Get rid of all those Gmail invites

January 19, 2005 10:39 AM

Get rid of all those Gmail invites"Welcome to isnoop.net's gmail invite spooler. This page offers a place for people with Gmail invites and those who want them to come together with minimal effort and fuss."
posted by dhoyt (36 comments total)

Also mentioned in the wiki.
posted by trharlan at 10:53 AM on January 19, 2005

There still exist people without Gmail accounts who want them?
posted by Plutor at 10:54 AM on January 19, 2005

Sweet. Just unloaded 4.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:10 AM on January 19, 2005

I did this with a different site not too long ago before I realized that whoever uses the invite would then have my Gmail address. I've been trying to be pretty careful with it, and it seems like a system like this would be a prime target for folks trying to harvest email addresses.
posted by Gimpson at 11:20 AM on January 19, 2005

(And of course, they address that concern on this particular site...)
posted by Gimpson at 11:21 AM on January 19, 2005

Gimpson, how so? I just signed up an account, but the only e-mail I saw was [e-mail]. Maybe I missed it, but I don't think I had any idea whose invitation I just used.

Does each account come with a certain number of invitations? I'd like to put them back into the page I just used, but where do I find them?
posted by odinsdream at 11:22 AM on January 19, 2005

* nevermind. figured it out.
posted by odinsdream at 11:24 AM on January 19, 2005

Clever. I just plugged four invites into the system. And plutor, there are certainly people who have yet to discover the love that is Gmail. I think the nerd cognocscenti and their friends hold most accounts even at this late date -- there are many millions of Hotmail- and Yahoo-account-bearing unwashed out there awaiting salvation.

It would be interesting to know how many Gmail accounts have been activated thus far via their beautifully viral invite system.

On preview: odinsdream, each account is apportioned a certain number of invites at the outset. From what I can tell, you get more invites based on your success rate in sharing the ones you start out with.
posted by killdevil at 11:25 AM on January 19, 2005

As mentioned in this AskMe thread here, you might want to curb your enthusiasm for "getting rid of all those Gmail invites": Google will just send you more:
I've basically found there's no real point in giving them away. If you don't give them away, they don't give you any more. If you do give them away, then you end up with more to give away. I just sit in stasis now, with four invites to give away. Very occasionally, I stumble across someone who is looking for one, and pass one on, and then Google gives me another to replace it.
posted by availablelight at 11:25 AM on January 19, 2005

I have 10. I never invited anyone, but they kept piling them up.

Now I can unload them all and stop feeling so guilty about it.
posted by rafter at 11:31 AM on January 19, 2005

Why would someone not have already automated the system further, then, by having a service poll their own gmail account, and dole out the invitations to this page as they arrive from google?

Maybe someone already has?
posted by odinsdream at 11:32 AM on January 19, 2005

There not only exist people without Gmail accounts who want them, there exist a lot of people without Gmail accounts who want them. Every time I get a few, I send them to the Spooler, and they're always gone within seconds.
posted by kindall at 11:39 AM on January 19, 2005

When the spooler started out, you could bet that any invite you donated would go to someone who could use it; that's how I got my second Gmal address. That's not the case anymore.

You will never be able to get an invite through the spooler. Try it. I suspect that despite the site's efforts to avoid it, bots are collecting all the invites they can.

Gmail account names are valuable. Remember how beer.com sold for umpteen million dollars? Betcha that [e-mail] has some value, too.

