An interview form to guide email choice

**Shelded** · 22 Aug 2001, 10:38 AM

The same mail account doesn't suit us all, right? We've seen the raw list of features (M2W

) And some of you then say "so what, I don't use that." How do you guide your friends in choosing the right account for them, not your favorite but the best for them? I keep being asked by my friends and I have this sort of questionnaire going in my mind. It's very incomplete and may not aim at your most important issues, but I want to see if anyone here has a similar list going.

Notice that I am not interested in always focusing on FEATURES as much as how to meet the need they have. I want to "trick" the person into answering a question without knowing what feature I am asking about. When I say "trick" I'm talking about a less informed crowd than you.

I would hope that the person could quickly zoom through the list saying "yes/no" and giving brief answers when needed and then I could suggest an answer. I am not interested in machine-scoring but that might be fun to someone.

Here are some ideas for questions [followed by my comments]:
What speed does your modem consistently connect at? [if slow, avoid complex stuff]
Are you interested in being a bit of a tester so long as it allows you to use really neat email? or do you want to stick more mainstream? [Products in testing mode may not suit some people.]
What have you used previously and either liked or not liked about it? [for example many people say they hate Hotmail because of experiences in 1999 when it was slow.... or hate Yahoo because of "too much spam" when their address was cute69@yahoo.com

]
Do you Mac or PC?
Do you own you own computer?
Do you have an unlimited internet connection or are you counting hours?
How often do you check mail? [If it's once/week I hope Visto/MRB/Runbox happen to be up at that time!]
Do you use a real ISP or training wheels? [blocking SMTP and browser]
Do you want to work on mail without dialing up?
Do you want to use the same mail at work and home? [IMAP needed, or stay-on-server POP, or a Visto/MRB combo]
Would you tolerate using two or more different accounts, perhaps one at home and another at work?
How disruptive is late/undelivered mail? [are you banking or chatting]
Do you need to store large amounts of mail? How much comes in a day? [2MB of Hotmail is plenty for me for 1 day.

]
Do you get large attachments, estimate the amount you need to store online? [I need to store a lot but I use a file storage service not mail.]
Do you need to share your file storage?
Is calendaring and scheduling an essential part of your mail choice? Can it be separate?
Do you have a Palm, phone, or other device?
Is all this confusing to you, do you just want me to stop this? [Some people are not mailgeeks like us. Give them a good pay option with simple configuration and stop.]
Do you put any value on having a "cool" email address @cooladdress.wow ? What would you pay for that per year? >$10? >$20 >$30? [Do we want to buy the domain or want to subscribe to a good name like @mail.com]
Do you care to keep that same address "forever" or is that unimportant to you? [Do we need to use a forwarding service?]
Is reloading an address book a big item for you? [Avoid most webmail]
Give a very few words, what are you after primarily? [speed, reliability, business, flexibility, cheap, features, fun, colors, sounds, pictures, secrecy from employer, secrecy from the police (PGP), secrecy from the NSA (PGP & anonymizer!), organization, calendar]

BTW moderator Edwin Email Notification is not working for me, nor is feature to mail tomyself, but I got a PM so I wonder what's up?

***Edwin*** · 23 Aug 2001, 10:32 AM

Re. email notification etc. not working, this is because of the move to the new server. Still haven't been able to get the mail function to work stably. So it may be a few weeks yet before that feature works, especially since I'll be on vacation and (pretty much) off the Web for 2 weeks starting next Wednesday.

Edwin

Kyle Babich · 23 Aug 2001, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwin
So it may be a few weeks yet before that feature works, especially since I'll be on vacation and (pretty much) off the Web for 2 weeks starting next Wednesday.

Edwin

Lucky. You're going on vacation just as I'm going back to school.

Liz · 23 Aug 2001, 08:23 PM

Some of us ever got to take one...

- Liz

Liz · 23 Aug 2001, 08:25 PM

Uhm, NEVER, even...

**Shelded** · 25 Aug 2001, 02:06 AM

Each time you post on my thread you at least owe me an on-topic reply.

Am I to take from this that you all use email in a vacuum with none of your friends asking your advice? Don't you have jobs and workmates?

Come on, there are several of you here who are truly capable of this task, please make a contribution.

**Shelded** · 2 Sep 2001, 12:24 AM

I am beginning to think you guys don't have friends who ask you to help them choose the best email provider......

Dave P in StLouis · 2 Sep 2001, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shelded
I am beginning to think you guys don't have friends who ask you to help them choose the best email provider......

Dear shelded,

Unfortunately, most of my friends either use Yahoo or the e-mail account from their ISP. One coworker changed ISP's recently because she didn't like something about the e-mail service. Now she's paying almost four times as much for Internet access!

