direct message me on Twitter. And no, the irony of that statement isn't lost on us.

Twitter users, familiar with frequent site outages that result in the display of a friendly cartoon whale known as the "Fail Whale," have coined the term "GFail Whale" for the Gmail problem.

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No word was immediately posted about the Gmail outage on the official blog, however a Gmail representative has posted on the Gmail Google Group the following message acknowledging that at least some of Gmail is down:

The Gmail team is currently aware of a subset of users being affected by the 502 error on login. Our engineers are looking into the issue and we will provide updates here as they become available.

Thanks,
Gmail Guide

There also appears to be a Google Group titled, simply, "Gmail down," for those times when Gmail is down. The description of the group is: "A group to let Gmail users tell others when they cannot access Gmail, so that the individual users don't think it is their own fault and go crazy from the isolation."

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch humbly took the blame for the Gmail outage:

We're waiting on Google for a comment on the reason for the outage, but I can't help but suspect that my decision yesterday to abandon MobileMe/.Mac in favor of the super-stable Google apps may have been a factor. Sometimes Google does things just to spite me.

Meanwhile, the productivity of 20 million people worldwide just spiked upward.

Thanks a lot, jerk.

Gmail complaint tweet highlights:

::HuffPost's own Rachel Sklar's doesn't even need 140 characters.
::Private domains have been hit, too -- and we at HuffPost can confirm this from first-hand experience, as well.
::Minitweet -- three words that say it all, on behalf of the Web
::Slamming Twitter and Gmail at the same time

Read more from the Huffington Post Technology page.

Comments

[truth101]

What nonsese? HOTMAIL has tons more problems than gmail
which is almost perfect 99.999 percent of the time. GMAIL PEOPLE
LOVE GMAIL. END OF STORY

[drblack]

If you want to be tracked and monitored use Google products..Scroogle is the better search engine and there are many other and better Email systems.

[Mort]

I've used Gmail since it started, with Thunderbird as the client. Problems are few and far between. In fact, far more problems with Thunderbird than I ever have with Gmail. And the spam filter is great!

Temporary glitch, Dave. Don't get your panties in a knot!

[BexSF]

Have I been in a cave this week? When did GMail go down? I use it every day and have had no issues recently.

[Mustang Sally]

Same here.

[SneathLane]

When you go from locally unreliable services (millions of copies of Outlook Server, thousands of which will be flaky at any given moment) to centralized, reliable services (Google mail) you get spoiled - they are so reliable that when they go down it's like the sun stopped shining. And you are outraged, instead of getting the "as usual" feeling Outlook users get every time it screws up.

This same mis-placed outrage fueled the move away from mainframe computers to server farms. The server farms have never been able to achieve the levels of reliability that mainframes continue to have, though. And high-volume, intense business applications still work better and cheaper on mainframe computers, to the disgust of client-server ideologues.

Let this Google down-time remind you of how reliable it is %99.99 of the time, and be grateful. It's much more stable than what you used to use.

[CharlottesvilleVA]

OMG - are you out of your freaking mind??? "Anthony Ha of The Industry Standard blog rues the day he made fun of a co-worker for sticking with Outlook mail, and says the failure makes a case against corporate adoption of Google apps...These problems, especially coming back-to-back, really hurt Google's credibility as it pushes for more corporate adoption."

Have you ever actually USED Outlook? If I had a dime for every Outlook or Exchange Server problem we've had I could buy Microsoft. Outlook doesn't even have a working Spam filter! Gmail goes down for a very brief time once, and now it's killing Google's credibility? So did you write this article before or after Microsoft put you on the payroll?

This one is laughable.

[instagladiator]

Ya think he's one of Phil Gramm's "whinners"??

[sb250guy]

Get a grip! Every service has a problem once in a while. I love Gmail. So what if you lose your email for a while. Have a coffee! Take a walk! If you are really brave, have a face to face conversation with another human being.

[angryhumanist]

Absolutely! Yahoo Mail and every other alternative in the universe goes down occasionally.

[instagladiator]

Aww, but there's always that 10-percent (Phil Gramm's "whinners") that rush in attempts to make a mountain out of a molehill. xxit happens!!

[preemptivelove]

if you think gmail is bad, try .mac or whatever it's called now. mobileme????? email trouble ALL THE TIME. and who pays for gmail like the person posting before me. it's free isn't it?

[CamJam]

Yea, Gmail is free - I like it better than Yahoo, and Hotmail etc.
I've had rare problems with Gmail (it's free so I'm not complaining), but I haven't had problems in several months. *knocks on wood* So it was down recently? I've seen more problems with GoogleTalk than I have with Gmail.

I use the Gmail Web version as well as have it tied to when I use Thunderbird and under each name I did not notice any problems. I was able to receive and send mail as usual...

[stavros]

Holy crap people. If you can't live without something from your computer for even one day you should just throw it away. I make my living off mine and don't have a conniption when things don't go perfect.
Squat happens.

[NTO08]

Right...turn AWAY from the computer screen...TURN A-WAYYYYYYY!

[instagladiator]

Hey! I wonder if Phil Gramm's comments about "whinners" is applicable here? I mean, I'm a heavy gmail (and other gadgets) user and I never even noticed any problems? Course, I don't use it 24/7 for spamming or to get the "click-a-link" $.05 a pop or whatever it is, so I could care less. Gmail is by far the best mail system for a very long time, especially their spam filters.

[Sloan48]

Hey, it happens. No service has 100% uptime. So far, Gmail is doing A LOT better than Comcast so far!

[Triangle1]

My work Gmail account went down this afternoon. Talk about a huge headache. I had to resort to using my old AOL account to send files to clients. Then I promptly got my yearly bill from Gmail for $75 when I could log back in. At least wait a week to bill me so I forget you messed up my work day and cost me a couple hundred dollars. http://mespace.wordpress.com

[NTO08]

Spend 75 bucks for GMail? You need to have your head examined.

[butterflywings]

The $75 is not for the gmail, idiot, it is for Google Apps with priority support, and additional extra space.

The last time I heard though, it was only $50.

[instagladiator]

10-4. For the same amount you can have your domain (privacy included) and top-of-the-line hosting service with unlimited email accounts. I, for one, am always skeptical of those businesses who use non-professional freebie email addresses.

[instagladiator]

I agree.

[JBS]

I wouldn't know. I block anything with a gmail addy.

[Nikelaus]

If you keep referring to Arrington, you know he'll never just go away.

[Happylib]

How will I get 25 emails a day directing me to "cure my hubsnads limpe prblem" by clicking on their link to a Canadian drugstore. How will I will 10 Lotteries, 5 FEDEX drafts, or 3 grants for various European organizations today? I will be out millions of potential dollars without GMAIL. Please GMAIL say it isn't so.

[AgentMacGyver]

Either your spam filter isn't working or you signed up at the wrong websites.

[instagladiator]

Precisely. But then it seems certain folks just "have" to complain for the sake of complaining.

[zull2]

Ha ha, Defcon 16 is going on in Vegas this week. Nice coincidence...