# On the use of 'legacy' email addresses. . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 28, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601 "2022-01-28T23:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/1 "2022-01-28T23:59:21Z")
Someone tried to make me feel old today, because I have, and regularly use an `@hotmail.com` email address. And I’m not afraid to use it. Are `@yahoo.com` or even `@aol.com` email addresses still out there? I retorted to the young whippersnapper that last weekend, I completed my 45 ‘Birthday Burpee Challenge’ _unbroken_, and that he was, in fact, on my lawn. Tripler I composed this with WordStar. I’m not old. . . ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/2 "2022-01-29T00:10:43Z")
Jeez, grandpa, nobody uses email now. (When impersonating a young person, it’s always better to comment on what we _don’t_ use now, since I have no idea what we _do_ use now. Instagram? WhatsApp? Is Snapchat still a thing?) ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/3 "2022-01-29T00:13:39Z")
Last call center gig, I saw AOL or Yahoo more frequently than I did Hotmail, TBH. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/4 "2022-01-29T00:14:27Z")
I access my hotmail account through my gmail account, thus hiding my true age. ---
**Author:** ![SoToasty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sotoasty/32/2803_2.png) [@SoToasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoToasty)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/5 "2022-01-29T00:14:48Z")
AOL here. I do have it tied to my gmail account so I only have to use 1 account. I stopped using yahoo when there was a breach a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/6 "2022-01-29T00:16:09Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Jeez, grandpa, nobody uses email now. > > (When impersonating a young person, it’s always better to comment on what we _don’t_ use now, since I have no idea what we _do_ use now. Instagram? WhatsApp? Is Snapchat still a thing?) My younger friends seem to chat on Discord. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/7 "2022-01-29T00:21:23Z")
My mother has a Rocketmail address. It was acquired by Yahoo back in 1997. New Rocketmail addresses haven’t been available to sign up for since 2013. Mom had one of the originals. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/8 "2022-01-29T00:33:27Z")
actually, yahoo used to be popular because at one time it didn’t require a cell phone to set one up when AOL did … ironically Verizon owns Yahoo and AOL now … but I have 2 yahoo accounts and 2 Gmail accounts or did have at one time ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/9 "2022-01-29T00:33:55Z")
I still blog on LiveJournal, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/10 "2022-01-29T00:35:02Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I still blog on LiveJournal, does that count So does my sister, every day. She keeps it restricted to immediate family members. It’s a great way to feel connected to what’s going on in her life. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/11 "2022-01-29T00:36:47Z")
I still have an AOL address, which I’ve had since 1994 or 1995. It’s kind of a point of weird pride at this point. That said, I increasingly use my Gmail address, especially for any new things that I sign up for. At some point, I’m just going to have my AOL mail auto-forwarded to Gmail. OTOH, my wife fully intends to keep AOL as her email address until the day she dies. She _hates_ having any sort of change forced on her by computer software, and if AOL ever finally goes toes-up, she will be very unhappy, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/12 "2022-01-29T00:45:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > That said, I increasingly use my Gmail address The biggest advantage of gmail (or using your own domain hosted by Google) is that the spam filtering is almost infallible. Maybe others have caught up, but it’s uncanny how good it is. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/13 "2022-01-29T00:47:43Z")
I still use a hotmail address for the “you must give us an email address for your one free article” paywalled sites. Never check it unless I am told I need to enter a confirmation code that was sent to me. I use a yahoo address for signing up for mailing lists where I feel there is a good chance of spam. Strangely, every email I get there is something for which I signed up. As far as I can tell, nobody has sold my address yet. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/14 "2022-01-29T01:15:39Z")
I use Yahoo for email. When I log out, browse their website for a few minutes, to look at photographs of celebrities in bikinis. I figure that is my contribution to keeping them financially solvent. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/15 "2022-01-29T01:17:30Z")
AOL and AOL only. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/16 "2022-01-29T01:26:00Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I still have an AOL address, which I’ve had since 1994 or 1995. It’s kind of a point of weird pride at this point. I have two AOL accounts, along with a few Gmail accounts. One Gmail account is my “regular” one, with the others used for specific job-related purposes (one for acting, one for radio). The main reason for keeping AOL is to have an email address to give when I sign up for things … in fact, I have it labeled as my “spam” email. All my accounts are quickly accessible from my Mail app on my phone and iPad, so it’s a snap to keep them all sorted. I am also irrationally proud to still hold on to an AOL account. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/17 "2022-01-29T01:30:14Z")
I’m using AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail (which is now Outlook), and Gmail, and a few others. I don’t see what’s wrong with any of those. So what if they’re old? New does not automatically equal better. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/18 "2022-01-29T01:36:47Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So what if they’re old? New does not automatically equal better. If you wait long enough, it will be retro cool to have those email addresses. Like writing with a quill pen and inkwell. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/19 "2022-01-29T01:49:57Z")
I have email accounts on Yahoo and Hotmail and I still use them (mostly to communicate with friends and family). Everything forwards to my Gmail account, which I consider my “real” email address. There’s no reason for me to tell people to stop using those old addresses; they still work! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601/20 "2022-01-29T01:52:23Z")
I’ve had the same Compuserve mailbox (wasn’t that what they used to call it?) since 1994. It’s technically AOL now but it still uses the [cs.com](http://cs.com) ending. You don’t get better than two letters. Never seen a single letter domain for email though I know some exist. And yes, it does everything I want, has a good interface, and filters out all the spam. I have a gmail account and others for various reasons. Yet I still use what I feel comfortable with. Always will. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-use-of-legacy-email-addresses/958601.md?page=2)