# Is my email address too uncool? Should I change? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807 "2014-11-05T22:10:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/21 "2014-11-06T16:46:10Z")
\*\*DougK, \*\*It’s a good part of Google-fear how many companies and individuals are moving their “IT” needs to Google, starting with GMail. I don’t necessarily have one feeling or another for someone addressing me from a GM account, but when I encounter companies who have their whole communications and filex structures in Google’s cloudy-cloud, I am cautious in my dealings with them and Brother Gorilla - I won’t expose any of my working files or confidential communications via that route. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/22 "2014-11-06T17:09:09Z")
All this malarky about email addresses is just balderdash! Am I not a real business if I conduct my affairs with a real address without a P.O. Box or suite number? It’s outright flummery, I do say! Sincerely, i\<3LittlePonies@NetZero. com ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/23 "2014-11-06T18:45:42Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Also, for business emails, yeah, the “@gmail.com’s”, “@aol.com’s” of the world just don’t make it anymore, especially if we’re talking about large $$ amounts. Sorry “[Dave.Smith60601@gmail.com](mailto:Dave.Smith60601@gmail.com)”, but I’m not purchasing $5,000 of stuff from you with an email like that… but I will call you up to schedule an interview. How about a 30 million dollar transaction? My company recently sold an asset to a guy with an @aol.com email address. His financial advisor was @verizon.net, and his accountant was @gmail.com. There were a variety of good reasons that we went ahead with the transaction, but the lack of professionalism implied by those email addresses was a material issue throughout the process. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/24 "2014-11-06T19:34:14Z")
I’m not surprised. And for $30mm, that’s what due diligence is for, which I’m sure was performed… uh… diligently. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/25 "2014-11-06T20:00:25Z")
I work for a tech company that started off as an ISP back in the day, and we were seen as one of the “cooler and edgier” e-mail addresses to have back in the internet boom days. To this day, we have a large number of customers paying us anywhere from $15 a month up to $30 a month to keep their account. We know it’s primarily so that they can keep their @earthlink.com or @mindspring.com e-mail accounts. Fine with us, they require almost no support, we have long stopped building any capacity or features for that part of our business. They are 99.9% profit for us now. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/26 "2014-11-06T20:09:52Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > How about a 30 million dollar transaction? > > My company recently sold an asset to a guy with an @aol.com email address. His financial advisor was @verizon.net, and his accountant was @gmail.com. There were a variety of good reasons that we went ahead with the transaction, but the lack of professionalism implied by those email addresses was a material issue throughout the process. What lot did you build the house on? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/27 "2014-11-06T20:23:30Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > What lot did you build the house on? I’m not sure I understand what you mean? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/28 "2014-11-06T20:32:25Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > What lot did you build the house on? > [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I’m not sure I understand what you mean? There was a recent case (and thread) of a luxury house in Florida turning out, six months after completion, to be built on the wrong lot. The professionalism of many parties involved is being questioned. Investigation will probably show they all had hotmail accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/29 "2014-11-06T20:51:53Z")
Ah ha ha! Nope, not us. This was in the Northeast. And I’ve read enough Carl Hiaasen to know that I should NEVER try to do business in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/30 "2014-11-06T21:08:48Z")
I have the same [aol.com](http://aol.com) address I’ve had since the nineties. I don’t try and keep up with what’s cool or uncool. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/31 "2014-11-07T05:54:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Windows Live emails are still available as @hotmail.com, if that really is the one you are talking about. So it would mean nothing. Yahoo would be worse, really. Hey, Yahoo is cool and hip again what with their buttload of Alibaba stock and that young chick as CEO. I recently got a [yahoo.com](http://yahoo.com) email address but it’s a Singapore (English) account. It seems you can’t get a US yahoo email anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/32 "2014-11-07T06:16:22Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > It seems you can’t get a US yahoo email anymore. [I’m pretty sure you can.](https://www.google.com/search?q=Joe+Pera,&rlz=1C1ASUT___US521US564&es_sm=93&biw=1024&bih=545&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=vlpcVIfEHsL4yQS0pIGoBA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&dpr=1.25#q=yahoo+mail) It says: “Get a free email account from Yahoo! Mail”. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/33 "2014-11-07T07:45:43Z")
