Email Addresses - Confused!

Terrysdelight

Hi

I have reached a point where I need and want to change my email address. I can't get anything with my name as the prefix - I can get round it by adding numbers, ie joebloggs66@gmail.com but, I don't really like having numbers.

Would it be a good idea to buy a domain name, then I can have my name in the prefix of the email address?

What would the pro's and cons be if I went for this option?

Many thanks
Terrysdelight

Neil_Jones

All the really good email addresses (without numbers) went years ago when free email came along, so if you don't have any numbers in it because you have a relatively obscure name then take it, otherwise well join the club.

With regards to domain names, also note a lot of the more popular ones will have gone by now so you may end up having to have something like whatever@terrysdelight2019.co.uk or whatever. If that's the case you may as well just have the Yahoo/Gmail/Outlook account.

Pros: Its yours and it'll be yours providing you keep the payments up, not tied to any specific provider and is relatively easy to look after. Cons: The outgoing server you set will almost always need to be changed every time you change ISP, and of course charges.

Terrysdelight

Neil_Jones wrote: »

All the really good email addresses (without numbers) went years ago when free email came along, so if you don't have any numbers in it because you have a relatively obscure name then take it, otherwise well join the club.

With regards to domain names, also note a lot of the more popular ones will have gone by now so you may end up having to have something like whatever@terrysdelight2019.co.uk or whatever. If that's the case you may as well just have the Yahoo/Gmail/Outlook account.

Pros: Its yours and it'll be yours providing you keep the payments up, not tied to any specific provider and is relatively easy to look after. Cons: The outgoing server you set will almost always need to be changed every time you change ISP, and of course charges.

Thank you - appreciated.

donnajunkie

Just use a number that has some meaning to you, it doesnt have to be random numbers, for example use your year of birth.

Tom99

Do you have a middle name? Say joe.t.bloggs@gmail.com?

forgotmyname

I purchased my own domain after losing a gmail account for some unknown reason.

Created an account installed bluestacks on a VM and received the odd email never sending one, one day I couldnt check and found it blocked.

Useless help gave no reason as to why it was blocked and that gave me the moment where i thought was if that was the email i use for banking. It would be a complete pain having to reset banking email accounts without access to the original email.

that

Proton mail is relatively new, encrypt everything. Swiss. They are/were free unless sending an receiving large amounts of mail, you could try them and they do not spy on you, or own your mail after two years

Gunner567

You can get a 1 year free domain name from Names.co.uk at the minute. I actually run a number of websites so already have all the servers setup to manage the DNS settings. In regards to the actual email, I use Zoho to host it AFAIK it's the only company that allow you to use your own domain for free. I did host it on my own server for a while but it was a constant stream of problems so I would recommend always using hosted email!

Its much easier to find a suitable domain name, I personally just have a dash in mine which is a lot better than having @johnsmith57383.com. One thing you could do rather than have @yourname.com is something you are interested in. For instance I set mine up mostly to apply for jobs as I'm looking for a change of career. If you were looking for a career in accounting for instance you could have @goodwithmoney.co.uk or if you were a very keen surfer you could have something like @ridethewaves.co.uk. It's professional, easy to remember and it tells people a little about you!

Peter999_2

I've had my own domain for a few years and was lucky enough to get one with my name (however, I now am undecided whether it was that wise to have my real name as my domain, oh well).


I setup an email server on a Raspberry Pi server which is fab - once it's setup it just works and I never have to do anything to it.


If you're feeling brave, have a look at this great guide - https://samhobbs.co.uk/raspberry-pi-email-server.
It's the most comprehensive guide to setting it up that I could find and Sam is a great guy.
The only thing that I didn't setup was webmail - I just use my mobile for email on the go and outlook on my PC.

[Deleted User]

donnajunkie wrote: »

Just use a number that has some meaning to you, it doesnt have to be random numbers, for example use your year of birth.

At work there's a worrying number of people who use their name and date of birth as their email address which seems misguided to me. It wouldn't take much for someone to create software to strip both out and they've now got your name and DOB to go phishing for more info on you.

Yes that sounds paranoid but someone will be doing it and yes, people will fall for it. Why make it easy for them?

ballyblack

Date of birth or even the year is daft