Poll: Do you use a custom email domain?
Autor da sequência: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
STAFF DO SÍTIO
Feb 20, 2025

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you use a custom email domain?".

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Enrico Zoffoli
Enrico Zoffoli  Identity Verified
Itália
Local time: 22:23
Membro
Alemão para Italiano
+ ...
Other Feb 20, 2025

I do have one linked to my website, but it's not practical so I use almost exclusively my hotmail account.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 21:23
Membro (2007)
Inglês para Português
+ ...
I used to, but no longer Feb 20, 2025

I used a custom email domain when I was in Belgium as it was attached to my phone number, but when I moved back to Portugal I started using Gmail instead.

 
Carla Selyer
Carla Selyer  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:23
Membro (2006)
Português para Inglês
+ ...
Used my own for a while Feb 20, 2025

Did it for a while, but it was just more convenient to use my gmail address that I have been using for many years and pay for a professional account and storage.

 
Mario Chávez
Mario Chávez
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 16:23
Inglês para Espanhol
+ ...
Yes, I do Feb 20, 2025

There was a time when email accounts in the free platforms (Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, Excite, etc.) were looked down for lack of professional seriousness on the part of the account holder. That was about 18-20 years ago. It was popular among self-employed professionals, not just translators, to secure a dotcom domain and an email account attached to it (always an extra charge).

The landscape has changed muchly since then, and there's no such a strong need for a branded domain and email
... See more
There was a time when email accounts in the free platforms (Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, Excite, etc.) were looked down for lack of professional seriousness on the part of the account holder. That was about 18-20 years ago. It was popular among self-employed professionals, not just translators, to secure a dotcom domain and an email account attached to it (always an extra charge).

The landscape has changed muchly since then, and there's no such a strong need for a branded domain and email address anymore. However, I present some caveats in favor of using a dotcom, dotinfo, dot-whatever plus a custom email domain:

1. Scammers, phishers and assorted hackers find it very easy to spoof any email account.
2. Having a free email account makes opening more free email accounts more seductive. Stick with one or two.

On the other hand, using a custom email account gives me one misgiving. For instance, my provider lets me create alias accounts that back feed into my actual email account. I tried one alias for almost a year, then deleted it because the amount of spam was ridiculous.

Finally, I would recommend using a top-tier email program to consolidate your email accounts if you have more than 3, to avoid having to visit three different web platforms. Gmail and others allow for email consolidation. I use Mailbird 3.0, the premium subscription, because it does a great job at filtering out spam that even Gmail misses.
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WolfgangS
Andrus Lauringson
Carla Selyer
markusg
 
IrinaN (X)
IrinaN (X)
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 15:23
Inglês para Russo
+ ...
No Feb 20, 2025

Live with free gmail for 30 years. My main client has created a separate secure email account for me with the contracting company domain. Used to have 2 more with other major clients. At their expense, of course.

Only if at any point in time outsourcing were to become a serious part of my business, I would have switched to a business domain to attract serious professional candidates. Otherwise it didn't make much sense as all my contracts and contacts came through personal relation
... See more
Live with free gmail for 30 years. My main client has created a separate secure email account for me with the contracting company domain. Used to have 2 more with other major clients. At their expense, of course.

Only if at any point in time outsourcing were to become a serious part of my business, I would have switched to a business domain to attract serious professional candidates. Otherwise it didn't make much sense as all my contracts and contacts came through personal relationships and word-of-mouth.
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expressisverbis
expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 21:23
Inglês para Português
+ ...
It's funny... Feb 20, 2025

I was going to vote... but I read the following:

'140 vote(s). You have voted on this poll.'
[Discuss in forum (5)]

I don't remember voting in this poll... 🤔

Yes, I have my own email domain.


Maria Laura Curzi
Gyöngyi Tanácsi
Michele Fauble
WolfgangS
Philip Lees
Sebastian Witte
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Dinamarca
Local time: 22:23
Membro (2003)
Dinamarquês para Inglês
+ ...
Sort of Feb 20, 2025

My email provider used to let people have their surnames as a semi-custom domain. My surname is among the five most common in Denmark, but I used it way back when, as mentioned above, it was considered unprofessional just to use hotmail and the like.

It still works, it is unobtrusive, and it ain´t broke, so don´t fix it.


Mario Chávez
WolfgangS
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
 


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Poll: Do you use a custom email domain?






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