# How many email addresses do you have? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238 "2002-04-01T18:13:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/1 "2002-04-01T18:13:22Z")
How many email addresses do you have? At the moment, I have 4 email accounts: one at work, two hotmail (one gets so much spam that I opened another one), and one yahoo. I have 4 “dead” addresses: college and three previous jobs. Obviously, this is _totally_ absurd. I should just have the one work and the one personal account. But I like to pretend that the hotmail account that gets all the spam keeps me from getting spammed at my other addresses (something along the lines of, “there must be an allotment of spam designated for me – I’ll trick the fates and have it all go to the address I don’t actually use!”) And I have levels – when you go to sites where you have to register just to look at an article or something, I give them the spam address. Sites where I actually _want_ to register get the non-spam hotmail address, and friends etc. get the yahoo address. Levels of privilege, y’know. Do other people do this, or is this just another manifestation of my insanity? ---
**Author:** ![MarkyDeSade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@MarkyDeSade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkyDeSade)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/2 "2002-04-01T18:32:12Z")
It _is_ absurd. I have five: Work Hotmail (spam) Yahoo (had to open it to use Yahoo IM) Home ISP account Another one. I usually only use my work one, but sometimes use my home account as well. I hate having so many, but what can you do? Hotmail is only for spam, and I don’t even use my Yahoo one. I do the exact same thing you do, as far as which address I give to people. I hate to think we’re alone on this one… ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/3 "2002-04-01T18:53:22Z")
Hotmail for throwaway registrations. I go in every few weeks, block all of the spam even though it doesn’t do anything (but deleting or blocking sender take an equal amount of effort) and then ignore it. Work. Two addresses at home. One is a recent one through AT&T Broadband, and another is from a dialup account that I’ve used for about four years. I reduced the service to just email, because I’ve gotten used to the address and all of my friends know it. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/4 "2002-04-01T18:55:53Z")
Between 17-20 that I can think of. :o ---
**Author:** ![igotit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@igotit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igotit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/5 "2002-04-01T19:13:57Z")
two at work two AOL one yahoo one hotmail Only six. I use one on a regular basis for personal email and the other ones I check every once in awhile. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/6 "2002-04-01T19:15:56Z")
11 4 yahoo 3 hotmail 1 beer 1 frogshit 1 excite 1 home isp Why? If I register at a MB, I usually create another account. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/7 "2002-04-01T19:20:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lno \* > **Hotmail for throwaway registrations. I go in every few weeks, block all of the spam even though it doesn’t do anything (but deleting or blocking sender take an equal amount of effort) and then ignore it.** Doesn’t HotMail limit you to how many addresses you can block? I used to block senders all the time, then I reached my limit (about 250 at the time). Then I had to manualy delete the blocks one by one so that I could add recent offenders. I’ve got four active accounts (work, home, Yahoo, Hotmail) and many dead or inactive ones. By the way, did you know Yahoo set your account up by default to **accept all sorts of marketing offers**? Go to Yahoo Mail, Options, Account Information, Edit Your Marketing Preferences. Look at all the pretty things Yahoo wants to send you. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/8 "2002-04-01T19:37:24Z")
6: 2 for school (one automatically forwards to the other) 1 work 1 yahoo (for website registration) 1 hotmail (originally to POP my school email, but now they have webmail, so it’s a relic) 1 AOL (never used it–I was signed up for a month, so I guess it’s still active) ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/9 "2002-04-01T20:36:12Z")
Let’s see. 1 work 1 previous work 1 school 1 previous school 2 yahoo (no levels, just different uses) 1 home So… 7, of which I use 2 regularly and 2 others semi-regularly. If you count old AOL ones which have been defunct for a number of years, that’d be 3-4 more. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/10 "2002-04-01T21:15:03Z")
Three here: work, home, and a Hotmail one I use to access the “home” account when I’m elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/11 "2002-04-01T21:20:01Z")
7 AOL addresses (I roleplay online and have a different SN for each character, as well as one CL (Community Leader volunteer) name) 1 school address 1 Yahoo! address This is not counting the several dozen e-mail addresses I’ve racked up from signing up for myriad services all the while. Don’t you hate when you sign up for something and a stupid e-mail address you’ll never use comes with it? ---
**Author:** ![heptapod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@heptapod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heptapod)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/12 "2002-04-01T21:41:48Z")
I have four emails that I use. Two hotmail accounts, one is used for almost all my correspondence online and another is used for taking care of important stuff online. I have my main ISP’s email which is used for online shopping and lastly I have one email at my domain which is for all my personal correspondence. ---
**Author:** ![Palve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Palve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palve)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/13 "2002-04-01T21:41:56Z")
5: 2 at Yahoo, one I check every day, and another I use to sign up for things I think might spam me. 1 at [ythis.zzn.com](http://ythis.zzn.com). I tried to change from Yahoo a while back, but realized that switching would be more of a hassle than I cared for. 1 at school. Hey, they gave it to me. I signed up to a bunch of mailing lists, just to waste the school’s bandwidth. 1 from my ISP. I use it when for some reason something won’t accept a free e-mail service like Yahoo. I have 2 at Hotmail, and 1 at [mac.com](http://mac.com), but I haven’t used those in a looong time and I can’t even remember what the addresses were, so I don’t think they count. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/14 "2002-04-01T21:52:47Z")
One at work, One Hotmail, for junk, One account at home, with three address, one for personal, one for junk/business, and one for my roommate (that may not count). So really, four. That’s the lowest so far. Should I sign up for a couple more somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/15 "2002-04-01T23:55:12Z")
Four Two on my school’s servers, of which I use one for personal messages and the other for school-related messages. Two Yahoo! accounts, one anonymous and one not. ---
**Author:** ![sandalfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sandalfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandalfeet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/16 "2002-04-02T00:02:23Z")
2 one yahoo(i had to get it to get yahoo im) and one hotmail that i always use for everything ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/17 "2002-04-02T00:20:54Z")
7 One Yahoo, one Hotmail and 5 from my ISP, attbi. Attbi gives 10 MB of web space per screen name (6 allowed) so I created 5 separate accounts so I could use the maximum amount of web space, leaving one spare for later. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/18 "2002-04-02T02:35:37Z")
Let’s see … 1 Earthlink, 1 Hotmail, 2 My Own Email (one is a nickname of mine IRL, the other is a phrase I thought was neat), 1 Collegeclub, 1 PlanetOut, 1 [Yahoo.fr](http://Yahoo.fr) (theoretically), 1 from the university … 8 total. Only two of them are similar. Naughty me, wasting electrons like that! ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/19 "2002-04-02T02:54:38Z")
I dunno… 4 personal ones (two through school, two others) 2 admin for two different web sites 3 spam/affiliate accounts 1 for receipts for online orders (really just another spam account now :() 1 for eBay related stuff 1 for SDMB related stuff 1 from work So 13 active ones, not to mention a a few hotmail, [email.com](http://email.com), and yahoo addys that I just kinda abandoned. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238/20 "2002-04-02T04:34:53Z")
I’ve got 4 active addresses: Two at work, depending on which network I happen to be using at the time (though I’ve set it up so all the mail going to one address is bounced to the other mailbox). Two at home, a “public” address which I use on my web site and public forums (such as here at the SDMB), and a “private” one that I give out to people I know. This way, I can easily tell how someone got a hold of me. Theoretically, I still have an address from college, though I’ve abandoned it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-email-addresses-do-you-have/101238.md?page=2)