I strongly suspect that by using the spooler you're not helping anyone but some former cybersquatter looking for a new revenue stream
posted by solid-one-love at 11:55 AM on January 19, 2005

I've looked at the isnoop service, but it seems that you already need an e-mail address to sign up for a gmail account. Does anyone offer a similar service that doesn't need an e-mail address to get another e-mail address?
posted by scruss at 11:58 AM on January 19, 2005

solid-one-love, I just got one through isnoop. Yer getting negative in yer old age.
posted by scruss at 12:08 PM on January 19, 2005

solid, see above - I got one when there were 42 available.
posted by odinsdream at 12:11 PM on January 19, 2005

Scruss-- people without existing email accounts could probably use the clickable invite links that are sometimes posted in newsgroups, sites like gmailswap.com, and MeFi's own Wiki (search for the Gmail page).
posted by availablelight at 12:15 PM on January 19, 2005

Ok, so I got a Gmail account because everyone's been raving about them forever. Can somebody tell me what all the fuss is about? What neato things can I do with my new Gmail account?
posted by buriednexttoyou at 12:21 PM on January 19, 2005

well for starters you can use it as a network hard drive.
posted by edmo at 12:30 PM on January 19, 2005

9 Bazz Fazzes and a Porky Pine. Great.
posted by kenko at 12:58 PM on January 19, 2005

Worked for me. FWIW, the feature which persuaded me to try it is the flat categorizing, which del.icio.us uses to such good effect.
posted by Invoke at 2:32 PM on January 19, 2005

I've sent over a dozen to the spooler today from this link. If just for the joy of the ridiculous fake names. But what bugs me is the high percentage of people who turn the names into their new gmail logons rather than personalizing it. Makes me wonder how valuable the gmail invites are to spammers..
posted by onanon at 3:46 PM on January 19, 2005

What is 'flat catagorizing'? Forgive my ignorance...
posted by rooftop secrets at 4:11 PM on January 19, 2005

I've sent dozens to the spooler over the past couple of months.
Out of curiosity I DID request one via the spooler and recieved it within hours.
posted by page404 at 4:17 PM on January 19, 2005

Thank you thank you thank you. I've been wanting one of these for some time. I stumbled across these bastards, charging a $10 processing fee for invites, and then I come across this. I love you Metafilter!!

And rooftop, here is a good explanation of flat categorizing.
posted by daHIFI at 4:49 PM on January 19, 2005

I like having them build up and giving them to select people. I like the idea of gmail users being a gradually expanding group that only takes new members based on direct invites. These systems screw that up. Of course, people are free to do that, but I would rather stockpile mine.
posted by bingo at 5:57 PM on January 19, 2005

I have 10 invites, but I'd like to personally know who I'm giving them to.
posted by Eideteker at 6:42 PM on January 19, 2005

got rid of 10...i ran out of people who wanted one ages ago.
posted by amberglow at 6:47 PM on January 19, 2005

ahhh--icsales has accepted one of them. maybe it will be marketing/spammers?
posted by amberglow at 7:47 PM on January 19, 2005

well for starters you can use it as a network hard drive.

Sounds like a good way to deter Google from continuing the service.
posted by evilcolonel at 9:36 PM on January 19, 2005

This is an intelligence test right? I've failed miserably. 'Simply submit your e-mail in the following form' .... but there's no way to do that. I've watched the numbers go up and down, I'm none the wiser. Help me out please (clue's in the profile).
posted by grahamwell at 4:31 AM on January 20, 2005

This is an intelligence test right? I've failed miserably. 'Simply submit your e-mail in the following form' .... but there's no way to do that. I've watched the numbers go up and down, I'm none the wiser. Help me out please (clue's in the profile).

I've failed that test as well, grahamwell. I can't find any way to submit my email.
posted by LeeJay at 8:42 AM on January 20, 2005

We're obviously just to stupid to deserve gmail accounts LeeJay. Can you hear the tittering, this thread is those clever folks rubbing it in. I'm off to Hotmail - I feel loved there.
posted by grahamwell at 10:19 AM on January 20, 2005

Thanks, dhoyt. Picked one up myself in no time.
posted by pardonyou? at 11:15 AM on January 20, 2005

This is an intelligence test right? I've failed miserably. 'Simply submit your e-mail in the following form' .... but there's no way to do that. I've watched the numbers go up and down, I'm none the wiser. Help me out please (clue's in the profile).

Just hit enter.
posted by DBAPaul at 11:39 AM on January 20, 2005

Woo. Got one. Cheers!
posted by corvine at 1:25 PM on January 20, 2005