# How long have you had your email address?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 23, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051 "2007-01-23T04:30:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/1 "2007-01-23T04:30:27Z")
I got my first email address in August of 1994. I still have and use it. (It’s my work email.)
How old is your oldest?
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### Author:  [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/2 "2007-01-23T04:38:11Z")
My oldest address (from 1996) is at Yahoo! Mail, and I still use it nearly daily.
It has, however, become little more than a spam repository. I can go in there every 24 hours and empty more than 100 pieces of junk from the spam folder, and a handful from the inbox. Stupid spam e-mail. It used to be blanket coverage, now it’s personalized with my username.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/3 "2007-01-23T04:46:34Z")
I’ve only had my current e-mail address since early 2005. After I graduated, I figured that [maxtheimmortal@hotmail.com](mailto:maxtheimmortal@hotmail.com) wasn’t particularly professional-sounding, so I switched to a blander but more grown-up e-mail address.
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/4 "2007-01-23T04:50:12Z")
My oldest address is still my Hotmail address–fired it up in '95 when I had just started college. It now gets all of my commercially-based e-mails.
Tripler
Heck, I used to use it for the SDMB for awhile there. . .
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/5 "2007-01-23T04:55:29Z")
1. It’s my work email address and I just had my ninth anniversary yesterday (22 Jan).
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### Author:  [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/6 "2007-01-23T05:18:30Z")
First was AOL, but I jumped off that train so now the oldest is my yahoo account which I probably created about nine years ago, judging by the name I selected. It makes me feel a little nostalgic every time I see it. It also makes a wonderful place to send all my spammy mail.
-Lil
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### Author:  [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/7 "2007-01-23T05:31:00Z")
I have emails saved in a couple of my Eudora folders dating back to Sept 1995. I’m pretty sure we set up our original domain a few months (maybe as much as a year) prior to that.
We did change the spelling of domain at one point. We kept both the old and the new active for several months, with the old one forwarding to the new one. So maybe technically I’ve only had this one since January 1999.
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### Author:  [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/8 "2007-01-23T06:02:10Z")
Got broadband and my current e-mail address in January 1996. A month later, we dropped the landline.
Still have the e-mail address; still don’t have a home phone.
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/9 "2007-01-23T06:07:01Z")
Got a \_\_\_\_@memphis.edu address when I started grad school in 1995. Graduated, moved away, moved back, started law school at the same university in 2004, and… what do you know? They saved my address! So I’ve got the address “back” now; I guess that counts.
I’ve also got a hotmail account I started in '95 or ‘96, though I only check it once a month or so. I don’t even know why I still log in; no one I know writes to it. It’s interesting to see that it’s still getting messages from a screenwriters’ newsletter I signed up for about 11 years ago, though.
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### Author:  [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/10 "2007-01-23T06:51:32Z")
Hotmail, '97 or so. As mentioned before, it gets over 100 spams per day, so I don’t check it anymore (the only reason it hasn’t been deleted is because I still log on to MSN messenger on a semi-regular basis.
The one I currently use, @nmt.edu, has been up since August of 2000.
I also have a yahoo account with this username and a hyphen, that I’ve had since some point in between those times. I revived it when the hotmail account was getting overgrown, as yahoo had a much better filter at the time.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/11 "2007-01-23T07:39:23Z")
Within a month of gmail opening. I have a yahoo one that’s I reactivate occasionally as a dumpster addy: that one I’ve had for about 6 years.
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### Author:  [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/12 "2007-01-23T07:41:14Z")
I’ve had the same first part since about 95-ish. I’ve had:
(Where ‘xxxx’ = my first name + middle initial + last initial)
[xxxx@aol.com](mailto:xxxx@aol.com) (dropped aol for obvious reasons)
[xxxx@earthlink.com](mailto:xxxx@earthlink.com) (dropped that once I ditched dialup)
and now I have
[xxxx@gmail.com](mailto:xxxx@gmail.com) - had that ever since gmail first came out.
and I am dearly hoping I can continue to use gmail forever (as in I hope it doesn’t become overwhelmed with spam. So far, their spam filter is pretty good)
Since i signed up with each of the above services, I managed to get my preferred name (being my first name, middle and last initial). I doubt I would be able to find that ever again!
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### Author:  [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/13 "2007-01-23T08:29:38Z")
Got my aol mail in 95 and still have it. I’m afraid to cancel as periodically I’ll get emails from long lost friends who came across my old address.
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### Author:  [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/14 "2007-01-23T10:14:08Z")
I keep my hotmail address (set up in 1995) for that sole purpose. I also have a work address that dates back from that year which has been reactivated for me when I’ve gone back to doing contract/consultancy work for the same organisation.
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/15 "2007-01-23T10:15:24Z")
Hotmail, since July 2000. Second one I’ve ever had and still going strong. I’ve changed ISPs since then, so my original one had to go, but I still use the same user name.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/16 "2007-01-23T10:24:08Z")
March/April 1995 for my primary email. Like others, it’s become a hideous spam repository (imagine how silly I’d look with both a 12 inch permanent hard-on _ **and** _ enormous knockers!!) but I’m used to it.
I’ve had other email addresses tied to various jobs over the years; I think the oldest current one is 4ish years.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/17 "2007-01-23T10:26:00Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
…imagine how silly I’d look with both a 12 inch permanent hard-on _ **and** _ enormous knockers!!) but I’m used to it.
[/QUOTE]
Erm, that should read that “I’m used to receiving tons of spam”, not that I’m used to having large and contradictory secondary sexual characteristics!! :eek: 😃
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/18 "2007-01-23T11:19:31Z")
I’ve moved to Gmail but I still use my old hotmail address that I registered in '98 IIRC.
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### Author:  [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/19 "2007-01-23T11:30:03Z")
I can’t remember when I first registered my snotmail account but it’s one I’ve had for many years as a back-up for my genuine home or work addresses. It’s useful because it means I don’t have to give out my personal or work address and then get spammed to buggery.
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### Author:  [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2007, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-had-your-email-address/389051/20 "2007-01-23T12:15:50Z")
Have had the same Earthlink address as my primary since February of 1997. I’ve had a Yahoo! address nearly the same amount of time (possibly longer, but I can’t remember when I got it). Before that, I used my work e-mail for internet e-mail or relied on gateways between my CompuServe mail account and the internet.
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