So I’ve come to realization I probably need a new primary email address as I’m using a school alumni one and realizing that my whole life going to be unattainable if it ever gets shut down / they don’t pay the bill / whatever so I probably should have one of my own. I have several others that all my junk stuff goes to.
But at this point the easy gmails are taken so I’m trying to figure out what is the No-no list of numbers to tack on so I don’t accidentally choose something lewd/racist/etc
Off top of head want to avoid 69, 88, 420 and ??? I’m sure there a lot
I also use my aluni email which is through Google Apps and is a lifetime account. A few months ago we abruptly lost access to our Google Drive which was supposed to be lifetime as well, and that was a pretty big headache. I have a gmail account too, but the thought of having to move over 16 years of accounts tied to my alumni email is so daunting I just keep putting it off.
Yeah this is sort of stuff is my fear, nothing has really happened yet that impacted me but becoming more obvious that will be at the whims of a university for rest of my life. I really wish I could just buy out the account or something but I know they don’t want their .edu running around without their oversight.
So much is tied to the email as far as accounts/statements/recovery/etc that I get physically anxious just thinking about if ever somehow lost access
I’ll have to look into that more, so far just found way to transfer all my emails/files to a Google account which I’ve done to backup but if it was transferring the email address wonder how that would work?
Currently it’s [email protected] so seems like would need a new @gmail.com address that I would have to update everywhere which is what I’m not looking forward to?
Yeah, that’s going to be the hard part. It may be possible to have the .edu address set to autoforward to the google address to help with the transition, you might have to actually talk to someone at the university for that though.
The problem arises if the university decided at some point down the road to close alumni accounts. Auto forwarding wouldn’t work then if the first destination is non existent. My problem is I have so many other logins tied to my email for recovery or 2FA that I wouldn’t even know where to start with updating, and I’d surely miss a lot of websites that I only use occasionally.
But you have that problem now as well. I don’t know of a technological solution to your problem, it seems you’ve got two choices; keep hoping the alumni account stays open and start transitioning away from it. At a minimum I’d suggest opening a google address and start adding it as a recovery address or alt address to important accounts.
Yeah this is my hesitation but I guess way better to start this process now when we still have (as far as we know) indefinite access instead of a frantic situation. That way I can update what comes to mind then over next x months see what goes to the old account
Fifteen years ago I tried to carry my @comcast.net with me when I moved into my then new wife’s home. It was a real pain in the ass to try to do this. At the same time, I also set up na @live.com account, which I still have to this day. I remember thinking afterwards that it was way less trouble to just change my email on accounts than to fight with Comcast.
Currently have no problem because I have access to my email. The problem arises if I lose access and then at some point down the road need access to an account that I haven’t used in a long time, and the only way to login is through 2FA or password recovery with the then nonexistent email address.
I second the autoforward solution. I had an email that I started to transition away from years ago. One stop to set up the autoforward, then it was just a stress-free update-as-I-remember path to moving everything over. The critical stuff moved right away. As emails that I cared about came in I’d check the sent-to address and update if it was going to the old address. By the time my old address got deactivated almost everything I cared about was moved. I’ll still sometimes find some stuff that was linked to the old account but I’ve found most places have a recovery option for “I don’t have this email anymore.”
not really an ANGER post, but… I get that people love to needlessly possessivize store names like “Kroger’s” and “Wallgreen’s” but today I saw “Sear’s” and my brane nearly broke