The Ups and Downs of Vink
Written: Jan 27 '01 (Updated Jan 27 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: new mail notification via ICQ, lots of options, custom spell check dictionary
Cons: pop-up on entry, lack of 'continue' or 'return' at some points
The Bottom Line: The benefits are great, but the drawbacks are horrible. You must decide for yourself what the most important feature is.
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| Aahz's Full Review: VinkMail |
I just discovered VinkMail and it has a few wonderful features that I have not found at other free web-based email sites, but it has some drawbacks as well.
VinkMail is an affiliate of bigmailbox.com. Essentially all of the services are provided by bigmailbox.com and cobranded by vink.org (which seems to have no existence outside of VinkMail, but is owned by an epinionator: vink). So, you might want to check out reviews of Big Mail Box as well.
First, let's look at the good...
Ups:
1) Required info is kept fairly minimal. Many free sites require you to enter a ton of personal info in order to use their site. VinkMail only requires Full name (first, last), alternate email address, Zip Code, gender, and age. The 'Interest' info is starred as if it's required, but I didn't enter any and my account was still set up.
2) VinkMail allows you to :
Be notified at your alternate email address (or via ICQ) when new mail is received at your VinkMail account.
Set your destination after deleting a viewed message (next message or current folder), text line width, message headers (brief, full or none), message info default sort field (new, date, from, to, subject, size), message info default sort type (ascending or descending), messages per page (from 5 to All), your automatic logout time (up to 180 minutes), and what info appears in your from/to fields (name, email address, or both).
Turn on or off your signature file, subfolder visibility, delivery verification notices, and auto-save to your sent mail folder.
3) Not only does VinkMail have an integrated spell check program (supplied by spellchecker.net), but it allows you to create and maintain your own user dictionary. The user dictionary is originally stored as a cookie, but will be moved to their servers when it grows larger. This is a wonderful feature that I hope other web-based email programs integrate soon.
Downs:
1) Pop-Up ads! Every time you log into your VinkMail account a popup ad is served from bigmail box. I don't know about you, but I hate pop-up ads.
2) Your email address will be you@vink.org. .org addresses (whether they be email or websites) just aren't as memorable as .com or .net addresses.
3) Mailboxes are limited to 4megs of storage. The more popular free email programs now have 6meg email boxes.
4) After writing an email message (whether in reply or compose mode) you are taken to a page that confirms that your message has been sent, but does not provide a 'continue' link. As a result, you must return to your inbox or folder each time you reply to a message rather then returning directly to that message. This gets annoying quickly.
5) Message delivery seems a bit slow. It took a message from me VinkMail account nearly an hour to reach my VinkMail account during testing.
6) There are no 'filters' available to sort incoming mail into seperate folders. This means everything gets dumped into your Inbox. This is fine if you check your email daily and receive only 5-10 messages, but I receive hundreds of messages a day and often don't check for a day or two.
7) There is no ability to block email addresses. Which means there's no way to stop spam or someone harrasing you.
8) There is no access to POP accounts. So you cannot check other email accounts. One of the primary uses of web-based email accounts is to check POP accounts from 'home' systems.
Summary:
If you're looking for a web-based email account that will notify you of new messages via ICQ, this is the only one I'm aware of. If you desperately need a spell checker with a user dictionary, again, this seems to be the only place.
Otherwise, I'd recommend sticking with the big boys, like Yahoo Mail, or a service that pays you to use them, like Zwallet.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
Aahz
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Member: Aahz
Location: ...Behind The Curtain
Reviews written: 60
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Aahz has returned to Epinions after a short 7 year hiatus. Why? We'll see together...
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