Changing your email address can be as complicated as changing your name. So when it comes to email addresses, I subscribe to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. I've had the same Gmail address since I graduated from college, but I have a friend that swears by changing his main personal email account every other year.
The reason? To throw off spam.
Once he nears the 20-month mark, it seems like the spam emails to his account become overwhelming. He's constantly deleting emails, especially from mailing lists he can't seem to unsubscribe from. Rather than escalate a call to a company about why their unsubscribe button doesn't work, he just leaves that tarnished digital life behind and starts anew.
I have to admit: It seems a little overkill. Changing your email address and updating all the important parties — friends and family, banks, and mailing lists you actually like — is a headache. But I bet my friend is not totally alone in his nomadic digital lifestyle.
Barring some sort of major change — like changing your name for marriage or graduating from your university email account — how often do you or have you changed your email address? Never? Once every few years? Share your story in the comments.
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I still have my andrea(maidenname)@gmail.com account - and I've been married for nearly 6 years! I have no desire to change it.
It's not to hard. The few times I had to change email address I always keep both open, if I can. Then align all my devices and computers to default send from the new one. Have the old account automatically forward all email to the new account and within a few months I find most of my correspondence catch up. If I lose anyone they find me on Facebook.
There are better ways to throw off spam. Mainly, use disposable email addresses (all major email services offer them) on subscriptions and sites that are likely to generate spam. That's the email you get rid of every few years, not yourname@gmail.com.
I still have a "maiden name" yahoo account from the 90s, with a "full married name" alias that I use all the time.
I've had the same address for 15 years. I have others that I use more, but this one has stayed with me all the time I've lived in this house.
I've had the same personal email address since 1997 (crazy!). I don't know about Gmail, but my email provider has a very good spam filter. For subscriptions, I've simply set up a filter to send all subscribed mail into a folder, and I look at the messages when/if I want. That leaves the inbox clear and free for emails I actually want to read.
My gmail spam filter is great. I've had my address(es) (married name aliases into maiden name) for years and spam has never been a problem. What is your friend putting his email address into? If he signed up for all these emails, then click the unsubscribe button at the bottom.
Despite how much everything changes, I now assume that cell phone numbers and email address will generally stay the same. Putting the onus on your friends to constantly update your contact information when they have to do it for practically no one else is kind of annoying.
I've had the same address since 2001 and have no desire to change it. I really don't have problem with spam because of a couple of measures that I take. First, I use the Mac Mail and find that the junk mail filter is pretty good, so I leave that on. It's not enough, however, and so I have set up an email filter. The filter goes through my email and if the sender is not in my address book, the mail goes into a separate folder called "Unknown Sender". So that gives me 3 folders - Inbox, Unknown Sender, and Junk. Checking the Inbox is the priority. The Junk box gets deleted weekly. I review the Unknown Sender box when I feel like it and have the time. I like this system because nothing is lost, but I don't have to dig through a queue of junk to get to the important things.
I've had the same yahoo account since 1998 and the same .edu work email for 7 years and I do not have any spam problems
I just gave up a mindspring.com email that I had since 1999. I would have kept it, but Earthlink, who bought that domain, kept raising the price to keep just the email (I quit using them as my ISP several years ago). I used to move a lot, so keeping that email was important to me. But now that people can find me via Facebook, I feel less worried about changing my email.
I bought my own domain and web space about 12 years ago after trying out a kazillion email providers and getting frustrated when they would go out of business or switch to a pay structure. I love how much freedom and flexibility that gives me as I can easily set filters and blocks. I can create any number of addresses, so I create throwaway ones for situations where I need a legit address, but don't want to get tons of spam.g
I have three email addresses: one is used for correspondence with people with whom I have a real relationship—either personal or professional. The second is used when I'm required to give an email address for any kind of online form, including customer service emails. The third is a shared email address with my spouse, where we receive stuff we both need to see (bank notices, etc.). If my public email were to get overwhelmed with spam (so far it hasn't), I could change it without interrupting any potentially important correspondence.
