domain for personal use?

[albireo13]

Has anyone here gotten a domain name for just personal use? ... email, personal web page, etc?

So far, I just have email accounts with Gmail and with my ISP.

Someone at work claims I should get one, even for just casual web use.

Any big advantage with that?

thx

 

[braumeister]

Back in the early days of the internet, a lot of us found ourselves changing ISPs fairly often, and the hassle of getting a new email address and letting everyone know was annoying.

So many of us got our own domain name so we could have an email that would never change. It's not expensive and well worth it.

 

[Sunset]

Back in the early days of the internet, a lot of us found ourselves changing ISPs fairly often, and the hassle of getting a new email address and letting everyone know was annoying.

So many of us got our own domain name so we could have an email that would never change. It's not expensive and well worth it.

+++

Just so OP knows:
Typically, the cost is about $15 /yr for the domain name.
If you just want very limited email usage, then the ISP (not comcast type of "get your internet provider") often gives you that included.
If you want 1,000's of email names and ability to have your own website then you would need hosting , hosting might cost around $60->$120 per yr.

Once you pay for hosting, often you can host many domains on the same hosting plan.

 

[RunningBum]

Yes, handy for email, though I'm not worried about google disappearing anytime soon. If you don't like using gmail for privacy concerns or whatever, it's a good alternative, but you already say you're on gmail.

And if you think there's any reason to have your own or your family's website, this will reserve the domain name.

I wouldn't say "casual web use" is a reason.

I don't have one, and have never seen a reason to.

 

[Rustic23]

Yes, I have had several. The problem was that it was dirt cheap to get a domain. However, expensive to renew it. So I just went to google.

 

[Ronstar]

I have a personal web page for my wood working projects, photos, and some other personal stuff. I don't use a personal domain email.

 

[Animorph]

I got one to avoid the hassle of changing ISP's back in the early days. Not as much of a problem now (DM still has her AOL email). I probably have a little more control and flexibility, it's fun to have my own domain, and the cost is not bad, so I haven't bothered to change to something else. Both our kids use Gmail.

 

[easysurfer]

I have a personal web page for my wood working projects, photos, and some other personal stuff. I don't use a personal domain email.

My thought too, if only a personal web page and email needed.

Brings back memories of the AOL pages. AOL hometown or something. Each email had so much webpage space. Pretty much replaced by other types of social media.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have purchased a mess load of domains through the years as a type of lazy investment/gamble. I started doing this after I talked to someone who had bought some back in the late 90's and early 2000's and sold them to large companies for pretty decent money. I haven't had a fantastic payday with any of them, but I have sold three of them for over $1000 each, so it's more than paid for the acquisition costs. I am waiting to see if some of the new domain extensions start taking off and if so, I will be buying up quite a few more. Perhaps one day I will get a GREAT payday from one of them...

 

[OldShooter]

I have had a private domain for maybe 20 years. It is named after the street we live on, like oakgrovelane.net. We use it strictly for my and DW's email. I think it costs us twenty bucks at year +/-

I know several people who have a family name domain. Addresses like fred@sandersons.net or martha@jonesfamily.net. It makes their email addresses very easy to remember.

Affordable luxury IMO. No huge benefits, tho.

 

[dixonge]

My first domain name was bought in 1998. I use it for genealogy things mainly, but also use a subdomain for a personal blog. Stopped using domain-based email a long time ago because running spam filters requires hosting and configuration and a lot of spam was still getting through. Wife and dad are on gmail, brother and SIL are on ATT, I'm on some service out of Germany. I do still have two or three gmail accounts, just don't use them for any daily email.

Unless you have a lot of things you *want* to do where a domain name would help, I wouldn't worry about it. Your advantages would be minimal.

 

[albireo13]

just curious. I would think it is handy if changing ISPs. We've been on Comcast for years and likely will stay for awhile. I started using gmail because my Comcast email connections are flaky. Sometimes I can connect to the server often times I can't. We have Apple at home so, maybe it's an Apple/Comcast issue. In comparison, my gmail has been rock solid.

 

[SumDay]

I know several people who have a family name domain. Addresses like fred@sandersons.net or martha@jonesfamily.net. It makes their email addresses very easy to remember.

Just a word of warning to the OP. After I had my Amazon account hacked, and saw activity on several other accounts, I began doing some research. One thing I learned, especially for your financial accounts, is to use an email address that has no hint on your given or surname in it. It makes sense to me, and I've created an additional email account to use for things like Vanguard, banking, Amazon, etc. Just my .02.

In short, I'd stay away from XXXX@albireo13.com, or whatever your real last name is. <end of motherly advice.

 

[Senator]

You may want to register a domain name that identifies yourself just to prevent someone else from doing it with your own name...

Otherwise there is no benefit if you are not in business for yourself. Gmail will be around forever, (AOL is still even there) and is the number one email domain by far.

Most people that I deal with use gmail.

 

[Souschef]

We have a domain that we posted all our travel stories on. We had business cards printed up with our website listed.

When we traveled with groups we would give them to anyone requesting one to read about the trip.
The bad news came this year when they discontinued the web design software we were using. It was way too much work to design a new website, and since we are traveling a lot less,we just left the website up,

 

[Katsmeow]

I have a domain name that I use for my email address. I have all of the mail forwarded to gmail and I have gmail set up to email from that email address. I like having an email address that I control. I don't have a website set up for the domain name, I just use it for email.

 

[ggbutcher]

I've had one for almost 20 years now, pulpitrock.net. My first thought was to use it for email, but as others have pointed out, it's a pain to maintain an email server. Now, I use it mainly for hosting pictures I post to places where you can't upload. Cost about $10US/yr for the domain name, $4US/month for a virtual server instance. Here's the link, you can browse my posted pictures in one big "list""

https://glenn.pulpitrock.net/Individual_Pictures/

 

[davebarnes]

Yes.
BarnesFamily.com has outlasted 3 ISPs.
But, then again, I built websites for a living since 1995.
I also have a business-oriented domain.
I believe in taking control.

 

[mountainsoft]

I have a personal web page for my wood working projects, photos, and some other personal stuff.

Yep, same here. When I first started my business I posted a few personal things on the business domain, but that didn't seem very professional. So I got a personal domain and moved my DIY projects, travel videos, and similar stuff to the personal domain.

 

[audreyh1]

Has anyone here gotten a domain name for just personal use? ... email, personal web page, etc?

So far, I just have email accounts with Gmail and with my ISP.

Someone at work claims I should get one, even for just casual web use.

Any big advantage with that?

thx

DH did early days when a name he wanted was available. Has kept it. He runs a website. We use it for email. What Sunset said.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I have a domain name that I use for my email address. I have all of the mail forwarded to gmail and I have gmail set up to email from that email address. I like having an email address that I control. I don't have a website set up for the domain name, I just use it for email.

Same here! What I like about it is that I have Early-Retirement@[mylastname].com go to just me, but [kid's high school]@[mylastname].com goes to me, partner, and kid. I use a different address for almost everything, but they all get funneled to my Gmail account, or my other household members' default accounts, depending on what it is. I've had the domain for about 20 years, so it's nice having the same email address that long, and I know I'll have it for another 20 if I want it, regardless of whether I change my j*b or telecom company.

 

[donheff]

I had a domain for years and ran a family website out of a Linux server in my house. I eventually got tired of maintaining everything and dropped it.