Question about choosing email address

[Lakeside]

Does anyone have any advice for a student choosing an email address?  I recall reading some suggestions somewhere regarding dos and don'ts of creating an email address and can't find anything helpful right now.  He'll be using it for online classes and things of that nature as well as any personal correspondence.  Thanks!

[Scarlett]

Does anyone have any advice for a student choosing an email address?  I recall reading some suggestions somewhere regarding dos and don'ts of creating an email address and can't find anything helpful right now.  He'll be using it for online classes and things of that nature as well as any personal correspondence.  Thanks!

 

 

My son used his full first and last name as well as his middle initial. I don't fear the internet though.  At all.

[HomeAgain]

In our family we keep it simple: first name or initial.last name@whatever.  I correspond with people who have addresses like lovemyhunnybuns@whatever or a definite shared address like jackandjill@thehill and neither one conveys the professional tone needed. 

[redsquirrel]

I told my kid to pick his first initial and his last name, the same as I was told at my job. That way it is obvious who it is and it looks professional. If that isn't available then use the middle initial or a number after the last name.  I know one family where all the kids use their first initial, last name and their birth order in the family, so, for example, "Jsmithjones1"

 

If he wants to have another email address for fun (and I suggest he does when he is older) then he can be all cryptic and funny.  But for school and such, it needs to be simple and to the point.

 

[Guest]

I have two accounts; one for personal correspondence and one for anything that is related to vendor relationships. 

 

Personal:  (firstname).(lastname)@gma...

Impersonal:  (firstname).(something ridiculous)@gma...

 

I'm not sure exactly why I feel like I have to have two, but I guess it comes down to wanting to be *genuninely myself* AND ALSO accountable for what I say with friends and family and so on, and so I use my real name.  But with vendors, or business relationships, I don't really want my name to be bought and sold and so on.  I guess that is why I made the division.  I use the second one for stuff that matters to me re: business, but also as the email required by some sites before you can even look at them.  

 

Sometimes I end up using one instead of the other...   

 

[regentrude]

For anything professional: Firstname_lastname@respectable_provider.com

 

IN addition, I recommend a second address for shopping, online forums and that kind of stuff that does NOT have his real identity in the name.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2016 by regentrude

[redsquirrel]

In our family we keep it simple: first name or initial.last [email protected]<script data-cfhash='f9e31' type="text/javascript">/* */</script>  I correspond with people who have addresses like [email protected]or a definite shared address like [email protected]and neither one conveys the professional tone needed. 

 

I remember way back when and professional people everywhere were starting to share email addies at meetings (I am old and this was in the days of AltaVista) and one woman...a very high powered administrator of the hospital had to say that her email was something like 'Little miss sunshine'.  We all sort of stopped and looked at her and she murmured something about it being a family nickname and how she really needed to get a professional email account. 

 

I learned my lesson that day, lol.

[hornblower]

dd's college automatically generates an email address for all students & most people end up using that one for school correspondence.  Maybe your son's will be the same?  They also tend to use Blackboard to communicate more than email...

though she has a silly gmail & hotmail account too & frequently uses one of the 'non professional' ones.

 

fwiw, I think the eyebrow raising at the non professional email addressess reached its peak about 5-7 years ago.  Now it seems nobody bats an eye at anything, they just want to know how to spell it. If you're going with funny or different, the shorter the better & pick something people can spell. I have my own domain name & thought it was an easy word to spell but I was totally wrong. Nobody can spell it & many people can't even read it properly... (it's the name of a Napoleonic era ship lol) 
 

[Arcadia]

We use initials of first name and full last name@(common email provider) for formal email correspondence, anything goes for personal.

 

My personal email is actually most of my initials while all the places I worked at gave me a choice of firstname@companyname.com or initials of firstname and full lastname@companyname.com

 

My firstname and my lastname aren't that common so that was easy. My hubby's and kids' lastname is uncommon too so it hasn't been an issue.

