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A comment about most the popular (and unpopular) names being taken.
Sometimes a little creativity is all it takes to make an easy to remember but unpopular name.
Bill@anything.anything is going to be popular but unless your last name is smith or gates, Bill.lastname@anything.anything has a chance. My primary gmail account is set up that way.
Another alternative is to add a descriptive (as long as it is reasonable for the purpose of your email account (BeerBill@... would be a lousy one on your resume) but SkaterBill might be good for less formal uses (I know a person that uses his nickname BrewBoy on one account.)
Posted by: bill at February 17, 2009 8:25 AM
Hi Leo,
First off, I look forward to your newsletter every week...great work! Secondly, it might be worth mentioning email spoofing. I own a very popoular chat/message board software company and we have run into many problems with this hack. I've also had an instance when someone spoofed my hotmail address (didn't take over my account) for the purposes of sending out spam.
Posted by: ron at February 17, 2009 9:10 AM
Good article Very informative, I've always wondered how email address were assigned.
When I first applied for an email address at Earthlink I used a nickname, it was already taken so I used some numerals with it and got it.
Ask-Leo is a great sit for getting information without paying an arm and a leg for tech. help. It's hard to be free advice. Thank you.
Posted by: Carl at February 17, 2009 9:18 AM
One caveat; don't bother trying to get a domain name that's a company name that's not your own. It might be tempting to grab DunkinDonuts.abc (or any of a hundred other .names), but that company can force you to release it. This used to work, but not any more.
Posted by: Chuck at February 17, 2009 11:12 AM
If you own a server and you determine you have a unique name why does an annual fee have to be paid for a domain? Who gets the money? Who controls the domain names and why?
The domain registrar gets the money. Essentially there is, indeed, ongoing overhead / maintenance in maintaining your registration for you (databases that must be maintained, DNS queries and must be answered, etc.). You can argue that the cost of those items is much less than the cost of renewals, which is why there's no reason not to find a reliable and cheap domain registrar. I happen to use SimpleURL.
- Leo 18-Feb-2009
Posted by: Michael Moseley at February 17, 2009 12:46 PM
With free email accounts, don't try to get a really nifty one, chances are if it isn't taken, its because it was shut down due to excess spam which will still be rolling in.
And spammers guess all the simpler ones, so make it a reasonable length, and hard to guess. All your friends can put it in an address book and it doesn't matter how hard it is to remember.
Posted by: Fred at February 17, 2009 5:46 PM
To keep spam to a minimum, use numeral(s) after the name whether you have to or not. I have three emails + the 1 w/the numeral is rarely spammed. The 2 without get much junk daily.
Posted by: Marty at February 18, 2009 6:50 AM
Hi Leo....ever try this..the 10 minute email address...you can sign up for things and not get spammed to death or even send an email with it...it expires in 10 minutes.
Comments
Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed for comments on this article.
A comment about most the popular (and unpopular) names being taken.
Sometimes a little creativity is all it takes to make an easy to remember but unpopular name.
Bill@anything.anything is going to be popular but unless your last name is smith or gates, Bill.lastname@anything.anything has a chance. My primary gmail account is set up that way.
Another alternative is to add a descriptive (as long as it is reasonable for the purpose of your email account (BeerBill@... would be a lousy one on your resume) but SkaterBill might be good for less formal uses (I know a person that uses his nickname BrewBoy on one account.)
Posted by: bill at February 17, 2009 8:25 AMHi Leo,
First off, I look forward to your newsletter every week...great work! Secondly, it might be worth mentioning email spoofing. I own a very popoular chat/message board software company and we have run into many problems with this hack. I've also had an instance when someone spoofed my hotmail address (didn't take over my account) for the purposes of sending out spam.
Posted by: ron at February 17, 2009 9:10 AMGood article Very informative, I've always wondered how email address were assigned.
Posted by: Carl at February 17, 2009 9:18 AMWhen I first applied for an email address at Earthlink I used a nickname, it was already taken so I used some numerals with it and got it.
Ask-Leo is a great sit for getting information without paying an arm and a leg for tech. help. It's hard to be free advice. Thank you.
One caveat; don't bother trying to get a domain name that's a company name that's not your own. It might be tempting to grab DunkinDonuts.abc (or any of a hundred other .names), but that company can force you to release it. This used to work, but not any more.
Posted by: Chuck at February 17, 2009 11:12 AMIf you own a server and you determine you have a unique name why does an annual fee have to be paid for a domain? Who gets the money? Who controls the domain names and why?
18-Feb-2009
With free email accounts, don't try to get a really nifty one, chances are if it isn't taken, its because it was shut down due to excess spam which will still be rolling in.
Posted by: Fred at February 17, 2009 5:46 PMAnd spammers guess all the simpler ones, so make it a reasonable length, and hard to guess. All your friends can put it in an address book and it doesn't matter how hard it is to remember.
To keep spam to a minimum, use numeral(s) after the name whether you have to or not. I have three emails + the 1 w/the numeral is rarely spammed. The 2 without get much junk daily.
Posted by: Marty at February 18, 2009 6:50 AMHi Leo....ever try this..the 10 minute email address...you can sign up for things and not get spammed to death or even send an email with it...it expires in 10 minutes.
http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/
Posted by: Mike at February 23, 2009 9:54 AMTo post a comment on "How do I get an arbitrary email address?", please return to that article's main page.