Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with emailaddress

I'm sorry Yahoo, it's just not working out between us.

raztaj — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:35:01 -0800

What e-mail address format is most professional? I'm leaving school soon, beginning to job search, and am overdue (10+ years) for a change of e-mail address, and would like your ideas on what formats are more "professional" looking. This e-mail account would be used for both personal contacts and for sending out resumes and other job searching stuff, and I'm hoping to go another 10+ years without a change. I have an unusual first and last name, so I have a number of options when it comes to the freedom to register new addresses.

I'm deciding between the following:

firstname.lastname@gmail.com
lastname.firstname@gmail.com
firstinitiallastname@gmail.com
firstnamelastinitial@gmail.com
firstsyllableoffirstnamefirstsyllableoflastname@gmail.com (this, I have been told, is easy to remember - but coming from people I already know well) - this was my moniker at my previous Yahoo address, so it would be easier for old contacts to switch to.

What "looks best?" With both a first and last name that most people have never heard of, what would be simpler and easier to remember? Am I over thinking this?

How do I pick a professional looking domain name?

dcbarker — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:22:25 -0800

Help me pick a professional domain name for email. All reasonable combinations of my name are already taken (the same goes for GoogleMail addresses). I'd like to avoid firstnamelastnameUK01321@googlemail.com if I can. I'm going to be using it mainly on CVs. So, because my real name (any reasonable combination of it..) is taken and I can't get my real name on GoogleMail, I'd like to pick a reasonably professional domain name (a .co.uk) to handle all of my email. That way I can just have firstname.lastname@mydomain.co.uk

The problem is.. Every domain I think of seems to sound like a lame social networking username or a dot com bubble company name. It'll be used on job applications, recruitment services and CVs. Nothing much else as I'd like to keep it separate from everything else.

I want to avoid getting a friend to forward mail from an already established domain for the same reason I'm not going to use one of my existing domains - I want a little self-contained email domain for work stuff.

I'm not so much looking for actual domain name suggestions - I'd really like advice on how to pick a suitable domain.

So, any ideas? Thanks!

How to best show my appreciation.

Laura in Canada — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:37:00 -0800

Should I get a gift for someone I worked for for 3 days who tipped me generously? Last week, I assisted someone from outside our company during a company event. I was paid my normal rate through my company, however this person also gave me a very generous tip (I was told by my company HR that I was allowed to keep this). I would like to show my appreciation, but I am not sure how. I thought about sending a gift with a note, however I only have his email address & I can't find a site that will allow me to do this other than for a gift certificate; I'd rather not get a gift certificate as it feels more like I'm returning part of the money this way (I know it is essentially the same with a physical gift, but the denomination on the certificate makes it different to me).

I'd still like to send a gift, so if anyone knows a site that will allow me to do this with only an email address, I'd appreciate any suggestions.

If that fails, I guess a nice email will have to suffice; any tips on what to say would also be appreciated.

vbulletin: How can I display the commentor's email address next to their name?

TheDonF — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 10:49:08 -0800

vbulletin: How can I display the commentor's email address next to their name? I want to go home tonight and this is taking more time than it should. Searching the web seems to suggest that $bbuserinfo[email] does it, but that post's the logged in user's name, not the individual commentor's. It should be easier than this!

How to find an email address from the web?

spiff101 — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 05:02:16 -0800

How do I find someone's email address from the web? I'm frequently asked to find people's email addresses for work purposes (e.g. sending them invitations to conferences - not spam). This often results in fruitless Googling of that person's name, especially if their employer or organisation can't be contacted by phone. It's particularly hard to tell if any addresses that come up are still valid, or even when the page was posted. Is there a service that would make this any easier?

"Please confirm Headline/Title"

benzo8 — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 06:19:02 -0800

Why do so many web forms ask me to confirm the email address I just typed in? I can understand asking people to repeat the password they entered, as those are generally starred out and thus that makes sure people typed what they think they typed. But email addresses are rarely (if ever) starred out, so surely you know what you typed? And if it's an anti-bot mechanism - well, it's not a very good one!

I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation - anyone enlighten me?

email addresses for children of unimaginative parents

cadastral — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 16:03:20 -0800

A friend with a very common name needs an email address (that includes her name) for resumes and such. Domain name is not very important (as long as it wouldn't look bad on a resume). Would like web and pop access. She's ready to get a big girl email address for resumes and such and forsake "sanguineantelope2314@hotmail.com" and all its variants forever. She'd like a "firstnamelastname" sort of thing, but her name might as well be "Jane Smith" and i'm thinking that "janesmith@gmail.com" and all close analogs are taken.

What are some ways to fix this problem? Preferably for free.

I beg pardon if this is excruciatingly easy and I've overlooked something, but I've had the same email address for 10 years and I'm out of the loop.

Strange Spam

billsaysthis — Fri, 10 Sep 2004 21:46:47 -0800

SpamFilter: The last week or two I've been getting the strangest spam, real spam with a wide variety of (normal for spam) message content, that is addressed to some imaginary address at a domain I own, but is posed as a rejection message from the intended recipient's domain. Anyone else who owns a domain having this experience? Is it possible some spammer is faking my domain in the headers and sending messages? Or some other nastiness that could turn around and bite me?

I need a new university employee email address; what should it be?

lychee — Wed, 12 May 2004 23:26:10 -0800

Yet another name thread. I want to change my university employee email address. What should it be? (More inside, just for fun.) I now work at the university from which I recently graduated from. My current address is firstnamelastname@university.mail.edu--functional but boring and rather long for a primary email address. Since I now work in a tech department that encourages individualism and creativity, I want something a little more me. I also have to take into consideration the thousands of students that have already gone that route, so I need a few options. I'm leaning towards something grrl-power oriented (e.g., spinster@uni), something cultural (e.g., xilonen@uni), or something "quirky" (e.g., tacostand@uni). My friends are no help, so I need some outside opinions.