3 ms·

Somewhat off-topic, but does anyone know what top-level domains are in practice "safe" to use for email addresses if we're going to migrate to our own domain?

Somewhat off-topic, but does anyone know what top-level domains are in practice "safe" to use for email addresses if we're going to migrate to our own domain? I mean "safe" in the sense of being unlikely to cause confusion or problems with less-than-well-written software (or humans). Obviously .com is okay, and I haven't heard of problems with .edu/.gov/.org/.net, but I'm a little afraid of getting a domain for email addresses that isn't a well-established 3-letter TLD, on the off chance that someone has hard-coded a requirement like this in their code. I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid about this though. Any suggestions on what's considered safe?

chrisper 9y ago
Don't bother with any of the custom ones if you don't want to end up in spam at most companies. I went with .org and had no issues sofar.
- throwaway613834 9y ago
  Oh, good point! Do .info, .name, .me, .io, etc. also cause problems like custom ones? Or do you just mean the newer ones like .services and .online and whatnot?
  - chrisper 9y ago
    Kind of both. The world of emails works in mystical ways! It really depends on the admin. He or she might very well block .me etc. since no serious company is going to have a .me email. A lot of admins do block something like .services. Your best bet is to go with a tld that is also commonly used by companies. Also, if this is important to you, you need to check if whois privacy is supported for a specific tld.
oneweekwonder 9y ago
> I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid about this though. Any suggestions on what's considered safe? Maybe a bit, I don't think it is based in paranoia, you have technical reasons. Just recently had to strip tld from uri's, and boy was that harder then excepted! That being said domains like co.uk, co.jp been around for a long time. I will stay away from "fancy .named" domains, but country level names should work fine. Would love to hear other opinions as well.
- throwaway613834 9y ago
  Good point about ones like .co.uk! Hadn't thought about that.
mxuribe 9y ago
For about 9 years or so, I've used the .CC TLD for my personal/family's email without any technical issues...though it is important to know that throughout the entire time, I've used G Suite as my email provider (used to be called google apps for your domain, etc.). So, one could speculate that perhaps my lack of technical issues was less due to the TLD that i used, and maybe because google considers my domain name "not spammy". HOWEVER, an annoying problem that I've had over the years - and while it has diminished slightly still persists - is that people (or at least people here in the U.S.) are not used to hearing domain names that don't end in the usual .COM, .ORG, .NET...so I ALWAYS have to clarify and explain that my email ends in .CC and not .COM, etc. i find myself still doing this even today - almost a decade later - with so many lay people "being online". I sort of expect that more often with lay people more explanation is needed, but you'd be surprised how many technical people also are not as used to hearing domain names that don't end in the usual top 3. I like the .CC TLD, I really do...but having lived these last 9 or so years with having to constantly explain to people (with whom I plan to correspond with) that there are soooooo many other TLDs out there (beyond just .COM, .ORG, .NET) does get really tiring. If I had to do this all over again, I would have gone with .NET or .ORG (the .COM back then was already taken for my domain name). Oh well.

chrisper 9y ago

Don't bother with any of the custom ones if you don't want to end up in spam at most companies. I went with .org and had no issues sofar.

throwaway613834 9y ago
Oh, good point! Do .info, .name, .me, .io, etc. also cause problems like custom ones? Or do you just mean the newer ones like .services and .online and whatnot?
- chrisper 9y ago
  Kind of both. The world of emails works in mystical ways! It really depends on the admin. He or she might very well block .me etc. since no serious company is going to have a .me email. A lot of admins do block something like .services. Your best bet is to go with a tld that is also commonly used by companies. Also, if this is important to you, you need to check if whois privacy is supported for a specific tld.

oneweekwonder 9y ago

> I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid about this though. Any suggestions on what's considered safe? Maybe a bit, I don't think it is based in paranoia, you have technical reasons. Just recently had to strip tld from uri's, and boy was that harder then excepted! That being said domains like co.uk, co.jp been around for a long time. I will stay away from "fancy .named" domains, but country level names should work fine. Would love to hear other opinions as well.

throwaway613834 9y ago
Good point about ones like .co.uk! Hadn't thought about that.

mxuribe 9y ago

For about 9 years or so, I've used the .CC TLD for my personal/family's email without any technical issues...though it is important to know that throughout the entire time, I've used G Suite as my email provider (used to be called google apps for your domain, etc.). So, one could speculate that perhaps my lack of technical issues was less due to the TLD that i used, and maybe because google considers my domain name "not spammy". HOWEVER, an annoying problem that I've had over the years - and while it has diminished slightly still persists - is that people (or at least people here in the U.S.) are not used to hearing domain names that don't end in the usual .COM, .ORG, .NET...so I ALWAYS have to clarify and explain that my email ends in .CC and not .COM, etc. i find myself still doing this even today - almost a decade later - with so many lay people "being online". I sort of expect that more often with lay people more explanation is needed, but you'd be surprised how many technical people also are not as used to hearing domain names that don't end in the usual top 3. I like the .CC TLD, I really do...but having lived these last 9 or so years with having to constantly explain to people (with whom I plan to correspond with) that there are soooooo many other TLDs out there (beyond just .COM, .ORG, .NET) does get really tiring. If I had to do this all over again, I would have gone with .NET or .ORG (the .COM back then was already taken for my domain name). Oh well.