[Lakeside]

Thanks!  It isn't so much a fear of the internet, but wanting to keep things simple by just having one email address and maintaining some privacy.  I figured this would be a good place to get some feedback since we haven't crossed that bridge yet.  The Hive is how I keep up on things! :lol:

Edited March 30, 2016 by Lakeside

[Guest]

For anything professional: [email protected]<script data-cfhash='f9e31' type="text/javascript">/* */</script>_provider.com

 

IN addition, I recommend a second address for shopping, online forums and that kind of stuff that does NOT have his real identity in the name.

 

OK, so this is a better recommendation than mine.  Go, Regentrude!  

[Lanny]

One thing is to keep it short and sweet.   I would suggest a Gmail account, because then if one has an Android phone, they can use the account for their Android, as well as at home on their Laptop/Desktop and web mail.  

[goldberry]

Back in the day (cough cough) they used to say don't use your real name.  Then all the average alternate names were taken (remember sitting there entering one name after another after another trying to find one available?)  That's how I think everyone ended up with all these crazy email names.  But I've never heard any bad story about someone using their actual name, so I'm not afraid of it any more.

[goldberry]

 Now it seems nobody bats an eye at anything, they just want to know how to spell it. If you're going with funny or different, the shorter the better & pick something people can spell. 

 

 

And PLEASE - no underscores!  When you put them on a list or in a table it is very hard to discern them.  One guy actually had two underscores in a row.  How can you actually tell that looking a list?  

[elegantlion]

My school automatically generates an email for you, first initial, last name and a number if there has been another student with the same info. I use that solely for school purposes. It's part of the student requirements and that way they don't have to keep up with people if they  change their emails. 

[redsquirrel]

One thing is to keep it short and sweet.   I would suggest a Gmail account, because then if one has an Android phone, they can use the account for their Android, as well as at home on their Laptop/Desktop and web mail.  

 

I use gmail and have zero trouble getting my email on my iphone and laptop etc.  It follows me across all platforms, including IOS.

[happypamama]

I have two accounts; one for personal correspondence and one for anything that is related to vendor relationships. 

 

Personal:  (firstname).(lastname)@gma...

Impersonal:  (firstname).(something ridiculous)@gma...

 

I'm not sure exactly why I feel like I have to have two, but I guess it comes down to wanting to be *genuninely myself* AND ALSO accountable for what I say with friends and family and so on, and so I use my real name.  But with vendors, or business relationships, I don't really want my name to be bought and sold and so on.  I guess that is why I made the division.  I use the second one for stuff that matters to me re: business, but also as the email required by some sites before you can even look at them.  

 

Sometimes I end up using one instead of the other...   

That's what I do as well.  One has a more professional tone than the other.

 

My kids, as of now, have emails that don't have their names in them, but they don't have need of anything professional right now.  I will have them create more professional ones when they need to.

[heartlikealion]

I personally do not like punctuation in an email address. However, I had a lot of trouble landing an email address with my name so I tacked my middle initial at the end. I know, I know, odd. People sometimes leave it off. I noticed that when I logged into my library account. This means someone at the library copied it wrong from my paperwork. No wonder I wasn't getting emails. I use the name for more professional correspondence.

 

Depending on what he needs to do, it may be helpful to have it printed on business cards so it's in writing. I don't know why these things get lost in translation so much.

 

I have a few email accounts. One is specifically for store/online sign up stuff lol. I have a couple others that some friends/family use.

 

I am not a fan of email accounts tied to paid services (@cablecompany.com) because of accessibility. I'd go for something with large storage space and pretty mainstream like gmail.

 

 

[Pippen]

I've had some problems with a lowercase L in one of my addresses. 

[Lakeside]

I've had some problems with a lowercase L in one of my addresses. 

What kind of problems?  

[Lakeside]

And PLEASE - no underscores!  When you put them on a list or in a table it is very hard to discern them.  One guy actually had two underscores in a row.  How can you actually tell that looking a list?  

Not only that, they are (somewhat) awkward to type.  

[hornblower]

What kind of problems?  

people confuse them for the number 1 or capital i