gmail with long name vs. ymail with good name?

[jfremani]

Which would you rather have? An email account with Ymail that is your actual name or an account with gmail, but with a longer adaptation of your name (because you have a common name and it was taken)?

Just curious how much better gmail is than ymail/yahoo.

I like that ymail pushes on the iphone, but gmail integrates better with apple mail. I also much prefer the gmail web interface, but I mainly use the iphone or mail anyway.

[Unspoken Demise]

Gmail pushes as well if you go the exchange route.

[Ttownbeast]

I've tried Gmail, signed up. it's easier for me to just open my Yahoo messenger and check mail. I have several e-mail accounts through various services (including the one that came with my cell phone and one with a web hosting service I used) Yahoo has been the most reliable--or at least the one I am most familiar with using, I even managed to get the yahoo email address in my name because I got it years ago.

[jfremani]

Gmail pushes as well if you go the exchange route.

Unfortunately, my work email is using exchange and iPhone users are only allowed to have 1 exchange account at a time. So far the fetch feature has worked fine, but I have it on 30 minute intervals.

[Unspoken Demise]

Unfortunately, my work email is using exchange and iPhone users are only allowed to have 1 exchange account at a time. So far the fetch feature has worked fine, but I have it on 30 minute intervals.

I see your point. My gmail is my only exchange so it all worked out for me.

Is push needed for where you work? Thats why I have push for my gmail: Work, and app development.

If fetch works for you, I suggest gmail, but if you need push, ymail is your best bet IMO, although I do like gmail more.

[jfremani]

I think the only thing that keeps me from going completely gmail is that I can't get a good email address with them. I should have reserved my name a long time ago when I was an early adopter/beta tester.

Instead, I used silly screen-names.

[Unspoken Demise]

I think the only thing that keeps me from going completely gmail is that I can't get a good email address with them. I should have reserved my name a long time ago when I was an early adopter/beta tester.

Instead, I used silly screen-names.

Have you tried it with periods between words? Or maybe underscores or 'x's?

Like

Johnny.appleseed@
or
Johnny_appleseed@
or
Johnnyxappleseed@

or you could put a year number after stuff. Maybe a year a child or partner was born? Or maybe a car model year.

Johnny.appleseed67@

[jfremani]

Yes, I've tried periods, including the addition middle initials. Too many people on the planet..

"_" is not a valid character for gmail accounts, btw.

[Unspoken Demise]

Yes, I've tried periods, including the addition middle initials. Too many people on the planet..

Dang...is your name Johnny Appleseed? :p

[sushi]

I prefer gmail. It's common and I like the way it handles mail threads.

Name wise, if first.last@gmail.com is not available, you could try:

first.middleinitial.last@gmail.com

Personally, I don't mind long e-mail addresses of the form above since it is the person's name.

I have numerous e-mail accounts. My shortest one including all characters is 10 characters (nn@nnn.nnn). My longest address is 25 characters. Actually have three of those and they are very different. Funny.

Anyhow, IMHO, length is not as important as clarity. So if I could have:

first.MI.last@gmail.com

I would choose that over someweirdhandle@someISP.

Edit: From your post above, how about last.first.mi@_____

Or maybe FILast@______

Or maybe first.middlename.last@______

[IgnatiusTheKing]

Just fyi, periods/dots do nothing in Gmail addresses (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10313#), so don't waste your time searching "name.name@gmail.com" and "namename@gmail.com" because they view them as the same thing.

[nbs2]

Just fyi, periods/dots do nothing in Gmail addresses (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10313#), so don't waste your time searching "name.name@gmail.com" and "namename@gmail.com" because they view them as the same thing.

Which is an awesome feature - it helps reduce confusion on email addresses.

[yetanotherdave]

gmail all the way, it's not just email, it's docs, calendar, contacts, rss reader, all nicely integrated.

I was lucky to be quick to sign up and got firstname.lastname@gmail.com

[LouisBlack]

Buy a domain such as www.youname.com/me/org/etc. They only cost a few pounds or dollars a year and then you can have youfirstname@yourname.com/me/org

You can also configure gMail to handle your domain's e-mail so you have all the advantages of gMail with a nice professional looking e-mail address for minimal cost.

