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The best email address format?
Which one of the following formats would you consider to be the best or most professional format for email addresses? Is there a "standard format"?
Let's say my name is John Doe. jdoe@address.com j.doe@address.com johndoe@address.com john.doe@address.com johnd@address.com john.d@address.com Thanks! |
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jdoe, johndoe, or john.doe in my opinion.
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Just got the staff email from a tech mailing list:
RedHat: jdoe Rackspace: john.doe Freescale: john.doe Intel: john.doe Mirantis: jdoe HP: john.doe Enovance: john.doe Though I like jdoe, but for more professional, it's surely john.doe. |
Traditionally, "Professional" emphasizes the last name, because important people used to refer to one another by their last names. So "jdoe" or even "doej" would work.
"john.doe" is more contemporary because, at least in America, it is now common to refer to people you know (even important people) by their first names. So if you work in a traditional industry, such as law and finances, "jdoe" or "j.doe" might look more professional. It sounds like you belong to a large corporation with a long history. But if you look in a high-tech industry, such as online services, "jdoe" looks outdated and impersonal, so you should prefer "johndoe" or "john.doe". Or even john@doe.com, if that's available. |
My company (several thousands of employees) uses this format: doej@company.com. But I prefer the appearance of john.doe@company.com -- when there is more than one John Doe (expected frequently in large organizations), numbers must be added somewhere in the user name.
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I would go with Berenburger's suggestion.
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Thank you for your comments! It's interesting how a professional email addresses can be different in one sector to another or in one country to another.
I have think about the often used dot (".") in addresses and can't decide whether it's a good thing or if it's best to 'keep it simple' and don't use dots. But in your comments, it look's like that it is a good idea to separate first name and last name with it. Any comments on that? Is it just a matter of how long your name is? |
IMHO, I would think, for ease of use if inputting an e-mail address in a smartphone or tablet - the shorter the better, no dots, etc.
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It makes no difference at all, there is no standard, just go for what isn't already taken.
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The dot can be useful if it's not clear where your first name (or initial) starts and where your last name begins.
For example, "patwood" -- Are you P. Atwood or Pat Wood? "clarke" -- Is that Mr. Clarke, or Mr. Clark with a first name that starts with E? Putting a dot in the middle will eliminate the ambiguity. And I'm sure a lot of us have heard about hilariously unfortunate combinations of words like "pen island", "mole station nursery", "who represents" and "speed of art" :D If your name has any chance of being misinterpreted when the spaces disappear, use dots where the spaces should be. |
I don't like addresses with a dot because some programs may interpret them incorrectly. In the past I had experienced problems with an address in the format firstname.familyname@domain.tld because the part firstname. was ignored and the email sent to familyname@domain.tld
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Gmail simply ignores the dots.
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But what if somebody has had the same username so that I can't use my name to register an mail service ? What should I change the format of my username?
Sorry about my poor English :'( |
Quote:
a) another email provider (yahoo.com or live.com instead of gmail.com - that's just an example, not a recommendation) b) variants of your preferred username (smithj or johnsmith instead of jsmith) |
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