Another issue I have with your argument - I don't believe Gmail has the market share to make such a fiendish strategy viable.
And try doing business with small businesses and then tell me what market share you perceive GMail as having.
I think, right or wrong, you'd probably get a better result if the rage in your text was clearly directed at the consequences rather than the motives - if nothing else because, as you say, the motives don't actually change the consequences and it's the consequences you, I, and everybody else who likes having their own email setup has to suffer.
(to be clear, I'm not commenting on whether or not you should have been downvoted, only on my best guess as to how to get across the same information without it happening)
Another educational moment for you would be to look up the word "conspiracy" to learn what it means. I understand that you were hoping to use it as a dismissive term, but you would have been better off using a universally dismissive term like "crazy", as there are a lot of rational people that understand the factual meaning of "conspiracy" and don't interpret it in the same way you do.
It doesn't matter. The conversation at HN is toxic. I've bitched enough. I was just reaching out for commiseration.