I started out with one email address. Then I changed ISPs, got a new address, and found that my original one still works. So that’s two. I then got an Android phone, and found that to use the android marketplace, I had to have a gmail address. That’s three. I have my own website, and although it’s not compulsory, it gives me the option to create a new email address. So that’s now four. I’ve just bought a Kindle, which come with an @kindle address. I’m now up to five. Somehow, I don’t see it stopping there.
I know I don’t have to use more than one of them, but I feel like a kid in a sweet shop. Which to use? How to decide? It’s all too much.
Not only can you set everything to forward to your Gmail address (the only true e-mail provider out there), but you can set Gmail up so that you can send mail as any of your accounts, all while logged into the one Gmail account. I do this all the time at work - where I’ll be logged in to my personal e-mail but if I need to send anything official out, I can do it as if I were on my work e-mail without changing logins. It’s pretty damn slick.
I have my “home” email from my ISP, which is the one I give out to most people and businesses. I have a yahoo address, which I use for freecycle and a few other things. I’ve got two gmail addresses, one of which I set up for a convention I work at, so I can access it when I’m not home, and the other I set up for OKCupid and Facebook, except that both of those accounts are closed at the moment, so I hardly ever check it. Then there’s my hotmail account, which I had to set up for an IM account years ago, but which I no longer use, so I check the account once a month or so just to clear out the junk mail and in case a voice from the grave surfaces.
Work e-mail. I don’t give this out to anyone that isn’t work-related.
Personal gmail.
Spam/anonymous gmail. I have/had a blog, and set this up to filter/direct e-mail to my main gmail account. I don’t like using my main for spam-like things, since it’s fullname@gmail.com. Spam is nickname@gmail.com
Did you know that you can use your primary gmail address as a spam filter? If Spammy, Inc. needs an e-mail address, but for some reason need to give it your regular e-mail address, you can give it as fullname+SpammyInc@gmail.com and it’ll get to you. Then set up a filter that sends all mail sent to “fullname+SpammyInc@gmail.com” to the junk pile. The problem is that many online forms don’t let you input a “+” in them.