So, right now I have about 10+ active emails, and it is just getting stressful…

You know, there was actually a time when email addresses were as rare as a cell phone. You were actually hot shit if you had an email address, given that you were very limited to whom you can email because… well, very few people had email address, let alone internet access. Of course this whole thing changed with Steve Case and his transformation of Quantum Computer Services to what we all know as AOL, allowing any idiot access to the internet, including me (hell if I can remember my first Screen name). Regardless, it gave everyone access to email via @aol.com, though us kids were limited to other AOL users (and spam wasn’t as much of an issue yet).

That, of course, was when I was limited to one screen name, one email, and that was it. I assume I went through a few screen names only because AOL had a tight censorship policy and I kept getting kicked off. So what happens when I got kicked off? Well, no more AOL. Sure I had internet, but I had no IMs and no Email. This is probably why I got so involved in wbs.net. Then came around Juno, with a simple concept; free email, with banner ads. That was probably my first email craze when I created like 4 emails. Sure I didn’t use them all, I really only used two, but it was just plain cool. I could literally make emails for each different persona that I had, and I had a lot of different personas then. I am not sure why, but I always separated my interests with names, like Pacific Hell for phreaking (play on pacific bell), Error601 for hacking (god knows why I picked that number, didn’t even know it had anything to do with port handling), sk84phree for my personal email, etc.

I don’t think there was really any real reason as to why I made all these accounts, except that it was just fun and free. I made about 10 different emails with Juno, though only really used my personal one. Then later I got back on AOL and moved my primary email back to AOL.

When I finally moved back to AOL, it was also the same time that I wasn’t using AOL as my primary internet connection, so I was usually carrying two emails at a time; my EarthLink account, and my AOL account. Now sure enough I would get booted from AOL, or I would temporarily make a new Juno account for some odd reason.

Then came Hotmail, and everything went to shit. Well, not EVERYTHING, it’s just that email became much like a screen name, so easy to come by, and people can open new account on the fly. Sure I had a Hotmail account, which was quickly deleted because I was spamming the newsgroups (this was when I was doing the whole ‘pay to surf’ website). So I just moved to Yahoo. I still had AOL… I think, but Yahoo became my primary email.

Where am I going with this? Well, after the whole dot-com bust, and the growth of broadband, email was no longer a privilege; it was becoming more like a god damn sore. It is like everything comes with an email address, majority of which people don’t use, or have abandoned, and it is unlikely that if you email someone at their year old email, they will respond, only because they felt like changing it for some odd reason. I should know, because when I was with yahoo, for about 6 years, I used 4 different primary addresses @yahoo.com during that time.

True, I am not like everyone else. Hell, I’m probably only like a part of the 5% group of internet users. But, the thing is, there isn’t any proper way of handling a change email, because accounts become old and forgotten. I have actually been getting a lot of emails from people I haven’t talked to in years. Anything good? No. apparently their email was hacked and someone is sending out email to everyone in their contact list, so I get a lot of links, which means I have to go and hunt that person down and tell them to change their password or close their accounts.

But what about closing your accounts? A lot of services have a ‘non-use’ period where if it hasn’t been used after 6-9 months it becomes deactivated or pending deletion. Honestly, I have yet to see that actually happen, many times I have logged into a year old account, and sure enough, it’s still there. Sure it might have reject email, hell if I know, but it never deleted. Then there are the accounts that you cannot delete, regardless. My AOL account from 1998, still active, and cannot delete it. My current AOL account? I have no use for that email, but it will always stay active, as long as I have the account.

Then you have the accounts that come even if you don’t want them. AOL did a good job of this in 2005 with their @aim.com accounts. There was a time when their IM program would notify of you about new email from wherever you had pop3, but then they shifted it to just your AIM account, even if you didn’t want an email, so you’re stuck with that little envelope on your AIM client unless you go in and delete that “welcome to AIM mail” message. This is also a problem with Yahoo. You want to use their service? Maybe ask a question on their ‘Yahoo Answers’? Then you have to sign up, and guess what? A free email! At least Microsoft and Google make the email portion optional.

Ask?

And get your answer quickly!

It is kind of funny to think that we probably go through a fraction of telephone numbers as we do emails. Of course, I understand that I am a major exception to many people out there; having had 60+ different emails so far. I decided to do some cleaning because at one point I had some 14+ active email accounts, once again, a persona thing. Actually I have one account that is only open because Nexon doesn’t change emails, but considering I haven’t played Maplestory in over a year, I probably will just say ‘screw it’ and close that account.

Hypothetically, you really only need one email, though your corporate might supply you with your business email. But when you think about it, with the exclusion of any corporate email, 3 emails seem to be the magic number (4 for privacy concerns). The way I look at it is this;

Personal Email – This would be the email account that you would share with your friends or linked to your financial institutions/bills. This should be kept completely confidential, and if you use Gmail, or any other account, this would be good for a catchall account that catches all the other email through pop. The purpose of this email is to keep it active the longest, and have the lowest amount of spam.

Professional Email – This would more so be your résumé email, or the email you might want visible on your LinkedIn account. This account usually incorporates your full name, and acts as a more publically available email account (this would be a better email for Facebook).

Junk Email – This email address is made solely for signing up accounts, which could expose it more to spam. It is best to keep this account nameless. This is an account that would carry a spam filter, and would remove spam before it is retrieved via pop. This is also an account that you may change often should spam become too… crazy, so a free account would match this one perfectly (and Gmail Spam filters are great!)

Online Email – This email is optional, and if you’re as paranoid as me regarding your online identity. This email would not contain your real name, but a fake name or a handle. Usually this account has no link to your real name whatsoever. This could also be used for people who actually are in the online dating scene, or whatever.

Now sure, the safest thing is to really watch what you sign up for, but accounts gets hacked, and people will always get spammed, so really once you’re done with that account, it is best to delete it, given you don’t have any more important email coming. You can always leave it open and just grab from it via pop (unless your Yahoo, then you have to pay for that capability, or use Y!Pops or something.)

Right now, I am down to 10 active email addresses (not including ‘nicknames’ or forwards), so this is what I have;

1998 @aol.com account – I am probably just going to see about calling AOL to delete that account.
Personal @gmail.com – This is the one everyone knows so I will keep it, it is also the account I use to catch all my other accounts.
2 other @gmail.com accounts – To be deleted once I make some changes (one of them is only open due to Nexon).
Current @aol.com – I think I have no choice but to leave this open, maybe make it a forward, if I can.
Yahoo account – I don’t really use their services anymore, so I guess I will delete that one too.
Finally I have a personal, professional, online, and trash email… whew… So I am guessing that I will be down to about 5 active emails when I’m done. Try to bring some sanity in my life.

At least the good thing is you can (in most cases) delete these email accounts, unlike (my 31) instant messaging accounts.