You've Got Mail
Email is a peculiar thing.
If you’re a millennial like me, you remember the hotmail email we got in our teens (sk8rboi13 or the equivalent). From hotmail, I had an AOL account. From AOL I, like almost everyone on earth, got a Gmail account. And that’s been it for the last decade or so.
And for that decade, Gmail did the job. It handled everything. From newsletters, government logins, gig tickets, junk, and friends, it all went to one address. But like most “free” things on the internet, it came at the cost of becoming bloated, getting worse, and being part of a global mega-corp. I’ve been thinking a lot more about my online life/presence and decided I needed to reclaim control and make it more manageable and importantly, personal.
I’ve had my own website for a while and it seemed a no-brainer to have a custom email linked that can last me, hopefully, the rest of my life.
After looking at a couple of options like Proton Mail and Hey mail, I decided on going through Migadu, with Thunderbird as my desktop client.
It turned out to be one of the most satisfying digital housekeeping projects I’ve ever done.
The Provider: Migadu
I definitely didn’t want to run a mail server from scratch (life’s too short), so I looked at a few privacy-friendly providers. Proton Mail was a strong contender, but ultimately I went for fellow Swiss company Migadu after reading through their site.
One part jumped out to me:
When you register a domain, you own the whole name-space of that domain:
- All possible sub-domains of your domain are yours.
- All possible URLs on the domain are yours.
- All possible email addresses on the domain are yours.
On your domain, you are also free to choose the linked services such as web, email calendar etc
This is the freedom granted to you with your domain name and the Internet was built to give you one.
The internet was built to give me freedom. I’m not sure that is what the internet is for now, but that ideal resonated with me.
Now, I’m quite tech-savvy, and following the set up for me was incredibly simple. Could my mum have done it? No. But my Mum also has me to do it for her. Not that she will, she’s happy with Facebook and Gmail.
The Client: Thunderbird
On desktop, I’m now using Thunderbird. It’s open source, and can be customised with local folders and filters. It’s not as slick as Apple Mail (and there’s currently no iOS app) but, as we’ve learned, I’m trying to regain control from trillion dollar corporations.
Designing My Mailbox Structure
This was the fun bit. Once I had the domain and host sorted, I had to decide:
What addresses do I actually need?
At first I thought I’d just go with one but with Migadu giving me the opportunity to have as many as I wanted I had to really think it through. As I started mapping out how I use email, I realised there were natural “layers” of access and purpose. Here’s what I settled on:
hello@
Public. It’s on my website, business cards, and anything outward-facing. The kind of email you’d give a stranger at a gig or someone who found your work online. Please use it. Say hello. Let me know you exist.
#####@
Personal (redacted). This is the one I give to friends and family. It’s just for people I know, like, and want to hear from. If we’ve moved past the “hello@” stage, this is what you get.
#####@
Online (redacted). I made one as a catch-all for the online world. Newsletters (although my RSS should be the first place for these), shopping, account signups, updates from apps and platforms. Everything the internet wants to send me goes here.
#####@
Important (redacted). This mailbox is for things I don’t want to lose access to: government logins, banking, flights, identity-linked services. It’s never shared publicly.
Why This Works
Each address has a clear purpose. That means:
- I don’t get overwhelmed by noise in my personal inbox
- If something ever leaks or gets spammed, I know where it came from
- And best of all, I control it. No one can take away my address or force me into a new layout
I still have Gmail, I’m taking the slow and steady approach to moving over to these new mailboxes. I need to work through accounts, edit logins. But it feel good to be in control.
Final Thoughts
I’m happy to be part of the small web. The indie web. The micro blog. I get to have a space, here, to put whatever I want on it. This what the Internet was built for.
I’ve reclaimed part of my digital identity. Moving away from Gmail was one small act of independence.