What category is your main personal email address?

I'm having a little crisis with this and would appreciate some clarity.

This would be your address that you give out to friends, family, and business contacts who you want to be able to contact you outside of your work.

I know that many of us have a multitude of email addresses that are for different purposes. I really want to focus on the above definition.

"This would be your address that you give out to friends, family, and business contacts who you want to be able to contact you outside of your work."

Friends and Family is one category and one email address. Business contacts outside of work is another category and a separate email address.

Thanks!

...my friends and family email address is totally anonymous, a playful name that my brothers and sisters recognize immediately as me. My email address for business contacts outside of work is first name, last initial, and a unique number, and it's almost the same as my work email address, so they have no trouble recognizing it when they see it.

Used to be firstnameinitial,lastname (without the commas) but when my provider was changed from Time Warner to Comcast, I was told that was in use and I had to change it. So I did that.

;)

rather, it is comprises of initials of family members but one has to know how I got there.

When I first went on line, in the late 90s, spams would have all the names exposed - there were only about 100 of them - and I could see that each had either my first name or may last, both quite common.

So when I changed to cable I decided that none would be part of my address and has been using the anonymous ever since.

I no longer get spams - fingers crossed - but I've gotten used to this one.

And, if you will get an email from me it will have my address, but also my full name but this is part of my preferences.

P.S. You should not use your work for personal and out of work communications. This is your employer's computer and time and can viewed whether you are aware of it or not. When at work, you'd better use a web-based email like gmail or yahoo.

So I have about 20 versions of my email address, ranging from full name to totally anonymous alias, in three different domains, that all route to the same mailbox.

The nice thing is that if I need a throwaway email address (e.g. exposed to something that may be at risk of spam) I can just create one on the fly, and either route it to my mailbox or to a different mailbox.

I have a separate mailbox for business contacts and that one is my name.

I have a second one via hushmail that is obscure, that I use where anonymity is desired.

Most times I use personal email:

- The recipient is a personal acquaint ace and already knows me
- I'm ordering something online, and they already have my ID anyway

If you want me to climb into it and find something you dropped there you'd better call me on the phone first... or stop by my house.

I sent & recieved my first internet emails in 1979. Since then I've let dozens of email addresses go extinct. The intersection of my OCD with email is a terrible place. Abandoning or killing email addresses is one of the ways I cope.

Personal mesaages (PMs) in community forums such as DU seem a much more natural way to communicate. DU is a specific place. When you are visiting a specific place that's when you communicate with the people there. Humans have been doing that since they first started speaking.

Email (and cellphones too) are not a "place." I don't feel any obligation at all to invite the whole damned world into my own place with a public email address or phone number.

Personally I don't mix business contacts with family and friends. Unless you are a small town physician or fireman or something, I find it very wise to have fixed business hours. I think this 24/7 urgency for ordinary business is a rot destroying the fabric of U.S. society.

The hacker used my email to send nasty spamming emails to city officials. At the very least without my name attached the receiver didn't know it was my email. I had to pull the plug on it and start over. Real pain in the ass.

One for family friends is part of my name.

One for professional use is most of my name, but I do have two other professional emails for various exchanges of information.

One for old friends looking for maiden name.

One for DU friends who are not in my inner circle.

One for registering for sites that might sell the address to spammers.

One for writing a blog

One for harassing stupid people. :evilgrin: