February 21, 2006
Remove Gmail Chat Annoyance
Tim Bishop channels Kevin Burton, and explains how to remove a new pesky annoyance for gmail users:
there is a setting hidden at the bottom of the gmail page, down next to the lack of privacy policy, that allows you to do turn chat off, standard without chat. How like Google to try and hide the preference, kinda like refusing to put a delete button in for a year in spite of user demand and utility. It seems like every day Google is getting farther away from its roots in usability.Thank you guys!
(Incidentally, it sounds like they're having a lot of fun over there on the west coast. Should I be hoping for a Supernova invite?)
Posted by Michael : February 21, 2006 11:08 PM | Internet | TechnoLinks
Slashdot
It!
This was made clear as the chat option became available, and it is quite apparent if you click on the chat tag 2nd below the inbox. I truly don't understand the vitriol some people express about Google. Its privacy policy is no worse than the other free mail services and the functionality is much better. Btw, why would you necessarily want to turn off chat? it can be controlled on the basis of the individuals in your contact list.
Posted by: cafl at February 22, 2006 12:58 PM"How like Google to try to hide a preference"
Yeah, that's some crafty hiding, explaining it in their documentation _and_ putting it on the front page.
Seriously, I can be plenty critical about Google, but this is an amazingly silly complaint.
Posted by: Patrick Nielsen Hayden at February 23, 2006 09:37 AMI couldn't find any documentation in the help when I searched for a way to turn off this feature. And why turn it off? Because my network administrator blocked gmail chat and I kept being prompted with a chatconnected login over and over and over again. Thanks for the post on how to disable chat.
I'm not against google or gmail. I use gmail because I like the service. But not being able to turn off chat or find a way to turn off chat in google help was frustrating to me. Maybe search strings like "disable chat" and "turn off chat" need to be modified to include better results.
Posted by: Jenn at April 17, 2006 09:15 AM