My students now have firstname.lastname format, just like the email address I'm 
now using for this list. We also had several conflicts, both with 
siblings/cousins and occasionally with staff. Within a few years, we'll have 
four kids with the same first initial and last name. A family thought it would 
be clever to give all four of their kids names beginning with J (and both 
parents are Js).

Now that it's free through Google, we're giving addresses to all students in 
grades 5-12 (our middle school/jr high starts at 5th grade). I figure if they 
have a long name, they'll deal. Their friends and their teachers will figure 
out how to reach them.

With first name and last initial, you will probably still run into several 
conflicts. If you want to keep it short, try the first initial of the first 
name and middle name, then last name. John Michael Doe becomes jmdoe. Depending 
on school size it may still be an issue, but it's one more way to narrow the 
chances. Maybe even tack on a two-digit graduation year or something.

We're going to try leaving them public. I haven't had any issues yet, and 
students have had email addresses for a few years now. The best way to ensure 
internal-only usage is to set up an internal mail server. I did this at the 
last school I worked for; set up a simple Linux box with Sendmail for mail 
handling and SquirrelMail for a web client GUI. (There are probably easier ways 
to do it these days, but it was also a good learning box for me.)

Mike


On Jul 18, 2010, at 8:47 PM, Anna Jukes wrote:

> Hey all!
>  
> For any of you who have middle/junior high school and you have or are setting 
> up email accounts, what format did you put your email addresses?
>  
> I started with first initial of first name and last name. As I was typing 
> those in excel to do a batch upload, I had brothers with the same first and 
> middle initials (ajukes) so I threw that idea out. Besides, my son’s email 
> and my email would also be the same. So then I thought I’d try first.last 
> (anna.jukes). Some of those kids have really long names. So now I’m thinking 
> first name, last  initial (annaj).
>  
> Also, what grades are you assigning email addresses to? I’m locking mine down 
> so that it’s used internally only  -- for right now at least. Any other 
> advise you have is also welcome!
>  
> Thanks!
>  
>  
> Anna Jukes
> Technology Director
> Opdyke-Belle Rive CCSD #5
> Opdyke, IL 62872
> _______________________________________________
> Tech-geeks mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.illinicloud.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech-geeks

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