(Her cable TV company offers dialup Internet access for $3.95US/month; she switched to a local ISP for $14.95US/month.) I told her about MailandNews, MyRealBox, Yahoo and some others but she wasn't interested.

Personally, I look for POP/SMTP in a primary provider, plus a reasonably-easy-to-remember domain. For the record, we've had a Juno account for years, and it's still our primary address. Others include MailandNews and MagicalDesk, for various reasons (autoresponses for my web site, automatic POP retrieval, forwarding). MailandNews is distinctive in that there's no POP-first requirement to use SMTP. Hope this qualifies as an on-topic post, finally.

Best wishes,
David P.

Kyle Babich · 6 Sep 2001, 09:54 AM

I guess I owe you an on topic reply...

I think this is a good idea (even though all my friends use hotmail). Once it's touched up a little bit you could post it on a site, submit it to seach engines and people worldwide could use it. Actually, that would make a good feature for an updated version of EmailAddresses.com. Hmmm... maybe you should talk to Edwin.

- kb

Bamb0 · 3 Jul 2023, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelded

Do you care to keep that same address "forever" or is that unimportant to you? [Do we need to use a forwarding service?]

This is probably the best question on Sheldeds guide!

I would be happy with same address "forever" if we could keep the service going!!

Today sadly anyone uses webmail,my friend Jeff told me im about the only one on his and it makes me sad......... I dont wanna lose it..........

somdcomputerguy · 3 Jul 2023, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamb0

I would be happy with same address "forever" if we could keep the service going!!......... I don't wanna lose it..........

I've had the same email address for the past almost 25 years. Technically ever since I've kept the same domain name registered. I certainly didn't have the same email provider/service or ISP over that time!! I used a forwarding service before that, bigfoot . com I think.. It was a service run by excite . com I think..

Bamb0 · 3 Jul 2023, 08:41 AM

Wow 25 years??

Congrats my friend!!

n5bb · 3 Jul 2023, 11:46 AM

I have owned my personal domain and used email addresses at that domain for the past 24 years. I purchased the domain in August 1999 from NameSecure and they are still my domain name host. The oldest email I can easily see which was sent to my usual email address at my domain is my Fastmail new member email from April, 2004. I might have older emails sent to my ISP email system before then sitting on some old hard drive.

Bill

hadaso · 3 Jul 2023, 04:12 PM

My oldest email address is the one I have in Yahoo, from about 25 years ago.
My Hotmail address is almost the same age (I got it a few months later).
I have some addresses on Fastamil's domains since around 21 years ago,
and an address on Gmail since more than 19 years ago.
I hardly use any of them. I have addresses on my own domain that I got a little more than 20 years ago that I use regularly since I got the domain, and I plan to use them indefinitely. Any way as long as I can use email.
my family members also have addresses on my domain that they use as their primary email address, but my wife still uses her Hotmail address that she got 25 years ago (before I got my Hotmail address).
I also have some older email lying around since 1991, but non of those addresses exist anymore (and the tld od the recipinent of the first email I sent back in 1991 doesnt exist any more, AFAIK).
I also have an email address that I don't use from my ISP, and it works for more than 20 years and forwards my reminders each month that I have a receipt I can download from their website, but nothing more.

