From an email to a fellow alum
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>i changed my email address
Sigh, I’ve ranted about having your own email address in your own domain.
What happens if people don’t get the message of the shift.
I’ve even suggested for those, that want their email at their ISP account, that they should still use their own domain and just forward the email where ever they want it.
For one particularly clueless soul, I set up his domain (and this is all sanitized so as not to embarrass anyone) as “clueless.com” with an email address of “soul @ clueless.com”. That was forwarded to “clueless soul @ gmail.com” for backup ‘n’ recovery purposes as well as their excellent spam filters. The gmail account was forwarded to the ISP where he wanted it. The return address on the gmail and the ISP account were set to his domain. So his “email address” never changes no matter how many times he changes ISPs. If he accidently deletes a message he has the gmail account to recover it from. If his ISP goes off line or their email stops working, he can fall back to gmail. And, if his ISP is bought by someone else and he is forced to change his ISP email address, it’s no big deal. Another benefit I just thought of his that he can use gmail’s filters to squelch someone.
And, he never has to worry about someone having an old email address.
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In my mind, it’s impossible to communicate the change to everyone who has your old email address. It may have been given to them by someone else.
Here’s my little scenario, like the economist’s island. Jane has Mary’s email address written in Jane’s address book. Jane give it to Marge who puts it in her address book. Mary changes her address and updates Jane. Marge runs into Jane’s bestest friend in college Sue who has lost touch with Mary but would love to get in touch. Marge gives Mary’s old address to Sue who sends an email that bounces. Silly? Yes!
You don’t know all the people who have your old email addresses. And, yes, there may be ways around it.
Manhattan College gave all alumni a “lifetime” email address. But, after a few years, a few changes in vendors, guess what? Yup, you should have asked who’s life time!
You can have your own domain and email for $12/year. If you’re not strapped for money, you can have your website that includes the domain and email, for $50/year.
Your ISP’s email is a trap to lock you in to their service. It can leave you high and dry at the most inopportune times. And, you can be forced to change if they get bought out or go out. Why risk it?
Your employer’s should never be used for personal purposes. Aside from morality, there are practical reasons. The average employee changes jobs every five years. In some industries, in some types of jobs, the average is 30 months. You should have your own email address for even quasi-business purposes like LinkedIn or external connections.
For example, I use a different formation of my name @ my domain for my outside business uses and forward that to my employer’s email address. It permits quick screening so that it doesn’t get lost in the morass of inside mail. I use yet another formulation for the quasi business uses. And, I assign different names to different purposes.
It just gives you a ton of flexibility at a very modest cost.
Seem obvious to me!
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Posted by reinkefj 
Reinke Faces Life 