I used to change my email addresses fairly often in high school, but since I got my Gmail invitation in 2004, I've been using that service ever since.
I remember when we first got the internet, when I was about 12! At first I used my dad's e-mail address. Then when I started becoming more autonomous, I made my own at usa.com. I kept that for a number of years, up through part of college, I think. At that point I was using my school e-mail, mostly. Then I made a gmail account, and that's what I still have now. I used a secondary one for a while in grad school, also provided by the school.
I've had one particular email address for over 10 years! Its got quite an embarrassing name too. However I have a gmail for all important things. I also find myself having to move various emails anyway. Student email, work email, etc
we were "denied access" to our e-mail acct a year ago (never found out why), and it was the equivalent to losing your wallet. bank, health insurance. paypal, well you get the picture. what a nightmare!
we now have a throw away acct and are cautious about giving our present working one out..
I've had the same yahoo account since 1997. I have it forwarded to a gmail account I got back in the invite days.
I don't change my personal email unless I am switching my ISP.
I have a hotmail address that I have been using for almost 15 years with no major problems. I am sure when exactly I created the account but my user name was inspired by the racing name of one of my greyhounds (and I got her in 1997). I have been using that email address quite actively.
Your friend needs to use Unroll.me. It's a website that will go through all of your mail and find spammy things, newsletters, advertising, etc. and puts it all into one daily e-mail.Plus, if you click a button, they will unsubscribe you from the list as well. I think it only works for certain mail providers- Gmail for sure- and it's absolutely wonderful.
Aside from life changes, I haven't changed my email address since college. If your changing your email address to throw off spam, you either:
1. Really hate spam
2. Are submitting your email address to some seriously seedy characters. If you're submitting your email address to any/all sites who ask for it, you deserve all of the resulting spam. All of those contests and newsletter lists usually share their info with their "partners."
3. Need to learn how to use your spam filter properly. Out of sight, out of mind.
I'm sure all web designers know to use HTML symbol entities on their sites for email addresses. I forgot once and had a huge spike in spam.
agreed. never even thought of changing my address.
it would take A LOT of spam for me to go through the trouble up updating all my friends/contacts with a new address.
I've had the same email address since 1998 when I was djing an internet radio station. I still use it as my "personal" email. I've got 3 others that I use for my work and public life, and have pretty much no spam problems. If spam is an issue for that dude he probably needs to work on privacy settings and have an address just for using whatever shady websites he's fond of. It's like changing your phone number used to be, and if you do it too often it starts to mess with your professional accessibility.
8 years, 3 months, 27 days and counting. Got a Gmail invite and never looked back.
I have had my address at my custom domain for over 10 years. I don't want to ever change it if I can. I really get very little spam. And my filters catch almost all of it (I use Google Apps so it is the gmail filters).
I've had the same hotmail adress since forever (1996?). No problem with spam at all.
I keep it the username gets embarrassing. :-P I had one with my full name, but then I married a guy with a common last name, so back to the embarrassing username it is...
I good "disposable" email service I use is Mailinator. Use any word or phrase at mailinator dot com, go to the site, type in your word or phrase, and there is the junk mail you need. You do not have to sign up and it is free.
Until Sony Playstation Network was hacked last year, I didn't have spam. Sigh...
I agree with others to use disposable emails for "high risk" places. I haven't used Yahoo for years, but I remember that you can add a pre-fix to your current address. i.e. if you bought shoes from a store you can use something like shoes-yourname@yahoo.com, so you'd know who's selling you out when you get spam.
I still use my email acct from 1997 for registering at websites. I've switched to gmail for my personal and work stuff, so I'm not really attached to the address anymore. I've recently started wondering whether or not I should "purge" my internet identity and start over, though. (new ID, new password everything for only the sites I actually use)
I have been using @superheromail.com for some time now and it is pretty good I also like the email client layout.