22 Aug 2001, 10:38 AM	#1
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	An interview form to guide email choice The same mail account doesn't suit us all, right? We've seen the raw list of features (M2W ) And some of you then say "so what, I don't use that." How do you guide your friends in choosing the right account for them, not your favorite but the best for them? I keep being asked by my friends and I have this sort of questionnaire going in my mind. It's very incomplete and may not aim at your most important issues, but I want to see if anyone here has a similar list going. Notice that I am not interested in always focusing on FEATURES as much as how to meet the need they have. I want to "trick" the person into answering a question without knowing what feature I am asking about. When I say "trick" I'm talking about a less informed crowd than you. I would hope that the person could quickly zoom through the list saying "yes/no" and giving brief answers when needed and then I could suggest an answer. I am not interested in machine-scoring but that might be fun to someone. Here are some ideas for questions [followed by my comments]: What speed does your modem consistently connect at? [if slow, avoid complex stuff] Are you interested in being a bit of a tester so long as it allows you to use really neat email? or do you want to stick more mainstream? [Products in testing mode may not suit some people.] What have you used previously and either liked or not liked about it? [for example many people say they hate Hotmail because of experiences in 1999 when it was slow.... or hate Yahoo because of "too much spam" when their address was cute69@yahoo.com ] Do you Mac or PC? Do you own you own computer? Do you have an unlimited internet connection or are you counting hours? How often do you check mail? [If it's once/week I hope Visto/MRB/Runbox happen to be up at that time!] Do you use a real ISP or training wheels? [blocking SMTP and browser] Do you want to work on mail without dialing up? Do you want to use the same mail at work and home? [IMAP needed, or stay-on-server POP, or a Visto/MRB combo] Would you tolerate using two or more different accounts, perhaps one at home and another at work? How disruptive is late/undelivered mail? [are you banking or chatting] Do you need to store large amounts of mail? How much comes in a day? [2MB of Hotmail is plenty for me for 1 day. ] Do you get large attachments, estimate the amount you need to store online? [I need to store a lot but I use a file storage service not mail.] Do you need to share your file storage? Is calendaring and scheduling an essential part of your mail choice? Can it be separate? Do you have a Palm, phone, or other device? Is all this confusing to you, do you just want me to stop this? [Some people are not mailgeeks like us. Give them a good pay option with simple configuration and stop.] Do you put any value on having a "cool" email address @cooladdress.wow ? What would you pay for that per year? >$10? >$20 >$30? [Do we want to buy the domain or want to subscribe to a good name like @mail.com] Do you care to keep that same address "forever" or is that unimportant to you? [Do we need to use a forwarding service?] Is reloading an address book a big item for you? [Avoid most webmail] Give a very few words, what are you after primarily? [speed, reliability, business, flexibility, cheap, features, fun, colors, sounds, pictures, secrecy from employer, secrecy from the police (PGP), secrecy from the NSA (PGP & anonymizer!), organization, calendar] BTW moderator Edwin Email Notification is not working for me, nor is feature to mail tomyself, but I got a PM so I wonder what's up?

25 Aug 2001, 02:06 AM	#6
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	off topic posts :mad: Each time you post on my thread you at least owe me an on-topic reply. Am I to take from this that you all use email in a vacuum with none of your friends asking your advice? Don't you have jobs and workmates? Come on, there are several of you here who are truly capable of this task, please make a contribution.

23 Aug 2001, 10:32 AM	#2
*Edwin* Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: UK Posts: 3,118	Re. email notification etc. not working, this is because of the move to the new server. Still haven't been able to get the mail function to work stably. So it may be a few weeks yet before that feature works, especially since I'll be on vacation and (pretty much) off the Web for 2 weeks starting next Wednesday. Edwin

23 Aug 2001, 08:23 PM	#4
Liz The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Los Angeles,CA Posts: 4,652 Representative of: Runbox.com	Some of us ever got to take one... - Liz

23 Aug 2001, 08:25 PM	#5
Liz The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Los Angeles,CA Posts: 4,652 Representative of: Runbox.com	Uhm, NEVER, even...

2 Sep 2001, 12:24 AM	#7
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	I am beginning to think you guys don't have friends who ask you to help them choose the best email provider......

6 Sep 2001, 09:54 AM	#9
Kyle Babich Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: NJ, USA Posts: 540	I guess I owe you an on topic reply... I think this is a good idea (even though all my friends use hotmail). Once it's touched up a little bit you could post it on a site, submit it to seach engines and people worldwide could use it. Actually, that would make a good feature for an updated version of EmailAddresses.com. Hmmm... maybe you should talk to Edwin. - kb

3 Jul 2023, 08:41 AM	#12
Bamb0 Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 1,868	Wow 25 years?? Congrats my friend!!

3 Jul 2023, 11:46 AM	#13
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 8,926	I have owned my personal domain and used email addresses at that domain for the past 24 years. I purchased the domain in August 1999 from NameSecure and they are still my domain name host. The oldest email I can easily see which was sent to my usual email address at my domain is my Fastmail new member email from April, 2004. I might have older emails sent to my ISP email system before then sitting on some old hard drive. Bill

3 Jul 2023, 04:12 PM	#14
hadaso The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 4,837	My oldest email address is the one I have in Yahoo, from about 25 years ago. My Hotmail address is almost the same age (I got it a few months later). I have some addresses on Fastamil's domains since around 21 years ago, and an address on Gmail since more than 19 years ago. I hardly use any of them. I have addresses on my own domain that I got a little more than 20 years ago that I use regularly since I got the domain, and I plan to use them indefinitely. Any way as long as I can use email. my family members also have addresses on my domain that they use as their primary email address, but my wife still uses her Hotmail address that she got 25 years ago (before I got my Hotmail address). I also have some older email lying around since 1991, but non of those addresses exist anymore (and the tld od the recipinent of the first email I sent back in 1991 doesnt exist any more, AFAIK). I also have an email address that I don't use from my ISP, and it works for more than 20 years and forwards my reminders each month that I have a receipt I can download from their website, but nothing more.