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Comment by encom | Hacker News Reader

>When I sign up for gmail, I can just be myself. I don't have to be myself + something else.

I don't understand this sentence. What is the "something else" here that Gmail uniquely lacks?

> What is the "something else" here that Gmail uniquely lacks?

The unique domain that I would otherwise have to associate myself with. "gmail" is so ubiquitous that it just doesn't mean anything anymore. It's just... the protocol.

Tell someone that your email is "alice@alice.website" and even _that_ is saying something significant about yourself that you may not want to say.

A big aspect of appearing "cool" is not letting on that you care so much. Social networks and messaging systems should allow people to be "cool" if they want to be.

What @gmail.com says to me, is that the user is okay with Google reading their email.

That's exactly why I said "It sounds silly to the technical demographic".

Many people on HN just straight up won't understand what I'm talking about.

To a normal person, "@gmail.com" doesn't say _anything_. Give someone a different domain and they will literally look at you funny.

Mine is firstname@firstname-lastname.domain, never had that problem. Plenty of email addresses require spelling out the part before the @ anyway, spelling the part after it out too poses no fundamental challenge to anyone I interacted with (who asked for my email address, that is).

It's not a problem, but it does send a signal--probably one that is a slight benefit as an adult in a technical line of work, but it might send a different signal for let's say, a teenager who is already struggling to fit in with peers. It may be a stereotype, but stereotypes exist regardless of how easy you or me think it is to register a domain. Sure someone could follow just a few simple steps found on the internet, but why does that person even care to?

Although, teenagers exchanging email addresses has fallen out of style recently in exchange for sharing Discord tags or Snapchat usernames/showing snapcodes.

It's nice to see someone else have this point of view. I have a personal domain but still run @gmail.com because I get the impression that having my own domain makes me look like a complete nerd to my friends.

Of course, I am, but no need to reinforce that.

I have the same sentiment, but I think using other appropriately-named providers has the same effect. Nobody bats an eye when you say @fastmail.com or @mailbox.org for example.

> having my own domain makes me look like a complete nerd to my friends.

...yes, of course; why else would you do it? ;)

I'm semi-kidding; there are very real practical benefits, but I really do run email through my own domain, at least in part, because it sends a message.

There are other reasons to keep your @gmail, such as being a precaution in case you lose your domain as well as to use it for into your DNS/registrar account since using your domain's email to manage the DNS or domain itself is a bad idea in case DNS breaks email deliverability.

"gmail" is so ubiquitous that it just doesn't mean anything anymore

That doesn’t explain how Gmail became ubiquitous. Back when it started, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL were very popular (among many others). Since it was not yet ubiquitous, Gmail’s ubiquity could not be an explanation for success.

Gmail succeeded back then because everyone was switching to it for the free storage space and to be the cool person with a new gmail address. This happened long enough for new internet users to start choosing gmail for their first email, eventually becoming the majority email provider.

I still remember when they showed a counter for how much free space you had, and it increased steadily. That was before they just made it a big (for the time) fixed number.

When someone asks your email, you say 'myemailhandle' and they will already ask if it's gmail. Way easier to speak and remember than if you have your own domain.

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