As long as it doesn’t contain stupid I see no reason to change an email account. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/34 "2014-11-07T08:00:37Z")
[QUOTE=Amateur Barbarian] Only if it still has bangs in it. [/QUOTE] Bangs in a Compuserve address? Are you thinking of Yahoo! by chance? I finally abandoned my CIS email about 10 years ago, but don’t recall anything odd about it other than the initial need to remember to replace the comma with a dot, and needing the INTERNET: prefix if writing to someone on another domain. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/35 "2014-11-07T15:28:18Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Bangs in a Compuserve address? Are you thinking of Yahoo! by chance? I finally abandoned my CIS email about 10 years ago, but don’t recall anything odd about it other than the initial need to remember to replace the comma with a dot, and needing the INTERNET: prefix if writing to someone on another domain. Didn’t domains (or their predecessors) use bangs (!, for the clueless) as separators well into the public internet era? ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/36 "2014-11-07T15:37:16Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > [I’m pretty sure you can.](https://www.google.com/search?q=Joe+Pera,&rlz=1C1ASUT___US521US564&es_sm=93&biw=1024&bih=545&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=vlpcVIfEHsL4yQS0pIGoBA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&dpr=1.25#q=yahoo+mail) It says: “Get a free email account from Yahoo! Mail”. I’m pretty sure you can’t. Try it (you don’t have to complete); I think you’ll see **[Yahoo! Singapore](https://sg.yahoo.com/)**. I used my Yahoo address to signup for Twitter and I immediately had a couple of followers from Singapore. ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/37 "2014-11-07T19:49:35Z")
I still have and use daily my netscape email account from 1995. No one bats an eye when I give it to them. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/38 "2014-11-07T20:17:50Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > I’m pretty sure you can’t. Try it (you don’t have to complete); I think you’ll see **[Yahoo! Singapore](https://sg.yahoo.com/)**. I used my Yahoo address to signup for Twitter and I immediately had a couple of followers from Singapore. You can. I just checked my yahoo account that I’ve had for years and I’ve got email. I’ve never used it, but apparently some woman in Abilene did. Car rental receipts from this summer. Hmmm. Now if you’ve got a [webtv.net](http://webtv.net) address, then you’ve got something. Not sure what, but something. Part of my job involves purchasing documents for a state agency. Those documents contain the buyer’s email address as assigned by the agency: [john.smith@taxoffice.gov](mailto:john.smith@taxoffice.gov). However, when you separate from the agency, you are asked to give a different email address with your termination papers for any followup emails or messages regarding money owed. Once that email gets into the system, it’s propagated onto all existing documents. So the $400K purchase conducted by Mr. Smith back in 2006 with all of its government statutes cited, indemnification clauses, and various legal terms is now the brain child of [DaddyPoopyPants@hotmail.com](mailto:DaddyPoopyPants@hotmail.com). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/39 "2014-11-07T21:44:50Z")
> [@carlotta](#): > > How much do you judge people for unhip old email providers? These days, if you’re serious about email then you should have your own domain name, for example _[noparse][carlotta.me.us](http://carlotta.me.us)[/noparse]_, and set that to forward all your mail to your real email provider. Then you set your mail client to Send As that domain name This way you can switch email providers without changing your email address. You could have multiple domain names all diverting to the one email provider. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807/40 "2014-11-07T22:38:28Z")
I form some judgements about people based on their email providers, but just along the lines of “Yahoo? He’s probably not very computer- / internet-savvy.” It might matter to me if I were looking to employ an IT guy, but otherwise it’s a fairly neutral judgement, like assuming a man with long black hair, a black t-shirt and black jeans probably listens to some form of a metal a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-email-address-too-uncool-should-i-change/703807.md?page=3)