On Email
I have way too many email accounts. I have accounts set up on this domain (using Google apps). I have accounts set up for my real name domain as well. Also I have [email protected]. And then there’s all the accounts set up for all the other websites I run, old accounts I never use for email but still use for other things (such as Yahoo and a second Yahoo address I had to create when Flickr’s login merged with Yahoo’s) and email addresses that were created for me when I signed up for a service (ATT Uverse). That’s 3 email addresses just at Yahoo alone.
The funny thing is, even with all these email accounts, I rarely send actual emails. I exchange emails with my friend Trix and my family, but that’s about it. It’s not that I dislike email. In fact, email is my preferred form of communication. I would much rather exchange emails than talk on the phone. I guess one of the reasons I never send personal emails is because everyone I know is on Twitter, Facebook, Buzz, or IM. There really is no need for me to email people anymore and when I do it’s for a quick question or comment, nothing at length. I actually enjoy sending emails. There’s something to be said about sitting down and composing a lengthy note to a friend or family member. Sadly, I rarely take the time to sit and do this. I think the first thing I need to do is consolidate some of these accounts. The Yahoo ones that I have I should part with. Yes, it’s like giving up part of my youth, but I think it’s time. After that I might just send out a lengthy email. But probably not.
Since I was 12 I had an email account at the local library (win.org for domain hotness!) and it lasted until I was about 20 when they said they had to start charging for it. I wrote them an angry email but they never responded and I gave up on that address. After that, I got on gmail and never looked back. I have a work email (but that’s for work) and I have a spam email (but that’s on hotmail) but nobody knows about those and I only use my gmail account for everything personal. Since they’ve started, I’ve been at 4% usage. I can go the rest of my life while never deleting anything ever again and be perfectly happy with my one account.
Oh yeah, I’ll never use the entire amount gmail gives.
I guess each one of my addresses has a purpose. Even my domains that use gmail I have multiple addresses set up (for example web@ for web signup forms that way I can better track which companies spam me). It’s really all the yahoo ones that I need to give up on, and since I’m switching from Flickr to Picassa, that will free up one. One I have to keep for my Uverse account. I just need to take the time to get rid of them.
http://lifehacker.com/144397/instant-disposable-gmail-addresses
You can put as many periods in your username as you like to create different email accounts (mike.goodspeed == m.ikego.odsp…eed == mikegoodspeed) and you can use the above link for plus filtering, (mikegoodspeed+picassa = mikegoodspeed) and then filter on them to, with one email account, work more efficiently.