How do I establish a new internet ID?

August 4, 2007 1:18 AM

For over a decade I have homed at a Mom&Pop ISP. They used to be good but now they are having frequent outages and seem to be soon to expire. I guess I should move my email identitie(s) somewhere else but what is the best way?

I actually like to use my real name in my emails.

But then again I have found that my "true name" (and email) can be harvested (either from boards/lists/whatever that don't hide it) or from friends infected with a virus that returns all of their address book to a spammer.

I've lived with a lot of spam for quite a while, but what is the best way to set up new accounts so that I don't receive it?

At this time I essentially have the real Mom&Pop account and a Yahoo account with a bogus name that freaks my mother out whenever I use it to email her.

How many accounts or layers of indirection do I need to establish? I'm not criminal but I would like to avoid over zealous responders. One guy I offended said he wanted "track me down and give me some violence." but luckily the board where I offended him would not give out my true name.

So how much of a setup of new names do I need?

posted by MonkeySaltedNuts to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

I have 3 different online "identities", none of which use my correct name. It's possible that someone could work out what country I live in, but no more than that.
posted by Solomon at 2:44 AM on August 4, 2007

Three.

One with elements of your name.
One for online forums (but you know will be harvested)
One for 'mailing lists' and other crap that's 'disposable'

Somewhere with good spam filtering to prevent the resulting headache. Possibly independent from an ISP (say...Gmail?)
posted by filmgeek at 6:39 AM on August 4, 2007

You could look in to Google Apps For Your Domain, get a domain of your own, and set up any number of addresses that you need.

I just started using it for a few of my own domains, and I'm quite pleased so far.

Also, you can read an account of one guy setting up his entire family on Google Apps, using two domains. Might be more than you need, but it covers all the basics pretty well.
posted by chriswarren at 7:39 AM on August 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

ah yes i was going to suggest google apps for your domain i just have any email that has an incorrect email address sent to the admin account which is then checked over pop3 to my personal account

example newegg at mattstips dot com etc to admin at mattstips dot com to personal email address
posted by DJWeezy at 9:06 AM on August 4, 2007

Another vote for getting your own domain.

I did this six months ago and like DJWeezy use [e-mail] for amazon, ebay and the rest, so far its working very well.
posted by Z303 at 9:54 AM on August 4, 2007

I also use Google Apps for my domain email. Regardless of what else you do, get your own domain name -- then you'll never have to change your email address again for the rest of your life, no matter how often you change ISPs or email providers.
posted by winston at 7:14 PM on August 4, 2007