[rowsdower]

Buy a domain such as www.youname.com/me/org/etc. They only cost a few pounds or dollars a year and then you can have youfirstname@yourname.com/me/org

You can also configure gMail to handle your domain's e-mail so you have all the advantages of gMail with a nice professional looking e-mail address for minimal cost.

I second this idea.

[FrankieTDouglas]

I was lucky and signed up for gmail way back when people were being given an invite or so per account. So I have only my last name @gmail.com

[instaxgirl]

I have good addresses with both but haven't used my yahoo account in ages. Googlemail is just so much nicer to use. It was easier to integrate with my mac which really swung it :)

[sushi]

Just fyi, periods/dots do nothing in Gmail addresses (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=10313#), so don't waste your time searching "name.name@gmail.com" and "namename@gmail.com" because they view them as the same thing.
To make sure I understand you correctly, the following would be considered the same address?

first.last@gmail.com

firstlast@gmail.com

And if true, if I search for first.last as an available name, then gmail checks to see if firstlast is available?

Is that correct?

TIA.

[cytoxyn]

Another suggestion is to you the first letter of your first name then full middle and last name.

[iBlue]

Buy a domain such as www.youname.com/me/org/etc. They only cost a few pounds or dollars a year and then you can have youfirstname@yourname.com/me/org

You can also configure gMail to handle your domain's e-mail so you have all the advantages of gMail with a nice professional looking e-mail address for minimal cost.

^ this. (if your name is not taken there either, that is.)

If you are concerned about privacy with whois information registered with the domain you can do a "domains by proxy" thing that makes that information private. It costs a little bit more but it's well worth it.

Or you could just accept that your name is taken and pick something else. In my opinion Gmail is the far better choice.

[M87]

My gmail address is my name. :)

[IgnatiusTheKing]

To make sure I understand you correctly, the following would be considered the same address?

first.last@gmail.com

firstlast@gmail.com

And if true, if I search for first.last as an available name, then gmail checks to see if firstlast is available?

Is that correct?

TIA.

Hey sorry for the delayed response...just saw this. Yes, those would be the same. Here's the exact snippet from the page I linked above:

Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within usernames, you can add or remove the dots from a Gmail address without changing the actual destination address; they'll all go to your inbox, and only yours. In short:

homerjsimpson@gmail.com = hom.er.j.sim.ps.on@gmail.com
homerjsimpson@gmail.com = HOMERJSIMPSON@gmail.com
homerjsimpson@gmail.com = Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com

[Tomorrow]

The nice thing about owning your own domain is that you can have a "real" email address with your name, and an "anonymous" email for things like signing up for a website, etc.

For example:

firstname@mydomain.com
pseudonym@mydomain.com

It also helps to have unlimited accounts.

[dmmcintyre3]

The nice thing about owning your own domain is that you can have a "real" email address with your name, and an "anonymous" email for things like signing up for a website, etc.

For example:

firstname@mydomain.com
pseudonym@mydomain.com

It also helps to have unlimited accounts.
I even have all my email on my spam "domain" (a free subdomain) go to the same account and then my main email downloads it and automatically puts it in the junk folder.

[Applepi]

I was fortunate enough to snatch up my name for Gmail back when you had to be invited. Ahh, those were the days.

[Forsaken]

I signed up for a Gmail account back when it was invite only...I never used it (I intended it as a back up in case my then .Mac account clunked out.)

Alas, in mid 2008, my now MobileMe account did the inevitable and stopped working. Since then I've used my Gmail account and it's so so so much better.

Address is irrelevant either way. Just make it Gmail, kay?

[MooneyFlyer]

I was fortunate enough to snatch up my name for Gmail back when you had to be invited. Ahh, those were the days.

I did as well -- I also got <myname>.com which was extremely fortunate. I didn't expect that my name was all that common but I was wrong... It turns out "I'm" me as well as a Lieutenant in the Navy (and an amazing swimmer), a professional skateboarder, a professional singer, a softball coach, a sales guy, a marketing guy, and more... boy am "I" tired.

In any case, to answer the original question, having a longer email address isn't actually that bad. Today, most email programs have some form of contact manager. So, many times, people aren't actually typing your full email address in anyway...

While I prefer gmail, I think it's more important to get one address and stick with it. I use my single gmail account to pop/imap into any old accounts that I have so that I don't have to check them directly any more...