hoobalaboobala@hotmail.com

Okay, so I don't know if that email address actually exists, but let's be honest. It probably does.

My point is that I have a thing against people my age and older with unprofessional email addresses. Do you fit into that category? Perhaps you do. No matter how much I love you, though, I maintain my position: Stupid email addresses are stupid.

Some people really, really are attached to the email address they created in high school. Take the following example. Recently, I organized a study group in one of my classes. I passed a sheet of paper around the class where people could write their email addresses.

I was delinquent for a couple days, so I didn't actually compose an email and send it to everyone before our next class. One girl, we'll call her R, came up to me. (Just as a note, her email address is not hoobalaboobala@hotmail.com, but it is equally ridiculous.)

R: Did you ever send that email?

Cicada: No, no. I didn't get around to it. Sorry.

R: Oh good. Because sometimes people send me emails and I don't get them, so I was just making sure that you hadn't already sent it.

C: Huh. Do you ever check in your junkmail folder?

R: It's not that. It's just that sometimes I don't get mail and I don't know why.

C: (unconvinced that she checks her junkmail folder) You know, gmail is a really good option.

R: Oh, I'd never change my email address. I've had this one for so long!

So the next day, she didn't show up to the place where I had notified everyone (by email) that the study group would be. I went and found her in the library. She hadn't gotten the email.

After the study group, I sent the notes to every member of the group. She had told me to send hers individually, please, because sometimes when people send things to groups, she simply doesn't get it. I sent it to her individually. A couple hours later, she wrote and asked me to send her the notes. I replied to her email (and confirmed that I had, in fact, been using the correct address) and attached the notes.

In class the next day, she came up to me.

R: Could you please send me the notes?

C: I did. Twice.

R: Oh well sometimes I don't get things unless they're sent to me individually.

C: I sent it to you individually. I didn't include your name in the group email.

R: Oh. Well sometimes I don't get things unless you actually respond to an email that I've sent you.

C: The second time I sent you the notes, I responded directly to your email.

R: Oh.

C: I think it's time you considered a switch to gmail.

R: Oh, no! But I love my email address!

C: Well... it's a little unprofessional, don't you think? I mean, you are a grown woman now...

R: Yes, but this is the address that I've had for years!

C: Gmail is far superior to hotmail and it looks a lot more professional, too.

R: Well, I like the email address that I have now.

C: Yes, but there comes a time when you need to change your email address. Like when you are consistently not receiving emails that other people are sending you.

R: Well, most of the time, I get the email.

C: And yet, you know that you regularly don't receive emails because you know to warn people that you may not receive their email, and you know which situations often lead to complications in receiving emails.

R: Well, maybe I'll look into getting a gmail account.

C: If you're really attached to hoobalaboobala, I can pretty much guarantee you that no one has taken it at gmail yet. But I would suggest making a more... professional address.

Of course, my suggestion that people create a more professional address has led to trouble before. For this, I feel only somewhat bad. Recently, I was coaching Brother 3 through the resume writing process. He had a stupid hotmail address with a series of initials, a last name, and a number because his name is common enough that some blokes in Ireland already had stolen it and its normal variations.

C: Brother 3, you really need to change this address. You need something more professional.

3: Yeah, but I don't have anything more professional.

C: Just create gmail account. I think that gmail is more respectable than hotmail. Plus, you'll want gmail anyway. It's just a better system.

3: Yeah, but I want to get this resume in the mail quick, so I'm just going to use the hotmail address.

C: It doesn't take any time at all to set up an email account.

3: Yeah, but I'm just going to use my hotmail account. I'm sure that they're not going to throw away my resume just because I have a hotmail account instead of a gmail account.

C: True. But it looks more professional.

3: I'll get it done in time for other resumes.

So there you have it. I love gmail, I really do. And it's not that I hate hotmail. I find my hotmail address very useful---it's the address that I use when I have to sign up for things online. It allows me to have a messenger account so that I can chat on IM. But I will say that while I was writing this post, I checked my junkmail and found an email from an old mission companion. When I tried to move the email from the junkmail folder to the inbox, it was lost forever. Gmail would never allow something like that to happen.