Every address has it's purpose: - Yahoo.com/SBCGlobal.net email address because AT&T is my home provider. Used for very little, except my Yahoo based fantasy football games. - work domain addresses: one corporate, one local. Corporate for all business dealings, local for local business and family/friend dealings. - GMail account for legit public use. Things like this list, online sign ups that require an email address, etc. - Hotmail account, used for nefarious sites who want an email address almost explicitly for spamming. (I give this address when I'm signing up for something I probably shouldn't be :)
On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > > HMM, lets see, I have a gmail account, a work account, my own domain > email, and I believe I still have yahoo and hotmail accounts. What > does that say about me? Aside from being confused. > > What your e-mail address says about you > http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/11/16/email.users/index.html?hpt=Sbin > > By Doug Gross, CNN > > STORY HIGHLIGHTS > Some people will make judgments about you based on your e-mail address > Aol and Hotmail seem dated to many, while Gmail or your own domain > name might seem hipper > With Facebook and Aol announcing e-mail updates, e-mail is in the news this > week > > (CNN) -- There's a lot of talk lately about e-mail. > > Over the weekend, Aol announced a major overhaul to its e-mail > service, which served as an entry point to the internet for millions > in the dial-up days of the '90s and early 2000s. As acknowledged by > the upgrade's name, Project Phoenix, today's Aol is struggling to find > a way out of the old-news ashes. > > Then, on Monday, Facebook rolled out a "messaging system" that CEO > Mark Zuckerberg insists isn't e-mail, but it sure sounds like it's got > plenty of email-like features to us. > > It remains to be seen who will start using Facebook messaging as their > primary means of online communication or who might be coaxed back to > the home of "You've Got Mail" by the new Aol features. (Hey, they > already lower-cased the "O" and the "L" so clearly times are > a-changin', right?) > > And that, in turn, had us thinking about what your e-mail account says > about you. > > Here's the harsh truth: Whether you know it or not, some people judge > you the moment they see what comes after the "@" in your messages. > > At the risk of flirting with internet snobbery, here is a look at the > place where ISPs and personalities meet. (It's worth noting, we're not > the first to do so. We're particularly fond of this fun graphic from > The Oatmeal, a humor blog.) > > These are stereotypes gathered in the name of fun and, like all > stereotypes, there are exceptions. That said, let the stereotyping > begin! > > Here's a breakdown of what e-mail addresses may signify about their users: > > @aol.com > > You probably have the same e-mail address you had in 1997. > > You also might be 70. > > Fair or not, if you send an e-mail from an Aol account, the recipient > is likely to expect it to be spam, a forward of some thoroughly > debunked conspiracy theory or pictures of kittens. > > "I get the sense that people with Aol addresses have just been too > lazy to upgrade, i.e., their e-mail address is still: > [email protected]," says Brenna Ehrlich, a co-creator of the > "Stuff Hipsters Hate" blog and writer for tech-blog Mashable. > > Aol's new upgrades are actually getting some good reviews -- although > some of the revamped service's e-mail address options -- @ygm.com (for > "You've Got Mail"), @wow.com and @love.com have raised a few eyebrows. > [email protected] -- really? > > The Oatmeal blog points out the venerable internet portal still has a > long way to go to shake the stereotype that its users are prone to > direct you to a website by saying, "OK, go to h ... t ... t ... p ... > colon ... slash ... slash ... w ... w ... w ... ." > > @hotmail.com > > Not much different than Aol. > > Hotmail is another ISP that was huge in the Web's earlier days but has > lost cache among the technorati. > > (We'll pause here to point out that Hotmail remains the world's most > popular e-mail provider, with more than 360 million accounts. But a > lot of that is outside the United States -- it's in 10 languages -- > and its longevity can be attributed to its link to the long arm of its > provider, Microsoft). > > Stuff Hipsters Hate co-creator Andrea Bartz, who along with Ehrlich > writes a "netiquette" column for CNN, points out a potentially > surprising subset of users. Some of the very hipsters she documents, > she said, camp out on a Hotmail address the same way they wear their > scruffy skateboarding shoes from high school. > > "It's like a silly cat sweater," she said, "Ironic on a hipster, > awkward and anachronistic on a middle-aged housewife." > > @yahoo.com > > We ended up with a hung jury on Yahoo mail. > > Many folks in our incredibly nonscientific polling said they have > Yahoo accounts, which they only use as an address to provide on sites > they expect to flood them with spam. > > But, to be sure, Yahoo has stayed more aggressive with its updates, > spam filtering and the like than some of its competitors. And it's > continued to grow -- it has 273 million users -- while services such > as Aol floundered. > > We'll call this one a no-decision. But be aware that there are those > out there who will judge you for Yahoo. (Same goes for addresses from > cable/phone/Web providers, such as @comcast.net or sbcglobal.net). > > @gmail.com > > What doesn't Google do? > > The search giant/e-mail provider/phone system and map maker vies with > Facebook for "king of the internet" honors. And its e-mail system, > with 193 million users, is one of the reasons. > > Gmail, its supporters point out, is free, boasts tons of storage, has > a strong chat feature and acts as a portal to many of Google's other > services. > > The Oatmeal says a Gmail user "most likely knows their way around a > computer" and "when the internet stops working, actually tries > rebooting the router before calling a family member for help." > > Only one problem, really. > > "Too bad it will probably gain free will some day and kill us all," > Ehrlich said. > > [email protected] > > Owning your own domain name pretty much puts you at the top of the > e-savvy stack. > > No one will think you're a rube when they get your e-mail. They may, > however, think you're self-centered. And possibly a megalomaniac. > > Not that you care. > > Work/school e-mail > > In this day and age, nothing that proves you actually have a job can > be a bad thing, right? > > Same for the whole higher-education thing. In its earliest days, > Facebook was an uber-exclusive club that required a Harvard e-mail > account to join. Nothing wrong with some school spirit, and if it > brought a healthy dose of Ivy League self-importance along with it, > all the better. > > But if you insist on using your work e-mail for all your personal > messages, then people may make two assumptions about you: > > 1. You spend too much time at work. > > 2. You want everyone to be impressed by your @whitehouse.gov e-mail > account. > > Here are a couple of tips: Keep a close eye on your office policies > before relying too heavily on your work e-mail. What the internet at > large thinks of you might become rapidly less important than what your > boss thinks of you if they decide to take a look over your digital > shoulder. > > And if you're more than a few years out of school, dump the alma > mater's account. If you're still using @harvard.edu 20 years after > graduation, you'll just be the digital equivalent of the middle-aged > guy still trying to squeeze on his letterman's jacket. > > > Find this article at: > http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/11/16/email.users/index.html?hpt=Sbin > > -- > Larry C. Lyons > web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons > -- > People need to realize that the plural of anecdote is not data. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:331766 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
